I tend to daydream while in this situation but here are some other ideas: meditate, try to train yourself to count seconds accurately (requires a watch or other timepiece to score yourself with), ask yourself the miracle question.
I try to always have a pen and paper and a smartphone with Anki, so it doesn’t happen often. Otherwise, I sometimes recite poetry I’ve memorised years ago (mostly Tolkien, Kipling and Blake).
When my mind is on idle I tend to go into anxiety cycles, which is bad. As such I’ve got into the habit of carrying my smartphone and headphones with me at all times, and playing podcasts and audiobooks continuously, often at double speed.
I also have a mental calming exercise where I go through the integers in order and work out their prime factors (or if they are prime) in my head.
For me, having nothing to do is a luxury. When I find myself in this mode, I take long walks, let my mind drift and think about whatever it feels like (usually it chooses to think about one of my ongoing projects, big unsolvable world-scale problems, future, lack of moral progress, or sex), read long-form stuff (mostly Kindle books on my phone) and generally relax and recharge, assuming that I can find a relatively quiet environment.
What do you do when you have nothing to do? I mean no phone, book, etc.
I like to kill time by just multiplying numbers or trying to ROT-x words, but it’s kinda dull.
Daydreaming is nice.
I tend to daydream while in this situation but here are some other ideas: meditate, try to train yourself to count seconds accurately (requires a watch or other timepiece to score yourself with), ask yourself the miracle question.
Mostly I think about questions and ideas.
If I don’t think I meditate or do something more physical like practicing dance steps.
Think about my coding and/or writing plans for that evening.
Worldbuilding for when I start writing fiction again (one of these days, I swear).
Planning my next week(s) in fractal detail.
Trying to solve a pet decision theory problem. If I don’t have one, I can try to find one.
Doing posture exercises / stretching—or if there’s more space and not too many people, regular exercises.
Daydreaming.
these days I’m often trying to consider the ramifications of x or y in stories I’ve been recently reading.
Introspection is easier without distractions, though less useful without some way of writing notes to my future self.
Debugging/exercising understanding of recently learned/revisited concepts/proofs in math.
Trying to solve problems that interest me in math, decision theory, programming, etc.
Imagining words, pictures, music, scenes.
Quietly listening to my own emotions.
I try to always have a pen and paper and a smartphone with Anki, so it doesn’t happen often. Otherwise, I sometimes recite poetry I’ve memorised years ago (mostly Tolkien, Kipling and Blake).
I buy a new phone, because the only way I get into that situation is if my phone was stolen or broken.
When my mind is on idle I tend to go into anxiety cycles, which is bad. As such I’ve got into the habit of carrying my smartphone and headphones with me at all times, and playing podcasts and audiobooks continuously, often at double speed.
I also have a mental calming exercise where I go through the integers in order and work out their prime factors (or if they are prime) in my head.
For me, having nothing to do is a luxury. When I find myself in this mode, I take long walks, let my mind drift and think about whatever it feels like (usually it chooses to think about one of my ongoing projects, big unsolvable world-scale problems, future, lack of moral progress, or sex), read long-form stuff (mostly Kindle books on my phone) and generally relax and recharge, assuming that I can find a relatively quiet environment.