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There might be affiliate links on this page, which means we get a small commission of anything you buy. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Please do your own research before making any online purchase.
In fact, a recent poll showed that nearly 40% of adults are more anxious today than they were this time last year when it comes to life domains such as personal safety, physical and mental health, money, relationships, and politics.
As people have a greater perception of possible danger in their lives, it’s important to mitigate those feelings however possible.
People often resort to sitting in front of the television, especially during these times of social distancing and being quarantined from the rest of society. However, watching television can increase anxiety, especially if you’re watching the news.
So in this article, we are going to look at 11 hobbies that are great for people who want to calm their overactive mind. These activities can help reduce anxious feelings in the moment and, if done enough, can reduce your overall sense of discomfort.
Let’s look at a few quick tips on how to choose a hobby that’s right for you if you have anxiety before looking at some examples.
How to Find a Hobby That’s Right for You
When you’re trying to ease your anxiety, the process of finding what works best for you can be very intimate and specific to your needs.
So, while knowing some common hobbies for people with anxiety is a great first step to generating some ideas for yourself, you’ll need to consider how each could fit into your life.
First, it’s important to remember to pick a hobby that won’t increase your anxiety. For example, if you’re nervous about your financial situation, you will probably want to steer clear of activities that necessitate a large investment to get started.
Or, if you’re like me and the idea of adding more scheduled activities to your plate right now makes you break out in a light sweat, signing up for some type of class or something that will take up a significant amount of time might not be your best bet right now.
Essentially, think about the root cause of your anxiety and don’t pick a hobby that’s going to add to that.
And one quick note before we get started: experiencing feelings of anxiety on occasion doesn’t necessarily mean that you have a clinical anxiety disorder.
That said, engaging in hobbies that could help reduce occasional feelings of anxiety aren’t considered to be medical recommendations for dealing with anxiety disorders– so make sure to talk to a doctor if you feel like you need additional help handling your feelings.
Now let’s look at some examples.
11 Fun Hobbies and Activities for People Who Have Anxiety
1. Journaling
Writing in a journal allows you to record your thoughts and feelings in an effort to better understand them. And if you’re struggling with anxiety, maintaining a journal can be a great hobby that will help you gain control of your feelings and improve your mental wellbeing.
Journaling is a great outlet to help you face your overwhelming emotions and express yourself. Journaling can help you:
Cope with stress
Manage your anxiety
Create order in your world of chaos
Prioritize your concerns and problems
Track your daily symptoms to help you recognize and control triggers
Identify negative self-talk and behaviors
Help you get to know yourself by focusing on your inner thoughts and feelings
Narrow down the causes of your anxiety so you can create a plan to reduce those issues
Make it easy for yourself to get started with your journaling practice by keeping a pen and paper with you all the time, so when a thought or idea hits you, you can record it.
And your journal certainly doesn’t need to follow any type of set structure. You should consider your journal to be your personal space to write about whatever feels right to you.
Try to write in your journal regularly by setting aside some time each day to sit with your thoughts and get them down on paper. Look at this time as being a time for you to wind down from the day and relax a bit.
Find a soothing and comfortable place to write, which will help reduce feelings of stress, make you feel less overwhelmed with your everyday life, and definitely reduce feelings of anxiety.
If writing is not your thing, the video below profiles the 9 best gratitude apps that help with a gratitude journaling practice.
2. Practice Yoga
Yoga is a great hobby for those who are looking for a free activity that can be done at home at your convenience. All you need is a yoga mat and some comfortable, loose clothing that you probably already have on hand in order to get started.
This means that practicing yoga can have similar benefits to other self-soothing practices such as deep breathing, exercising, and spending time with loved ones.
If you really want to get your mind off of something, do a puzzle. You’ll quickly become laser-focused and forget about whatever may be ailing you at the time. Looking for the matching pieces of a jigsaw puzzle helps take your mind off anxious thoughts, which makes it a great distraction.
This is a great activity to do alone, or you can do it with company if you want to have people around without doing an activity that requires a lot of talking or interaction.
And, one of the great things about puzzles is that you can walk away from them at any time and pick up wherever you left off when it works best for you.
So, if you’re feeling particularly anxious at one point, you can just go back to the puzzle you’re working on and spend some time on it.
Doing a puzzle requires you to put everything else aside while you search for (and find) the satisfaction of locating two pieces that fit perfectly together, making it a great hobby for people with anxiety.
4. Swimming
This form of exercise is a great anxiety-reducer that can also lower your risk of depression (swimming releases endorphins, which naturally make you feel good) and improve your sleep.
Many swimmers refer to this sport as being healing because it’s an invigorating, yet relaxing type of exercise that’s meditative due to its repetitive nature.
In one worldwide study of 4,000 people, 75% of swimmers reported that this hobby helps reduce their feelings of anxiety and aids in the release of tension.
Swimming is a great anxiety-reducer that can also lower your risk of depression and improve your sleep.
Being in water is relaxing, and studies have shown that swimming for just half an hour three times per week can reduce stress levels, anxiety, and symptoms of depression.
And while any exercise can help manage stress, swimming in particular has been found to be an especially helpful activity for improving mental health.
5. Cooking
To me, this is where the tip of considering the root causes of your anxiety before choosing a hobby comes in handy. I know my cooking evokes anxiety–not just in myself, but in those who may be subjected to consume it.
However, I also know so many people who swear by cooking if they need to get a relaxing break from life because they find it to be soothing.
And studies have shown the soothing effects of cooking, with experts claiming that cooking can provide people with an immersive activity that involves all five senses, offering respite from feelings of perceived dangers in one’s life (i.e. feelings of anxiety).
When you’re preparing a meal, it’s easy to get caught up in that moment of creativity, which can be both calming and a mood booster.
Many people find joy in creating a unique meal, especially when it can be shared with loved ones. Plus, making and eating healthy food is a great way to make sure you’re feeding your body and mind with the necessary nutrition to maintain cognitive health.
So, in addition to being meditative and reducing anxiety, cooking can help you keep your body healthy as well.
The act of coloring can be relaxing and the finished product offers a sense of reward. Studies have found that there are a few reasons why coloring is an effective way to stave off anxiety and improve emotional outcomes.
First, it may arouse a nostalgic feeling of creating art as a child, which can make you feel good.
Coloring is also a creative outlet that can help break up your everyday routine. Finally, you can practice mindfulness as you disconnect from the chaos of life and reconnect to the present moment as you fill the pages with various designs.
7. Photography
Having anxiety can be limiting, but practicing photography certainly is not. One of the best things about picking up photography as a hobby is that there are limitless things you can choose to photograph.
You certainly don’t have to be social if that’s not your thing, but if you do want to photograph people, you’ll probably end up with a sense of confidence when you’re behind the camera.
If you choose to photograph landscapes or nature instead, that means you’ll be getting out in nature, taking some long walks in natural light and fresh air, which is great for your mental health.
And, no matter what, you can definitely use your creativity skills when taking pictures.
According to a study published in the Journal of Positive Psychology, those who spend time daily engaging in a creative activity have an improved sense of psychological well-being than those who don’t incorporate creative rituals into their routine.
8. Walking
This hobby has almost no barriers to get started, as all you need is some walking shoes and a safe place to walk.
Walking meditation is an effective method for reducing stress, as it helps you focus and center your mind, especially if you’re going through a tough time. This meditation in action is easy because the walking part of it comes automatically, so your mind is free to wander.
Studies show that spending time in nature while you’re hiking or walking can reduce feelings of anxiety.
And if you choose to walk without the meditative portion, the Anxiety and Depression Association of America notes that walking for just ten minutes at a time can boost your mood and ease symptoms of anxiety.
In fact, a 10-minute walk may be equally as beneficial as a 45-minute vigorous workout when it comes to reducing anxiety.
Although the effects of walking or other forms of exercise may be temporary, research shows that a brisk walk can offer several hours of relief from anxiety, which is comparable to taking ibuprofen to treat a headache.
9. Reading
There are so many benefits you can get from reading, and reducing anxiety is one of them. Reading informs, teaches, entertains, and brings you to faraway places you’ve never experienced.
Studies have shown that reading can decrease stress and anxiety by 60-70%. Reading helps you relax by reducing your heart rate and relaxing muscle tension.
