Read one of those books you own that you haven’t read.
Reread a book you’ve already read.
Visit a library and rent some books or documentaries.
Go to a bookstore and read an entire book without buying it.
Try reading some poetry out loud or listen to someone else read it on YouTube.
Knock on random doors in your neighborhood just to introduce yourself and get to know your neighbors.
Walk door to door and try to convince people to sign up for Netflix. Tell them you’re not making any money from it, but you just think they’d love it.
Skype with a friend or someone you don’t even know in real life.
Go to a drive-thru restaurant but don’t buy anything for yourself. Instead, when you get to the speaker, say that you just want to pay for the order behind you. (And then actually pay for it of course.)
Convince a friend to get on Facebook and walk them through the steps to get started.
Join Twitter and follow your favorite news outlets, celebrities, bloggers, and friends.
Leave 10 comments on 10 different blogs.
Find a new blog you like through social sites like StumbleUpon and Delicious, the comments of another blog, or by asking your friends what they like to read.
Write an ebook on something you’re interested in and share it with everyone you know.
Make a list of 10 interesting questions that can each be answered in one sentence and then survey random people at a shopping mall or on a busy street corner.
Try to contact and get a response from someone super successful.
Research a random topic on Wikipedia. (Keep clicking it until you find something that’s interesting to you.)
Try to make a new type of food. If you don’t have a cookbook, try the Internet.
Attend a club meeting as a visitor. Pick a club you might be interested in joining, even if you doubt you ever will. (Like a speech club or a hot air balloon club, something like that.)
Listen to music, especially if you can find some new music like through Pandora or through what your friends list on their Facebook accounts.
Listen to some live music. Try restaurants, festivals, or universities for free or inexpensive options.
Invite a friend to your place.
Invite someone over who has never been over before.
Come up with 10 decent jokes you can tell. Look on the Internet if you need help to start out. Memorize the jokes and keep them ready all the time for whenever funny would be funny.
Write a list of reasons you’re thankful. Shoot for 1,000 items.
Learn to type faster. Take an online speed test to get a baseline and then work to improve your score.
Switch your email to Gmail.
Create a budget.
Set up an automated investment account, like through Vanguard.
Track everything you do in a day by jotting down what time it is each time you change activities throughout the day.
Drink a tall glass of water.
Practice speaking with an interesting accent.
Write a dialogue. Just make something up, whether it’s something that could have occurred between you and a friend or whether it’s between two totally fictional characters.
Write down a story you’d like to pass on to your children and your grandchildren.
Play a game online, like chess.
Practice your smile in the mirror. Try to make your on-demand smile look as genuine as your spontaneous smile. (Hint: it’s all in the eyes.)
Make up 10 words, words you might actually be able to use.
Write out your life philosophy or a mission statement. Don’t worry about it being permanent. Just make something that works for now, something you can revise later.
Come up with the three words that best describe who you are.
Email your friends and ask them to tell you one thing they like about you and one thing they think you could improve.
Call and tell a friend one reason you admire him or her. Say something like, “I was thinking about you just now, and I know this sounds a little weird, but I don’t think I’ve ever told you this. One reason I really admire you is because…”
Walk into a tall office building and try to ride an elevator to the top floor.
Watch a movie series all in one sitting. Some possible examples: Bourne, The Matrix, Star Wars, The Lord of the Rings. Invite friends.
Try to draw a picture of your hand with all the details.
Write a letter to yourself or someone else to be read 20 years in the future.
Send someone a Thank You note.
Write a one sentence description of each year of your life.
Eat a whole pie in one sitting.
Buy some of that temporary, spray-on coloring and give yourself some green hair for an evening out.
Bake something: cookies, bread, a cake, whatever.
Memorize the multiplication table for the 13’s.
Count backward by sevens, starting at 777.
Play word association, where you think of any random word, come up with a another word that’s somehow related to that word, and then repeat the process over and over again.
Make a piece of art out of a pack of Post-It notes.
Send a “letter to the editor” replying to a magazine article.
Try to start a fire without matches or a lighter.
Sell some of your junk on eBay or Craigslist, in your driveway, or just door to door.
