What should I do today? Ideas for a free day, by what recharges you

What should you do today? Pick one of three kinds of day: rest, get something done or go somewhere. Then give it a small plan, with one thing for the morning, one for the afternoon and one for the evening. Three things are enough to make a free day feel full, and they still leave room to change your mind at lunch. The plans below fit any free day, like a day off work, a Tuesday with nothing in it or a day when the plans fell through. If the free day is a Saturday with a Sunday after it, things to do on the weekend plans both days.

An example: Romy stands in her open front door on a free weekday morning, half in the hall and half out in the sun. Her jacket hangs over one arm in case the day turns cool. A rolled-up blanket is tucked under the other, because it works on grass or on the sofa. The deal is simple. Heads means out. Tails means in, and a second flip decides between a lazy day and the jobs she's been putting off. She holds the coin up between her thumb and finger and grins before she even flips it, because the whole day is hers whichever way it falls.

A free day for resting

A rest day works best with a little shape, so it feels chosen and not just lost. Keep each part slow and close to home.

• Morning: wake up without an alarm and stay in bed with coffee and the book on your nightstand until you're hungry.
• Afternoon: take a blanket outside, to a yard or a quiet corner of a park, and lie in the shade with a hat over your eyes. Dozing off counts.
• Evening: cook the plain dinner you loved most growing up, eat it with the window open and go to bed when you feel tired, not when the clock says so.

People who'd pick this day every time are often homebodies, and that's a perfectly good way to be.

A free day for getting something done

Some free days feel best when there's something to point at by dinner. Choose jobs with a clear end, so you know when you're finished.

• Morning: take on the job that has bothered you longest, like defrosting the freezer, regrouting the tiles around the tub or clearing out the space under the stairs.
• Afternoon: fill the old nail holes left by pictures that came down years ago, let the filler dry and paint over the patches.
• Evening: write every birthday you know into next year's paper calendar, so you never forget one again.

When only the evening is free, things to do after work starts from the moment you walk in the door.

A free day for going somewhere

A day out doesn't need a place you have to book. Go far enough that the world looks a bit different.

• Morning: pack a blanket and something to eat, take a bus or a train to the nearest forest and walk in until you can't hear a road.
• Afternoon: on the way back, find water, like a lake, a river bank or a beach, take your shoes off and sit with your feet in it.
• Evening: eat supper on the blanket wherever you've ended up, and come home by a different route than the one you took in the morning.

Can't decide? Pick in one minute

When the morning is slipping away and you still can't choose, let something small choose for you. Use one of these and do what it says.

• Flip a coin twice. The first flip decides in or out. If it says in, the second flip decides between rest and getting something done. A third flip isn't allowed.
• Make a list of three. Write down one idea for each kind of day. Cross out the one you like least, then the one that needs the most getting ready. Do whatever is left.
• Look out the window. Sun means go somewhere. Gray but dry means get something done. Rain means rest, and you're allowed to enjoy it.

If the day has already started and nothing feels worth doing, things to do when bored can help you work out what kind of bored you are.

Indoor things to do today

A whole day inside is a chance for something you'd never try on a rushed evening.

• Build a house of cards as tall as you can, then start again and add one more floor.
• Learn one coin trick, like making a coin vanish from your hand and finding it behind your ear.
• Draw your face in the mirror three times, in pencil, in pen and with your other hand.
• Make tortillas from flour, water, salt and a little oil, and eat the first lumpy ones while they're warm.

Spontaneous and random things to do

A spontaneous day starts with one small yes. These ideas are random enough to change a day and small enough to do before dinner.

• Climb a tree with low, thick branches and sit up there for a while.
• Wear the clothes you've been saving for a special day, and let today be that day.
• Ask the first person you talk to about the best part of their last day off, then do the same thing.
• Open the oldest cookbook in the house at a random page and cook whatever is there.

A day off alone

A day off alone is the one day when nobody else has to agree with your plans.

• Cook the dish only you like, exactly the way you like it, and eat it whenever you get hungry.
• Go back to a place you loved years ago, like a beach or a street you once lived on, and see what's still there.
• Let every small wish win, like a nap at eleven, lunch at three or a second walk when the light gets good.

If your home is just you, living alone has ideas for shaping the rest of the week too. And when you'd like a day out on your own to feel like a treat, try the solo date ideas.

A free day for each type

The best free day depends on what recharges you. Some people fill up around others and some in quiet. Some like the day planned, and others want it open. Typeza sees personality type as part of that. Eight of the 16 types:

• Harmonizer chooses the rest day nearly every time, with good food, a soft blanket and nobody in a hurry.
• Inspector enjoys a free day most with a short plan written the night before, and quietly likes crossing it off.
• Commander wants to go somewhere and do something hard there, like a steep walk, and decides where on the way out the door.
• Dreamer keeps the day open and goes at their own pace, and often senses the right moment to head out.
• Entrepreneur likes a day that ends with something to show for it, like a defrosted freezer, and still fits in a trip out.
• Guardian keeps a promise made for the day off, so if they told a friend they'd help with a move, the move comes first.
• Organizer picks the day for getting things done, with the tools out early and a proper lunch in the middle.
• Encourager goes for the random option and decides in a second, since a day of routine drains them.

Type theory sees these as leanings, and plenty of people mix them. Read them as a fun way to think about your own free days, never as advice.

Find out what fills your free days

Whether a free day fills you up with people or with quiet, type is often part of why. Typeza also shows how your type fits with the people you share days off with, like a partner who wants the day planned while you want it open. The free personality test is the first step, and after it you can invite that person and see where your free days match.

Questions people ask

What should I do today?

Choose one kind of day first: rest, get something done or go somewhere. Then give it one thing each for the morning, the afternoon and the evening. If you can't choose, flip a coin twice and do what it says.

What should I do on my day off?

Ask what you need most: rest, the feeling that something got done, or a change of scene. A weekday off is also a good time for things that get busy on weekends, like a walk in the forest or an afternoon by a lake.

What's your favorite way to spend a day off?

If someone asks you this, name one real day with one detail, like "a long walk to a lake and supper on a blanket." It says more than "relaxing." Your answer also shows whether you recharge with people or in quiet.

Written by Virko Kask, founder of Typeza
Written with the help of AI tools.