5 guilt-free ways to waste time without wi-fi

We’re all guilty of wasting time, and with it comes the bad habit of unproductive procrastination. Sayings like “Idleness is the devil’s workshop” have made us believe that putting off required tasks is always a bad thing.

Yet, recent studies tell us the opposite. Articles like “The psychological importance of wasting time” and “Wasting time may be the best thing you do today” tell us that sometimes, time wasting is a virtue. Some even argue that this habit is vital to the creative process.

Still, we all know that not all time-wasters are equally beneficial. Endless googling and facebook stalking is not the same as going for a long, restorative walk. The first kind leaves us feeling more exhausted than when we started. Nice long walks leave us refueled and ready to take on the next task on hand. Below are suggestions that belong to the healthier category of “guiltless time-wasters”.

5. Write a thank you letter to someone who has touched your life, but you’ve never thanked personally.

This suggestion comes from Chief Justice Roberts’s speech to his son’s middle school class. He explained that the benefit of doing this is making someone feel more special because of something you did.

If you do this every week for forty years, you would have made two thousand people feel more special because of your presence in this world.

And if you scribble a short note every time you’re tempted to scroll through your facebook feed, imagine how many thousands of lives you could touch?

4. Do a quick 15 minute clean up of your workspace/ bedroom/ car.

Busy lives usually means clutter wherever we spend time on a regular basis. Clean-up always seems like it will take forever. But experts tell us that we don’t need huge stretches of time to keep our living spaces tidy. All it takes is 15 minutes. Here’s a quick step-by-step guide for how to clean a room in a quarter of an hour from spruce.com.

3. Pick out 3 things from your closet you haven’t worn in 3 months and drop it off at a Church/ nearby charity.

Another healthy de-cluttering habit. And it helps someone out too. All it takes is a few minutes off your chair. Pick out 3 items you no longer like, can’t fit in, or barely use. After picking them out, put the items in a paper bag, leave it in your car’s back seat, all ready to be dropped off at the nearest charity, next time you need to do a grocery run.

2. Read a few pages of the most emotionally satisfying book you can find on your bookshelf.

Screens are fun to look at, but also draining. If your eyes are beginning to strain because of computer or tablet glare, give them some rest. Stand up, look through your bookshelf, and grab an inspiring book you haven’t read in awhile. Give yourself a page limit before you start reading so you’re don’t spend too much time on it. Then, enjoy a few pages from your chosen read. Then take a quick stroll and ponder whatever nugget of wisdom you took from the read. Copying down your favorite line into a journal also helps the insight sink in more deeply.

1. Pick up the phone and call a friend you haven’t spoken to in a while, and schedule a coffee date.

We all have them, friends we were once close to, but after life gets busy, forget to keep in touch with. The irony is, we can spend hours stalking them on facebook and instagram, only to feel lonelier and more inadequate after we see all the great things they’re doing with their lives. Real-time chats or phone calls teach you that what you see on social media is only half the story. Usually these same “perfect friends” also have bad days and struggles, just like you do.

So next time, you catch yourself spending way too much time on time-wasting habits that you know will leave you more dry than energized, whip out this list, or maybe, write your own. And if you’re open to it, do share with us your most life-giving time-wasters in a comment below.

If you found this post helpful, you’ll probably appreciate this article I wrote on the joy of running. Thanks so much for reading! :)

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