What to do if you're bored and have nothing to do: 100+ ideas for every taste

Where does boredom come from?

Boredom is a condition characterized by a lack of interest in anything, melancholy, languor from idleness, and apathy.

It can arise for various reasons: in response to a strong emotional shock, as a result of a crisis in the motivational sphere, as a result of emotional burnout.

But the most common and common cause of boredom is excess free time and the habit of being lazy. Fortunately, it's not difficult to deal with. Our super selection of activities for every taste is in a hurry to help you.

Activities related to development and self-knowledge

Ideally, all your free time should be spent on self-development. This is the investment you make in your future.

When you're bored, I suggest you spend your time usefully:

Write a letter to your future self. Tell us about your plans and dreams, fantasize about how you will live in 5/10/20 years.
Solve riddles. Particularly advanced and intellectually sophisticated people can replace riddles with questions from the game “What? Where? When?".
Make a plan for the next 5 years.
Make a wish card.
If boredom catches you at night, study the star map.
Make a list of healthy habits that you would like to instill in yourself.
Listen to a useful podcast.
Take part in a team intellectual game: quiz, brain-ring, etc.
Visit museums in your city.
Learn a poem or piece of prose. Great memory training.
Create your family tree.
Read news from the world of science.
Try composing a song or poem.
Write 2 pages of text with your left hand (for left-handers - with your right).
Solve a crossword or scanword.
Complete the puzzle. The more details it has, the better.
Learn the rules of etiquette to become a real lady or gentleman.
Help people or animals in need.
Take part in some useful challenge.
Update your resume and apply for interesting jobs. Even if you are not looking for a job at the moment, this will help improve your self-esteem as a professional and add confidence.
Start your blog.
Watch an educational program about nature.
Learn a few phrases in an unfamiliar language.
Make lists of: your positive qualities;
current goals;
habits you want to get rid of;
places you want to visit;
things to buy.

Also take a look at our selection of activities for those who have nothing to do at work.

Skills training

During boredom, you can start doing something new, or you can improve what you have already learned.

Get behind the wheel and drive around the city

So repeat the rules and strengthen your driving skills.

Try crocheting a napkin

Don't you know how? Come on!

Play “Dog Waltz” on the piano

I can even post the notes in the comments!

Chop the garlic like a master chef does

I still can't!

Read a passage of text several times for a while

In theory, you are improving your reading speed. Well, look how handsome he is and how quickly he reads!

Try burning something on wood

I tried it for the first time 2 weeks ago. This is great! It turns out to be a masterpiece. I think boys should be interested in this activity.

Hone your gratitude skills

Learn to be grateful every day.

Practice self-discipline

Motivate yourself to practice self-discipline.

Active activities

How about some physical education? Catch ideas on how you can kill boredom with movement:

Do comprehensive exercises for all muscle groups.
Stand in plank position for a minute.
Have a mini disco and dance like no one is watching.
Master a couple of yoga asanas.
Go to the gym.
Go cycling or skiing depending on the time of year.
Go on a quest. There definitely won't be a chance to get bored there.
Take a walk through the abandoned places of your city.
Head to the observation deck to watch the sunset.
Have a picnic in nature.
If it's summer, go to the forest to pick mushrooms or berries.

Creative activities

How about adding a pinch of creativity into your daily routine? Who knows, maybe a second Dali or Picasso is sleeping inside you, and you don’t even suspect it. A great reason to check it out!

How to awaken your creativity:

Start learning to play a musical instrument.
Paint a picture. You can experiment with materials: paint with sand, water, vegetable and fruit juice.
Build a model using LEGO construction kits.
Make a figurine from clay or plasticine.
Try your hand at embroidery or knitting.
Create an art object from available materials with your own hands.

Creation

Sometimes the salvation from various troubles, including boredom, is creative work.

Draw a picture by numbers

This is a fun and useful activity + you won’t be ashamed of your lack of artistic talent!

