Is it a hobby or a necessity?

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Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeart Radio.

Good morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

Today's tip is that it is best not to mistake a hobby for a necessity.

We need to spend some time on certain things, but perhaps not as much time as people sometimes spend.

So I love reviewing people's time logs, partly because I am fascinated by the diversity

of human experiences and how we spend our time. We all need to do certain things,

such as cooking, cleaning, and getting dressed. But people spend wildly varying amounts of time

on these things. Sometimes there are practical reasons. It's probably going to take more time

to cook for an eight-person family than just for yourself. But even if we are looking at people

in similar situations, say the person who generally cooks for a four-person family without any major

allergies, people can spend very different amounts of time on this task. One person spends about

20 minutes each night preparing dinner and another spends an hour. Both families are probably not

starving and both families are probably not eating total junk. Since cooking at home tends to wind up

being on the healthier side, feeding your household is a necessity. But spending an hour cooking

dinner each night when it is possible to make reasonable meals in 30 minutes just might mean

that cooking has become a hobby. Same with tidying. Keeping a home clean and orderly is a necessity

so you don't live in chaos. But spending both weekend afternoon scrubbing so the places

ready for a design magazine photo shoot is probably a hobby. Getting dressed is a necessity.

But spending time being on top of the latest clothing trends and making sure those clothing trends

are in your closet is a hobby. I'd add that sometimes work can become something of a hobby too.

Working past the point of diminishing returns on things that are not do the next day because

someone thinks it looks good to be seen working late means that after hours work has basically

become a hobby. Now hobbies are great. Whatever people's hobbies there is a lot to be said for

spending time on things we love and that bring joy to our lives. But if you would not actively choose

weeknight cooking or after hours work as a hobby then maybe it's time to reexamine how you are

spending your time. Consider whether you could spend less time on these activities.

Is the full amount of time you are spending on them necessary? Or past a certain point

is this crossing over into hobby territory? If it is that is good to know. So that you can scale

back the amount of time you are spending on these things when life gets busy. A rotisserie chicken

and a bag salad is great as dinner. Angel hair pasta that cooks in less than 15 minutes plus a

jar of sauce also works. As for getting dressed maybe it's time for a uniform of sorts. Something

classic you can wear in various versions over and over again so you can get dressed in five minutes.

If work has become your hobby try taking up a real hobby like signing up for guitar lessons one

night a week so you have a reason to leave work on time. My guess is the work will still get done.

Time tends to be reasonably elastic. This truth that time is elastic shows up in time data all

over the place. I study historic time use patterns and one of the most interesting is how much

less housework women do now than they did in the past. Sometimes people think this is because of

labor saving devices but looking at when the trends happened I think the more powerful explanation is

that more women started working for pay and so they weren't in their homes all day. They spent

less time on housework because they weren't there but people didn't all start living in filth.

Indeed women who don't work outside the home now still spend less time on housework

than women did about 50 years ago. When standards change they change for everyone.

It seems that some of the housework of the 1950s and 60s was as much a hobby as anything else.

Filling time when the kids were at school if there wasn't anything else going on.

In any case when you recognize that some things are more hobby than necessity then you can simplify

if you want. This opens up time for other things like hobbies you'd enjoy more.

Personally I prefer doing my puzzles or reading to cleaning so that seems like a good trade-off

to me. In the meantime this is Laura thanks for listening and here's to making the most of our time.

Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions ideas or feedback you can reach me

at Laura at LauraVandercam.com.

Before Breakfast is a production of iHeart Media. For more podcasts from iHeart Media please

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Hey listeners. As we begin a new year it's a great opportunity to think about what you are

year of you could look like. Especially if going back to school is one of your goals.

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