So here’s what’s been going on, folks: Coronavirus is slowly but surely taking over the world.
In many cases, people’s priorities are shifting from thriving to surviving – and that’s okay.
Different people are being affected at different magnitudes by this thing. Some are self-isolating and loving it. Others are self-isolating and going nuts. Some people are fretting financially. Others are pleased that they are being kept off work.
As has always been my intention with this website, I aim to keep providing you with help, value and resources with the hope of helping you make your life a bit better, day by day. I have already provided a few topics on the Coronavirus which you can find below and no doubt, there will be more to come.
How To Be Productive Working From Home
Positives To Embrace During the Coronavirus
You Control How You Respond to Coronavirus
How to Adapt to Big Changes In Your Life
However, you might be sick of hearing about the Coronavirus for now. Your inbox is probably full of great ways to cope and how to deal with things like worry.
There are far better resources online about the causes, the symptoms, the statistics and whether or not your neighbour Trevor is to be trusted than anything I could ever give you. If you love productivity porn, there are lots of places you can find that (including here). If you hate productivity and life right now, there are places and articles you can read about that too.
So, for a change and a slightly welcome break, here are sixteen ways that you can be unproductive while self-isolating. I’m not even talking about reading a book or cultivating a new hobby, because even they are slightly productive. Today, we’re getting really unproductive.
Productivity is always there when you want it, but these are unprecedented times and you may never get another chance to be purposefully unproductive again.
Enjoy!
Take selfies of yourself using Snapchat filters
Snapchat is simply the best for warping your face, seeing what you would look like as a cowboy, clearing all of your blemishes and giving you huge eyes. Hours of unproductive fun can be spent on Snapchat filters, and sending the results to friends always goes down well.
Stare at yourself in the mirror
Woah is that what you really look like? How about a flex or a pout for the crowd of one? You’ve got this.
Visit pointlesssites.com
The sites to end all unproductive sites. This was a go-to back in my school days when I had 20-minutes or so to spare. Play Spot the Difference, open up Windows 93 or take a Virtual Walk in the Park since, you know, you can’t do that anymore. The unproductive possibilities are endless.
Think about doing something productive, then don’t do it
There are a lot of productive things that you can be doing whilst quarantined. Maybe you could clear out your drawers, tidy the house, read a book, launch the business you have been putting off or even spend time with loved ones.
You can do those things, or you can think about doing those things. The choice is yours.
Stare at the ceiling
There is something seemingly deep and profound about staring at the ceiling. It can sometimes feel like you are the star of a movie where you, the main character, has arrived at a crossroads, carefully contemplating their next steps from the peace and quiet of their own room.
Except it isn’t that deep. It’s a boring and unproductive activity, which is why it has made it onto this list.
Watch and comment on the weather
Presuming you have windows where you are currently locked away, it can be a fun and really unproductive exercise to stare out into the world that you once inhabited.
Maybe it’s sunny, maybe it’s raining, maybe it’s foggy, maybe it’s windy. It doesn’t matter. You can’t experience any of it. Still a good topic to discuss with others though.
Make a list of everything you are going to do once free
Now that you have a lot of time on your hands and a lot of your life has been temporarily taken away from you, it might be a good time to write down everything you are going to do once you are free again.
Going to the pub, watching sports, hugging friends. It’s all coming back, just not yet.
Play Chrome’s hidden dinosaur game
If you have ever been offline and had no internet connection while using Chrome, you might have noticed a little pixelated dinosaur on your screen.
If you click the Spacebar, you are automatically transferred into a game where you control the dinosaur and have to hop over obstacles.
You can play this game when you’re online too by visiting chrome://dino. My high score is a meagre 475, think you can beat it?
Rewatch a YouTube video that you’ve seen before
Everybody has been sucked down the Youtube rabbit hole at least one time in their life. However, there aren’t many more unproductive things to do than to re-watch a video that you have already seen before.
Bonus points for number of times you’ve already seen it and the length of the video.
See what happens if you drink too much coffee
If you have ever wondered what it feels like to surpass your coffee limitations, now might be the ideal time to do so. It probably won’t make you that productive for the rest of the day, which is good.
Have fun but don’t go too overboard with this one.
Use social media to confirm what you already know
If you already know that Coronavirus cases are going up, if you already know what precautions you need to take, if you already know that the situation is probably being managed incompetently from people at the top, it’s best to check social media just to make sure.
Yep, still the same.
Momentarily disturb other family members
Even before self-isolation, this was one of my favourite unproductive activities. Simply get up, stroll into another family’s member’s room and disturb them momentarily. Ask them a weird question, do a funny dance or just stare at them for an uncomfortable period.
You will leave the exchange happier than when you began, and the unproductivity will have spread to them. Two for one.
Go through your Junk mail
It can be a dark place full of terrors or it can be quite a fun place to hang out from time to time. Scams with ridiculous subject lines, newsletters that you forgot that you signed up for years ago (maybe mine?), clothes companies offering you a discount…
It can be a wild one out there, and there’s no better time to see what’s lurking than the present.
Browse the world of GIFs on your phone’s keyboard
Whether you are angry, sad, surprised, confused or seeking a specific reference from The Office, you can guarantee that there are about 1000 GIFs that will have you covered.
If you are feeling particularly unproductive, it might be fun to see just how many good GIFs that there are out there (hint: there’s a lot)
Create an unproductivity list
The best way to procrastinate and be unproductive is to create an unproductivity list for the rest of the world when you probably should be writing a focused and productive article.
The next best thing is to create an unproductivity list for yourself. What will you come up with?
Think of recipes that would never work
Ever had a ham and jam sandwich? Scrambled egg with melted chocolate? What about beetroot flavoured yoghurt?
Me neither, because they would be awful. What other recipes would never work?
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Got any more unproductive ideas for these crazy times? Let everyone know in the comments below, it will be an unproductive use of your time.