Painting by numbers

Build a car or house from Lego

You can’t even imagine how relaxing and exciting it is! And your nephew or your own baby will be delighted with the parental fantasy!

Make something from scrap materials

Plasticine, herbarium, cones, seeds, burlap, wood, twine, etc. will be used.

Sew covers for kitchen chairs

A very useful thing! Save your home budget and save your chairs.

Make shorts out of long pants

This is the type when trousers turn into... elegant shorts!

Shoot several videos and process them in a special application

Creative work too! For example, film yourself assembling a Lego car for your younger brother, son, nephew, or just a friend.

Plant some greenery

On a windowsill or balcony, plant a small flowerbed with your own environmentally friendly greenery.

Prepare a new bed for your pet

This will give the interior new colors and give your pet another new thing.

Start decorating the room

Make a lamp to match the style of the room. Try decorating an old chair. Think about your bedroom design.

Decorate your notebook

If you are bored in class, you can start painting a notebook on mathematics or literature.

Draw a plan for arranging furniture in the living room

Think about how to arrange the furniture in the living room to make it convenient to receive guests.

Collect ideas on Pinterest

Go to Pinterest for creative ideas and make a selection for yourself. Then, in moments of boredom, do one of them.

Exercises for soul and body

Treat yourself to your loved one with pleasant care treatments. You can go to a spa or have it right at home.

Pleasant and useful activities:

Take a bath with aromatic foam or sea salt.
Get your nails in order. Girls can have a manicure or pedicure, men can have their hair cut carefully and apply moisturizer.
Go to the bathhouse or sauna.
Make a face mask.
Change your hairstyle or hair color.
Get some sleep.
Get a facial massage.
Give yourself a chocolate wrap.

Household activities

The best way to combat boredom is with productive activities. Use your free time and energy to improve the space around you. The process may not bring you much pleasure, but the result will certainly please you.

Housework:

Do a big wash. Wash everything that should have been washed a long time ago: curtains, pillowcases, bedspreads, etc.
Organize your wardrobe. Finally, throw away what you definitely won’t wear.
Organize your clothes. Remove pellets and adhering debris, iron and carefully hang in the closet.
Clean dirty shoes. By the way, this activity helped Johannes Brahms to catch inspiration. Maybe it will help you too.
Prepare a dish that has never been cooked before.
Wash the windows. I bet most of you did this more than six months ago.
Organize your closet shelves.
Rearrange the furniture.

Interior Design

Get things in order. Take out every item in the house, clean or wash it if necessary, and put everything in its place.
Rearrange the furniture in your home.
Put unnecessary items in the pantry.
Change the curtains in every room.
Think about what decorative elements will decorate your apartment or house.
Do some spring cleaning.
Plant beautiful flowers or plants.
Create a beautiful corner for creativity or relaxation.
Decorate your book corner beautifully. If it doesn't exist, create it.

Routine activities that we put off all the time

Pay attention to things that have been hanging around like dead weight for many days in a row. Deal with them! You will feel such relief that you will literally flutter.

Routine but useful things:

If boredom finds you sitting at the computer, get your email in order. A time management technique called Zero Inbox will help you with this. Look for it in our special selection.
Sort out the photos and apps on your smartphone: delete the ones you don’t need and group the ones you need. Arrange icons beautifully and conveniently on the screen.
Remove unnecessary icons from your computer desktop.
Back up important files, passwords and other valuable information.
Do all the other things that lie on your back burner and periodically remind you of yourself.
Put up items you don't need for sale.
Sort out the trash. Take paper, glass containers, plastic, batteries, and lamps to a recycling collection point.
Conduct an in-depth analysis of your income and expenses.

Also take a look at our selection of sites that help kill boredom.

Competition: making contact

This is one of the intellectual games for those who do not have special sets at home, but have a large stock of knowledge. It is played by at least three participants and one presenter, who will guess the word. The game is played as part of a competition. The presenter thinks of a word. For example, "zombies". Then he says the first letter "z".