As you give your mind a break from anxious thoughts by getting caught up in a book, you’ll often find yourself wrapped up in another world through the story that you’re picturing in your head.
Reading allows you to go to other places where you can “meet” people and learn about different problems that others are facing that will help take your mind off of your own anxiety.
10. Gardening
If you’re looking for something to distract you from your anxiety, try your hand at gardening. Not only can gardening help put a stop to your ruminating thoughts, it can also reduce the severity of other symptoms of anxiety.
Gardening helps people connect with nature, which has positive psychological benefits, and if you choose to grow your own fruits and vegetables, you can provide yourself with healthy foods that can further nurture your psychological well being.
If you don’t have a yard, you can grow indoor plants or volunteer at a community garden to reap the benefits of this hobby. You’ll find it extremely satisfying to watch your plants grow after nurturing, feeding, and watering them.
Studies show that spending time in nature while you’re hiking can reduce feelings of anxiety. Our modern lifestyles have changed radically from those of our ancestors, but our cognitive function has pretty much stayed the same.
We maintain a deep connection with nature, and research shows that if we neglect our bond with the great outdoors in favor of technological advancements, our mental health can be negatively impacted.
The physical benefits coupled with the chance to get out in nature makes hiking a great hobby to take up for people who want to reduce their anxiety.
Final Thoughts on Fun Hobbies for People Who Have Anxiety
Anxiety can be debilitating, so having something to help you clear your mind, focus on, and enjoy is great for those who tend to be anxious.
Keep in mind that figuring out which hobby works best for you may require some trial and error, as a hobby that is perfect for a friend might not really be up your alley.
Be patient and try out a few of the hobbies listed in this article to see what helps you the most. Stay open-minded during this process and try as many new things as you can.
This list offers some great basic options for you to try if you feel like your anxiety is getting in the way of your normal, everyday functioning. So try something on here that you’ve never done before and see what types of benefits you can gain.
And if you’re looking for more resources to help manage your anxiety, these articles might help:
Connie Mathers is a professional editor and freelance writer. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and a Master’s Degree in Social Work. When she is not writing, Connie is either spending time with her daughter and two dogs, running, or working at her full-time job as a social worker in Richmond, VA.
There might be affiliate links on this page, which means we get a small commission of anything you buy. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases. Please do your own research before making any online purchase.
There are a ton of benefits to taking up a hobby that you enjoy. These extra-curricular activities that you choose to fill your free time will boost your individuality and increase your sense of satisfaction with life.
You can choose hobbies that fit your personality and lifestyle, and there are a lot of hobbies that you can enjoy from childhood all the way into retirement.
In this article, we will explore 55 hobbies for men and look at resources for each to help get you started.
If you think that running just isn’t really your thing, I urge you to give it a chance. Like many others, you may find your runs to be relaxing and a part of your day or week that you look forward to.
And, with more muscle strength, more endurance, and a lower number on the scale, you won’t regret picking up this hobby.
Finally, with heart disease being the leading cause of death in the U.S., you may even be prolonging your life by running.
So grab a friend or join a group…or take on running as an individual hobby to give yourself some time to do some reflection and get some peace away from the outside world.
This may be a hobby you tried to put away years ago, but playing video games doesn’t have to feel like a waste of time. In fact, many video games offer educational and cognitive benefits for adults and children alike, including:
Giving your brain a workout
Increasing problem-solving skills
Reducing stress
Enhancing spatial-reasoning skills
And even if you just have fun playing video games, that’s enough to justify it as being a legitimate hobby. The benefits that come along with it will occur whether you’re aware of them or not.
Taking classes online is the easiest way to become a lifelong learner, and while online schooling was once seen as being illegitimate, it’s now a common way to learn.
There are online classes in almost every subject you may be interested in, and becoming familiar with websites such as Coursera, Skillshare, and Udemy is especially helpful because they offer instruction from professionals who can help clarify things for you if you have any questions.
Finally, online instructors typically offer extra resources to their students that aren’t accessible to the public. These current materials can help you stay on top of emerging professional trends.
Whether you want to continue your learning for personal or professional reasons, using the internet as a learning tool is a practical hobby that offers many benefits.
You can enjoy playing chess whether you have a chess board and a partner or not, as this classic game is readily available online and through apps, so it’s easy to play under any circumstances. And, no matter how you play, you will be giving your brain a workout.
Playing chess is a fun and challenging hobby in which you can always advance your skills. And, along with the sense of friendly competition you will have, you will be improving your cognitive function in the areas of your brain that control your ability to focus, solve problems, think analytically, remember things, and make decisions.
Resource: This video is a great tool for beginners who are just starting out with learning how to play.
5. Go Camping
You can go camping with your friends or your family, but either way, you’ll have a blast and get the perks of being out in nature. There are so many health benefits that you can get from spending time outdoors being active.
Going camping lets you get some exercise into your day in an environment that’s completely unrelated to your professional life, which can actually reduce symptoms of clinical depression. Just pick up some camping and hiking gear and you will be ready to go on an outside adventure.
Resource: This article gives great advice for beginner hikers.
6. Learn to Play the Guitar
Learning to play the guitar isn’t as hard as it looks, and it’s something that both you and those around you can benefit from.
Whether you gather friends for a sing along or you write your own original song, this hobby is something that you can enjoy for years to come. Plus, it’s relatively inexpensive, and once you have a guitar, there are no additional fees!
Being able to take a piece of plain wood and make something useful out of it is a practical and creative craft that is also very impressive. Think of how cool it would be to point out the furniture in your house that you’ve made by hand.
Many who have taken up woodworking as a hobby report having reduced stress and an increased level of patience. Also, woodworking is a “whole brain” activity, as you’re:
Using hand-eye coordination
Using your senses of touch and sound
Being creative in thinking about the design and finish of your product
Using your spatial reasoning skills to figure out how all of the pieces fit together.
You’re also measuring and converting fractions in your head, so you’ll definitely be using both the left and right sides of your brain and activating the wiring in between.
The freedom you get from feeling the wind on your face as you’re gliding down the road is a sensation that you probably loved as a kid. But, once you got your driver’s license, your bike may have started to gather some dust.
But you don’t need to abandon this activity that you loved so much while you were growing up.
Biking has seen a huge gain in popularity since the coronavirus hit, and if you really get into it, you can start participating in races, or you can just go for joy rides around town using the power of your own body to propel you.
You can also get into mountain biking, which gives you the extra perk of spending time in nature. Mountain biking has a pretty short learning curve, and once you get the hang of it, there are plenty of fun ways to keep progressing your craft.
Mountain biking is a low-impact sport that’s both engaging and exciting. You’ll find it to be rewarding to explore new areas and gain unique experiences as you’re exploring the trails in your area. Plus, compared to other hobbies, mountain biking isn’t hugely expensive.
Resource: This video will show you ten tips for beginners.
10. Join a Sports League
Find other people in your area who enjoy the same sports that you do and start a league! Or, find an existing league and see how you can get involved. This is a great way to make new friends, add some activity into your day, and have fun with some friendly competition.
Softball and kickball leagues are popular, but you may also be interested in tennis, pool, bowling, basketball, or any other type of league you can find or put together.
Coupling socializing with being active makes for a pretty ideal hobby.
Resource: This website allows you to put in your city to find a nearby sports league of your choice.
11. Gardening
Cultivating your own land and providing for your family’s needs by growing fresh food is a very powerful skill to have.
All you need is a little bit of space in your yard to be self-reliant and grow fruits and vegetables. And, eating produce that’s straight from your own soil is the best way to get natural vitamins and minerals into your diet.
Getting outside in the fresh air will give you some exercise and sunlight, which will benefit your health as well, and watching your seedlings turn into crops will give you a sense of accomplishment and pride.
Resource: These ten tips will help you start off your garden on the right foot.
12. Kayaking
This hobby is not only relaxing, it’s a great way to get some upper body exercise into your routine. It takes some skill to captain a kayak, so you will need some practice to get the hang of it if you’re a beginner. You will learn about various strokes and where the best places to kayak in your area are.
Start by looking into a local rental, and if you love it, you can buy yourself a kayak. This versatile sport can be done alone or in groups, and engaging in this activity on the water will help you connect with nature, appreciate the great outdoors, get in a good workout, and adopt an exciting new hobby.
