This is part 1 of a 2-part post. Be on the lookout for part 2!
The older I get and the more responsibilities I take on (my 9-5, my side hustle, my hobbies), the more valuable my time becomes.
I find myself watching less movies and less TV series, not because I don’t enjoy that stuff – I do – but because it doesn’t do anything for me. Watching Game of Thrones or Sherlock is entertaining, but it doesn’t help me to be a better writer; it doesn’t improve my photography or help grow my blog.
So instead I’ve tried to substitute those habits, like TV or games on my phone, with hobbies that focus on self-improvement while also being enjoyable.
Finding ways to have fun and switch-off from work while at the same time helping you improve your skills, health, or general well-being is a great idea for anyone short on time but serious about constant self-improvement.
1) Cooking
My friends who can’t cook for themselves (or who can only ‘cook’ an egg or a bowl of Lucky Charms) are also typically those friends who have the most unhealthy diets.
Learning to cook for yourself is the beginning of taking control over your diet and health.
If you’re trying to lose weight or bulk-up, then eating right is around 80% of your battle to achieve those goals – if not more.
Learning to cook your own food provides two distinct advantages in this regard:
The first is that you can control your portion size. When you eat out, you end up eating the amount of food that’s set in front of you. It’s natural. But if you’re trying to lose weight, then cooking your own food allows you to control your portion size and thus limit your calories in order to meet your goals.
The second advantage of learning to cook is that you can control the ingredients you’re cooking with. If you’re trying to lose weight, you can cut out the carbs. If you’re diabetic, you can cut out the sugar. If you’re trying to gain weight, you can increase your protein.
Achieving your fitness goals becomes much easier when you learn to cook for yourself.
But that’s not even to mention the other benefits, such as the satisfaction that comes from sourcing and cooking your own food; the therapeutic value of cooking after working all day; the money you’re going to save by eating in rather than out.
Learning to cook – and cooking healthy – is great for mind and body, and not a bad skill set to impress guests or dates with either.
2) Writing
Writing is a great therapeutic and creative outlet, but with the self-publishing opportunities available now online, it has never been easier to make a little side income off of it as well.
You could opt for starting your own blog using a free platform, like WordPress, or a pay-monthly site, like SquareSpace, where you’ll benefit from beautiful website templates and a high degree of user-friendliness.
The other option that we’re always talking about on YAM is writing for a blog, and that’s probably because we’ve all done it at one point or another!
Writing for a blog, like I’m doing, is a great starting point to get used to the world of blogging and to get an idea how to run your own some day – which is exactly what DC did before starting YAM.
Writing in your spare time is an obvious hobby for those of us who blog; the quality of your blog posts will directly benefit from writing more, that’s clear.
But what about those people who don’t blog and have no aspirations to add to the multitude of (often) semi-informed voices vying for our attention?
While a fair point, there are benefits to writing even for non-writers. Here’s why:
I recently picked up a book called Everybody Writes. The author’s primary idea is that in today’s word of social media and blogging, not only does everybody write, but knowing how to write well is actually more important than ever.
Whether you realize it or not, people are paying attention to how well you write: your statuses on Facebook, your posts on Instagram and Twitter, how you describe yourself on your LinkedIn Profile – all of these things play a big part in how people perceive you.
The quality of your writing can be the difference between more friends, followers, more business, and even job offers.
What you write and how well you write it are as important as ever in modern life, which makes writing a great skill to work on – regardless of your interest in professional writing or blogging.
3) Running
It’s no secret that exercise is good for your body and mind. Regular exercise will, of course, keep your body at a healthy weight and your heart strong, but it will also actually make you feel better too.
Exercise releases all sorts of endorphins (feel-good chemicals) in the brain, which helps to make you feel happier – much in the same way that exposure to sunlight does.
But these are things that most people already know.
An underrated benefit of picking up running as a hobby is the relief it can bring from thinking about work and other stressful things in your life. When I run it’s partially for the exercise and partially for the mental-detox.
I think as I run, and I run until I literally run out of thoughts.