Three players think of their words on the same beech and try to explain to the others what they have planned in the form of a riddle. For example, the “hare” is a coward with his soul in his heels. If the presenter guessed, then he says, “No, it’s not a hare” (after all, he thought of the word “zombie.” If the presenter did not guess, and one of the players guessed what the word was, then he says, “There is contact " After this, both participants (the one who guessed and the one who guessed) count to five and simultaneously name the word. If the words match, then this is a small victory, and the presenter must name the second letter of his guessed word, that is, “o” in the word zombie.

Fun activities that will lift your spirits

Well, that’s it, we’ve sorted out the serious activities, now you can relax. Sometimes you can allow yourself to fool around and laze around. The main thing is to know when to stop.

Activities for a good mood:

Play your favorite video game.
Give yourself a bubble show.
Build a card or match house.
Play solitaire or tell fortunes with cards.
Take a few selfies and update your social media avatars.
Go to the cinema to see a new film.
Play board games with friends.
Learn some fun tricks to amaze your friends.
Review your childhood photos.
Call a friend you haven't talked to in years.
Give someone a surprise.
Get your adrenaline rush by doing something you've always been afraid of.
Go shopping.
Visit your grandparents or other close relatives.
Buy postcards and send them to strangers at random addresses.
Come up with a new cocktail recipe and treat your friends to it.
Throw a fun party at your home.
Go to a cafe or restaurant you've never been to before.
Create a social network account for your pet.
Watch a video from a concert of your favorite band.
Rewatch an old favorite movie.
Chat with the bot Alice.

What to do when you're bored

To combat boredom, we've compiled a list of 100 activities that can distract you. Of course, not all of them will suit you personally, but you will definitely learn something useful.

Add our site to your bookmarks, and the next time you say to yourself: “God, I’m so bored and what to do with this,” you will easily find a solution.

Boredom, according to Wikipedia, is a passive mental state, accompanied by negatively colored emotions, decreased activity and other bad things.

Go for a walk Put your phone in your pocket or purse, go outside and enjoy the fresh air. Take a new look at the world around you and the people who are always in a hurry.
Warm-up Order yourself a small set of dumbbells or even a barbell. Getting bored? Grab some weights and start warming up. This is a simple and useful solution for both overcoming boredom and getting your body in order.
Money How about making more money? There are a lot of options to earn yourself an extra penny without investing any money. Do you like surfing the Internet? Do it for money. In services such as SocPublic or SeoSprint, they pay for surfing - visiting sites, performing simple tasks. Register both there and there, you can earn 2 times more money. If you like social networks, then you can complete tasks through the VKTarget portal. For each addition to a group, like and other activities on networks such as VKontakte, Odnoklassniki, Instagram, you will receive money. A great opportunity to relieve boredom.
New online games? What do you like? Bored at the computer? Any strategy, RPG or simulation games? Games are a great escape from reality. Although if you play chess online, your brain will be pumped up quite well. Try the new Fantasy game, where you fight against nightmares in the world of dreams. Or you can try the universe of the Middle Ages and plunge into the trendy Vikings: War of Clans
Put something in order. For example, your desktop on your computer screen, or your kitchen. Clean the bedroom, or organize a box of old things, and still throw out all this unnecessary trash. Cleanliness not only pleases the eye, but also lifts your spirits.
Write an article and sell it I don’t know about you, but I’ve always loved writing. Review of a car, your favorite game, new shoes, or anything else that you are partial to. But just writing an article was never enough for me. I posted it on article exchanges where site owners then bought it and posted it on their site. And the money slowly trickled in. I started on this exchange - etxt.biz, and then I posted articles here and worked as a copywriter at text.ru
English Start learning a new language - English, or perhaps Chinese, is needed everywhere. Extra knowledge of a language has never bothered anyone in their life. Take free courses from Puzzle English or LinguaLeo - the best language schools, and finally learn English!
New acquaintances How about new relationships? Dating sites can help you. Or just harmless chats based on interests. Install the application on your phone and start communicating. This is for Android, this is a link for iOS. Excellent boredom killer. If you're bored with your husband or wife, why not flirt harmlessly. Well, or pretend to be the opposite sex and just not have fun on the topic: “how stupid they are”)))
Fill out a survey for money Do you know that there are organizations that pay for you to take a survey on their website? This is not a scam at all. These organizations receive money from companies that do market research on target groups. In general, register, fill out forms and earn money. Here are examples of sites - questionnaires, YouThink and Expert Opinion. Register with everyone at once, you will be able to withdraw more money. The surveys are often the same.
Boring? Watch videos and earn money Do you like watching videos on YouTube? Repost, retweet, like? You can do all this for a small fee. Here is one of such sites - qcomment.ru The prices are low, so you don’t have to work too hard.
Wash things Believe me, you will thank yourself for doing the laundry. And a mountain of dirty laundry can be boring in itself.
Declutter your email Declutter your email. Unsubscribe from unread mailings, respond to unanswered but important letters.
Cook something Look in the refrigerator and, armed with a culinary website, build a masterpiece, or just a tasty and healthy lunch. It feels good for yourself and your loved ones.
Get a manicure You can do it at home, or you can go to a beauty salon. Either way, it's better to be bored with perfect nails
Do exercises. Accelerate blood throughout the body, raise your tone.
Get a new hairstyle or haircut. The new look will invigorate you and keep you entertained for a while. And going to your hairdresser itself is a whole small event. Well, finding a new salon or hairdresser is an adventure, because finding a real master is not so easy
Change the scenery Change the space around you - move the furniture or at least change the pillows on your sofa.
Gym or fitness Pull yourself together, pack your backpack or sports bag and go to the gym. A hard workout or light cardio will do the trick and boredom will go away.

