One thing I’ve noticed that’s a bit different between me and other people are my hobbies. My hobbies include blogging, leading my Girl Scout Troops, sewing, building web pages, and reading. Notice that none of those includes playing video games, or watching TV, going to movies, or even going to sporting events. I can’t count the number of times that people around me have referred to a TV show or a movie in the last two years, and I’ve looked at them blankly.
My hobbies include doing things that are somehow productive. For me, there needs to be an end-result, as I’m extremely goal-oriented. I’m sure that is a big surprise to everyone reading this blog, right? I need to learn something, or have an end-product that I can see tangible benefits from. So for me, that’s why I gravitate towards things that I can see benefit from. It’s why I’m putting together a book of memories of my father. It’s why I have created this blog, and why I do things like sewing and gardening, because when I spend time doing those things, I get some tangible reward at the end.
I would hazard a guess to say that in some ways, I’m not all that unique among people who are high performing. My view is this- I only get so much time in this life. I would rather get more out of that time, rather than less. Spending time watching TV doesn’t lead to achieving results. Therefore it just holds less interest for me than your average bear.
Should this surprise you? I would guess that the answer is “no”, since there is only one way to get more done- and that is to do more. Since I am constrained by the space-time continuum, and there is only 1 of me, I can only accomplish that goal of doing more, by spending less time wasting it. Which is not to say that I don’t sleep- because I do love my sleep, but I don’t spend my time on other activities, in general.
What about you? What are your hobbies? What is your motivation for those hobbies? What is it about them that you particularly like? What do you not like about those hobbies?
