In Defense of Hobbies
As a teenager I restored my first classic car and hand built a lute.
In grad school I took up cycling, which of course led to racing as well as starting an annual charity bike build with Roadbikereview.com.
Recently I again took up restoring and modifying classic cars as well as cycling, podcasting and surfing.
Oh yeah, and bread making.
If you happen to stumble on my Instagram you won’t find much about the newest advances in UI/UX or probably anything having to do with technology. You’ll definitely find bread, cars and (bad) surfing.
Why do hobbies need defending?
In our little corner of the tech world there’s a feeling that if you’re not giving 120% of your being to your company then you’re a failure. Regardless of if your business is a failure, you’re a failure if you aren’t hustling 24/7. This is why hobbies need defending. Hustle culture turns hobbies into frivolities that don’t matter because they don’t necessarily make money. If it’s not something that you can monetize, why do it?
Hobbies make you interesting.
A hobby can be a thing that helps to give you depth of person and character. Having something that you do just for the joy of doing it, whether it’s baking a tray of brownies or restoring an old hatchet you found at a yard sale, it’s profound to do something for joy rather than money. And yes, I know, there’s the whole “do what you love and you’ll never work a day in your life”, but that’s a pretty ignorant, privileged thing to say, no? Many of us have a thing that we’re good at, but maybe don’t “love” and many more just have to do something to put food on the table.
Hobbies can reinforce good habits.
Patience is one thing that I’ve always struggled with. I used to have a sticker on my laptop that just said “let things happen” because all too often I would find myself trying to make things happen, which can be a recipe for frustration and at times even force things to not happen as a result. Nothing reinforces this bit of self improvement better than my surfing. There’s really nothing I can do to make waves come sooner than the ocean wants them to come. All I can do is let things happen.
One of my favorite things to do in my career is product strategy. Finding new ways to fit problems and solutions together is something I’ve been extremely successful with over the past 20 years. It’s also a skill that I've kept sharp with another one of my hobbies - restoring classic hotrods. Troubleshooting then finding solutions (or making solutions) is something necessary when you’re working on a 60+ year old car. The parallels are obvious.
Baking bread has let me combine both of those skills with a desire to create.
Podcasting lets me exercise my desire for performing (I did start off as a performer after all).
Every hobby is a way to do what you love. That’s why it’s a hobby!
So get out there and find something that you love to do and just do it. It doesn’t matter how old you are - I started surfing at 40 and baking at 44! Just make sure you love doing it!