Resource: This link will provide you with places you can kayak near your home.
13. Barbeque
Learning how to smoke meat or barbeque on a charcoal grill is fun and will result in a finished creation that will be satisfying to your mind and stomach. There is a low barrier to entry for this hobby, as you only need a grill and some meat.
As you get used to working with the tools and different cuts of meat, you can experiment with new methods, spices, and working with foods other than meat. Creating meals for your friends and family on the grill can also be a social hobby as you stand around the grill talking with your buddies.
Resource: This video will show you how to barbeque meat just right.
14. Marksmanship
Taking up a shooting sport as a hobby can lead to becoming an expert marksman. This craft requires a steady hand and complete focus, so if you feel like you’re good at those things, this may be a good hobby for you.
There are nationwide shooting clubs that specialize in a variety of gun sports. You can do clay pigeon shooting, rifle shooting, and some places even offer Cowboy action shooting.
This hobby can add up financially, as ammo doesn’t come cheap and guns are certainly a costly up front expense. You’ll also need to pay to rent space at a gun range, so it’s important to keep these factors in mind.
This is a classic hobby for men–creating an intricate ship inside of a glass bottle. Your final product will amaze adults and kids alike as they try to figure out how in the world you got that ship through the tiny opening of the bottle.
Creating a ship in a bottle requires dedication, focus, and a steady hand. In addition to creating ships in bottles, you can also make “impossible bottles” with other things such as tennis balls or cards.
If you’re interested in the model building part but don’t want to mess with the bottle, that’s a great hobby too! You can create replicas of cars, ships, trains–anything that you’re interested in.
Building models helps you focus on detail and will probably prompt you to look into the history of what you’re making. And, your end result will be a neat replica that will certainly be impressive to others.
Getting started with model building isn’t hard– just go to a hobby shop or look online for a kit, which will provide you with the supplies and instructions you need.
Resource: This video will help you get into model building.
17. Weightlifting
Gaining muscle is a practical benefit to weightlifting, but you will also improve your health by engaging in this hobby.
Once you start getting into weightlifting, you’ll no longer dread working out. Rather, you’ll start to structure your day around your exercise regime.
You will feel a huge sense of accomplishment as you progress with your weightlifting, and you will be amazed in a few months when you look back at how far you’ve come.
Resource: This video will help you with your technique when you’re lifting.
18. Bowling
Seventy years ago, men would gather together in bowling alleys to congregate in league teams. This was a great way for men to hang out, drink beer, and smoke cigars. Bowling alleys were a masculine escape from home life.
Today, bowling is a hobby that you can easily share with friends, so it’s a perfect hobby to take up if you want to be social. Call up your friends and form a league that meets weekly.
While doomsday preppers have been mocked through reality TV, this can be an enjoyable–and potentially useful–activity for those who want to have a solid plan in case the apocalypse truly is upon us.
Prepping doesn’t just involve gathering supplies for emergencies, it also requires learning skills and survival strategies. You can practice much of this in your backyard, and you’ll probably feel like a badass once you’re completely prepared.
Many people associate fishing with living a happy and healthy life. When you think about fishing, your mind may turn to images of endless horizons of calm, serene water that help take your mind off of any stressors you have in your everyday life.
Fishing was once one of few ways for humans to survive before we had everything available to us at the touch of a button. But many people still enjoy this hobby for its ability to reduce stress, get out on the open water, and bond with other fishermen.
Fishing also helps you feel a sense of fulfillment. When you’re fishing, you will be learning skills, patience, and practicing goal setting, which will help you feel a sense of accomplishment.
Fishing is about the process more than the end result, so even if you don’t catch anything, the pleasure of baiting your hooks, casting your rod, and feeling fish tug on your pole are all spectacular feelings.
Golf is a gentleman’s game, as the process of swinging a club is (or should be) graceful, you play on manicured lawns, and you wear suitable attire.
Spending a few hours on the course, whether it’s for personal or professional reasons, will always offer you a game of friendly competition against others and yourself.
In other sports, you typically have to be better than your opponent, but one of the unique things about playing golf is that you will constantly be working to improve your own game.
Resource: This video will show you the basics to getting into this sport.
22. Sailing
Sailing is a hobby that many dream of doing, and it incorporates some ancient disciplines such as weather forecasting, navigation, and advanced rope skills. Sailing will give you a literal breath of fresh air, while also providing you with physical and mental activity.
Sailing can be expensive, but costs can be cut by taking classes, renting boats, etc., so don’t think you need to run out and buy a sailboat right away. Sailing is also something that you can share with your whole family as you go out on day trips with the group.
You can stay on top of the seas with sailing, or you can go down below to take a tour of the deep oceans. You need to take classes to start doing this hobby and become certified before taking a dive.
This may limit those of you who live in a place without a lot of surrounding water, but even inland areas offer classes and scuba shops.
You can even become scuba certified inland and then transfer your skills once you’re on a vacation in the clear waters of the Keys.
Whether you have a goal of riding your motorcycle across the entire country or you prefer to spend most of your time messing with it in your garage, lots of men enjoy this hobby. Riding a motorcycle offers a lot of mental benefits beyond just having fun.
When you’re driving in a car, you’re passively observing your surroundings, but when you’re riding a motorcycle, you’re in complete contact with the scenery.
Plus, riding a motorcycle instead of driving a car can help you save some major money. Not only will you save money in gas, you’ll also save in expensive car maintenance and repairs.
No matter what your personality is, having a team sport in your life can help you feel a sense of comradery and give you a chance to get some physical activity into your routine.
Participating in intramural sports will help boost your testosterone level, keep you in shape, fight symptoms of depression, and reduce stress.
Giving your competitive spirit an outlet is a great way to incite feelings of motivation and inspire you to set some goals for yourself. Plus, you can make new friends with people who enjoy playing the same sport that you do.
If you go out of your way to get the good coffee at high-priced cafes every day before work, consider roasting your own at home to get that rich taste you’ve become accustomed to.
Sure, mass-produced stuff can taste alright, and it’s much easier to make…roasting your own coffee will be worth it in the end as soon as you taste it.
This hobby will also save you money because your home-roasted coffee will average about $6.50 per pound, while the average cost from a grocery store is $8.50 per pound. You can either get a coffee roasting machine, or you can roast your coffee on the grill or in the oven.
Your final product will also make a great gift for friends, or you could sell your beans at a local farmer’s market. Discover all of the methods of brewing coffee that you can, and soon enough you will be a coffee aficionado.
There are a lot of benefits to practicing martial arts such as gaining discipline, focus, and the ability to defend yourself. Practicing martial arts can also help improve your health, help you connect with a manly sport, and help you feel like a warrior.
There are a variety of different types of martial arts to choose from, so just do your research to find which discipline feels right for you. Whether you choose karate, kickboxing, Judo, or mixed martial arts, this hobby will benefit you in many ways.
This may seem like an old-timey activity, but there’s nothing wrong with getting back to the basics. Archery is a primitive sport that works on manpower. While it used to be used for combat and hunting, today, archery is more of a competitive sport and hobby.
This focused, repetitive activity requires precision and determination. And, once you get into it, it can help settle your mind as you try to get a bullseye.
Beginner bows are inexpensive, so you can get into this hobby pretty quickly. You can even go to archery parks that have 3D targets that resemble animals in the woods, which is pretty cool.
Resource: This website has all of the information on doing archery as a recreational activity that you may need.
29. Hunt For Gold
Searching for gold can be a fun thing to do that may even result in some pocket money if you find something good. While gold mining was once a commercial endeavor, it’s now an outdoor activity that even kids can enjoy.
You will probably start hunting for gold on a small creek, and you will soon find out that a lot of the fun of this hobby is in the research–finding out where people have found gold before, how it travels, and where it tends to end up.
Once you get to that point, your chances of finding something good will be much greater.
Historically, hunting has been a way to welcome boys into manhood, providing them the chance to bond with others in a male setting.
Today, most men get their meat packaged from the grocery store, and they get the added hormones and antibiotics along with it. This has created quite a disconnect between men, food, and the outdoors.
