We’ve all been there. You’ve finally made up your mind you want to regain control over your life and start working remotely. Perhaps you’ve started taking steps to build a successful online career.
You may be busy browsing online courses and honing marketable skills to become a competitive online worker.
Perhaps you’re knee-deep searching for legitimate online jobs. Or better still, you’re just about to get your feet wet in an online agency.
Kudos to you! Yet, you need to remember you have years ahead to keep pushing. Therefore it’s critical to find a way to fit in some downtime into your schedule. That is, if you mean to last as an online employee.
Starting a hobby is a stellar way to unwind after a long day at work.
It’s also a great way to regain lost learning motivation if you are a long-standing online worker. And it’s a far better alternative to turning into a couch potato, wouldn’t you think?
A good hobby can rev up your life, rebuild your focus and help your online career. Yes, you heard it right!
Yet, you’re clueless about the technicalities and might be wondering: How do I find my hobby or passion?
Follow this simple 6-step guide and get ideas that you can immediately put into action.
1: Look Back at Your Childhood to Discover a Hobby That Suits You
Are you struggling to find a hobby?
Perhaps you’ve made a go for it, tried your luck with a few hobbies on and off. But each attempt at a decent hobby tended to go in fits and starts. You wouldn’t call yourself a quitter.
Yet, you can’t quite pinpoint the reasons why you’re still hobbyless.
It can be you simply weren’t lucky enough to find a hobby that will make you tick. Just think about it. Why would you thrive in activities you wouldn’t care less about, in the first place?
So, instead of taking a shot in the dark or taking up a hobby just for the sake of its going viral (although it’s a complete mismatch for you), why not start with looking back at your personal history?
There must have been X activities you cherished dearly when you were a child. The ones you abandoned on the threshold of your adulthood. Just for the sake of them not being lucrative enough.
Mark Manson, a self-improvement blogger suggests sitting yourself down and asking yourself this simple question,
What is true about you today that would make your 8-year-old self cry?
Once you put your finger on it, make sure to get back to activities you loved in a form of re-discovered hobbies. Activities you enjoyed as a kid are excellent tell-tale signs of your genuine interests.
- If you enjoyed throwing ‘evening shows’ for your friends and family, you can think about joining a local acting troupe.
- If no one could ever stop you from singing when you were a child, then you might want to try signing up at a local choir or having a taste of private singing lessons.
- If you relished drawing in this form of another, joining an art class might be your thing.
Et cetera et cetera. You get the gist. Just thumb through your memories, and you’ll get a much clearer picture of what you want for a hobby.
2: Do a Personality Test to Narrow Your Search Down
When setting off on a quest of finding a hobby, you want to get the most out of it in the process.
The point is to obtain psychological benefits of hobbies without losing your wits while meandering through endless online hobby lists.
You need a way that will help you whittle things down.
A hobby that your co-worker is all raving about can bore you to tears. The same goes vice versa. People tend to enjoy hobbies that are in line with their unique personalities.
Finding a hobby that’s right for you can help you live your life to the fullest potential.
A great way to find a hobby that’s in tune with your character is to take a personality assessment. Venturing out into personality analysis will help you discover things you didn’t know about yourself.
And that’s what makes it all the more fun!
So, if you’ve been plotting about picking up a new hobby, there’s no better way to find the best match for yourself. Below are some personality tests you can take:
- ‘Who Am I?’ This unique picture-based personality assessment is grounded on the way our DNA is structured.
- The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. Use this test to come up with your personality type. Once you’re done with that step, weigh your options out so a hobby you choose is a good match with results you got from the test.
The following hobby tests can also get you on the right track in finding a hobby that is a perfect fit for you.
- Buzzfeed
- Playbuzz Quiz
- Flipkart Stories
- Quizony
3: Convert Your Everyday Activities Into a Hobby You Love
Next on your agenda is a little exploration of your day-to-day life. Take a look at spare-time occupations you enjoy engaging in time and again. This can give you a legitimate cue that will lead you towards a good hobby choice.
Some less obvious parts of your routine can reveal what it is that you most like doing. It’s as simple as can be.
Just keep your eyes peeled to those little guilty pleasures you allow yourself in the time of crisis. Or catch yourself when daydreaming and see what activity you’re drooling over. You’ll be rewarded with tremendous insights.
Jot them down, then prioritize your list. All you need to do next is to turn the most enjoyable activity into a proper hobby.
- You’re three quarters into your shift and you’re already in a tune-up for spending some quality time with your dog? Think about engaging in a dog animal rescue team.
- Are you in a festive mood more often than not? Go ahead and take on throwing weekly potluck dinner parties for your friends.
