ProcrastiN8 Ways to Spend Your Time During the COVID-19 Quarantine

We’re here in the middle of a viral outbreak, forced to shut ourselves in isolation in order to prevent the spread of infection.

Of course, us procrastinators are natural survivalists in this pandemic. Our lifestyle is quarantine.






Meanwhile, you got morons  protesting out on the streets shouting:


“Gimme muh freedom! This is ‘murica.”


Look, just because you're stuck inside your house doesn’t mean you have to be stuck inside your own head.

Humble yourself a bit and put your Ego to the side, man. We’re in this together. Relax and abide.

Placing your own personal “freedom” above the lives of other human beings is selfish. There are people literally wielding signs that say “sacrifice the weak”. That’s like a phrase a super villain has framed on his desk.





Look, man, I get it. We have no choice but to stay inside all day. And even us lazy procrastinators start to feel some symptoms. No, not from COVID, but from cabin fever!

Cabin fever can make us rather irritable and agitated by the fact that we can’t easily “break free” from this isolation indoors. But look, you don’t need to leave your house to have freedom. There are plenty of choices to make, plenty of opportunities to take within the comforts of your own home. The modern home is basically an indoor arcade.

The couch is your ultimate ship for adventure. After all, freedom is a state of mind and it can be achieved by embracing your laziness. Today we’re gonna go over some of the things you can do to avoid boredom during quarantine and feel that sense of freedom once again.

Establish for yourself a (lazy ass) routine by putting together a set series of tasks to do, whether it’s productive or not. This gives you purpose, structure, and balance. Here are some of the things you can choose to add to your “on-the-couch” routine during quarantine or otherwise.














1. Play video games

Beyond blowing off some steam, video games provide a call to adventure (outside your home) as well as the opportunity to “level up” IRL skills.





Go on an adventure

You want to travel to a new land? Get out in the great outdoors?

Video games are your ticket. From frosty mountains to western hot deserts to beautiful green forests to deep underwater cities. Any outdoor environment you’d ever want to explore can be found from the comforts of your couch -- virtually.

You can even build and visit theme parks -- ride roller coasters, eat popcorn,play carnival games.

You can go skateboarding, snowboarding (even in the summer!), ride dirt bikes, go water skiing, play football, or whatever you want. If it exists, there’s probably a game for it.

 If you’re sick of being home, and want to “go out”, pick up a controller and journey to any place you want to go, do whatever activity you want.

Plus, VR opens up a whole new level of realism to this experience and you can really feel like you’re “actually there”.

The possibilities are nearly endless, especially when you can create custom maps to explore. So head on out there and adventure! (....from your couch)



Practice problem-solving skills

Most games have some sort of puzzle solving element to them. You have to use your logic, reasoning, and critical thinking skills  to figure out how to progress in the game.

Some “puzzle” games are even purposefully designed to give players one intellectual challenge after the other, becoming increasingly more difficult. 

This levels up your Intelligence state IRL.





Improve your hand-eye coordination

Quick reflexes are necessary to beat the most competitive players online or even the hardest AI. You need to have your timing down to a pat if you want to beat that grueling boss or jump past that crazy series of complex platforms and traps.

By playing a fast-paced action game, platformer, or shooter, you’re increasing your motor skills and ability to react to the world “around you”. This makes you more aware of your surroundings and handle movements with poise and grace.

“If you can dodge a Bullet Bill, you can dodge a ball”





Develop strong decision making skills
Decisions, decisions. A lot of games now have an “RPG element”, allowing you to choose your own path in creating a character.

Do you level up your character's defensive abilities and become a walking tank with no real damage output?

Or maybe you focus on offensive skills and lack any sort of endurance, becoming a “glass cannon.

Or maybe you create a more well-rounded character.

The choice is yours.

So too do you get to “create your own character” IRL, but video games are a great place to start in realizing that the small choices you make have an impact to the overall “build” of your character. You choose who you become in “the end game.”

Likewise, some games, like Mass Effect, Fallout, & Elder Scrolls, the Walking Dead Telltale (to name just a very few notorious ones) offer moral choices. This has you weighing the pros and cons of decisions, choosing who to make friends with, who to make enemies with, and maybe even who gets to live and who gets to die.

This really test your strength of character.

Also you can play out “what if” scenarios,making an entirely different decision, something you can’t do in reality, so that’s fun too.




Learn how to set goals and achieve them

Of course, the most awesome thing about video games (and the thing that keeps me coming back for more) is that sense of achievement.  Nothing feels better than finally, finally, FINALLY getting that piece of equipment you always wanted or earning that trophy you always sought after or unlocking that super secret area that took a whole collection log of items to get.

Earning 99s in RuneScape inspired me to “level up” my life. But you can apply that same principle to any game, really. If you can earn “in-game” achievements, you can earn real ones as well if you’re determined enough.
















