Audit Your Hobbies 🚴

Over Thanksgiving break, my dad, brother, and I sat down at a Waffle House for diner coffee, an All-Star Special, and a full-course meal of no-agenda conversation.

One thing led to another, until we settled on hobbies.

My dad, who is 68 years old, shared that some of his greatest joys & regrets in life were centered around hobbies. Why? Because of the friendship, camaraderie, experiences, and memories they created in his life, as well as the missed opportunities from not engaging with them at times.

It left my brother and me spinning, ultimately leading to a discussion on what a healthy rhythm with hobbies could look like. We landed on:

• Hobby Types — Consume, Create, Commune

• Hobby Times — Long, Medium, Short

Let’s jump in!

The hobby universe is endless. However, we felt like each hobby could land in one of three buckets:

1. Consume — Absorb what others create. Read, movies, music.

2. Create — Make something from nothing. Write, paint, build.

3. Commune — Share with others. Book club, travel with friends, pick up hoops.

Each bucket has a purpose.

• Consume Hobbies create rest and are intentional activities for detaching from work performance, busy calendars, and the hustle.

• Create Hobbies tap into our creative nature. As image bearers, we are creators like our Creator.

• Commune Hobbies are others-oriented, with opportunities to share activities with loved ones, friends, a mentor, a mentee, so on and so forth.

Naming which buckets our hobbies fall into may signal where we over-index or under-index, plus give us a vision forward for how we want to engage with hobbies moving forward.

I’ll share more on what it could look like to audit hobbies later on in this newsletter. For now, let’s define Hobby Times.

Hobbies vary in time commitment. A morning in a deer stand requires more time than an afternoon walk listening to a favorite audiobook. We landed on Hobby Times falling into three buckets:

1. Long — 24 hours. A weekend trip, hunting.

2. Medium — 4+ hours. 18 holes of golf, gardening.

3. Short — 1 to 4 hours. A run, drawing.

Similar to Hobby Types, without naming the time commitment for each of your hobbies, overwhelm from overcommitment or frustration from undercommitment may result.

Therefore, to create a healthy relationship between hobbies and all of life’s other commitments, it’s important to name how much time each hobby takes up. Otherwise, there is an imbalance.

With Types & Times set, we can review our hobbies to see what’s working, what’s missing, and where to go next.

I audited my own hobbies below and noticed some trends.

Trends

• I love Consume Hobbies, especially watching movies. However, I overindex in time spent on Consume Hobbies versus Commune Hobbies. I think I could start inviting people over for more movies!

• Hobby-wise, I don’t create much throughout the week, outside of writing for myself. There may be pockets of time throughout the day to sketch or something like that.

• All of my Commune Hobbies are outside. It would probably be wise to find an indoor hobby that I can share with others, too. Movies again!

The above took a couple of minutes to do and actually revealed things I haven’t thought of before.

So, when you get 5 minutes, try out this audit. Look for trends and make necessary adjustments with your Consume, Create, and Commune Hobbies.

Naming hobby types & times, plus conducting an audit, is fun. However, at the end of the day, life is nuanced. It’s a dance. There is no perfect solution or framework.

There are seasons with ample time for hobbies, while others are sparse. Life interruptions come out of nowhere, many of which are out of our control.

I mention this to communicate that the relationship we have with hobbies now may not be the relationship we have with hobbies a year from now. It’s meant to be enjoyed but held with an open hand.

But, I do think that at least putting some language to hobbies, by naming your own types & times, and conducting a quick audit, may give some vision to use hobbies for good. 

“You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.” — James Clear

In the chaos of life, we fall to the level of our systems, even in hobbies. Therefore, think through your unique Hobby Types & Times and conduct an audit to gain greater clarity on your hobbies.

As always, let us know how we can help you navigate your world as you navigate the world.

In Your Corner.

See you next Tuesday!