The best way to pass the time when you’re bored is learning a new skill. But sometimes it’s hard to find a skill you can learn in a short enough amount of time without losing interest or motivation. Here are three awesome skills you can learn in 15 minutes or less to pass the time.
Learn to draw cartoon characters.
While stuck in quarantine a couple weeks ago, I was browsing TED talks on YouTube. I find TED talks are a great way for me to learn new ideas or hear cool stories in fairly short amounts of time. I don’t remember what I was looking for specifically, or what I had watched prior, but suddenly the video with the title “Why people believe they can’t draw – and how to prove they can ” caught my eye. I’ve doodled over the years, as everyone has, but had never devoted much time to it. Immediately, however, I wanted nothing more than to have this balding man in the thumbnail teach me to draw in the 15 minutes that this video lasted.
I highly recommend clicking the link above and following along. It’s immensely satisfying to create characters and see that these very simple yet entertaining characters come together on your paper where before you were lucky to draw a square that wasn’t too badly lopsided.
I’ll admit, he only really teaches you to draw characters from the shoulder down, facing one direction, and well… that’s about it. But that doesn’t matter! It’s a starting point if you want to explore this further. If not, then it’s just a really cool and simple skill to accomplish.
Learn how to put together a beautiful and full bouquet.
I’ve lived in many locations where wildflowers grew on or near my family’s property. I’ve always loved flowers and bouquets, but mine never looked anywhere near as good as professional ones. They always ended up lopsided, even when I thought I’d chosen good flower combinations.
I found this short video, which reveals not only how you can keep your bouquets even and full, but also shows you how you can wrap them and keep them hydrated if you don’t happen to have a suitable vase on hand, or wish to give it to someone. This is a skill you can learn in less than two minutes in the video, and depending on whether you have the supplies on hand, will likely take you 15 minutes or less to master.
Learn how to knit a scarf or a bookmark with a pair of pencils.
I first learned how to knit at a few different craft fairs I attended as a young girl. Of course not everyone has a local craft fair they can pop in to and learn to knit on your average Tuesday evening. Luckily, Youtube comes to the rescue.
This video shows you how to knit with just a couple of pencils and a ball of yarn. It’s a very simple process which doesn’t take too long to learn, and by the end of it you’ll have a scarf (if you’re patient and have a lot of yarn), a bookmark, a coaster, or a pot trivet!
Once you’ve knitted your masterpiece to your desired size, use this video to get your work off the needles (or pencils) and ready to use! This is a great skill to learn so you can make gifts and keep your hands busy while watching TV or listening to a podcast.
Next time you’re bored, try learning one of these skills (or all of them) and see how it goes! Comment below your favorite, let us know how it went if you tried any, and leave your favorite quick skill.