If you don’t go to the gym, it doesn’t matter, there are one-time classes, just go to the gym, and then you’ll figure out whether you like it or not.
Read a Book I'm sure you can find a book lying around somewhere that you haven't read yet. Just read the first chapter. Well, or look at the top ten books on this site. Something you'll definitely like.
Call a Friend Call old friends you haven't talked to in ages or just leave them a voicemail.
Create your resume Even if you are not looking for a job, just write about yourself and how good you are. It will perfectly lift your spirits.
Remember your loved ones How about Send a card to your grandparents
Take up drawing If you don't know how, it doesn't matter, there are excellent courses for beginners here. But you will never again have to think about what to give someone for their birthday. Draw his portrait or caricature from a photo, and you’re done.
Warm up Just warm up - stretch. Give your muscles tone and feel the energy in your body.
Take a bath Pamper your body with sea salt and foam. Make delicious tea according to your taste. You may not be able to have fun, but you can definitely relax
Meditation Download the app to your phone and test yourself how long you can concentrate on your breathing and heart rate. Learn more about your body, soul and head.
New horizons Start learning something. This can be either short courses on how to properly cook barbecue, or life-long courses - English, for example.
Solve a crossword or scanword. Are you used to solving crossword puzzles in the newspaper with a pen in your hands? There are a lot of sites that offer online scanwords.
Dream list Create lists of: - goals you want to achieve, - what kind of partner you would like to have next to you, - places you would like to visit, - things you want to buy.
Poems Try writing a poem. Suddenly you discover your talent. No desire to create? Read other people's creations
Cocktails Create a new cocktail, buy the ingredients and treat your friends to it.
Party And it’s not a sin to throw a great party with another cocktail. Why not have a party? Life is too short to be bored.
Healthy sleep Well, if a party is not for you, then you can just go to sleep. If it’s already evening, then you’ll just get enough sleep in the morning and be alert all day. And if it’s daytime, you can just sleep for a couple of hours and renew your vitality.
Wash the windows Look out the window. If you can see through it so-so, it’s time to wash it.
Favorite music How about listening to music stupidly. What if you not only listen to it, but also dance to it? Do you like heavy music? Well, give the neighbors some heat! It definitely won't be boring.
Get stuck on TV What's on TV? There is nothing to watch on the stock channels. Well, what if something catches on?
News Read the news after all. Find out what's going on in the world. How is North Korea without us?
Your blog Start your own corner on the Internet. Learn WordPress and delight the world with your thoughts. Perhaps blogging will make life less boring and you will change your life.
Start a diary There is no desire to understand WordPress. Just keep a diary. Write everything that happens to you, what you think about and what you dream about. Reluctant to write? You can make an audio diary. After a while you re-read it, you will understand that it was not in vain that you took notes. It's really cool to remember your past self.
Culinary masterpiece Prepare something delicious for your loved ones.
Nostalgia Look at your old photos, plunge into the past. I'm sure there was a lot of warmth there.
Video blog Start your own video diary on YouTube. You may not achieve popularity, but in a couple of years you will look at your eccentricities with pleasure.
