I was doing all I could to avoid small talk.
Authentically curious, I recently asked a group of colleagues about their hobbies. I wanted to know the things they do just for the hell of it.
The table went quiet. Then came the chorus: “I used to…”
I used to play guitar.
I used to golf.
I used to draw.
I used to run.
Nobody said what they actually do now.
You could see it in the way they said it: half-smiling, half-shrugging, like they’re trying to convince themselves that it doesn’t matter, or at least, not that much.
But when you get people alone, after work, when they’re not performing competence, they’ll admit it: their free time has evaporated into screens, errands, and exhaustion.
We all pretend we don’t miss them. We convince ourselves hobbies are somewhat childish, indulgent, impractical. We hide behind the alibis of “too busy” or “maybe later.” But deep down, everyone knows: something important has gone missing.
The hobbies didn’t fade away. They were killed.
And we all participated in the cover-up.
Walk into your garage.
A crime scene.
The guitar case you haven’t opened since Bush was president. The baseball glove that cracks when you bend it. The fishing rod still wearing the same line it had ten summers ago.
The hobbies didn’t wander off.
They were murdered.
The Suspects
Suspect #1: The glowing rectangle.
* Your phone.
* The perfect alibi: “I’m working.” “I’m relaxing.” “I’m keeping up.”
* It stole your curiosity, five minutes at a time.
Suspect #2: Optimization.
* You couldn’t just jog. You had to train for a half marathon.
* You couldn’t cook. You had to start a food blog.
* You couldn’t lift. You had to track macros, VO max and recovery scores.
Suspect #3: Efficiency.
* The convenience assassin.
* Amazon Prime replaced tinkering.
* Uber Eats replaced learning a recipe.
Suspect #4: The man in the mirror.
* The one who decided it was safer to scroll than to suck at something.
* The one who said, “I’ll pick it back up when life slows down.”
Hobbies Aren’t Cute (They’re Rebellion)
The part many of us miss: hobbies aren’t “nice-to-haves.” They’re weapons.
Picking up a guitar and badly strumming three chords? That’s a Molotov cocktail against productivity culture.
Spending an afternoon building a Lego set? Punk rock against the cult of efficiency.
Collecting baseball cards? Proof you’re not fully owned.
In a world that demands every action “count,” the act of doing something pointless is one of the more radical things you can do.
The Weapons Cache
So where do you start? Pick something (anything) and resurrect it.
* Pickup basketball
* Guitar (playing poorly counts)
* Woodworking
* Gardening (even one plant)
* Cooking (brisket, or hell, even ramen to start)
* Sketching/drawing
* Vinyl collecting
* Home brewing (beer or kombucha)
* Fishing
* Photography (try doing it with something other than your phone)
* Chess
* Hiking
* Restoring a car or bike
* Writing short stories/poems
* Building Lego sets
* Birdwatching
* Running (without Strava)
* Volunteering
* Model trains/cars/planes
* Calligraphy
* Learning a language
* Baking bread
* Rec-league softball/soccer
* Card collecting
* Board games
My Confession
And if you’re wondering, yeah, I have one.
It’s this. Writing on Substack. This is my hobby. My garage band. My tinkering. The place I can wrestle with words.
Here’s my danger: the second I let it become about growth curves, open rates, or follower counts, it stops being a playground and starts being a performance review.
That’s how hobbies die… when they stop belonging to you and start belonging to your audience’s approval.
And if I were to be hooked up to a lie detector test, I’d have to admit I feel it every time I open Substack Notes. That whisper to engage more, grow faster, optimize. Then the slight onset of guilt when I choose to not engage more, grow faster or optimize.
That’s the trap. Your hobby starts off life-giving, then the machine convinces you it has to be productive.
So Who Done It?
The Phone
Always at the scene, stealing five minutes at a time.
Verdict: Accomplice.
Optimization
Every hobby turned into a performance review.
Verdict: Co-conspirator.
Efficiency
Convenience that quietly erased curiosity.
Verdict: Accessory.
The Man in the Mirror
The one holding the gun, waiting for life to “slow down.”
Verdict: Guilty.
The corpse in the garage isn’t just the hobby.
It’s the part of you that knew how to play.
The Challenge
So here’s the challenge: this week, pick one.
Do it badly. Do it joyfully.
Because until you do, your hobbies will stay dead.
And so will the part of you that once knew how to play.
🔥
Cheers,
Will
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit willschmidt.substack.com
