When we’re not working and don’t have any appointments to attend, this is called ‘spare time’. Some people feel as if they don’t get any of it, but remember; you get the same amount of hours in the day as Beyonce. She has a husband, a toddler, and a career as an international superstar. If she can take care of all her business, you can take care of yours.

Here are 13 productive things you can fill your spare time with, so you know you’re doing something useful. You only get once life, so don’t waste it!

1. Learn Another Language

Learning another language is a great skill to have. Not only is it extremely satisfying, it’s also a brilliant skill to put on your resume. You instantly become more marketable with another language. At the very least, you can impress people with your skills.

2. Learn to Play An Instrument

Playing an instrument is another great skill to have. Your family, friends, and acquaintances are sure to find it impressive, and you can play along to your favourite songs. Who knows, you could even forge a career out of playing your instrument by joining bands or getting a record deal! It could happen.

3. Start a Blog

Do you feel as if you have a lot to say? Start a blog. You can write about anything your heart desires, from fashion to sports. Think of Perez Hilton; he started his celebrity gossip blog and now he’s a celebrity himself. The best bloggers always become well known; Zoella is another blogger everybody has heard of. Start your own blog and not only will you have somewhere to share your thoughts and feelings, you could make some money.

4. Re-write Your Resume

Take a long, hard look at your resume. Is it lacking in something? Do you have skills to add? Even if you aren’t looking for another job, re-writing your resume could be useful.

5. Delete People off Facebook

This might not seem ‘productive’, but I know many people who have people on Facebook who they’ve never even met in real life. This means their news feed is being clogged up with the lives of people who they don’t even care about! Going on a deleting spree can be extremely satisfying, and you’ll only see information about people who you know.

6. Train Your Brain

Keeping our brains healthy is a must, so try some brain training to keep yours in tip top condition. You can do this with crossword puzzles, jigsaws, sudoku; your options are endless. Sound good? If you’re bored, check this out. It’ll have what you need. You’ll fight off brain illnesses such as Alzheimer’s and Dementia effectively with brain training!

7. Clean Up

Take a long, hard look around yourself. Do you need to clean up? Are things out of their rightful place? Is dust accumulating on every surface? Have a clean up. Cleaning the home is essential to our health and well being. Allowing it to get too dirty will only make us procrastinate further, and could even lead to illness. It doesn’t need to take long; I know people who can do their whole house in around an hour. You’ll get some exercise as you do it too!

8. Work Out

You’re bored? You have a few hours in between appointments? Why not work out!? Humans were built to work out. Our bodies should not be sat behind a stuffy desk day in day out. They should move, stretch, and sweat! Think about it; way back when we were monkey type things, we would have had to catch our own food, and run away from predators ourselves. This would have been our natural work out. We don’t need to do this nowadays, which is why so many humans are overweight and unhealthy. Working out will not only help us to manage our weight, it’ll make our bodies look better and fight off illness. We’ll stay younger, happier, and healthier for longer. You can easily get a great work out done in 30 minutes or less too!

9. Clear Out

I bet you have a ton of things you don’t use, want, or need. Have a clear out. Go through every draw, cupboard, and storage space. Be ruthless! Take a black bin bag with you and fill it up as you go along. You can then give this stuff to charity, sell it on eBay, or give it to somebody you know.

10. Volunteer for Charity

Volunteering for charity should give you a warm, fuzzy feeling inside. They need all the help they can get, and you get a sense of well being. It also looks good on a resume. You could help dish out food to the homeless, for instance.

11. Prep Tomorrows Meals

Prepping meals seems pointless to some, but why not if you have spare time? This means you have more time to enjoy the meal the next day, and you don’t need to worry about what you’re going to eat. This makes it much easier to be a healthy individual with good eating habits. No starving then binging for you!

12. Meditate

This may seem as if you’re doing nothing, but what you’re actually doing is clearing your mind and saying goodbye to stress. This is essential if you want to function properly day to day and stay healthy mentally. Ally you need to do is find somewhere quiet and comfortable to meditate. You could even play relaxing music, if you like. Meditation is a productive activity, no matter what anybody else tells you!

13. See Your Family and Friends

Seeing family and friends is another activity important for our mental health. Humans are social creatures, and need social interaction to thrive. Make time for your family and friends in your spare time and you should feel much happier in general.

Now when you have spare time, you have no excuse for wasting it. You can do one of the above 13 things and feel smug that you’ve taken care of business. Beyonce who?

Thanks to Joseph Choi for the picture