Can a Hobby Make You More Creative at Work?
Did you know that a study of Nobel Prize winners showed one thing in common…they all have a hobby! Learn about the benefits a hobby can do for you.
Click the player to listen to this episode of The BIGG Success Show Podcast. Below is a summary of our discussion.
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Like most of us, you face pressure to meet deadlines at work, fulfill family commitments, give back to your community, and so on and so on …
With all that going on, it’s easy to forget about yourself.
On today’s show we’ll talk about how to prevent that from happening.
We found an interesting study by Prudential: Pulse of the American Worker Survey: Post-Pandemic Work & Life. In it, workers were asked what they most valued from their job. #1 at 68% said “job stability.” (That’s no surprise given the chaos we’ve all experienced during the pandemic.)
But what did surprise us was the #2 answer – 62% said they valued a good work-life balance.
That’s in line with what we’ve been hearing too – from both entrepreneurs and professionals. That the pandemic helped us all see more clearly what is most important in life. So many people are taking a step back to really look at how they are balancing professional and personal.
We tend to think of work-life balance as an either/or kind of thing. But the reality is, the 2 sides of our lives can work together for a better overall result.
We’ll share more on this, but first let’s go to the whiteboard for The Professor’s BIGG idea for today:
“The creative hobby you do at home will also make you more creative at work.”
As we’ve all learned, to stay creative, you need to renew your spirit. One of the best ways to do that is to take up a new hobby or rekindle an old one. Something that demands your complete concentration and captures your soul.
So how do you do that?
Let’s discuss three components of a hobby that bring out your creative side.
Finding your flow
When you do that, you enter into what Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (pronounced “chick-sent-me-high-ee”) dubbed a “flow state”. You completely lose your sense of time as you enjoy the task at hand with effortless concentration.
Csikszentmihalyi, a Professor of Psychology and Management at The Drucker School at Claremont University, wrote an excellent book, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. He says that flow occurs when you have clear goals that require appropriate responses.
That’s where your hobbies come in. When you’re doing something you love, you enter into a self-contained universe. So your hobby is a great way to develop flow, which you can use at work also.
Hobbies of the winners
Robert Root-Bernstein, a professor of physiology at Michigan State University, conducted a study on the hobbies of Nobel Prize winners. He compared them to a group of members of Sigma Xi, the scientific research society.
He found that more than half of the Nobel laureates had a long-standing hobby. By contrast, less than one percent of the Sigma Xi members claimed to have a hobby. He also looked at what the Nobel winners’ hobbies were. 25% were musicians. 18% painted or sketched. Writing and poetry were also common hobbies.
Dr. Root-Bernstein has written a book, with his wife Michele, called Sparks of Genius: The 13 Thinking Tools of the World’s Most Creative People. It’s a great book; we think you’ll find it interesting.
Your 5-minute hobby
The best way to make time for your hobby is simple – schedule it. You may think that you’re too busy to fit one more thing into your already-too-busy life. That’s the beautiful thing about the hobbies of the winners – you can steal a moment here and there and get your flow going.
When you find a hobby with the three components, you’ll find you come back to your work reinvigorated. You’ll bring a fresh perspective to your challenges. So go ahead – play a tune, draw a picture, or write in your journal. It’s five minutes that will work wonders for you and lead BIGG success!
George “The Professor” & Mary-Lynn
Co-Founders, BIGG Success
Direct link to The BIGG Success Show audio file | podcast:
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