What To Do When You've Got Nothing To Do

It’s no fun to be out of work and looking.It’s even worse when you feel like you’ve exhausted your networks and resources…and still nothing.So what do you do with all of your time?This isn’t a “How to Find a Job” post. This is about seeing the opportunity in this season of life that you’d probably prefer not to be in, but seizing it nonetheless.Most of us are more efficient with our time when we are short of it. When we have unwelcome extra time, we tend to squander it. And the trouble is, it becomes a spiral. We have extra time so we see no sense in carefully using it. Boredom usually leads to unhealthy habits (television, negative thinking, giving in to various temptations) and those unhealthy habits lead to guilt and unhappiness. Depression is often a byproduct of the combination of the loss of something (work), discouragement over not achieving goals (finding work), guilt over unhealthy habits that have been established, and the unsettled feeling of having little structure.So what do you do? Here are a few helpful suggestions.

• Establish order in your life. Keep a written schedule for each day. Get up early and make yourself presentable even if you have no plans. Go to bed at the same time at night. Eat healthy meals at consistent times. Write everything down and keep yourself on track. You’ll be surprised by the difference this one little step will make.
• Don’t digress into an escape. We all try to escape an unpleasant reality in some way. For many, its television. For others, its sleeping during the day (not healthy), or hours of internet use (porn or other), substance abuse, even wallowing in self-pity. None of these will help you solve your problem, and in fact, will serve as barriers to finding a solution.
• Read. Keep the TV off and the DVDs in their sleeves (except on the rare occasions of watching with others). Learn to be a reader. If you don't like to read, read anyway. You will learn to like it. (Contact me for some book suggestions.) Readers do better in life. They just do. Smart people read. Not because they are smart, but they are smart because they read. Set aside two hours a day for reading (you can take it from TV time).
• Better yourself. Learn a second language. Yes, you can :-). Take a free class offered at the library or area community college. (Google "free classes” in your city.)
• Volunteer. There are plenty of good charitable organizations that need help. Hospitals, schools, libraries, churches, civic groups, even some local zoos! Not only will this become a good use of time and an outlet for you, it may lead to a job through an additional network.
• Find someone in a worse situation than you and become a friend. If you pray about this, God will lead you to just the person who needs you. There’s something about caring for others that gets our minds off our own troubles.

This season will not last forever. When it’s over, you will want to look back with satisfaction over what you did with it. The time to determine that is now.