17 | 4 questions to help you find your next hobby
August 5, 2019
Tired of it seeming like everyone around you has a hobby but you? Ever want a hobby, but you just don't have a deep interest or curiosity in something? In today's episode, I'm giving you four questions you can ask yourself to help you start brainstorming what your next hobby is going to be.
Transcript:
Hey! Welcome back to the podcast. If you’re a newbie here, welcome. You tuned into a podcast where my guests and I give you the confidence to put your best foot forward in your life. If you’re an old timer here, thanks for coming back and willingly listening to my voice. It means the world to me. More than you know
Today’s solo episode is based off of a question I’ve gotten from so many people lately: “I want to find my hobby or passion like you did with podcasting, I just don’t know how to find it.”
People have been asking me and looking for their hobby because they either want something in their lives besides work, want something fulfilling in their lives, or want something to call their own. Thankfully, podcasting is all of those for me.
We talked on this podcast before about people pursuing their passions and hobbies, like in Doug Chan’s episode (episode #8, listen to it if you haven’t yet), where he pursued his passion for photography. We see people on social media getting really into fitness or yoga or someone shares music with videos of them singing or playing guitar. A lot of people have those hobbies or passions because they had a deep interest or curiosity in the topic.
What if you don’t have a deep interest in something or deep curiosity in a topic? Have you ever been in one of those situations where you meet the person your dating parents for the first time and they say, “What are your hobbies?” and you freeze. You have an internal conversation with yourself of not wanting to sound boring, while also trying to consider if watching Netflix is a hobby. You want them to accept you, but you want to be truthful. You answer “Hanging out with friends and family and listening to music.”
I’ve was in that situation a couple of years ago. I don’t know about you, but it makes me feel behind on life and makes me feel much less interesting than I am.
That is me talking super negatively to myself because we are not behind in life. We are most definitely interesting people, but you feel my pain right?
We want a hobby and we want to be pursuing something we’re passionate about. Not so we can tell our significant other’s parents about it, but we want to do it for ourselves! We want to do something that is fulfilling in our lives, we can do outside of work, and can call our own.
How do we find that thing? I can’t tell you what hobby to pickup or passion to pursue, but I can give you some questions to ask yourself to help you start brainstorming things you want to look into.
When I look back at graduating college and moving to a new city, these were the things or questions that helped me spark what I wanted to do outside of work and peaked my interest! Since moving to northeast Ohio a year ago, I’ve found myself trying everything from volunteering at the dog shelter, to a bootcamp cross-fit gym, hot yoga, improv classes, traveling to new cities, making videos on iMovie, reading self help books, and of course podcasting. Some of those hobbies stuck more than others (podcasting stuck), but I never knew until I tried.
I’m going to give you the four questions to ask yourself to help you find your hobby:
1.
What did you like when you were younger?
Think about what you did when you were younger and what you enjoyed. Whether that was basketball, piano lessons, volunteering, or whatever. Think about those things and see if you could pick them up again years later.
I know a lot of us can’t move or have as much time as we did when we were kids, but think about some of the things you did. See if you can do, what I call, the adult version.
For example, I remember in high school I loved going to hot yoga and I really haven’t done it since. When I got to my new city, I thought I would try it out again and I loved it. It is now a weekly activity for me. I realized that yoga is the adult version of the fourteen years of gymnastics I did when I was younger. I get to channel my body awareness, my flexibility, my balance, my strength, and more.
Think about what you did when you were younger. It will help you spark some interest.
2.
What is something simple that you like that you could scale-up?
Think about even the most mundane task or tasks that you see as routine that you actually like or don’t mind doing. Since you already enjoy them, see if you can scale it into a hobby.
For example, with my podcasting, I listened to podcasts every day in the car and I loved them. Since I loved them so much, I thought beyond listening to them and made my own.
Say you really enjoy putting on make up in the morning. You could start your own Youtube channel of makeup tutorials. You could experiment with looks and get creative. Maybe you really like drinking beer or wine. Start researching how it is made or see if you can join some kind of community group that does beer or wine tastings in your area. You like to run. Join a running club in your area. You read before bed. Start a blog of book reviews. You really like listening to music. You could start mixing music on your computer in creative ways.
Basically, I’m saying any task you do regularly can be made into creative art. There probably is a community of people in your area that like to do it too. Look at the task that seem simple right now and see if you can scale them up.
3.
What is a dream you have that you can’t do now, but could manifest in different way?
This is thinking in the opposite way. Instead of thinking simple and scaling to something bigger, think of something bigger and see if you can manifest it in a different way that works for you.
Unfortunately, sometimes we are limited on doing things due to lack of time, money, or from having too many responsibilities. This can keep us from pursuing our biggest dreams.
Think of your biggest dreams or things you’ve been wanting to do for a long time. If you can’t do that exact thing right now, scale it back where you could take the first step towards that dream.
For example, if you want to travel more, but time and money get in the way, try booking some weekend or day trips to parts of the state you’ve never been. When I moved here I wanted a dog. Being gone over ten hours a day and money got in the way. I got my fix by volunteering at the dog shelter. If you want to be a public speaker, look into some TED classes or Toastmasters classes to see what you can learn.
Take a dream. If you can’t pursue it now, take the first step or manifest it in a different way.
4.
What is something you saw someone do that you thought was the coolest thing ever?
Think about those times where you’re like, “Wow that is so cool.” That thing it gives you the chills. You think to yourself, “Wow that is so badass. I want to do that.” You can do those things too.
Think about the things you see on social media. Think about the things you see on TV. You choose to consume that content. There is a reason for that. You think it is cool or interesting.
If you see someone playing guitar and think, “Wow that would be so cool to do that.” Do it. If you see someone flying planes, then start looking into taking flying lessons. If you come across someone that is fluent in another language and you find it super fascinating, then learn how to speak a new language. If you think podcasting is cool, then start a podcast (thats what I did).
Just because someone else is doing a hobby doesn’t mean you can’t. Don’t worry about it. Try the things out that give you chills or make you feel like a badass.
To recap those questions:
What did you like when you were younger?
What is something simple that you like that you could scale-up?
What is a dream you have that you can’t do now but could manifest in different way?
What is something you saw someone do that was the coolest thing ever?
Make yourself a long list of possible hobbies right now. Brainstorm as many as you can think of. I bet you there are one or two that stick out and you would love to pursue. Guess what? You could start taking steps towards those hobbies right now. It could be part of your thirty minutes of downtime that I discussed in episode #15 (go listen to it if you haven’t yet). You can use that time to start researching ways you can take steps to pursue the hobby.
I could do a whole other podcast on how to pursue your passion. If you really need a kick in the butt on how to take steps towards your hobby, take a course, look it up on Youtube, look at meetup.com, surround yourself with other people that do it, or look up famous people that do it. The internet makes it so easy to start looking into your new hobby right now.
I want everyone to feel like they have something in their lives besides work. To have something fulfilling in their lives. Have something to call their own. Something that excites them. Podcasting excites me. I hope that everyone finds the thing they like to do.
I hope these questions spark a new hobby you can try in the effort to putting your best foot forward in your life.
As you know, I like to share other perspectives besides my own. Make sure to go back to episode #8, Pursuing Your Passion, with Doug Chan. He has a great story of how he started his passion for photography. Go back to any of my guest episodes and hear how they’re pursuing what they want to do.