How to Stay Busy as a Teenager (10 Tips That Work!)

Stuck in bed watching Netflix all day? Had enough? With these 10 tips, you’ll know exactly how to stay busy as a teenager!

Staying busy is extremely important. It’s what keeps us all from going crazy and stops our instincts from making us lazy.

Before we get into the 10 tips, let’s start with why it’s even important in the first place…

Why You Should Stay Busy as a Teenager

Boredom leads to laziness. I’m sure you’ve experienced that at some point in your life.

Staying busy as a teenager comes with many benefits:

• Improved emotions (more positive)
• Stronger work ethic
• Higher motivation
• Distraction from negative thoughts
• Building better habits in the future
• Higher success rate overall

As you can see, being busy is not just so you can say you’re busy or to make you feel more important. These are real benefits that you can take advantage of as a teen!

Set Goals

The only way to truly stay occupied is by having some sort of goals in place.

Setting goals will motivate you to work towards them which, in turn, will make you a lot busier. Here’s what you can do right now…

1. Write down 10 things you want to accomplish this year
2. Divide those 10 things up into 5 smaller goals each
3. Create a monthly plan to tackle those goals
4. Check off those tasks as you complete them
5. Aim to finish all 10 big goals by the end of the year

It never hurts to break things up into pieces and start small. I understand that it’s not easy to suddenly go from being lazy all day to being extremely busy.

Some of us have smaller batteries than others and that’s okay! As long as you’re working towards something, that’s all that matters right now.

Related Post: How to be a Successful Teenager

Have a Schedule

How can you do things within your day if you don’t even know what you’re supposed to do?

This is where you need a schedule to help you figure that out and organize your day properly. Here’s how you can create a daily schedule:

• Write down your daily plans the night before
• Create at least 5 things to do
• Categories them by time and priority
• Check things off as you complete them

Getting a planner can really help you organize your daily schedule as well as keep everything in one place.

Additionally, you can always use your phone to help you set reminders and stay on task with calendar and notes apps.

Create a Daily Routine

A daily routine for teenage guys and girls is extremely important to stay busy as a teenager. You may be wondering how this is different from your schedule…

A daily routine is something that is always implemented into your schedule no matter what, whereas a schedule helps you add new tasks to get done everyday.

Here are some things to include in your daily routine:

• Morning routine (brushing teeth, doing hair, eating breakfast, meditating, etc.)
• School routine (set aside certain hours to do homework/attend class)
• After school routine (time for hobbies, free time, relaxing, finishing up homework)
• Night Routine (shower, take off make-up, wash up, avoid electronics, etc.)
• Set a specific time to go to sleep and wake up

Everyone will have a different routine. The main point is to make sure that you truly follow it everyday and turn it into a habit.

Related Post: 18 Things to Do When You Turn 18

Set a Limit

Think of the reasons you might be feeling lazy and the things that are helping you stay lazy.

If the biggest factors are using Netflix, Youtube, and Tik Tok, set a time limit for how long you can use each of those apps.

You’ll see a huge difference in your life when you’re forced to find something to do other than use your phone or computer!

Don’t get me wrong, it’s totally fine to set aside time for those things (if anything, it’s important for staying happy if you truly enjoy them). As long as you’re setting aside a specific amount of time and following it, that’s all that matters.

Get rid of the distractions that keep you from getting busy and you’ll be on your way to a healthier lifestyle!

Make Time for Friends

Making time for friends is an excellent way to stay busy as a teenager while also enjoying quality time.

Keep in mind, this doesn’t mean you have to see them in person (although it’s better that way).

Any way you can make it work is great. Even if it’s by playing video games together, talking over FaceTime, or doing homework with each other!

Interacting with more people everyday will usually lead to having more plans, getting more creative, and ultimately being busier.

Set aside a certain amount of hours each week that you actively try to make plans with others.

Related Post: How to Manage Online Classes

Make a Running List of Things to Do

When you have no school work, real work, or anything else left to do, sometimes it’s good to just have some fun and stay occupied.

