Came here for advice because I am sure I am not the only person to have gone through this...
I grew up as a not so outstanding child from a typical lower-middle class background with zero connection to finance. In my early teens I decided I wanted to make something of my life and essentially grinded non-stop for a decade to get top grades to get into a top target school and then BB IBD. Throughout this time I didn't really have time for genuine interests or hobbies because 99% of my time was spent either studying, networking or doing an extracurricular for my resume.
I spent the last 5 years in a sweaty BB industry group so any free time I had on weekends was spent going out for dinner with friends or crashing in front of Netflix. I recently moved into a new role where I have a bunch of free time but I have absolutely no idea how to find something fun or interesting to do.
I have tried a few different things (learning a language and a couple of sports) but I always find myself getting bored with it and it starts to feel more like work rather than something I enjoy. Obviously there are endless things out there to try and I find myself reading lists online and just think "no, no, no, no" then give up.
Does anyone have any advice on where to start with this?
Personally something that really worked for me were movies. Not the soulless action sort, but thoughtful artistic movies. It helped me as a form of entertainment but more so as a gateway into new interests. Movies that would truly resonate with me had me inspired by characters. I watched good Will Hunting, and began to read. I watched fight club and developed a passion in watching and partaking in combat sport.
Of course this may not work for everyone, but I would recommend giving it a shot, watching artistic movies. Not having your phone by your side, not pausing, no distractions. Just watching the movie, enjoying it, and analysing the choices made by the production teams, and whenever you see something in a movie that seems to resonate with you, pursue that thing, and see how it goes.
Best of luck;
If you would like I could provide you with a shortlist of some movies that truly sat well with me, but I would rather advise just searching, trial and error, until finding what works for you.
You nailed it in. I'd just expand to if you want a new hobby, literally give it a shot OP. Pick up a 28ga O/U and learn to shoot some trap and skeet.
My friends have dubbed me a serial hobbiest, for better or worse I just can't get enough, of everything. Where I draw a lot of my inspiration is film, or documentaries. I see someone's passion for something and get a deep drive to want to try it. My hero, Shane McConkey, lead me into skydiving and subsequently BASE jumping through his documentary. I was balls deep in the 'watch game' for a little, I am in and out of hockey leagues. I still ski 10-15 days a year. When I was living in Charleston I got into free diving/spear fishing because I saw a big wave surfing documentary with Mark Healy in it.
So all of this to say, people inspire me, when I hear them articulate their passions, it makes me want to do what they do, emulate them somehow.The downside to this is: I generally like to be good at things, for most of the above, the way to get better is to spend money.
I also want to second the recommendation of snagging an o/u and shooting trap/sporting clays, my step dad got me into that at a young age and it is so damn fun still so this day.
What did you like doing as a kid? Start there. I played a bit of tennis as a kid and ended up getting into squash in my 20s since it was more convenient than tennis and it became a huge passion. Hiking? Fishing? You can set up an account on Chess.com or play Go on a few different servers if you want to get into board games.
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If you didn't have any hobbies in your childhood, then there is no point in digging within yourself to find your passions and interests. Just open a list of 100 hobbies, grab a paper and a pen, and write down 4 or 5 hobbies that caught your interest. Try some of them, and see if it makes you look forward to doing it next time; if so, stick to it. The better you'll become doing something, the more you will enjoy it. You would need around 3 months to start to feel some connection with your hobby.
Among others, I would advise you to avoid prestige when choosing a hobby (e.g. how people will perceive you when you tell them about your hobby, what opinions others have about it, etc.). Find something that either makes you relax (painting, drawing, photography, etc.), makes you improve some survival skills (cooking, woodworking, martial arts, etc.), make you creative (writing, dancing, video editing, etc.), or it's just fun for you. Choosing a hobby for the wrong reasons will feel like a burden and you will alter the entire idea of what a hobby should be (and you'll feel like shit).
You can have as many hobbies as you want. You can have some hobbies that you can do daily and others that are done on special occasions (surfing, skiing, skydiving, etc.). Also, if you do a hobby for 3+ months and you start to lose interest, then don't feel bad about trying something new. If you end up trying around 30 hobbies and stick to only 1 or 2, you're abandoned hobbies would still make you more knowledgeable about life in general + easier to connect with people who have those hobbies.
Personally, I enjoy going to the gym, swimming, writing, playing chess, reading, and cooking. Some of them are from childhood (swimming and chess), and the others, at first, became hobbies out of necessity, but now I really enjoy them.
Join a rec league with your friend for a sport you're interested in
If you're in NYC I also recommend trying short, 2-hour beginner classes, just so you can essentially speed date a bunch of hobbies. Go take a beginner ceramics, music, specialty sport, etc class. Can be a fun way to spend an otherwise uneventful weeknight or Sunday and just try a ton of things. At worst you will be a well-rounded person with a rudimentary knowledge of many things. At best you'll find a hobby you really like and want to cultivate.
Get a pilot's license. Good hobby, and also you won't be drafted to the infantry when the real war starts.
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