How and where do you find new ideas/ interests?

I dont know where to find new interests or ideas to make my day that feels productive. Any advice?

I don't have the money to act on it, but I got curious about retail ownership of precious metals. Tons of videos about it on YouTube, and there are local coin shops one can visit and even online retailers. There is a lot of lore and information to discover, and you can even play around with a "paper and pencil portfolio" and follow price changes.

For the last year I've been tinkering with solar power. I bought some cheaper portable solar panels designed for things like camping, and the battery-bank powerstations you can plug those into. Again, there is a ton to research and discover by playing around. While I sure didn't make my money back and never will, it was interesting to see how I could shave my electric bill a bit by moving a few larger appliances over to these powerstations. Even without solar panels they can shift power loads to off-peak billing hours if your power is billed that way.

I could list other things of this nature from casual and cheap to more intensive.

But to answer your question most directly I'd suggest checking out random hobby activities on YouTube until something catches your fancy. It might be gardening, history, radio, cooking, wood carving, almost anything.

pasteur_buster said:

I dont know where to find new interests or ideas to make my day that feels productive. Any advice?

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Plant a seed? Get a pet? I don't know.

pasteur_buster said:

I dont know where to find new interests or ideas to make my day that feels productive. Any advice?

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Buster, where are you?

Coming up with things to do means you have to get ideas. You have to be a little creative. With me, I have found that a new material or item can trigger ideas to either improve on an existing item, come up with a new item, or expand on the use of an item. I'm more (I was) into trying to invent something new.

Before the internet, I would surf through magazines. First, it would tell me what products are out there, and is there something I could make to improve their use. I also had a decent workbench with a nice selection of hand and power tools. I would take discarded pieces and try to repurpose them, take them apart, then take the pieces and reuse them. This can lead to ideas.

As an example, years ago, I had a booth in a flea market. I was actively searching for merchandise to sell when I came across a factory that sold plastic in 4x8' sheets. They had bins where they sold the "cutoffs." They would cut the plastic sheet to the customers' dimensions and put the unused pieces (cutoffs) in the bins and sold them discounted by weight. I was there at the right time because there were stacks of cutoffs that overflowed the bins and were cluddering his showroom. The manager said, " Take it all for $50" and I did. I had to make 8 trips with my station wagon to clean out his showroom. Fortunately, most of the plastic was Lucite, which I remembered they made picture frames from. I researched how they used heat to bend the frames, from that I made a strip heater. I made 2 frames that were not on the market at the time. After a while, my ideas were stolen by a commercial manufacturer, I didn't care because I was running out of Lucite.

Hobbies also can lead to ideas. I really enjoy gardening, and it gave me an idea for a container (pot) that is not on the market, as far as I know.
I have an idea for an above ground swimming pool and a baseball training tool that's not on the market. These are just ideas, no designs.

Have you heard the term "make a better mousetrap"? That's what it's about.

Reminds me of being a kid saying There ain't nuthin' to do. There is always something. Maybe you could start journaling and let your mind wander into yourself.

Marie Mallory said:

Buster, where are you?

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here dude, i were not at home for sometime cuz i was outside

pasteur_buster said:

here dude, i were not at home for sometime cuz i was outside

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I think that what Marie was asking about is what part of the world you live in, as that can make a difference of what things are possible to do, depending on the climate, and whether you live in an apartment in town , or somewhere out in the country. Different possibilities come with different locations.
So, if we had a better idea of where you are located and what things you are interested in, it would help us to think of some ideas for you to do as a hobby.
As an example, I would love to have chickens, but I can’t have them where I live. But, I could possibly have rabbits, since they would be in a cage and safe from dogs attacking them.

Yvonne Smith said:

I think that what Marie was asking about is what part of the world you live in, as that can make a difference of what things are possible to do, depending on the climate, and whether you live in an apartment in town , or somewhere out in the country. Different possibilities come with different locations.
So, if we had a better idea of where you are located and what things you are interested in, it would help us to think of some ideas for you to do as a hobby.
As an example, I would love to have chickens, but I can’t have them where I live. But, I could possibly have rabbits, since they would be in a cage and safe from dogs attacking them.

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idk but when i ask my friend the same question with the same tone and he said something like just flow yourself in

pasteur_buster said:

here dude, i were not at home for sometime cuz i was outside

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Thats Dudett, you back home now? What state or nation is home in?