If you want to reconnect with nature, going hunting is a good way to do so. It will allow you to give your family a source of high-quality meat and you will be supporting wildlife conservation, because the money you spend on your hunting license helps fund wildlife agencies.
Plus, you’ll get to bond with others who are also engaging in this hobby.
Resource: This website is the biggest database for hunting knowledge.
31. Start a Collection
Men’s brains love to focus on one thing at a time, so zeroing in on something and creating a collection out of it can be a great pastime for men. Furthermore, with men’s ancient desire to go on a hunt, looking for things to add to your collection will never get old.
You can spend years trying to find that last piece to complete your collection, but the thrill is in the hunt. Whether it’s baseball cards, stamps, coins, or whatever, having a collection can be a really fun hobby.
Metalworking involves heating and manipulating metals to create both small and large-scale projects. You can make everything from car parts to jewellery to garden archways.
There are a ton of processes, skills, and techniques you can learn depending on the kind of metalworking you choose to do. Some techniques include cutting, forming, and joining various metals.
Metalworking is an ancient skill that has come a long way over thousands of years. Working with metal offers the same benefits of woodworking, but rather than being surrounded by sawdust, you’ll be working with fire and melted metal.
Having this hobby can result in some amazing creations that can be passed on for generations to come.
Cars have come a long way in terms of sophistication and technology, making DIY car mechanics increasingly difficult. However, if you still have the urge to put your inner mechanic to use, taking up classic car restoration might be the right hobby for you.
Learning this hobby will help you sharpen your problem-solving skills, learn about engineering, and give you a huge sense of reward when you rebuild an engine that works like a charm.
Restoring classic cars can be expensive, however, the cost can pay off in the end because you can sell your fully-restored car for a good amount of money–if you’re willing to part with it.
One study recently looked at how creating art impacts your brain differently than simply looking at it. The researchers split participants into two groups, one that participated in a 10-week art appreciation class, and another who took a 10-week art class in which they made their own work.
The researchers looked at brain MRIs of the participants and found that those who actively did art had more overall brain activity and connectedness than those who only looked at it.
The researchers also discovered that the increased brain activity had a direct correlation with one’s resilience–meaning their ability to deal with stress and bounce back from adverse circumstances.
So whether you choose to paint, draw, or even do some clay molding, this stress-relieving hobby can have practical benefits to your long-term health.
If you like treasure hunts, you will love geocaching. This outdoor hobby takes you on a hunt with a GPS to find and hide treasures (“geocaches”) in areas that are marked by coordinates located all over the world. Here is how the process goes:
Once you’ve found it, sign the logbook and return the cache to where you found it
Share your treasures and experience online with other geocachers!
Most caches come in a waterproof container and include a logbook for all geocachers to sign. There will also be a little treasure in each one.
This is a fun hobby because it gives you the opportunity to explore your city, meet others who enjoy this hobby, spend some time outdoors, and find a hidden treasure.
Taking control of your financial wellbeing is a good idea at any age, so this is always a great hobby to take up. Learning about how to invest your money will have great long-term benefits, so if you find it to be an enjoyable hobby, you’ll be in luck.
Once you start to learn how to take control of your finances, you will find it to be both satisfying and empowering. Investing will help ensure your future financial security, as it can provide you with a second stream of income in addition to your salary.
Resource: Here are some podcasts about personal finance that you may find to be more approachable than researching through reading.
44. Learn a New Language
Learning a new language is a fun and challenging hobby that will assert your brain in new ways while also teaching you about a diverse culture.
Learning a new language can help you both personally and professionally, as we live in a global economy where businesses look for employees who are multilingual.
You can take your time when learning a new language, and in the end, you will be able to communicate with an entire population that you weren’t able to in the past.
Not only will you become more conscious of cultural customs, you will also become more aware of grammar, patterns of pronunciation, and your vocabulary. This benefit of learning a foreign language can help improve your listening, reading, and writing skills as well.
Volunteering is a great way for men to give back to the community and make a difference in this world. And science says doing so will also make you feel really good! Volunteering can also give you a sense of purpose and make you feel like you’re living a more fulfilling life.
Volunteering for a cause that you’re passionate about will also introduce you to like-minded people and it may even open some doors for future job opportunities.
Resource: This website will show you volunteer opportunities in your area.
46. Write a Book
Gone are the days where you have to rely on a publishing company in order to become a known author. You can write a book that will end up in a tangible format to pass down by publishing a book yourself.
What topic really interests you or what do you consider yourself to be an expert at doing that you could teach others about? Or, you may believe you’re an expert at storytelling and you want to write a fictional book.
You don’t have to put yourself on a time limit when you’re self-publishing a book, you can wait until you feel it is just right.
Resource: This website will walk you through publishing your own book.
47. Learn Your Genealogy
Learning the roots of your family is a hobby that can benefit both you and the rest of your family. There are a lot of reasons to learn about your family’s history, many of which are practical. They include:
Uncovering the truth about stories of your ancestors
Finding out if you’re related to any famous people
Locating your birth parents if you’re adopted
Learning about your family’s medical history
Tracing family heirlooms or inheritance
Learning about your family’s history will help you understand your origins, and all you need to get started is the desire to know and some research skills. From there, just stay organized and you can research as far back into history as you want.
Resource: Here is a beginner’s guide to studying your genealogy.
48. Practice Doing Stand-Up Comedy
Engaging with a happy audience is a great way to lighten your spirits, and making a hobby out of it means that you get to practice being funny on any everyday basis during your interactions with others.
You can use your living room as a stage and try to turn some of your real life situations into stories with a comedic effect. Even if you don’t end up performing for an audience, you will definitely boost your own mood as you start looking at things going on in your life from a comedic standpoint.
I’m sure at some point you’ve wondered what the purpose of your life is or why you were born… you. If so, a great hobby to take up is studying philosophy, as this will help you determine what you believe is the truth about why we are all here.
Learning about philosophy requires you to use both logic and reasoning skills to analyze the different perceptions that people have about the origins of life.
If you want to work with wood in a different way other than woodworking, wood burning might be right for you. Wood burning consists of burning a pattern or design onto wood using a searing tool that’s similar to a pen.
The pen is easy to hold, which will help ensure precision, and you can start this hobby in under $50. Wood burning requires an eye for detail, patience, and a mastery of your tools to get really advanced.
Resource: Here is a video for beginners.
51. Jigsaw Puzzles
There are still plenty of games to play that aren’t online, and sometimes we all need to step away from the screens and give our eyes a rest. Plus, there are cognitive benefits to doing jigsaw puzzles as well, such as:
Exercising both sides of your brain, giving your brain a workout that will help improve your focus and problem-solving skills
Reinforcing neural connections and improving short-term memory
Increasing processing speed
Relieving stress by reducing your blood pressure and heart rate
Escaping the neverending stimuli of our tech lifestyle
If you enjoy going to flea markets or thrift stores, you know sometimes it’s hard to pass up a deal. Well, if you start doing some resale, you won’t have to!
When you come across something that you really wish you had a need for because it’s a great find, but you just don’t…buy it and then try to sell it online for a higher price.
And, while you’re at it, list some items online that you already own but no longer have a use for. This will help you declutter your living space.
Documentaries offer you entertainment and learning together in one activity and will widen your base of knowledge. They will also keep your brain active and give you more things to talk about with other people.
YouTube offers a ton of free options and you can also find good documentaries on HBO, Netflix, or whatever streaming service you subscribe to. Watching documentaries is a great way to introduce yourself to and learn about new topics and gain a better understanding of topics you may already know about.
Resource: Here is a list of some of the best documentaries out there.
54. Learn Self-Defense
If you don’t already know self-defense techniques, now is the time to learn! You want to know how to defend yourself during these troubling times, and to ensure your safety, you should be familiar with the skills you need to escape a threat.
Learning self-defense will help improve your confidence and awareness of your surroundings. Knowing about the most effective striking practices and precision when it comes to personal protection will afford you the best possible outcome in the case of an attack.
Learning self-defense will also help reduce your chances of becoming a victim because it will teach you how to make smart choices regarding the situations you put yourself in.
You’re already familiar with the benefits of reading from older posts on DGH, but many of us don’t have the time we wish we did to spend on this hobby.