2. Binge watch

You can either be entertained by or learn from all the different shows available on the countless number of streaming services and apps.



From Tigers to Zombies to Meth-selling science teachers (oh my), there’s pretty much a show that hits every single little niche out there or tells a fascinating story in a setting that might capture your interest.

Plus, it gives you the ability to escape our COVID crisis reality for a bit and live in and experience the fantasy of another world. This can help you cope with the stress and anxiety you might be feeling by simply taking your mind off things.

Documentaries are cool too because they’re basically research papers read to you, complete with visuals and dramatic music. It’s a lazy way to learn new shit.

Oh and don’t get me started on climbing down the rabbit hole of YouTube. Start with a random search term and keep watching related videos. You’ll find yourself in a weird, yet somehow engaging, part of the Interwebs.


















3. Learn a new skill


Speaking of leveling up IRL, what better way to “level up your skills” than to well, actually learn one?




From playing an instrument to juggling to doing karate to dancing, there’s a YouTube video out there to show you the “How To”. YouTube is actually a great source for instruction videos and best of all, it’s free, and I like free.

There are “premium” courses you can pay for, of course on sites like Udemy and MasterClass.
MasterClass offers unlimited courses on an annual subscription basis; they include A list celebrities teaching their craft, like R.L. Stine teaches writing, Neil DeeGrsse Tyson teaches scientific thinking and communication, and Gordan Ramsety teaches cooking to name a few. It’s an amazing site for learning the ropes from experts who “made it”.

Pick something you’ve always secretly (or not so secretly) wanted to try and learn and take your time to actually do it. Go slow n’ steady. Enjoy the progress. You won’t become an expert overnight, but you can and will eventually with enough patience and persistence, the roots of procrastination.

Remember, there’s a difference between “sucking” at something and “being a beginner”. Accept the fact that you’re an idiot and be willing to learn a new skill or two. Become a Jack of Trades, master of none (besides procrastinating).

Plus, there are apps that allow you to “gamify” your productivity and learning progress and turns practice into a fun adventure.











4. Read

Reading is a great way to discover the world that exists outside of your house, especially during quarantine. You can visit different cities, countries, planets, and even entirely new galaxies all while curled up with a good book on your couch.


You can view nature and observe the small intricacies of it. You can be bold and head off on a new adventure.

 It puts you in the world of imagination.

I’ve always been a bit of a book nerd. I was that kid in high school reading during lunch instead of talking with mates. It’s relaxing, damnit.

Somehow discovering the perspective of successful people or diving into a fantasy realm is one of the most therapeutic things to do while isolated in a pandemic or just in general. You open up the theater of the mind.

The downside of reading is that in order to read, that’s basically the only thing you can do. It requires your full undivided attention to understand the words on the page. We’re so used to looking at our phones, computers, TV screens, getting distracted, jumping from one thing to another, that sitting down to just read can seem like a snoozefest. 

Personally, my attention span has definitely decreased over the years. I used to read about a book a day, but now I just don’t have that attention span any more.

Fortunately, audio books are a lazy man’s dream because they do the reading for you. No longer do you have to sit there with full focus. You can be doing other things while quote on quote “reading”. Plus, you can even increase the playback speed in order to read two or three times faster than someone who actually takes the time to read the old fashioned way.

And if you’re not in the mood for any sort of book, audio or otherwise, you can always dig yourself in the rabbit hole of Wikipedia by starting with a random word.














5. Write

Writing gives you the opportunity to record your thoughts in the physical realm. You take what’s inside your head and put it outside.




The key to good writing is to just write. A lot of times we attempt to edit while we write, and this makes the whole process a lot harder than it needs to be. Get your thoughts on paper (or in a word doc). Then edit the procrastinator way...later.

What do you write about? Whatever you want, man. Your thoughts, your feelings, your interests. A better question to ask yourself is: What are you thinking about?

Write about what those thoughts are. Write about what’s important to you. Write about what you actually give a fuck about. This isn’t a graded term paper. You aren’t given a certain guideline to follow. Just go with the flow and let the words run from your mind to the tip of your pen.

It doesn’t need to make sense or be grammatically correct. Not right away anyway. Coherence and clarity is achieved after the initial writing

As lame as it might sound, journaling is actually a good way to “practice” writing and get in that flow.

This will help you discover your “voice” in writing. This is what your writing “sounds like” or “reads like,” more accurately stated. It’s just as unique as your own speaking voice, with a special unique cadence to it.

Good writing has a strong voice, one that’s present. The more you are aware of your voice, the more you can fully flesh it out and create good writing.