It helps clear my mind. It helps me sleep soundly at night. Training for a half-marathon or marathon creates discipline, and finishing one of those races is one of the most satisfying feelings I’ve ever experienced.
It’s difficult to maintain a balanced lifestyle without some form of exercise and running is perfect for body and mind.
4) Photography
With the rise of Instagram the status of photography has changed from something for tourists or the artsy-type to something of a personal marketing tool; the better your pictures, the more followers, the more popularity and status.
But taking up photography has more potential than just more likes on your Instagram: it can be a legitimate side hustle in itself.
I have a couple friends who are self-taught photographers, and work a regular 9-5, but shoot weddings on the weekends. If they’re good and promote themselves well, this adds up to a couple thousand extra dollars a year from something that started as a hobby.
Another more ambitious route to making money through photography is through Instagram itself.
Popular Instagrammers with lots of followers are paid to subtly advertise products – water bottles, watches, Land Rovers, vacation resorts; it’s actually possible through taking pictures on your phone to literally travel the world and get paid to do it (check out @doyoutravel or at @gypsea_lust).
Speaking from personal experience though, I actually won a travel photo contest on Instagram last year worth a cool $3k (here’s the photo, if you’re curious) – so believe me, making money from photography can be done!
But while these opportunities are fun and the side income potential is real, I also think that taking up photography for those reasons only paints half of the picture.
The famous and often quoted wisdom about photography is that, “The camera is an instrument that teaches you how to see without a camera.”
The real reward of taking-up photography is that it can reinvent how you see the world. By learning to look for photos you re-learn to observe and appreciate what’s around you.
It can become a type of game: wherever you are and whoever you’re with, see if you can find a cool perspective.
Photography provides a creative outlet, which is enjoyable and fulfilling in itself, but it also helps you see the world in fresh ways; it can be the difference between a mundane outlook and a happy one.
It can translate into business benefits too, such as the marketing tool I mentioned before, but you will also benefit in the form of being able to take quality profile and cover photos for your social media accounts.
Much in the same way that everybody writes in this social media and blogging age, so too does everybody photograph.
5) Learning a New Language
If you’ve ever lived abroad or been fully immersed in a foreign language, then you’ll know that it’s frustrating. Very frustrating.
When I lived in Korea, was learning Korean, and teaching in a Korean classroom, my head would physically ache at the end of the day from constantly straining to understand what was being said.
I would learn a word – memorize how it was spelled and practice saying it – only to have people look at me in complete bafflement when I attempted to use it in conversation.
But learning a new language is as useful to you as a hobby as it is if you actually want to visit a foreign country.
When I was studying for my bachelor’s in English, all English students were required to be proficient in a foreign language by the end of our four years. That’s because learning a foreign language actually improves your understanding of your native language as well.
When you learn a language as an infant you simply absorb and internalize the rules, but when you learn a language as an adult you question the rules in order to understand them.
In doing so, you find yourself answering questions about your native tongue that you never knew you had.
One of the best ways to start learning a foreign language (aside from actually living in the country or taking private lessons) are through programs and apps.
When I was learning French and Korean, both times I bought Rosetta Stone. It comes with a headset to listen and then repeat what you’re hearing into; Rosetta Stone will then analyze your speech and tell you how well you’re saying it. It’s incredibly useful.
DC is currently learning French through Duolingo, which is an app with two big advantages if you want to pick up a foreign language: it’s awesome and it’s free.
_______________
The saying goes that the two things that will most significantly affect who you become as a person over the next five years are the people you spend time with and the books you read. If I had to add one more thing to that list, then I would say it is the things you do.
Even if you don’t love writing or photography or running when you first start, stick at it. Most things in life aren’t enjoyable to begin with but, over time, as we grow in proficiency and confidence, so does our love of that skill.
If you can learn to truly find enjoyment in hobbies that foster self-improvement while also helping you unwind, then you’re going to find yourself much more able to achieve your goals and well on your way to becoming a happier, more well-rounded, and more satisfied person.
