What To Do During Quarantine / Social Distancing (Without Sports, etc)

While laughing at memes and trying to stay educated and informed around this Coronavirus thing does pass time, I thought I'd contribute to society with some ideas of other things you could do. Plus, I don't know about you, but I'm getting bored of seeing almost 100% of my Newsfeed talking about COVID-19. I want to see book recommendations, DIY projects, interesting videos and celebrations of completing something. Wouldn't it be great if we could do a bunch of awesome stuff this month (instead of binge-watching Disney+ for the next two weeks)? So, here are some ideas to make some productive use of your time at home to help you feel more rejuvenated.

1. Watch some TEDTalks (click here for my recommendations)
2. Clean out your closet and make a donate pile
3. Use YouTube to learn a new skill, like belly dancing, sign language, how to fold origami, draw cartoon characters, Microsoft Excel skills, or just about anything else you can think of (its not YouTube, but my Microsoft Excel Formuals class is online here)
4. Read a book (or listen to an audio book) (click here for my recommendations)
5. Organize your closet, sock drawer, or other drawers, Marie Kondo-style
6. Write down the resolutions you haven't done for the year yet, make a neat graphic to post it on social media, or make a vision board, do something to commit to them!
7. Get your taxes done!
8. Give yourself a pedicure and/or paint your toe nails
9. Make some artwork with computer graphics and frame it (click here for an idea)
10. Learn to cook a new dish
11. Practice an instrument you've been meaning to play
12. Update your resume or LinkedIn profile (see ideas here)
13. Clean out your garage or another area in your home (or your car!)
14. Build a fort out of all the toilet paper you hoarded (just kidding) - actually, look at what Digital Wellbeing / Screen Time settings your phone has or download a digital wellbeing app to help you monitor and limit the time you spend on distracting apps that help you procrastinate
15. Reach out to a friend you haven't spoken to in a while
16. Review your Credit Score (I use Credit Karma) and retirement savings
17. Start a new class on edX or Coursera
18. Build something out of Legos (google easy Lego creations for some ideas, or check out this Pinterest board for some more ambitious ideas)
19. Stretch and really spend time with it
20. Take a bath and zone out
21. Splurge and order updated checks or address labels (I don't know about you but I didn't update my checks for years! It's kinda fun to have updated checks!)
22. Research the history of your town, stories of hauntings, etc.
23. Draft the TEDTalk you'd give, and practice it
24. Clean out your fridge / pantry / cupboard

Now, if one or more of these sounds like a good idea to you, but you are lacking motivation or having trouble deciding, I have a couple strategies to help you.

If you are having trouble deciding:

I'll assign it for you. Just take your birth month and double the number (i.e. if you're born in July, your number is 14), and then if you're born after the 15th of the month, add 1. Boom! There's your assignment. If you don't like that one, I'll give you one respin: take that number and add the number of the current month (3 for March, for example), and if you go over 24, subtract 24. That's it, that's your assignment. Now go forth and do something!

If you think one of these is a great idea but are having a hard time starting or getting motivated:

I'll borrow a page from Mel Robbins and say, count down from 5 and when you get passed 1, get up and go, start doing it! Close facebook, turn the game off, turn off the show you've been binge-watching, and go now!