What do most of us want out of life? Money? Fame? Legacy? If you ask most people what they want in life, the answer is obvious: happiness. And yet, most of the time, we don’t prioritize happiness. Instead of being distracted by the temptations of the modern world, we can use our time to do the things which fulfill us most.
Leisure, aka“use of free time for enjoyment”, is what I am talking about.
Surrounded by so many distractions, our lives are filled with pleasure, but no happiness. Our social interactions are reduced to likes on posts and the next silly video that pops up on our feed.
This problem is probably the worst it has ever been in all of history. Fortunately, this problem didn’t just pop up out of nowhere.
Firstly, I think it’s important that we outline the importance of cultivating hobbies in having a better life. Hobbies give us a space to explore ourselves outside of our professional life. Hobbies allow us to step away from the pressures of life and allow us to focus on what is in front of us. For some people, it can be a range of different activities such as rock-climbing or deep-sea diving. For me, it’s basketball and cooking. It doesn’t need to be anything extravagant or crazy; it just has to be yours. It can’t be something that has been forced upon you. It is something that you would do forever if you were capable of doing so. When you are totally invested in the activity, it’s the best thing in the world because nothing else matters. Nothing else. It’s just you and the moment.
‘Flow state’ is a state of mind that occurs when a person is totally immersed in an activity (Csikszentmihalyi). Mihaly, the creator of the term, mentioned that flow is the genesis of happiness and that people are their happiest when they are in a state of flow. If we don’t have activities that put us in flow, I truly believe we are missing out on the best parts of life. When we’re actively pushing past our limitations to discover what we are truly capable of, it is when we’re at our best. It is when we feel the most human. There is no better feeling than being worn out after doing our best.
While we are immersed in the moment, we gain a sense of separation from everything else going on in our lives. There have been many times when ideas or solutions came to my mind when I was doing something completely unrelated. Let me provide an example. While I was playing basketball, I was actively trying to get completely focused on a shooting drill. The goal was to get 5 swishes in a row from two different spots, one meter away from the basket. It took me at least 25 minutes to achieve the goal. In the process, the goal slowly disappeared. I became completely focused on my shooting form and the energy transfer from my legs to the ball. While being invested in the activity, a realization dawned upon me. Shooting shots is just like writing. You have to be extremely persistent in your pursuit of mastering your craft. You have to consistently be trying to refine and improve your craft.
Hobbies give us distance from our thoughts. They provide a different perspective or angle on an issue. There is science to back this up as well. Apparently, the key to an epiphany is not actually internal effort, but rather external stimuli (Joshua, 2022). It is when we dull the rest of our senses that we allow space for thought. Let’s take running as an example. When you are running, you can feel the sweat flow on your skin, the heat rise within your organs, and the pain ache from your calves or chest. You focus on your breath to create a rhythm and flow with your running. You are constantly encountering new visual stimuli, such as passing cars or moving clouds. As your focus turns externally, your mind is allowed to have new thoughts and ideas on previous problems you may have been stuck with.
Separation provides a more balanced and distilled view of your emotions and thoughts. I find that when you are consumed with a task that is not involved with your primary occupation, you get a new perspective on how to look at your problems. You’re not caught up in all of your emotions, but rather, you have a bird’s eye view of everything going on. Whenever I was in stressful situations, either at home or at school, I found that basketball was always an escape for me. It allowed me to be consumed by something completely unrelated and allowed me to see my emotions more objectively. Marcus Aurelius has a key point which drives this concept home. He says, “Today I escaped anxiety. Or no, I discarded it, because it was within me, in my own perceptions—not outside.” When we distance ourselves from our thoughts and feelings, we give ourselves the freedom to choose what we want to believe and what we want to let affect us.
Lastly, the most important thing that hobbies allow us to do is become the person we were always meant to be.
How many times have you noticed yourself getting distracted by trivial things that have no relevance to you?
Have you ever wondered what you can achieve with that time? The people you can help. Of course, you may say that you spend your time efficiently; however, I’m sure there are times when you can be better.
That’s where hobbies come in. Since, for the most part, hobbies need to be planned, it allows you to be completely intentional with your time. Since everything is already set up, you will follow through with the action of doing that activity. And since the activity is meaningful to you, you will continue to implement the activity in your daily life. The more you do it, the better you get at it. The better you can at it, the more you do it. In addition, through the act of doing, you become the person that you want to be. Let’s say, for example, a goal of yours is to be more athletic. If you sign up and pay for an intramural soccer team with your friends, you will go to the games. As you don’t want to upset your friends, you will show up to the games. On the way, you will gain a new skill and become more of the person that you want to be, rather than the person you don’t want to be.
