2025-05-15
When I read Range in 2019, one of the things that stood out to me was the role that hobbies have in the lives of high performers. As an example, Nobel Prize winners are 12x as likely to have a creative hobby than their scientific counterparts.
This really stuck with me. I became much more willing to engage in work outside of work. Side projects, hobbies, explorations: I welcomed all of these in my life, sometimes even when I didn’t feel like I had time for them.
On the whole, I’d say this has been a positive thing. Most of them haven’t gone anywhere, but some of them have, bringing people and opportunities into my life that I wouldn’t have had if I hadn’t stretched to take them on. Moreover, some of them seemed to provide their own energy, and even a balancing effect to my life. But this wasn’t consistent. Other times, I felt exhausted or burdened by them, beyond the normal speed bumps that come with typical work.
What was the difference? I didn’t really know.
Then earlier this year, David Epstein (the author of Range) posted about this paper in the Journal of Vocational behavior that explained it for me. The authors compared the impact of hobbies on self efficacy, your belief in your ability to do things, and found a consistent pattern when analyzing the seriousness and intensity of the hobbies.
Put simply, if a hobby is very serious and very similar to your core work, it’s going draw you down. This should make intuitive sense: it’s drawing on the same energy you need for your day job.
But this isn’t the end of the story. The authors found that serious hobbies that are different than from your core work don’t have this impact. Having something you pursue seriously that is outside your focus can increase your self efficacy. Speaking personally, I find that hobbies like this help me take setbacks in my day job in stride by reminding me that it’s just one part of who I am and give me an outlet for my creativity when it’s stifled at work.
If you are going to do something in an area that’s close to your focus area, then it needs to be more casual. This is what makes hack week projects so fun: the chance to explore a familiar domain with fresh eyes and fewer constraints. The playfulness of it is the point.
Overtime, I’ve come to visualize this as a 2x2. I’m keeping it as a reminder for when I select my next project: what role do I want this to play in my life? Is it meant to build mastery? Offer escape? Recharge me? Stretch me?
If it’s not my main focus, I want to be intentional about how it fits. Does it complement my work or quietly compete with it? Does it give me energy, or siphon it off?
2025-05-12
I keep a semi-secret list of great reads that I periodically revisit during a period of change or when the spirit moves me.
One of my favorite on this list is Clayton Christensen's "How Will You Measure Your Life", which I revisited this week.
Some things that stood out this time:
Over the years I’ve watched the fates of my HBS classmates from 1979 unfold; I’ve seen more and more of them come to reunions unhappy, divorced, and alienated from their children. I can guarantee you that not a single one of them graduated with the deliberate strategy of getting divorced and raising children who would become estranged from them. And yet a shocking number of them implemented that strategy. The reason? They didn’t keep the purpose of their lives front and center as they decided how to spend their time, talents, and energy.
And:
When I was a Rhodes scholar, I was in a very demanding academic program, trying to cram an extra year’s worth of work into my time at Oxford. I decided to spend an hour every night reading, thinking, and praying about why God put me on this earth. That was a very challenging commitment to keep, because every hour I spent doing that, I wasn’t studying applied econometrics. I was conflicted about whether I could really afford to take that time away from my studies, but I stuck with it—and ultimately figured out the purpose of my life.
And:
The lesson I learned from this is that it’s easier to hold to your principles 100% of the time than it is to hold to them 98% of the time.
I think this is the first time I've read this one closely since I've had children. At the very least, the first time since my youngest one was born. The grind of parenting is much more real to me now than when I've read this previously. I've described my life recently as a "5 on 3 power play where I'm the 3 and it doesn't reset when a goal is scored." It's good to have the reminder to keep some of my energy for my children and not to spend it all elsewhere.
2025-05-09
Worth your time
- People Are Losing Loved Ones to AI-Fueled Spiritual Fantasies
- “Progress is an optional goal.” The story of the modern institutional review board and so much more of modern American life.
- “Become a deep expert in topics you’re passionate about and showcase that expertise publicly” wisdom from Dimitry Alperovitch via Jordan Schneider
- The Law of Opposites by David Burns. Simple to state, difficult to live.
Things I learned
Coca Cola became cocaine free in 1929! Suddenly American history makes more sense. No wonder so much got built between 1880 and 1930. No wonder the market crashed! From the AP via Stan Veuger.
Musings
Like a lot of parents, we’re trying to teach our toddlers how to swim. For about a year, we did weekly lessons with my son and daughter and they improved, but ever so slightly. Then over winter break, they did much more intensive work, something like 10 lessons in 12 days. The improvement was dramatic, more than a year of weekly lessons. I wonder what other skills are like this? Language seems like it; immersion seems to outperform regular practice. Is things that require rewiring your brain? I wish I understood this better.
2025-05-02
Waymo or way less than you’d expect?
Waymo is now carrying 250,000 passengers/week in autonomous cars.
Transit agencies are falling behind on automation, which can improve service & save money. It's exciting to see DC's Metro taking a step forward in automating its existing lines. We need to be talking about autonomous buses, too.
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— Yonah Freemark (@yonahfreemark.com) April 24, 2025 at 6:29 PM
Misery loves company
This is 100% true of being a parent. My typical experience of being a father is 95% “I can’t believe I get to hangout with these three little people that I love” and 5% “I’m so tired I can’t see straight.” But it’s almost impossible to communicate the 95% to someone besides my wife or my parents. I don’t know why this is, but it’s true!
The 11 laws of show running
Very applicable to new product development.
Are you strong and secure enough in your talent and accomplishment to accept the possibility that other people - properly empowered by you - can actually enhance your genius... or will you cling to the idea that only you can be the source of that genius?
Also, things I learned: “a second definition of "nice" is also "precise and demanding careful attention.”
From Javier Grillo-Marxuach