In your phone’s notes app, make a list of things to do for fun that are easily accessible and that you can always add to when you think of something new.

Here are 30 things to do to stay busy as a teenager:

1. Hike
2. Sell old clothing
3. Go thrifting
4. Visit extended family
5. Watch a new movie
6. Go to the gym
7. Update your music playlist (make new ones)
8. Do a long face care routine
9. Treat yourself to something nice
10. Stretch (work on flexibility)
11. Learn a new skill on Youtube
12. Solve riddles (find online/Youtube)
13. Go swimming
14. Drive around a new city
15. Cook a nice meal at home
16. Take surveys for money
17. Clean out your closet, drawers, bathroom, etc.)
18. Write your thoughts outside
19. Take your dog to a dog park
20. Shave
21. Clean your shoes
22. Organize your desk space
23. Clean your laptop/phone
24. Get a car wash
25. Start a new TV show
26. Read a book (listen to audio book)
27. Learn more about money (always useful)
28. Take a walk
29. Message old friends
30. Play an instrument/make beats online

You can copy this list down for yourself and continue adding to it based on what you like to do and any other personal preferences!

Get Dressed Everyday

This might sound extremely stupid, because duh… of course you wear clothes everyday.

What I mean by getting dressed everyday, is to actually wear an outfit as if you were going to leave the house for a few hours.

Believe it or not, the type of clothes you wear have an effect on your work ethic when you go about your day.

Staying in your pajamas all day will put you in a mode of relaxation and laziness. Makes sense, doesn’t it?!

Wearing an outfit as if you were going to school might actually keep you out of bed and have you doing all sorts of stuff you didn’t even know you were capable of on a normal day.

Exercise

If you want to know how to stay busy as a teenager everyday, exercise is the one thing you should hang onto in your daily routine.

Working out not only kills an hour of your time, but it also has tons of health benefits such as higher motivation, making you more alert, and working on your overall body health!

All of this in combination with the rest of these tips will help you stay on top of your life no matter what gets in the way.

If you have trouble finding the motivation to start working out, try setting out workout clothes the night before on your desk.

Doing this will incentivize you to put them on the next day and find some sort of exercise to get done while you’re wearing it.

It’s crucial to also set aside time in your schedule (preferably in the morning) where you know you’ll get it done. Make yourself a little workout routine as well so you’re not all over the place.

Related Post: Full Body Workout for Teenagers at Home

Work on Yourself

When we’re bored, we have all the time in the world to do things that many busy people don’t even have time for such as taking care of our mental and physical health.

However, that boredom often leads to laziness, so we don’t end up doing anything at all.

Following your daily routine (as mentioned earlier) it’s crucial to add a section of time to work on yourself. Also known as… “me time”.

Now, “me time” doesn’t mean you lock your door and watch Netflix all day. It needs to be meaningful, so figure out some way to work on yourself.

Here are a few ways to work on yourself:

• Write down how you feel (journal your emotions)
• Take care of your hygiene (don’t skip days!)
• Wake up and go to sleep at the same time everyday (shoot for early)
• Exercise
• Take 10 minutes to close your eyes and take deep breaths
• Take 10 minutes to think about how you can be better

Don’t skip out on these things just because they seem like a waste of time. Believe me, you thank yourself later for it.

Actively Search for Hobbies

Hobbies aren’t always easy to get into. There is one thing that’s for sure… it always starts with an interest.

If you’ve EVER been even slightly interested in some sort of hobby, I highly encourage you to do some research on it and give it a try.

You have to actively look for them though, otherwise they won’t just randomly show up (especially as a teenager).

There are plenty of inexpensive hobbies as well (a lot of them being completely free) so don’t be afraid to look up a long list of hobbies for teenagers and see if you’re interested in them.

You never know, maybe one day that hobby will turn into a real business or side hustle!

Hopefully these 10 tips showed you how to stay busy as a teenager. Remember, it all starts with setting goals and creating a schedule, so do that right now!

If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions leave them down below. Thanks for reading!