In fact, since 2004, the number of people in our country who have the time to read for pleasure has plummeted, going to 19% of the population from 28%. What’s more, the average amount of time people read per day is 15 minutes, not the hours on end that you may dream of doing on the beach.
But reading is a great hobby because you can easily pick it up and put it down as needed and you can take your book on-the-go so you will always have it by your side.
Of course, this list of “Hobbies for Men” does not mean that many women will not also love these hobbies. They will! It is just that some of these hobbies tend to be more male oriented.
More traditional female hobbies are on this list: Hobbies for Women. But both lists are really gender neutral (and contain some of the same hobbies). So if you enjoy this “Hobbies for Men” post, I encourage you to check out my list “for women”, as well.
You have a lot of hobbies to choose from here, so I hope you feel like some of these ideas resonated with you. One of the best things about taking up a hobby is that if you end up not loving it, you can easily move on to the next one. Give some of these ideas a shot and see how they can benefit your life.
And if you’re still on the lookout for more hobbies to try, be sure to check out these articles:
Connie Mathers is a professional editor and freelance writer. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Marketing and a Master’s Degree in Social Work. When she is not writing, Connie is either spending time with her daughter and two dogs, running, or working at her full-time job as a social worker in Richmond, VA.
Disclosure: Our goal is to feature products and services that we think you’ll find interesting and useful. If you purchase them, Entrepreneur may get a small share of the revenue from the sale from our commerce partners.
Running a business is stressful, and our personal lives can be too. According to the California Conservatory of Music, playing an instrument can reduce stress, anxiety, and depression. It can also build confidence that will radiate into other facets of your life. Unleash the inner rockstar in yourself or a musically inclined family member with this 2024 Guitar Lessons Training Bundle. For a limited time, it’s just $19.99 (reg. $480).
You’ll get 12 multi-lesson courses totaling more than 77 hours of content. Novices can start with the Beginner Guitar Lessons Crash Course, which aims to get beginners reading tabs, playing open and barre chords, learning notes, performing solos over songs, and more.
Another avenue to explore is songwriting. This bundle offers the course Songwriting for the Curious Guitarist, which teaches you to write your own songs on the guitar, arrange chords, and more. It also gives you access to secret songwriting tricks you can utilize.
Users of all levels will get trained in guitar techniques, which goes over the most important of them. You will learn sweep picking, sliding and bending, vibrato, trills, natural and artificial harmonics, and more, and you’ll also get guidance in developing your own style.
From playing children’s songs to jazz, blues, and Christmas songs, there’s a lot of ground covered that can help even the busiest entrepreneur decompress after a long day of work. It also makes a thoughtful holiday gift for the music man or woman on your list.
This is an excellent opportunity to learn to play the guitar from the comfort of your own home at a very affordable price.
Disclosure: Our goal is to feature products and services that we think you’ll find interesting and useful. If you purchase them, Entrepreneur may get a small share of the revenue from the sale from our commerce partners.
Learning piano can be great for your mind and day-to-day life balance. Busy entrepreneurs can use a hobby like this to center themselves and balance out a heavy work life. You can get this lifetime subscription to Skoove premium piano lessons on sale for just $149.99 (reg. $300).
This App Store Editors’ Choice has earned the excitement and engagement of over one million users. Skoove features interactive piano and keyboard lessons designed for beginners, users with some experience, and even experts. It’s also designed to make practicing and learning basics like notes, chords, and techniques as approachable and understandable as possible.
With the Skoove app, you can learn how to play your favorite songs and actually improve as you keep playing. The platform features individual feedback and lessons based on your specific playing. And throughout Skoove, you can access over 400 lessons and thousands of instructional videos.
Play along with the platform and let its artificial intelligence design hear your performance and help tweak your weaknesses until you’re pitch perfect. Among the many popular tunes the platform is built to teach you, there are favorites from the Beatles, Coldplay, and even Adele. For those with an ear for classical, the platform can also teach Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart.
Disclosure: Our goal is to feature products and services that we think you’ll find interesting and useful. If you purchase them, Entrepreneur may get a small share of the revenue from the sale from our commerce partners.
Like most entrepreneurs, you’re likely battling hectic work weeks to keep your business successful and running. It’s vital for entrepreneurs to take breaks and detach from work, however, to revitalize themselves through activities unrelated to work, whether that’s through traveling or exercising. One of the best ways to destress from your work life is through pursuing non-related work hobbies, and if you’re someone who loves exploring nature from great heights, you may enjoy using a drone.
A drone can be a great way to spend more time in the great outdoors while experiencing stunning sights, and during our Labor Day Sale, you can save big on a powerful dual camera drone, the Ninja Dragons Blade X. For only $79.97 (reg. $199), you can see the world from a totally new perspective. No coupon is needed, but this price drop only lasts through September 4.
Make some new memories away from your desk with the help of the Ninja Dragons Blade X 4K Dual Camera Drone. It can tag along anywhere and give you a bird’s eye view from the sky thanks to its dual camera options — one 4K camera and a secondary 720p camera. And, it’s an excellent option for those new to the world of drones, as it offers easy one-click take-off, landing technology for easy navigation, and simple gesture controls to manage your drone’s travel.
Curious what your drone can see? You can check it all in real time on your device while also navigating the drone from below, thanks to the included remote control. The Ninja Dragons Blade X offers 120 to 150 meters of control distance and an electronic stabilization system that levels on its own for new pilots. And since you’ll want to take this drone on all your adventures, it’s easily portable. It’s foldable and can be tossed in a bag so you can capture stunning views wherever you go.
Immerse yourself in a hobby that lets you see sights near and far.
During the Labor Day Sale, get the Ninja Dragons Blade X 4K Dual Camera Drone for just $79.97 (reg. $199) —no coupon necessary. This deal ends September 4 at 11:59 p.m. Pacific.
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
If you’re interested in franchise or business ownership and you’re in the beginning stages of researching what kind of business matches your entrepreneurial goals, the options available can be overwhelming. After all, 20% of new businesses fail in the first two years of being open, 45% during the first five years and 65% during the first 10 years, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Additionally, franchises exist in nearly every service industry, and there are more than 3,000 registered franchise brands across the United States.
Because franchise and business ownership can run the gamut in terms of products and services sold, it isn’t uncommon for candidates to consider hobbies that already interest them when producing ideas for a future company. However, it’s important to understand that sometimes, hobbies and businesses don’t mix well.
For example, let’s consider a hypothetical business owner candidate. Let’s call him “Phil.” One of Phil’s favorite pastimes is to hit the green for a round of golf. Since golf is already a longstanding interest, Phil is inclined to consider a franchise that sells a variety of golfing products: clubs, balls, tees, clothing, etc. However, before long, Phil’s working hours are consumed with all things golf, and his work days are filled with balance sheets, sales reports and expenses for golf products. Suddenly, escaping to play a few holes on the weekend isn’t the break away from work it once was.
When a favorite hobby becomes synonymous with work, you find yourself in a lose-lose situation. To avoid this overlap, examine the following three tips below for considering possible options.
1. Separate your personal hobbies from your business
Rarely can a person spend their leisure time and work time focused on the same thing. It’s basic Business 101 to diversify your investments, and a business is a large investment of your time, energy and money — so why would you keep all your eggs in one basket? Best practice: Separate your personal hobbies from your business.
Like Phil, you probably have a hobby or interest that helps you unwind after a long week. However, for a business to maintain longevity, sustainability is the name of the game. So take a moment to consider your hobbies, and rather than focusing on the hobby itself, take a look at the services that support that hobby.
If we take our friend Phil, rather than a golf store, maybe he selects a franchise of dry cleaning stores, hair salons or group fitness studios that service a community with fellow golf lovers. Another option might be a B2B franchise in which Phil doesn’t perform the services himself but is client-facing and responsible for relationship-building by taking prospective clients out to the green for an afternoon. Either of these options supports his entrepreneurial goals while maintaining his favorite pastime.
2. Be passionate about owning your business, not passionate about the widget
Being a business owner means having more control over your life in so many ways. The top motivators for an individual to become a business owner are autonomy, more flexibility, more purpose/meaning and financial security.
These benefits of business ownership and their ability to support yourself, your family or other financial and non-financial obligations outweigh the appeal of selling a specific product or service.