Postponed tasks Complete a task that has been put off for a long time. Get yourself together and get down to business. At least 15 minutes of work, without being distracted by extraneous noise. You won’t notice how you’ll work for an hour.
Garden of flowers/stones How about creating your own garden? Of course, you most likely do not have free beds. But you have a windowsill, and you can start with a small cactus. Read about the properties of the plant, and you may not notice how your room will change in a short time. A rock garden requires more time to create, but it requires much less maintenance.
Flowers for loved ones Do something nice for the most important people in your life. Send flowers with home delivery to your wife, mother or grandmother.
Tie And learn how to tie a tie. This will be useful in any case if you are a man, but it will also be useful for a girl to know. At weddings, there are fewer and fewer people who know how to tie a tie beautifully.
Neighborhood Study the map: these could be neighboring streets, the outskirts of the city, or even distant countries. Knowledge of geography, you know, is quite a useful thing
Interest groups Look for interest groups in your area. You might be interested in board games, a cutting and sewing course, a karting club or something else.
Organize your cell phone Clean your phone of unused apps and photos. Arrange the application icons on your phone in exactly the order you like.
Massage How about a massage course? You can take courses, or you can watch videos on YouTube. Treat your loved ones with a foot massage.
Go to a restaurant How about going to a new cafe or even restaurant? You can go spontaneously, or you can call your friends, plan the day and book the best table. Even if you get bored with your friends, you can eat something like this
Alcohol Do you have a favorite alcoholic drink? Favorite wine? Learn how it is produced, its features and differences. What snacks are best.
Concert Everyone has a friend who constantly listens to music and is up to date with all the new releases. Ask him for advice on what to listen to and when the next concert is. White your tickets and have a blast!
Yoga Have you tried yoga? Some people twirl it at their temples, while others constantly travel with a mat. Perhaps you should start and the boredom will go away forever. To begin with, you can start breathing correctly. And then see for yourself.
Read also: 100+ examples of limiting beliefs that sit in your head
New Instagram Create an Instagram account for your dog or cat.
A glass of water It may not relieve boredom, but it won’t be superfluous either. It is believed that you need to drink from 30 to 40 grams of water per 1 kg of your weight. That is, if your weight is 65 kg, then you need to drink from 2 to 2.6 liters of water per day.
Figure out your finances Count your money. What are your expenses and income, think about where you can tighten up. Where is there a chance to earn extra money? We have already written about making money on the Internet.
Meditation Try the simplest exercise. Lie down, close your eyes and start breathing through your nose. Try not to think about anything and only fixate “Inhale” - “Exhale”. You can also concentrate on how the air passes through your nostrils. The main task is to return your runaway thoughts to a simple fixation of breathing. It is very difficult in the beginning, but it has been proven over the centuries that constant meditation makes a person more calm, concentrated and purposeful.
Watch the concert videos Here are my favorites, but you are free to choose them to your taste