I always encourage you to monetize what you write (or what you do in general for that matter)
If you’re writing comments on a blog or social media. Guess what? You are writing. Not only are you writing but you are writing completely original content. Content that you could be monetizing the shit out of by publishing it to a blog.

You could take your thoughts and maybe use it as inspiration to create a character. Write a short story or go balls deep and write a whole novel. It doesn’t matter what the end game is. Just get those words out of your head.

I’m writing a book one blog at a time by putting my thoughts out there.















6. Podcasting

I say the act of “podcasting” because there are essentially two different camps here: listening and recording.



Listening to podcasts, like audiobooks, is a Lazy Man’s dream. You can learn about a niche, get informed with the news, and discover insight from experts all while you’re taking a shower or playing video games. Nice.
There’s literally a podcast about anything and everything. I was listening to one about two player board games, two players specifically. That’s how narrowed down in the niche these shows can get.

And plus, listening to podcasts can give you the illusion that you’re surrounded by friends having a conversation -- great way to feel social while social distancing.

Like writing, recording a podcast gets your thoughts out there in the real world and allows you to spark a conversation. Podcast at its roots is radio and radio is a conversation.

 You want to talk “to” your listeners and not “at” them. When you turn on the mic and hit record, you’re talking to ONE person. Just one. Picture them and imagine talking to them. This creates an intimate environment. That same feeling of “being surrounded by friends” you get while listening is the same feeling you want to inspire when you’re talking on your podcast.

Talk about what you know and what you’re interested in. Both of these ingredients are necessary for the recipe of a “good” podcast. If you know a lot about something but aren’t really interested in it, you’ll come across as boring. And if you are really interested in something but don’t know very much, well then you just sound like a dumb ass.

Fortunately, that’s where interviews come into play. Interviews let you have other people share their knowledge in which you lack, making you both look smart.

In this way, you can make your own podcast a bit of a “learning journey” for both yourself and your listeners. Minimizing effort, maximizing results.













7. Do nothing aka “meditate”

Meditation is just a fancy schmancy word for “the art of doing nothing.”







Seriously.

All these gurus and meditation “experts” claim to teach you the “secret technique” to relax and put your mind at ease.

There’s nothing to be an expert in. There’s no “secret knowledge”. You’re doing nothing. Literally. That’s what meditation is at its core.

You think nothing. Feel nothing. Do nothing. And just live fully in and experience the present.

You remove the distracting thoughts -- the worries, the regrets, the hopes, the fears and just focus on “being”. You sit there and be...nothing.
Meditation grants you the epiphany that shit doesn’t matter. There’s no reason to attach yourself to anything because in the end, it’s all nothing. All that exists, all that’s meant to be is right here, right now.

Let go of your attachments to others. Let go of your attachment to things. Just let it all go, until you’re left with...nothing.

Embrace that Laziness. Do nothing.

This gives you a sense of living, of fulfillment. It creates a peace of mind. It allows you to discover who you are, without definitions, without words. 

It allows you to be Lazy and not just call yourself Lazy. it allows you to be you, without using titles or adjectives.

If you’re searching for something to do during quarantine, then do nothing. Meditate. 



















8. Make money from the couch

Ah, the real meat and potatoes of the procrastin8r lifestyle. After all, you gotta be able to support your laziness. Don’t just be lazy. Get away with it!



Of course, right now laziness is not the only inspiration to start making money from home.A lot of people are being laid off from their 9 to 5 jobs. The unemployment rate is soaring right now. People are wondering “How do you make money from home?”

There are several ways to make money online, from the comforts of your couch.

You can monetize your writings, monetize your podcast recordings. Monetize your content. Create content and post ads or find sponsors.

You can do freelance gigs with one of the skills you learned during all this free time in quarantine.

You can learn how to invest in the crypto or stock market, which quite frankly is a good time to get into. Since it’s in a bit of a dip, you’re gonna be able to buy low and sell high (the fundamental principle of profiting with investments). Remember to invest with your money, not your emotions.

You can do micro tasks like take surveys or enter information.


This is just to name a few possibilities.The methods are out there. You just have to take advantage of them. Just cause you don’t have a job doesn’t mean 

You could even be a Lazy Entrepreneur and put together a business to launch after this whole virus thing blows over. Create a business that makes money for you; don’t create another job that replaces your old job.








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As you can see, there are plenty of options to choose from, even while “locked down” in isolation during COVID-19’s wrath. You still have a lot of freedom and if you don’t see that, you’re trapped in your own mind, not your own house.

And by the way, speaking of options, you can always sleep. But that’s pretty much a given and isn’t even worth putting on the list.

Do what you want, man. Just because you can’t go outside doesn’t mean you have to feel “stuck” anywhere. Keep on moving slow n’ steady.

We’ll get out of this sooner or later.

Take it easy,

N8


Is there anything you do during quarantine? Share it in the comments below.
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