Mindset shifts you must make for your hobby to stick
Sticking with a hobby involves more than just getting around to it. Here are mindset shifts that are pertinent to sustaining a hobby long-term.
There are some pretty key factors that (in my opinion) will determine whether your hobby will become a long-term fixture in your life or drop off after a bit. My post How to Find a Hobby (and Stick with It) provides a higher-level overview of these. One point I mentioned was making ongoing optimizations, which includes your mindset.
It’s no secret that the mind plays a significant role in what you do or don’t do. If your mind has more resistance, doing a simple task will become more difficult. If your mind has more pliability, doing that same simple task becomes simpler. With that established, here are mindset adjustments you can start working toward to get started with your hobby and actually make it stick.
What is There to Lose by Starting Today?
A common excuse we all hear is: “I’ll just get to it tomorrow or next week.” There are certainly valid reasons for deferring something to a later date if there is importance involved such as making a critical decision or taking care of something else that has higher priority. When it is simply a matter of procrastination, however, is it really better to push it off a day or a week? What is preventing you from pushing it off another day or week?
If the stakes are low and the benefits are high, just do the thing. There is no better time to start than now. This doesn’t mean spend a whole bunch on your hobby right off the cuff (if your hobby leans more expensive) without proper forethought; that is impulsive. What it does mean, though, is to start your hobby today if you have nothing to lose than some time and a reasonable amount on some supplies (if applicable to your hobby).
The point is that, in order to start and stick with your hobby, you first have to get out of your own head and start somewhere. It can be challenging to get started if your mind is currently conditioned to holding you back, but the only way to start is to make yourself do it. From there, you then can start experiencing the process and enjoyment that comes with your hobby, which you may find makes you want to do it more and, in turn, starts to chip away at the resistance in your mind. If you must start somewhere, why not start today?
Get Comfortable Being Uncomfortable
By default, the mind gravitates toward what is known and comfortable. It is easy, after all, to stay in your comfort zone and one reason why you may find it difficult to push beyond it.
You can only get so far with your comfort zone. Achieving any sort of meaningful outcome with your hobby (or otherwise) involves gradually stretching into the areas of discomfort until you can do these things with ease. And then stretching a bit further! It is always a work in progress. You will find overtime that you sustain your hobby more effectively by embracing the discomfort that arises and viewing it as part of the journey.
Embrace Challenges and Have Fun With Them
Becoming comfortable with being uncomfortable prepares you for the next important mindset shift for sticking with your hobby: embracing challenges. And well… it can be challenging. The only way you become adept at dealing with challenges is facing them head on. That takes courage, motivation, and some “screw it, let’s just get it done.”
Depending on your hobby, you may face some (or several) challenges. The great thing is that the problem-solving skills you develop from your hobby are directly appliable to other challenges outside of your hobby. The more you exercise your problem-solving muscle, the more easily you will embrace challenges and come to enjoy the process behind solving them.
View Mistakes as a Learning Opportunity
Everyone makes mistakes; it is just a fact of life. Some processes that cause mistakes should never be repeated, while others benefit from refining.
You may find it easy to become discouraged when mistakes occur and want to give up. Your abilities are only fixed if you fail to learn from your mistakes and improve with what you now know. It can take several attempts to enhance your technique or accomplish specific outcomes in your hobby. You just need to remain patient enough to weather through the mistakes and use those experiences to really get good at what you do. Every mistake you make makes you a bit more knowledgeable and a bit more ahead, even if it looks like a momentary setback in the present.
Believe You Can!
Sometimes you may find that your mind seems rigged against you. That it seems easier to self-sabotage and believe that you don’t have what it takes as a result of subconscious conditioning. This is one reason why I believe people give up on their hobby so quickly.
Sometimes, it takes objective evidence to build belief in your own abilities. A great way to gain more confidence to this end is to yourself opportunities to prove yourself capable. After several personal victories (especially for challenges that were difficult to solve), you may find yourself thinking, “If I can figure out how to do that, I can essentially figure out how to do anything!” Just like anything else, it takes time to build belief in your abilities. But your confidence will gradually grow with each accomplishment you deem significant.
Put Your Mind (and Hobby) to Work
I believe any serious hobbyist should strongly consider optimizing their mindset. A mindset optimization is not one and done; it takes consistent practice to keep the mind in good shape. You can practice the mindset principles in this post with just about anything you do. The key is to remain proactive, resilient, and patient when things get a bit challenging. And above all, have fun with the process.
Happy hobbying!