Building on the previous tip, a way to avoid misalignment between the product or service you are selling and the overall vision of the business is to focus on bird’s eye metrics of success. For example, owning a chain of cleaning stores might not be your dinner party small talk highlight that “golfing” might be, but who’s hosting the dinner?
Prioritize long-term goals over what sounds cool to sell — a.k.a. be passionate about owning a business and all the benefits that come from that, rather than being passionate about a specific widget you sell.
A common misconception about franchises in particular is that they are all centered around the fast-food industry. This makes sense: Everyone eats multiple times per day, hence a stable and recurring consumer base. However, any company that can benefit from proper branding, repeatable processes and continuing product or service evolvement is a candidate to be franchised. While it’s true that there are a number of successful restaurant-style franchises, there are so many other options that fall into the “service-based” franchise bucket.
In today’s business world, particularly with a younger generation of consumers, experiences are valued over material items. To support these experiences, a number of non-flashy but necessary service industry tasks are essential. What is a service that you use on a recurring basis that is not centered around food? Clean clothes perhaps? Monthly haircuts? Consistent trips to the gym? Phil would agree.
If there is a recurring customer need, then there is likely a franchise that is seeking to capitalize on that customer need.
At the end of the day, hobbies are a great place to start for brainstorming purposes, but think outside the box and ask yourself: What tangential services support your hobby or other hobbies that are similar in nature? Before long, you’ll have a list of services, and, to bury the lead, I guarantee there will be multiple franchises for you to consider associated with those services.
So remember these three key takeaways when considering business ownership: First, hobbies and business are best kept separate. Second, owning a successful business is the goal (not selling a specific product/service). Third, set yourself up for success by selecting a business that has a strong base of perpetually recurring customers.
Disclosure: Our goal is to feature products and services that we think you’ll find interesting and useful. If you purchase them, Entrepreneur may get a small share of the revenue from the sale from our commerce partners.
The Exit Planning Institute found that 44% of business owners are stressed over the finances and the future of their business. If you’re finding it difficult to disconnect and heal, you may find solace in something as simple as learning the piano. With Skoove Premium, you can learn to play on your own time, in your own way, with the help of an advanced AI. Normally, a lifetime subscription to Skoove would be $300, but you can get it for $149.99.
Escape the stress of managing your business.
If the stress of running your business is inhibiting your performance, try to relax by playing music. Playing music is known as a common way of reducing agitation, and Skoove simplifies the learning process for you by curating piano lessons based on your skill level.
This lifetime subscription gives you access to 400 different lessons and thousands of instructional videos tailored to your learning. The AI listens as you play, identifies areas of improvement, and plans exercises for you. Once you have the basics down, you can even start practicing chart hits from artists you recognize including The Beatles, John Legend, and more.
Skoove works with classic pianos or keyboards. If you want to try improving morale in the office overall, you could even put a keyboard in a shared space and open it up to anyone who wants to learn and enjoy.
Save 50% on the App Store Editor’s Choice piano learning app.
Join over one million learners in studying the piano.
From Comic-Con to C2E2, the vast majority of cosplay coverage you see on this website comes from American conventions. Which is fine! This is an American website, many of the world’s biggest shows are in the US and our intrepid cosplay photographer Mineralblu is also American.
But sometimes it’s nice to break that up a little, no? Spread our wings, fly overseas, check out a cosplay show on some other shores. So it’s wonderful tonight to get the chance to share this video and gallery of cosplayers from Dreamhack Melbourne, a show that took place earlier this year and is the first time in a long time we’ve been able to feature a show post made up mostly of Aussie cosplayers.
In this slideshow you’ll find a video of the show below, then images of some of our favourite cosplay, with a cosplayer’s credits, social media info and character details watermarked on each.
As usual—so yeah, he went some distance for this one!—all video and photos are by Mineralblu, and you can check out more of his work at his Facebook page.
Our favourite cosplay from Dreamhack Melbourne 2023
Disclosure: Our goal is to feature products and services that we think you’ll find interesting and useful. If you purchase them, Entrepreneur may get a small share of the revenue from the sale from our commerce partners.
For entrepreneurs working around the clock, finding a hobby can be a great way to relax and enjoy life outside of the office. And if you’re in the market for a new way to unwind, with the weather warming up, you can enjoy a whole host of outdoor activities. One way you can have fun while documenting your experience is by flying drones.
Just in time for Memorial Day, the Alpha Z PRO 4K + Flying Fox 4K Wide-Angle Dual-Camera Drone Bundle is selling for just $139.97 (reg. $398). That boils down to just $70 a drone with no coupon code required, but you must act fast because it’s only running through May 31.
Drones are a fun pastime to pick up this time of year, ensuring even the busiest entrepreneurs get outside and come home with something you can show for it — stunning images and videos you capture from a bird’s-eye view. And you can watch it all from your device with the companion app.
This bundle provides not one but two drones — both equipped with 4K front cameras and 720p bottom cameras to capture all the action. And they’re ideal for total newbies to the drone world, with features like Altitude Hold mode that offers a stable hovering flight and one-key automatic return to navigate the drone back to you with ease.
With the Alpha Z PRO Ultra HD Dual-Camera Drone, you’ll enjoy a black model with seven to nine minutes of flight on a single charge. And with the Flying Fox 4K Wide-Angle Dual-Camera Drone, you’ll have a sleek silver drone that can fly for nine to 12 minutes on a single charge.
Dumpster divers find all kinds of things in the trash. From a full pallet of cold brew coffee to hundreds of metal tins for Yu-Gi-Oh cards, there’s no shortage of cool stuff buried in the heaps of garbage you’ll likely find in the bin. But while some of it may be useless, redditor Rydirp7 took the saying “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure” to heart and built a whole PC out of discarded computer parts.
It’s no secret that electronics aren’t as recyclable as other materials, like certain types of fabrics, glass, metals, and plastics. According to a 2019 UN report, about 50 million tons of electronic waste (e-waste) is produced every year globally, with only 20 percent of it formally recycled. This means the other 80 percent—which equals an annual value of $62.5 billion—either gets shipped off to a landfill or is “informally recycled,” the process of throwing away unwanted things in the trash that can end up in poorer communities, which results in environmental contamination and hazardous health impacts. This is where dumpster divers, or folks who dig through the garbage to find cool or interesting stuff, can alleviate the strain by repurposing what was unused into something actually usable.
Rydirp7 did just that recently, posting his trash PC build on the popular subreddit r/DumpsterDiving and revealing that he only bought two components for the custom-built machine. The rest, from the graphics card to the processing chip, were found in a local dumpster. One redditor said it was “amazing.” Another user said they have “mad respect for people” like him. Most in the comments simply congratulated him on the build and hopes he keeps it up. Kotaku reached out to Rydirp7 to learn about the process behind building a trash PC and the benefits of looking in the garbage for gaming setups.
Dumpster diving for PC parts
Rydirp7, who is a resident of South Dakota, said he was inspired by the stuff he heard about dumpster diving online, and in the summer of 2022, thought he’d give the activity a shot. He visited a local computer store in his town “in the middle of nowhere” to see if he could find some things and was quite surprised by his discoveries.
“There was some stuff there,” Rydirp7 told Kotaku in a phone interview. “Ever since, I occasionally check the store’s dumpster and yeah, with that PC that you saw in the Reddit post, it was built almost entirely using parts pulled out of that dumpster over the course of like six or seven months.”
The only components he bought were the power supply and RAM, which came out to approximately $120 in total. Rydirp7 said these two parts were already in his possession as he purchased them for a different computer but figured he’d reuse them for this build since they were just lying around his home. Interestingly, he ran into an issue with the graphics card he found, as it was a 10-year-old EVGA GeForce GTX 570. While it “runs games decently,” he had to extensively troubleshoot it because “the drivers wouldn’t install correctly.”
Image: Rydirp7 / Kotaku / Shutterstock / GROGL
After countless hours of trying to fix the graphics card, he decided it was time to just bake the thing in the oven. Seriously. This is known as the oven trick in the PC community and, as Rydirp7 put it, the card’s been working fine ever since.