I’ve struggled a lot with implementing and effectively using different systems to manage my time. I think the reason why I can’t implement those systems is because I had no incentive or appeal to follow those systems. I had goals and aspirations, but I wasn’t consumed by the tasks that I was doing to the point where I needed to make sure that those tasks were in my life. When you need those activities in your life, you have the will to do anything necessary to ensure they stay in your life. If the actions which lead to you achieving your goal are important and rewarding enough, you will find a way to fit them into your life. For example, the author of Atomic Habits, James Clear, mentioned the importance of having panic rules. When things aren’t going to plan, or you are not in the state of mind to really plan out what the next thing is, you must implement panic rules: rules that state the actions that will be done when you don’t have the time or the energy to follow your normal schedule to make sure you are still making progress to achieving your biggest goals.
There are still, however, some principles I’d recommend implementing to help involve more hobbies in your life.
The first thing is to work at a natural pace. Allocate enough time so that you can be satisfied with the work that you are doing. Most things take longer than 10 minutes. Allocate the time needed for them. Because otherwise, you won’t get the satisfaction or separation from that activity that is needed. It takes time to paint a painting. It takes time to play a game of tennis. It takes time to write a book. Give yourself the time that you need, so that you can enjoy what you are doing.
Second thing, I’d personally recommend a mix of more physically imposing activities and a mix of more mentally imposing activities. I find that both activities have their own benefits and complement each other. Studies show that activities involving physical activity lowers blood pressure and heart rate (S.R., 2024). In addition, physical activities outdoors come with benefits such as improved mood and better focus (S.R., 2024). Hobbies involving creative uses brought an increased sense of well-being to individuals and ultimately led to people feeling happier and more relaxed (S.R., 2024).
Third thing, reduce the amount of possible distractions around you. Any possible distraction around the leisure activity will ultimately diminish the experience and feel of the activity. For every interruption and distraction that occurs during the activity, there is a consequential context shift and cascade which occurs. Your attention is taken away from the activity in front of you and is taken to a useless place. Every interruption/distraction takes 20+ minutes to regain deep focus (Cherry, 2025). So if you only have 60 minutes for your leisure activity and you get distracted, one-third of your time is already taken away from you. Reduce all possible foreseeable distractions to allow yourself the maximum amount of concentration on the task at hand.
Fourth thing, do things with your friends. I found some of the most enjoyable moments of my life have been when I’ve done an activity with my friends. Whether it’s playing cards or a sport, it’s just so fun to be around your friends. I think that when you are with your friends, you are extremely focused on the moment since there isn’t really any need to look elsewhere. Additionally, there is a powerful feeling from being with people with whom you truly connect that you can’t replicate. You feel loved, supported, and at ease with the moment. Finding an activity with your friends is one of the easiest ways to improve your life.
Hobbies are the core of what brings a more fulfilled and happier life. They drive us to learn more skills and work on the things that take us to where we want to be. They are what give us separation and drive creativity. They truly transform our lives.
Thank you very much.
References:
“Context Switching: Why It Kills Productivity & How To Fix (2026 Guide): Reclaim.” RSS, 23 Dec.2025, reclaim.ai/blog/context-switching.
Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly. Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. Harper Perennial Modern Classics, 2008.
Doležal, Joshua. How Can You Increase Your Odds of Experiencing Epiphany?, The Recovering Academic, 13 Dec. 2022, joshuadolezal.substack.com/p/where-do-your-epiphanies-come-from.
Kendra Cherry, MSEd. “5 Ways to Easily Enter a Flow State and Boost Your Day.” Verywell Mind, 29 Jan. 2025, www.verywellmind.com/what-is-flow-2794768.
S.R., Venkat. “Health Benefits of Hobbies.” WebMD, 2 July 2024, www.webmd.com/balance/health-benefits-of-hobbies.
“30 Stoic Quotes on Confronting and Discarding Anxiety.” Daily Stoic, 29 Apr. 2019, dailystoic.com/30-stoic-quotes-on-confronting-and-discarding-anxiety/.