- Are you a film devotee reciting movie quotes verbatim one after another? Consider signing up to a local screenwriting course.
- Nothing fulfills you more than dancing your night away at a club? Why not join an amateur dancing troupe?
It’s that simple. Just follow through with your passion. It can be ridiculously transparent. And before you know it you’ll have a hobby that will make you a happy person.
4: Match a Productive Hobby to Your Workaholic Personality
One of the most damaging and expensive mistakes you can make as an online worker is working your brains out and not allowing yourself to take a breather. But what if you’re a workaholic?
Working smarter not harder is going to make you a thriving and successful online worker.
Can this really be true? You bet. You’ll most probably be better off if you adopt a more easygoing attitude than have your hands full 24/7 Monday through Friday.
This DOESN’T mean you shouldn’t be a self-disciplined worker. This only means that the artistry of a good work-life balance produces the best results.
Now we’ll show you exactly how. An interesting study conducted at an elite music school in Germany shows the effects of this good working model in practice.
The study compared violin students that achieved remarkable results to those that achieved a little less remarkable ones. It showed that students that outperformed their peers were significantly less busy compared to those they outperformed.
So, if you have a home based job, it’s critical to learn how to switch off and unwind once you’ve clocked out at the end of the day.
And this is where we pick up where we left off with our hobby topic.
A hobby will not only cleanse your mental palette so you can resume with your work at your best. If you choose a productive hobby it can also help you acquire transferable skills that can be useful further on in your career.
Download your checklist of transferable skills to get immediate access to a set of practical ideas that will push you forward.
Now. brace yourself for some science-backed theories on hobbies. It’s scientifically proven that hobbies can help your career, reduce work-related stress and enhance your physical health.
It’s scientifically proven that hobbies can help your career, reduce work-related stress and enhance your physical health.
Your hobby is awaiting, so what are you waiting for?
5: Conduct a Field Research to Come Up With Creative Hobby Ideas
High on the idea of shopping? Actually, this may be a perfect way to do a little hobby field research. So, jump on board.
Taking a simple walk around a crafts or book store aisles can help you trick yourself into revealing what hobby will suit you most.
As soon as a store section gets you jazzed up, you’ll know it is where you should search for inspiration. Explore the items, give it a little thought and come up with ideas.
This just goes to show how easy it is to put your finger on the right hobby by using this simple method.
Now, below are a few examples. Just replicate a similar thought process.
- Do you happen to stay glued to the jewelry section every time you go shopping? A craft hobby may be a good fit for you.
- You don’t know how to find your way out of a confection department? What about making your own food crafts?
- Have fine art paintings always been your thing? Try taking painting lessons.
- Music merchandise aisles are an absolute hit for you? Guitar lessons could be a good idea.
- Do you always seem to drag home tons worth of cookbooks? Then cooking might be an excellent match for you.
6: Keep On Experimenting Until It Feels Right
If none of the above methods speaks to you, go random with your search. The idea here is to open yourself up to possibilities without too much overthinking.
Jump right in and see how it feels. If it doesn’t feel right, forget about it and forge ahead.
This approach to finding a hobby can turn out an epic adventure! It allows you to try your skills in different fields and become a well-versed and well-rounded person.
It’s also a great way to meet new people and make friends that share your interests.
Just make sure not to lose enthusiasm too soon. Keep going until you find an activity you really want to stick with.
Put together a list of hobbies that you’ve always found exciting but never really had the chance to try them out. Is it geocaching, scuba diving, horseback riding?
Go for it however silly or far-fetched it may sound. The sky’s your limit, really.
This Hobby Lark’s list of hobby ideas will help get your thinking. Think of it as a great big opportunity to get the taste of life in the best possible sense. Any hobby imaginable can be your pick.
Below are some more ideas to make the search easier for you:
- Join clubs, forums or online groups where you can exchange opinions on topics of interest and find fast access to courses, workshops, and get-togethers. Here’s a list of 20 online photography hubs, for example.
- Sign up to Meetup.com to find interesting lectures and different local initiatives you can join.
Want to Fire Up Your Engines? It’s Up to You
As an online worker, you most certainly don’t have a manager breathing down your neck 40+ hours a week. But you might have a hard time finishing your work on time and creating a good work-life balance.
When your office is your home you need to hone a picture-perfect skill of self-discipline. But you also need to know how to switch off once you log out of your work management software.
Pursuing a hobby is a great way to strike this balance. It can help breathe new life into your day-to-day routine and get your career juices flowing again after a bad patch at work.
This is not a one-off effort but every minute invested in it is worth it. With the offered guide above, you’ll be more than up to the task. All you need to do is get the ball rolling. It’s up to you after all.
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