What hobbies help you to become a more well-rounded individual? How to you unwind while still working on self-improvement?
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I think the benefits of exercise are all too often overlooked. When I exercise, the actual physical benefits are simply an added bonus. I love to exercise as it’s a time to unplug and create a discipline – not to mention the mental benefits you mentioned. Another way I combine unwinding and improving myself is through reading. Reading provides so many benefits, from learning something new to learning about a different culture or time in history.
I feel the same way. Now that I’m older and have a family, I have a lot less time and prioritize. I wasted a lot of time watching TV and doing unproductive things so definitely try to pursue productive things that I also enjoy like working on the blog. I’ve been trying to brush up on my Spanish and Duolingo is pretty fun. And as for cooking, I used to know how to fry an egg and that’s it. But I’ve learned to cook and will say that I kind of enjoy it too, especially experimenting and making different dishes.
You’re exactly right as I get older and responsibilities increase (full time job, wife and a kid), I have less time to do things I used to do. Even when I was in optometry school I would still find time to play my Playstation a few hours a day. I haven’t touched a video game in a year and now we just use the thing to watch Netflix.
All great ideas, I would personally add reading to my list. And that includes reading fiction and non fiction. I love reading personal finance and philosophy books, but sometimes I just need to embrace my inner nerd and sit down with a good fantasy book!
This is something I have personally been working on. Looking back on last year, I can’t believe how many hours I spent watching Netflix or just sitting around. Making it a point to change, I took up blogging as a side hustle and a hobby and make personal exercise and reading goals. It’s so much more fulfilling to see how many miles you ran or how many pages you read versus how many hours of television you watched! Gotta work on the cooking skill though :)
I don’t run — even if I didn’t have chronic fatigue that’d be a dubious enterprise for me — but I am trying to get back into working out. I do it at home with short YouTube videos. As I get healthier, I can do more than one and/or find ones that last longer.
For me, blogging is helpful, though also stressful, so it’s a mixed bag. I do agree, though, that while everyone writes, sometimes they forget that writing well is important too.
I love what you said about photography. It isn’t just about shooting weddings on the weekends – it’s a hobby that can really change your perspective on the way you view the world.
Hey Mike!
Great article! Your thoughts are definitely in line with mine. I’ve heard for years, in regards to one’s mental capacities, “If You Don’t Use It, You’ll Lose It.” It’s my understanding that a positively engaged and challenged brain is a brain that will stay strong much longer than one that isn’t.
My father-in-law has Alzheimer’s setting in. After he retired, 25 years ago, his only interests were hunting and fishing. When the body prevented him from do so, he had nothing to keep his mind sharp, no hobbies that I know of.
Not me! I plan to keep learing, trying new things, writing, shooting photos, etc.!
I’m definitely going to pass this one on!
I didn’t know how big of a deal exercise was until I read “Spark” by Dr. John Ratey M.D. Exercise helps us learn and retain information, helps with anxiety, it helps the depressed, helps lift up moods, helps with aging, etc. He goes deep in the book.
I knew exercise was important but I didn’t understand why. Also when I exercise I tend to get a lot of my good ideas. :)
I’m completely agree with this post, also if I hate running but I do nordic walking and these hobbies help our brain:P
Cooking is one of my favorite hobbies! I have a few friends who cater who sometimes hire me if one of their regular employees can’t make a gig, and of course my family enjoys the benefits of a healthy and delcious diet every day.
The only problem with cooking is that it makes me a huge restaurant snob. I don’t like to eat at any restaurant where I can make something better.
I read the article just to see if there was anything about running, and there was!!! I love running as well, sometimes for time and sometimes to relieve stress.
Thanks for the great quick read.
I love cooking when it’s a new recipe that I can customize. Even though I write for money and monetize my blog, I still view them as hobbies that help me release my creativity, improve my skills, and learn more about certain topics.
I enjoy cooking and I run at least twice a week. I started taking Spanish classes, but stopped to work a part-time job a couple of years ago. I need to start back. Duolingo seems to be the right tool for me.