Introduction
If you’ve ever wondered why you get bored of hobbies so quickly then you’re at the right place today to find out.
In fact, the answer is rather multi-pronged which is why we have multiple reasons rather than just one.
Believe it or not, you’re not unique in feeling this way, and in fact, many people find themselves struggling to stick to their passions in a society of dwindling attention spans.
It may just be that you lack focus in which case we’ve created a separate article to look over to help in that particular area.
As an addendum to this, if you’re trying to tackle too many hobbies at once it’s easy to reinforce the feeling of getting bored quickly as you’ll want to flit between lots of new things.
Rest assured though, it’s better to persevere with something when the going gets tough rather than dropping it completely mainly because you’ll learn to break through those moments where your mind wants to weaken.
To reiterate though, the reasons can be quite varied and we’re going to take a close look at them today to help you recognize which category you fall under.
Understanding a problem is half the battle and you’ve done the right thing to seek to educate yourself on the matter; you can give yourself a pat on the back.
Without further ado though let’s take a look at the five most likely reasons why you get bored with your hobbies.
Boredom or Poor Planning? 5 Reasons Why You Get Bored of Hobbies (and what to do about it)
1. You don’t understand what you’re meant to be doing
One of the biggest reasons why most people get bored of hobbies is when they don’t understand what they’re meant to be doing or the path they’re meant to be taking.
This can lead to mishaps or hiccups throughout the hobby process which can leave you feeling frustrated and burned out.
Most people will abandon what they’re doing at the first hurdle; it’s important not to be that person as a hobby can quickly become rewarding if you persevere with it a little.
Thankfully, we live in an age of information abundance and you have access to so many great resources (including our website) such as YouTube, Wikipedia, and even books on the subject you’re wanting to follow.
Never underestimate the process of pre-planning for your hobbies as it will leave you feeling far more confident and able to tackle any issues should they arise.
Lastly, and depending on the hobby, it’s also wise to consider consulting with actual experts or institutions who can offer you some real-world practical advice on how to approach your hobby with care and finesse.
2. You’re used to giving up
It’s quite common these days for people to give up when their hobbies start getting hard as they’re so used to being pampered throughout the majority of their life.
It’s far easier to go back to watching Netflix all day or playing video games than it is to push through the pain of running a few miles or improving your craft.
Because the majority of us have grown up in relative comfort, it comes as a shock to the system when something doesn’t go our way or requires us to dig deep and to challenge ourselves.
We’ve become a society of challenge-averse people where we seek comfort in the reassuring pacification of digital technology.
To break this cycle there’s no other way than straight through.
Essentially you need to set goals and challenges for yourself each day, building up more and more until you feel comfortable with the prospect of a difficult situation.
We recommend starting with bitesize goals or challenges e.g. instead of saying I will lose 10lbs in two months, you’ll lose 1-2 lbs per week which is far more digestible than picturing the entire mountain before you.
3. You have too many hobbies
If you have too many hobbies then it’s inevitable you’ll become bored with one of them at some point as there’ll be other things competing for your attention.
As a caveat, having multiple hobbies isn’t necessarily a bad thing but you should only allow this when you feel like you can spend the appropriate amount of time developing each of them.
For the average person, when you have lots of hobbies you’re basically reaffirming in your own mind that it’s okay to be mediocre at most things and you’ll easily allow yourself to lose interest to move onto the next best pastime.
This type of psychological conditioning is mostly unintentional and probably a side-effect of growing up with highly addictive (and non-productive) pleasures like YouTube and video games.
These platforms also bombard us with advertisements on a daily basis vying for our attention meaning we’ve become accustomed to picking up new hobbies or trying out the latest fads.
A good way to observe this difference is in people born before the sixties who are seemingly immune to most modern distractions because they were never conditioned or exposed to it when they were younger.
The older generations often had one hobby and were very effective at staying disciplined and getting good at it.
As a task, if you feel like you have too many hobbies and regularly lose interest in things then we recommend going old-school whereby you ditch all distracting social media platforms that pilfer your attention.
You may notice when doing this that you become irritable or even moody at first, and this is because your brain is used to being able to quickly snap up the next hit of excitement (dopamine).
However, if you stick with it, you’ll find that your brain becomes better at resisting these urges to quickly change paths and will allow you to harness your full potential with one hobby.
4. You let people get in your head
Do you ever find that when you’re performing particularly well at a hobby or task, one of your friends or family members is there to give you a reality check or to shut you right down?
This is quite common as people often feel entitled to critique almost anything they see around them — again, this habit has stemmed from the freedoms we usually enjoy when we post comments online as there’s no comeuppance off the back of it.
It might be the most whimsical comment ever but for some reason, it gets stuck in your mind and you find it hard to motivate yourself after that resulting in you ditching it altogether.
Although it’s easier said than done, don’t let people get in your head, and especially don’t let them make you give up on a hobby that you’ve up until now been enjoying.
One of the best techniques you can perform when you receive negative comments from people is to practice mindfulness.
Mindfulness is the process of questioning your thoughts and rationale at the moment e.g. if a friend says something that psyches you out, start questioning yourself whether it’s realistic to feel as disheartened as you do and try to continue on.
In most cases, your initial reaction will be overblown in relation to the comment that was made meaning if you practice questioning that feeling you should be able to get over it much quicker.
If you’re not sure how to practice mindfulness then make sure to check out this video:
5. You need a change
If you’ve practiced all of the techniques we’ve mentioned above or thought about what we’ve said and you still feel like you’re easily bored then you may want to consider changing your hobby altogether.
Sometimes it can feel like you’ve tried so many things and still find yourself getting tired of what you’re doing; rest assured though, this is very common for many people and sometimes it really does take some deep soul-searching to find a hobby that strikes a chord with you.
Thankfully, our website has tons of great advice and plenty of hobby lists for you to look through to get to grips with starting something new.
We’ve also created a guide on how to find a hobby when you’re struggling with picking something that you really want to do which may be useful if you find the process stressful.
Don’t pressure yourself with time either; many people don’t settle down on a hobby until they’re well into their thirties and forties, or even beyond.
Relevant Articles
- 6 Practical Solutions for When You’re Bored of Everything
- 5 Reasons Why You Get Bored of People So Quickly (And What You Can Do About It)
- What to Play or Try When You’re Bored of Games: 50 Ideas (Embrace Gaming Burnout in Style)
- Why You’re Bored of Music: Plus 8 Things To Try Instead
Conclusion
As mentioned at the start, getting bored of hobbies is quite common but the reasons are often varied depending on the person or situations they find themselves in.
You may feel a sense of pressure about this as it may look like all your friends have a hobby or something that they’re really good at.
It’s important to remember that things aren’t always as they appear on the surface and in truth, there’s no set path that you should follow in life as it’s yours to do what you want with.
With that said, hopefully, we’ve been able to provide you with some reassuring and useful tips on what to do when you get bored of your hobbies so easily.
As always, if you feel like this would benefit anyone else then feel free to share or embed our article.
You can also bookmark our homepage for regular hobby updates and tips.
