Get a Hobby

In today’s edition, we explore another idea from Bertrand Russell's classic, "The Conquest of Happiness", examining the overlooked power of cultivating hobbies and interests.

🎯 The Idea In a Nutshell:

• One major source of misery in our lives is our tendency toward self-absorption.

• Our constant preoccupation with a narrow set of concerns leads to fatigue, stress, and anxiety.

• Cultivating hobbies and interests for pure enjoyment creates a much-needed mental break.

• These interests also serve as healthy distractions during inevitable periods of challenge.

📝 Diving Deeper

Russell suggests that self-absorption is one of the most common causes of unhappiness. We tend to ruminate endlessly over a small set of concerns. This self-focus drains our energy and diminishes what Russel calls our “zest” for life.

He gives his reader a simple prescription: to cultivate what he calls “impersonal interests” — essentially any hobby or activity that has no utility beyond its ability to make you feel joy.

Watch movies. Attend sporting events. Read fiction. Play an instrument. Go hiking. The specifics don’t matter. There’s only one rule — it has to be done purely for enjoyment. Such activities offer a crucial respite from the daily grind.

Beyond that, impersonal interests provide a healthy distraction during life’s most challenging times. The loss of a loved one. A serious health concern. An unexpected career transition. Our tendency to ruminate maxes out during such episodes. Having a comfortable and familiar activity to turn to in these moments shouldn’t be underestimated (tell this to your wife next time she breaks your chops for wanting to go fishing).

The happiest men, Russel argues, have an appetite for life. A general curiosity about their surroundings. An interest in people and relationships.

As busy fathers, it's easy to lose this zest. The demands on our time and attention are boundless. This traps us in a vicious cycle:

• A lack of hobbies and interests exacerbates our burnout and fatigue.

• And our fatigue makes it harder to cultivate hobbies and interests.

This is why we must be intentional about cultivating impersonal interests. Don’t get the causation backward. Enthusiasm for life isn’t born of a happy disposition. Rather, a happy disposition is born of an enthusiasm for life.

👉 Why it matters:

• Self-absorption diminishes our ability to show up the way we should for ourselves and those around us.

• Time spent on enjoyable hobbies and interests recharges our batteries, fueling our ability to be the husbands, fathers, and leaders we aspire to be.

🤔 Prompts for Reflection

• What hobbies or interests can you cultivate that require no follow-up action or decision-making?

• How can you incorporate moments of curiosity into your daily routine?

• Reflect on a time when engaging in an external interest brought you joy or relief. How can you recreate that experience regularly?

Make today impactful,
~Jason