Useful Things To Do (When You Have Nothing To Do)

If you suddenly find yourself with nothing to do (firstly, lucky you, I crave a bit of “I have nothing to do” time), there are plenty of useful things that you can do for your own personal development and to help your business and/or blog to grow and thrive.

1. SCHEDULE YOUR MONTH

If you are anything like me, being organised is a priority. So why not grab your planner, a cup of tea and sit somewhere nice and schedule your month. You can plan your appointments, when you will be going to the gym (because health is important!), when you will spend time with friends and family and you can even use this time to schedule your blog posts and social media posts. Remember to schedule a little “me” time. Taking some time out to schedule your week as a whole is a great way to ensure you are living a balanced life.

2. TAKE A COURSE AND HONE YOUR SKILLS

Downtime is the perfect time to take a course, practice what you know or hone your skills or learn something completely new and be inspired by the possibilities it opens up for you. I recommend Skillshare for short courses on a huge range of topics. The classes are taught by industry professionals that have real life experience in the field. Some of my favourite courses include: Pattern Design by Elizabeth Olwen, Icon Design by Adam Whitecroft, and anything by Katie Rodgers, but particularly her Fashion Illustration course.

3. BATCH EDIT YOUR INSTAGRAM PHOTOS

Another great way to use your downtime is to batch edit images for your Instagram. Doing this as a batch processed task is great because you can make sure you are being consistent with your images and the overall theme of your Instagram account, and it saves time in the long run too! Not sure how to edit your images? Use this infographic guide full of Instagram stats to help you decide.

4. RE-EVALUATE YOUR GOALS

Taking time out to really look at your goals and evaluate how you’re doing is a really useful thing to do with your downtime. Identify what you have been doing successful and what you have been less successful at achieving. You may even find that some of your goals are no longer as important to you or perhaps your circumstances have shifted and new goals have popped up that really need your attention. Once you have identified what you want to achieve, set actionable steps to meet each of your goals. This could mean conducting research, planning out work schedules and aligning your day-to-day activities with your goals in the form of strategies to help you achieve!

5. UPDATE YOUR WEBSITE

When you have nothing to do, there is absolutely always something to do on your website. Consider updating your About Page or your blog Sidebar and really use these under-utilised spaces to engage your readers. Double check your bio and contact details and check that all you social media links are still relevant and taking your readers to the right places. Consider also updating your photography and design elements on your website. Or perhaps you could go all out and give your website a complete makeover with a new pre-made theme!

6. WRITE TO PAST CLIENTS AND TOUCH BASE

A fantastic thing to do with your spare time is to write to your past clients and touch base. If you find that your spare time falls before Christmas, New Year or any other major holiday/celebration, consider writing your past clients greetings cards. Otherwise, send through an email and ask how everything is going. Make sure you check their social media and website first to see if anything major has been happening in their business and if so, this gives you a great chance to offer congratulations, words of support and assistance if necessary.