Did you know that studies show that people who engage in hobbies perform better at work? Creative hobbies allow people to get sudden insights on how to solve a problem. Hobbies are personal and are built around what a person finds interesting. If you don’t have any creative hobbies yet, here are some examples that you might want to take up to become successful at work.
1. Play A Musical Instrument
Confucius said “music produces a kind of pleasure which human nature cannot do without”. This is true because science has proven that music stimulates the brain. The studies also show that listening or playing a musical instrument increases your memory capacity. Most of all, learning to play a musical instrument takes time, perseverance and concentration, skills that you need if you want to be successful at work or in business.
2. Reading
Whether you are reading Harry Potter, The Wall Street Journal or Cosmopolitan, the benefits are the same. If you want to be successful at work, you need to learn how to de-stress and reading does a good job of doing this. Relieving stress makes you feel more relaxed and think better of yourself. Reading also hones your problem solving skills, understanding processes and helps you to respond better to other people’s feelings.
3. Regular Exercise
Working out occasionally won’t cut it. If you want to have better focus, memory, concentration and understanding exercise regularly. Regular exercise releases a protein called BDNF, also referred to as mental acuity. On the reverse side, sitting down for prolonged periods of time hinders our brain from performing better. To combat this, exercise regularly.
4. Exercise Your Brain
The need to exercise is not only physical but also mental. Sharpen your brain with puzzles, Sudoku, riddles and board games. These creative hobbies help your brain to continue forming connections. These activities will also help you respond to different situations in creative ways or see things in a different perspective.
5. Learn A New Language
When you’re learning a new language, it involves tasks like analyzing grammatical structures, learning new words which enhance brain health and intelligence. It can be a difficult process but worth it since studies show that people who have high verbal-linguistic intelligence are better at planning, problem solving and decision making.
6. Travel
Travelling is not only a good way to reduce boredom but also a great way to reduce stress. When stress is reduced you are able to focus better on tasks at hand, understand the problem better and become a better observer. Traveling as a hobby also lets you learn about new things, encounter other cultures, people and food which makes you come up with ideas you never thought about.
7. Meditate
Meditation is interesting as a hobby because it implies that we can make our brain feel the way we want to whenever we want to. When the Dalai Lama invited scientist Richard Davidson to study his brain during meditation in 1992, the studies showed that he and the other monks were more compassionate during meditation. This means that we can harness the power of meditation to feel more confident before a meeting or powerful before a negotiation.
Creative hobbies help develop the brain. Different activities stimulate different areas of the brain so you can improve your strengths and weaknesses. Spending time for self-improvement is a good way to succeed in business and work.
