The neighbors dropped by for a quick visit last night to see how things were progressing and an interesting conversation around hobbies struck up. The husband was being criticized (playfully-ish) for his habits surrounding hobbies, as he looks for secondhand equipment instead of buying new - even though he could quite easily buy the equipment off the shelf. The criticism is that the stuff he buys isn't always in the greatest condition and it might even cost him more from time to time as he has to repair it. His wife believes he should just buy (at least some) of the stuff new to "save the hassle" of searching and repair.

And his response pretty much sums it up:

Where's the fun in that?

I agree.

When it comes to hobbies, developing knowledge in the area is a large part of building the skillset and while some people like to just "pay and play", spending time researching, searching, finding, discussing and buying the equipment can actually develop a far deeper understanding of the skill and the tools involved, as well as encourage the introduction of randomness, instead of relying on a salesperson or brochure alone. This means that a person is more likely to go wider in brand selection and with the potentially lower price point, experiment with versions. On top of this, the process of buying secondhand is actually an enjoyable (for some) hobby in and of itself.

Humans are collectors and nearly all of us collect something that we consider valuable, whether it is a product, money, friends, likes, a token, or the shrunken heads of our conquered enemies. We also collect knowledge, experiences and a fair number of us might have collected one or two notches on the bedpost. Collecting is a hobby we seemingly all have and no matter what the target of our attention, part of the attraction is actually the process of building the collection.

I think that a lot of people have a good sense of this process on Hive and while there are many different strategies on how to collect tokens, many do spend some time thinking about it. For me, Hive is a hobby and part of the participation is having some understanding of the tools available as well as a broader sense of the skillsets involved. This means going wider than where I would do if I stayed only in the core skill, the content creation side.

A big part of the attraction of the Hive ecosystem is that it is an ecosystem, a microcosm world that closely resembles the larger world container it sits in - including an economy that affects inhabitants at many levels. It is highly dynamic, evolving and there are measures of risk and of course, reward involved. Depending on how one looks at it, it can be hard to tell what is the primary hobby, and what are secondary and tertiary factors that support the main.

Using my friend and his hobbies as an example, he probably spends more time over the space of a year preparing for doing them, than actually doing them. This makes sense if we consider how the brain works as it can imagine doing activities in the future without actually having to do them, which is why they say that planning a holiday can be just as rewarding (and potentially more so) than going on a holiday. at the point of planning, everything goes "according to plan".

Hobby support is even better on Hive, as it has a lot of metrics that can give feedback on progress toward the main goals, whether a person looks to create the best content, earn the most tokens or build engagement. The other thing is that due to the transparency of information, it is possible to see how other people run their strategies and what kinds of outcomes all kinds of strategies get.

Hobbies are the things we do for fun, it is a free-time leisure activity and is performed for enjoyment. While some people will actually earn from their hobbies such as some painters or people who buy and sell collectibles, most don't go into it to get any other return than the joy of doing it. For most, hobbies are an expense, of some kind of resource (time, money, energy) which is part of why they are seen as valuable.

My neighbor spends valuable time in several secondary functions that support his core hobbies and as such, tends to appreciate them more for doing so, because he has invested into them. I would predict that the people who don't go through the secondary processes of building a hobby, probably tend not to stick with it or accomplish a significant level of improvement. Sunk costs in time in the secondary functions help us take something more seriously than the process of buying the disposable tools of the trade and due to the research component, gives us the sense of being knowledgeable - which is a good foundation to build upon.

I think that a lot of people don't understand this intuitively, but tend to do it automatically when they actually find something they enjoy. For example, the other side of the couple loves to garden and while she would probably like the look of a garden that has been designed, bought and installed for her - she probably wouldn't have much attachment to it. Easy come, easy to go. For her, she takes pride in her garden because she has invested her resources into it and as such, cares about it. She is attentive to its needs and adjusts her processes to get better results - she grows her garden through process - not purchase. Her garden is the fruition and feedback of the actions she performs and she gets satisfaction from the good results - but spends a great deal more time on the process.

In my experience through life and observation I have had it clearly demonstrated time and time again that if a person doesn't enjoy the process of getting to where they want to be, they aren't likely to invest themselves into the ways to get there. I have seen this on Hive too, where people want a specific result, but do not perform the secondary actions to get there, which means they are much more likely miss their mark yet feel they invested themselves well - leaving them disappointed.

A large part of the benefits of developing the surrounding skills is the knowledge bank that gets developed that builds a personal microcosm within the Hive microcosm that compounds against each other to support the main goals. A supportive foundation and intentional process development is something that can be built upon and, if it isn't working, much more easy to troubleshoot and adjust for the next attempt.

We can all learn from other's failures, but how come so few of us learn from other's successes?

Perhaps it is because the failures are something to avoid, whereas the successes require actually doing something.

Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]