“Essentially what the oven trick is is you take off pretty much everything from the graphics card,” Rydirp7 said. “The heat sink, the shroud—basically, you strip it down to the bare PCB and then what you do is wrap it in aluminum foil to help protect some of the more sensitive components on the PCB. You preheat the oven to somewhere around 400 degrees Fahrenheit, then put the graphics card, or whatever electronic it is that you’re trying to fix, in the oven. It’s typically like 8 to 12 minutes for a graphics card, I believe. But yeah, that’s basically the oven trick. I’ve done this on two different graphics cards: The other one was a GTX 240 and then this GTX 570, and the trick has worked both times for me.”
Baking the graphics card like a cookie in the oven works because faulty connections due to loose or old soldering joints are re-melted, allowing the power to reconnect and flow back through what are likely broken points.
The challenges of building a trash PC
Rydirp7 admits he’s “a bit of a hoarder when it comes to PC parts,” so this trash PC was actually the second one he built out of garbage components. The first one—which had an AMD FX 6300 CPU, 8GB of RAM, that GTX 240, and a 500-watt power supply—went to one of his friends a while back. While he said his first attempt at a trash PC was perfectly serviceable this second one is “quite a bit better,” because it houses double the RAM and outputs more power. However, one of the most challenging components to find for the build was the 256GB SSD.
Image: Rydirp7
“The SSD was the last part I found,” Rydirp7 said. “I had been checking the dumpster for months and months but couldn’t ever find anything. When there was something, it was like a hard drive that was already disassembled. Initially when I found this SSD, I thought it was a new one that didn’t have any data on it. But when I got the SSD hooked up to the system to install Windows 10, it turned out that it actually wasn’t new and had someone else’s data on it. So what I do when I find a part that has someone else’s data on it is immediately wipe it for the privacy of the previous owner because it’s none of my business.”
Meanwhile, the Dell OptiPlex 9010 motherboard was one of the first components Rydirp7 pulled out of his local computer store’s garbage. Unlike the graphics card and SSD, this part worked fine and didn’t need to be tinkered with. He said the store, which he wouldn’t disclose the name or location of for privacy reasons, “mostly throws out older hardware” that’s still functional. It’s thanks to this store that he was able to build what has become his “main rig.” While he doesn’t play a whole lot of games, he listed a few that he plays regularly, noting that his trash PC “can get a little warm” when he’s gaming.
“It could probably play Crysis,” Rydirp7 said. “But yeah, I don’t actually play a whole lot of games. The only stuff I really play is Minecraft, Roblox, and Scrap Mechanic. That’s about it, and my PC runs all of those games fairly well.”
The benefits of building a trash PC
Building trash PCs is one way for combatting the roughly 70 percent of e-waste that Americans produce, Rydirp7 said, acknowledging the frequency with which most people’s old electronics end up in landfills.
“This tactic of building trash PCs from garbage components keeps perfectly usable electronics from going into landfills,” Rydirp7 said. “It can be easy for someone to build a computer with little to no money invested in it.”
As far as the viability of the trash PC, well, it depends on what you can find and how you’re going to use it. It’s more than capable of performing your everyday tasks, like writing emails and watching YouTube, another thing Rydirp7 said he frequently does on this computer. But as my colleague Claire Jackson said, “In 2010, this was a nice rig!”
Image: Rydirp7 / Kotaku / Shutterstock / GROGL
In 2023, these aren’t the ideal components for playing more modern games with 4K visuals and ray tracing. Rydirp7 may be able to get away with running Crysis on his trash PC, especially since Crytek’s sci-fi FPS has been optimized to run on the Nintendo Switch these days. But it’s highly unlikely he could play Cyberpunk 2077 or any of the PlayStation games—like Days Gone or God of War—that made the jump to PC.
Still, to each their own. And you can’t complain much when you’ve only spent a cool $120 on something that could run most indies and Xbox 360-era games. That’s not a bad trade-off, especially if you don’t play that many games to begin with. You can check out Rydirp7’s trash PC specs below:
EVGA GTX 570 Graphics Card
Intel Core I7-3770 Non-K Processor
16GB Corsair Vengeance RAM at 1600mhz
750-watt Corsair Power Supply
iBUYPOWER Snowblind Element Case
Dell OptiPlex 9010 Motherboard
While it may not be the most powerful PC in the world, what actually makes this PC stronger than most is the fact that it was built sustainably in the most literal definition of the phrase. By recycling and reusing old computer components, turning them into a functional Frankenstein PC, Rydirp7 has has figured out a way to reduce his overall environmental footprint. I can’t speak to his energy consumption’s impact on the world, but building trash PCs could go a long way in minimizing global e-waste.
Disclosure: Our goal is to feature products and services that we think you’ll find interesting and useful. If you purchase them, Entrepreneur may get a small share of the revenue from the sale from our commerce partners.
Hard work is good and all, but you can’t reach your entrepreneurial heights if you don’t give yourself a break once in a while to recover. That’s why having a hobby is such an asset for entrepreneurs.
Don’t have one? Try learning the piano. There’s a great way to do it from the comfort of home. Skoove Premium Piano Lessons boasts a community of more than one million people learning the piano and keyboard through interactive lessons designed for players of all levels. The intuitive app uses artificial intelligence to recognize the notes you play, identify weaknesses, and develop a lesson plan that meets you at your current skill level. Everything is individualized, so you can learn at your own pace.
Skoove includes a library of 400 lessons and thousands of instructional videos, making it possible to go from absolute beginner to advanced pianist. You can practice with chart hits from John Legend and The Beatles; classical pieces by Bach and Beethoven; or even learn to compose your own melodies.
Skoove has earned 4.4/5 stars on the Google Play Store and is an Apple Editors’ Choice Award Winner with a 4.5/5-star rating on the App Store. The Guardian writes, “Eventually, notes, keys and names fall into place – I even play four suspiciously simple bars of Bach by sight! With both hands! Success!”
If you’ve ever wanted to learn the piano, this course package makes it more accessible than ever. Right now, you can get a special deal on a lifetime subscription.
And a very happy Black History Month to you, Sista Balinska. Image: Square Enix / Kotaku / Mike Marsland (Getty Images)
Square Enix’s new fantasy parkour game Forspoken has had a bit of a rocky launch in terms of public perception among gamers, who found its Joss Whedon-esque dialogue in advertisements cringe-inducing. However, Forspoken’s lead actress says she isn’t bothered by all the discourse the game’s dialogue has caused online, and honestly more power to her.
Forspoken, which was released on January 24, follows a down-and-out New Yorker named Frey who must save the denizens of the fantasy world she gets isekaied into with the help of a talking cuff named Cuff. In a recent interview with The Verge, Ella Balinska, who plays Forspoken lead Frey, said she’s proud of her performance in the game because she knows that she got to take on a role that her eight-year-old self would have been psyched to be a part of.
“I always reference my eight-year-old self whenever I talk about something I’m really proud of doing, I’m just speechless right now,” Balinska told The Verge. I just never would have thought me playing games downstairs with my mom’s hairdresser’s son while she was getting her hair done. Now, to think that he can pick up this game and play as me, it’s just unbelievable. And I hope it inspires other people to realize that if you commit to the bit hard enough, something really crazy can happen.”
When asked what she thought about the online memes folks were making about the game’s dialogue, Balinska simply said that, “there are things that we all do that might be eyebrow-raising to other people,” and that
“I think people always have a positive or negative response to something they’re not used to seeing, and that’s completely okay because that’s the way we incite change,” Ballinska told The Verge. “This is such an extraordinary game that has come out with this amazing protagonist who’s so bold, so unapologetic, so reluctant in the best way possible. I think audiences might not be so used to seeing that.”
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It’s a camera. For your car. The Ring Car Cam’s dual-facing HD cameras capture activity in and around your car in HD detail.
In our Forspoken review, we said Square Enix’s parkour isekai deserved better than what shipped on its release date because the strength of its story and protagonist outpace its performance issues and oft-admonished dialogue.
Disclosure: Our goal is to feature products and services that we think you’ll find interesting and useful. If you purchase them, Entrepreneur may get a small share of the revenue from the sale from our commerce partners.
Being an entrepreneur is hard work. You have a lot going on, so it’s important to find time to relax and blow off some steam. Hobbies are important for success because they allow you to clear your head and return to work later with a more positive mindset. If gaming is your hobby, then you owe it to yourself to game the best way you can: with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate.
