Hobbies – if you don’t have one yet, you are either wondering why people would spend so much time and efforts on them or you’re currently searching for one.

After reading this article you’ll be eager to get one or at least won’t see it as a waste of time anymore!

What do you need to be productive?

I want to prove to you that hobbies can actually help boost your productivity…curious to know how? Let’s go to the basics and list what you actually need to obtain the maximum level of productivity:

– Be passionate about what you are doing.

– Feel a sense of self-worth as you perform it and a sense of achievement after completing it.

– Exert your concentration, focus & attention on a specific task consistently for a sustained amount of time.

– Be in a secluded place if you are performing a kind of task that requires solitude.

– Be able to work with others if you are in a team.

– Allocate a specific period of time to the activity as well as the people with whom you will carry it on (if that the case requires so).

– Learn or do something concrete that is necessary or useful.

– React to bad performance or unsatisfying results with reinvigorated effort and unshaken motivation.

– Have a routine.

Having a hobby can allow you to exercise these very skills you need to be productive:

Develop Focus & Determination

It is said that will power can be compared to a muscle: the more you use it the stronger it gets and the readier you can use it.

The good news is that you can benefit from it in other areas of your life as well. You are eager to see the fruit of your achievement hence you push yourself to perform better.

Detachment from Materialism

Since monetary gain (though not excluded) is not the reason for you engaging in a hobby, you learn to appreciate the process, beginning to the end, instead of any material gain coming from your final work.

It helps develop a notion of work that values and enjoys not only the final result but the stages that allowed you to reach it.

Broaden Your Creativity

A hobby can give you the opportunity to discover cool, hidden, special talents.

Keep in mind, creativity is not necessarily related to art. Problem solving can be a creative process.

You have probably heard of the amazing breakthrough ideas that changed someone’s career and occurred to them while they were doing a totally unrelated activity.

Hobbies keep you in an active yet quite state, so your mind is in a relaxed mood, allowing ideas to flow smoothly.

Promote Time-Management Skills

You acquire more responsibility and are constantly required to make use of self-control and time management, without having to experience the stresses of external pressure.

You have to turn inwards for discipline and motivation to perform at your best.

A Means for Family Bonding

If you are going through a hard time with family, consider taking up a hobby you all enjoy- or at least that none of you detest.

Hobbies have the capacities to connect you to others on different levels or maybe they will just be the solution to drive away that fog of ill feelings or disconnect.

Choosing a Hobby

A productive activity implies that you are making good, beneficial use of your time.

“Every person starts their day out as a vendor for their soul. They either bring value to it or they debase it.” (Muslim)

It’s up to you to judge if you are using your time in the best way, but here are some basic guidelines to abide by:

– It should be ahalal (permissible) activity.

– It does not take time away from your obligatory duties towards Allah, nor does it make it harder for you to perform them.

– It should have some benefit at least in this life; if not also for the Hereafter (e.g. Sports can benefit your health).

– It reminds you of the blessings of Allah.

– You actually produce something, either in an abstract sense, or a concrete one.

– It allows you to relax and recharge.

– Done in your leisure time (after all the work, chores and homework, etc. are done).

– It is affordable; you shouldn’t be stressed by it.

– Look for activities or ideas (e.g. swimming, horse-riding, archery).

 

First published: October 2016