Why do people collect pokemon cards? Play chess or piano? Join a debate club? Grow their own vegetables? Dance tango? Race cars? All of these hobbies take a lot of time and money, what’s the payoff?
It turns out that hobbies have a wealth of evidence for positive effects on intrinsic fulfillment and autonomy, as well as mental, physical, and cognitive health: Higher life satisfaction, less depression, better memory, better social networks, …
But not all hobbies are created equal: When I was a child I somehow got into my head that I wanted to play violin. It sounded beautiful and my absent prefrontal cortex couldn’t intervene. Doing the research now, I realize that I could’ve had a much easier life if I had had a prefrontal cortex back then.
Sorry for everybody who received this video already. Turns out I misunderstood a Substack setting and it auto-assigned subscribers to the podcast when I migrated it here. Won’t happen again!
How to pick a hobby
What makes for a good hobby
Chances are you dabbled with a few already. Or maybe you’re deep down a rabbit hole right now. What makes for a good one?
It draws you in: The point of a hobby is to fulfill your intrinsic motivations, not some extrinsic need for status or money. This means it should be enjoyable to you right now, not in the distant future, and feel like it matches your identity.
One stone, many birds: You could play guitar by yourself, play guitar in a band, or play guitar in a metal band. The first gives you music alone, the second adds social connection, the third adds a fitness workout. Can you stack your interests?
It fits your life: If you’re a dad, regular metal concerts are probably hard to fit in but squash with different partners whenever you’re free could work. How about the commute? Is there a teacher? A good heuristic is to do whatever your friends do.
Deliberately double-down
So much for what makes for a good hobby in theory, but theory only gets you so far:
Explore, then exploit: As with your career, or other decision-making: The easiest way to find what you like is to just try many things and see how they feel. When I picked violin, I should’ve probably tried a few lessons of guitar and piano as well.
Make it social: The two main predictors of sticking with a hobby are fun and social ties. If you like the people you’re doing it with, you’ll enjoy it more and stick with it. In my violin example: I should’ve tried playing with others earlier.
Tune in the dose: Studies show a hill-shaped relationship between how much time you spend on your hobbies and the emotional payoffs: Too little or too low-engagement (like reading) and you won’t get much. Too much and you’ll burn out.
Achieve pointless mastery
Part of the lure of hobbies is to achieve a feeling of mastery outside of performance-oriented settings like work.
Start with play: If you don’t enjoy it you won’t do it. Trust me, I have many years of plans to play more violin that always failed. What changed it for me: I found a way to improvise easily, and always knew I’d enjoy that. So that’s what I start with.
Weave in deliberate practice: To get better, deliberate practice is the go-to way. That means: Measurable goals, clear feedback, ideally from a coach, playing outside your comfort zone, dedicated time. We wrote a guide here.
Practice for mastery: The Stoic approach to tennis is to play your best game, not play to win. Turns out research supports this: Mastery-goals are consistently associated with higher well-being, while winning-goals predict negative affect.
Some ideas you could try
Try a new hobby. What’s something you’re drawn to right now? What would be fun?
Can you make whatever you’re doing already more fun or sustainable? What resonated in this post?
Commit yourself to having more fun
Missing something? Thoughts or feedback? Add a comment and we’ll add it to next year’s version