Honest Iron

What comes to mind when you think of the word, “Hobby?” Maybe it’s just me but I associate this word with a lack of necessity and I’m wagering there are many of us who don’t take as much ownership of our hobbies as we should. Lets explore this idea…

Hobby Synonyms:

• Leisure Activity
• Pastime
• Sideline
• Diversion (this one really gets me fired up)

So basically, a hobby is this thing I’m doing to pass my time when I’m not at work or doing something productive.

Our society places a tremendous amount of importance on our professions/work and not our pastimes. However, leisure time is a common source of our most important experiences and I would think the majority of us spend that time pursuing some form of hobby. Not only that but our pastimes are largely the area we spend the most money outside of food, shelter and transportation. So why the heck isn’t there anymore value placed on hobbies?!

Why Hobbies Matter

Despite the flimsy dictionary definition, hobbies are often where we have the tightest communities, the best memories and are often what make us most unique. Lets explore this from two points of view; professionally and personally.

Professionally:

Why has golfing or fishing been so widely followed hobbies? A better question is, how many business deals have been brokered on the golf course or discuss at the bar after a day of fishing? College students and young professionals miss this more then almost any other group because there is such a focus on grades/performance rather then experiences and community. Just in terms of landing a job, your hobbies can be leveraged. Think about the typical interview questions. What are they trying to find out about you with the interview? Let see… Do you have the experience needed to do the job? Are you organized? Are you dependable? Are you interesting? Are you relatable? Will you fit in? 

If you are sitting in an interview, then your resume has answered the first three questions or you would not have been invited. They may dig a little bit deeper into your experience but they are really trying to gauge if they want to work with you.

Now, should you lead with how fast you can tie a balloon animal? NO. However, there are always opportunities to tie in stories(pun intended) and experiences related to your interests and hobbies. Especially interviews that are day long offer unstructured time to share and listen about interests outside of work.

An interview team may not remember the candidate who was all business but they will remember the guy who does blacksmithing on the side and promised to make you a sword if he’she gets hired(maybe a little extreme but you get the idea).

Personally:

Try captivating a person with what you do day in and day out at work. For most of us, good luck with that. Now try explaining what you do for fun and I bet your conversation goes a lot farther.

The reason for this is our passions often manifest as hobbies and, the word passion brings to mind a lot more than the words, “diversion, sideline or leisure activity.” How can something as positive as passion, be manifested in a word the means nearly the opposite? Answer: it has a lot to do with our self worth and the way our society values work and devalues play.

If this is true, we can draw connections externally to how this idea might affect dating, making friends and building community but also internally, in how we build self worth, confidence and happiness.

Conclusion

People’s hobbies range from dabbling in something to being a full on professional who just does x part time. Also, there is more to a person then just their hobbies but hobbies can provide what might be lacking from the rest of our lives. Things like community, satisfaction, mastery, happiness, mentorship and character. Not to mention that people with an entrepreneurial spirit have made their hobbies lucrative.

My hope is that after reading this you feel more confident to share your hobbies and more intent to listen to others. All the while, keep in mind that hobbies can tell you a lot about a person.