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Xbox Game Pass Ultimate includes everything in Xbox Live Gold, plus more. That means you’ll get access to the world’s top online multiplayer community with millions of people to play with. You’ll also get free games every month and up to 50% discounts in the Xbox Store. Then, Ultimate gives you access to more than 100 high-quality games with new titles added all the time, letting you play with friends on a console, PC, smartphone, or tablet. You’ll have even more member discounts, deals, and in-game perks to look forward to, and access to the Xbox Cloud Gaming beta to play games on all of your preferred devices (provided you’re in a market where the beta is available).
Additionally, you’ll get instant access to EA Play at no extra cost. With EA Play, you can play a collection of EA’s most-loved series and titles, access exclusive in-game challenges and rewards, enjoy special member-only content, and get trials of select games for up to ten hours. Put together, it’s one of the most comprehensive gaming experiences you’ll find anywhere — and you can get it all at a significant discount.
For a limited time, you can get a two-month subscription to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate for 70% off — that’s only $8.99 (reg. $29).
Disclosure: Our goal is to feature products and services that we think you’ll find interesting and useful. If you purchase them, Entrepreneur may get a small share of the revenue from the sale from our commerce partners.
There’s plenty of evidence that adopting a hobby can help make you a better entrepreneur. So, if you need to chill out and de-stress from time to time, why not look to your childhood? Adults are driving the toy industry these days, and whether you’re just looking to relax or you want to find some inspiration, allow this Robot Building Kit to be your guide.
We’re encouraging entrepreneurial adults to tap into their inner kids during our Kidults promotion! We’re dropping prices on cool adult-friendly toys from January 24 to January 30, so you can indulge in some fiscal responsibility while trekking down memory lane.
This STEM education robot and car block toy is perfect for kids of all ages (even adults). The two-in-one kit includes 901 building blocks, allowing you to assemble your robot or car into a configuration you like. The DIY blocks are easy to put together, and all are ASTM and CPSIA standard with smooth surfaces and rounder corner designs, so if you use them with young kids, they’re perfectly safe for ages eight and up.
When it comes time to code, the companion app makes it easy to control using coding commands. You can also use the included remote control within 30 meters if you prefer. The Bluetooth connection via the app lets you program, add voice control, chart paths for the robot, and more. Everything is intuitive and accessible for kids and adults, making it an excellent educational and bonding experience.
Don’t give up your inner kid. During our Kidults promotion, running through January 30, you can get this Robot Building Kit for a specially reduced price of just $129.99 (reg. $292) — that’s 55% off.
Actor, musician and children’s author widely known for his portrayal of one of the first regular characters on the children’s show “Sesame Street,” Bob McGrath, has died at the age of 90
I sure as shit did not! But since 2009 she has been posting photos online as TommyBoy, to a website cataloguing photos of abandoned spaces in locations as diverse as Japan, Alaska, Bali and Mexico. The site’s bio simply says
Hi! I’m Japansese urban explorer ‘Tommy’. I enjoy urban exploration all over the world.
But today publisher Read-Only Memory announced that TommyBoy was actually Nakamura, and did so because they’ve decided to release a book together, collecting some of her favourite photos in print for the first time ever. That book is called Project UrbEx, and it looks gorgeous.
Sounds good These headphones have stunning sound range and quality, up to 15 hours of playtime, can switch between two Bluetooth devices at a time, and look great.
Described as “a thrilling photographic adventure around an offbeat selection of the world’s abandoned buildings, captured by one of the videogame industry’s most beloved creatives”, it’s 256 pages of photos and diary excerpts by Nakamura, and is available in a number of different formats.
Famed videogame creator Ikumi Nakamura became widely known after she gave a speech about a “spooooky” game, Ghostwire: Tokyo, at the prestigious E3 conference. Her talent, infectious personality and strong sense of wonder for the world – “I think I haven’t changed much since I was a kid” – has attracted a global cult following. What many fans don’t know, however, is that Nakamura has a secret alter ego in the form of ‘TommyBoy’ – a fearless urban explorer.
For years Nakamura has been traversing the planet to go to under-the-radar abandoned buildings, from the Igloo Hotel in Alaska, a magnificent dome structure housing an intricate carousel-like wooden framework, to a mysterious liquor factory in Mexico with a giant replica bottle on its roof and the disused Blue Horizon Boxing Ring, where Rocky (1976) was filmed. Working in the gaming industry for nearly two decades, Nakamura has dreamt up many imagined worlds, but it’s these forgotten corners of the real world that truly fire her creative vision. Her photographic eye evokes the survival-horror feel of her own dystopian videogames.
With Google Maps at our fingertips, it can often feel impossible to get lost or discover anything novel, but through her daring escapades Nakamura taps into a lost spirit of true adventure. Hers is an enthusiastic brand of tour guiding, taking the reader to eye-opening spaces and atmospheres through exceptional photography and transporting – and sometimes amusing – stories.
Her pictures, gathered here in print for the first time, reveal that, from Japan and the United States, from Belgium to Taiwan, and from Spain to Bali, our planet is teeming with human-made structures lying derelict and undisturbed, waiting to be discovered by intrepid explorers.
It only took a few seconds for Rachel Kennedy to grab her phone after she left the checkout line at the sporting-goods store, where she had just finished buying a new glove, pants, belt, cleats and the rest of the equipment for her son, Liam’s, upcoming baseball season.
“I texted his dad and asked him, ‘Did we really spend $350 on all this last year?’” Kennedy said.
Sticker shock in youth sports is nothing new, but the onslaught of double-digit inflation across America this year has added a costly wrinkle on the path to the ballparks, swimming pools and dance studios across America. It has forced some families, like Kennedy’s, to scale back the number of seasons, or leagues, or sports that their kids can play in any given year, while motivating league organizers to become more creative in devising ways to keep prices down and participation up.
Recent studies, conducted before inflation began impacting daily life across America, showed families spent around $700 a year on kids’ sports, with travel and equipment accounting for the biggest portion of the expense.
Everyone from coaches to swim-meet coordinators are struggling to to find less-expensive ways of keeping families coming through the doors. Costs of uniforms and equipment, along with facility rental, are shooting up — all products of the onslaught of supply-chain issues, hard-to-find staff, lack of coaches and rising gas and travel costs that were exacerbated, or sometimes caused, by the COVID-19 pandemic that disrupted and sometimes canceled seasons altogether. The annual inflation rate for the 12 months ending in September was 8.2%.
Kennedy, who lives in Monroe, Ohio, and describes her family as “on the lower end of middle class,” opted Liam out of summer and fall ball, not so much because of the fees to join the leagues but because “those don’t include all the equipment you need.”
“And gas prices have gotten to the point where we don’t have the bandwidth to drive one or two hours away” for the full slate of weekend games and tournaments that dot the typical youth baseball schedule each season. The Kennedys rarely stayed the night in hotels for multi-day tournaments.
A study published by The Aspen Institute that was conducted before COVID-19 said on average across all sports, parents already spent more each year on travel ($196 per child, per sport) than any other facet of the sport: equipment, lessons, registration, etc. A number of reports say hotel prices in some cities are around 30% higher than last year, and about the same amount higher than in 2019, before the start of the pandemic.
At the venues, it costs more to hire umpires to call the games, groundskeepers to keep fields ready, janitors to clean indoor venues and coaches to run practices. Even sports that are traditionally on the less-expensive end of the spectrum are running into issues.
“You talk to people and you say ‘What do you mean you get $28 an hour to be a lifeguard?’” said Steve Roush, a former leader in the Olympic world who now serves as executive director of Southern California Swimming, which sanctions meets across one of America’s most expensive regions. “The going rate has just gone through the roof, and that’s if you can find somebody at all. And that accounts for part of the big gap” in prices for swimming meets today versus three years ago.
One Denver-area dance studio director, who did not want her name used because of the competitive nature of her business, said she started looking for new uniform suppliers as a way of keeping costs down for families. Some destinations for the two out-of-state competitions that are typical in a given season have been shifted to cities that have more — and, so, less expensive — flight options. Some of those teams only make a third trip, this one to a major competition, if it receives a “paid” invitation.
“The cost is just so much to ask them to travel a third time,” the director said. “And oftentimes you don’t know that you’re getting that bid until February or March and you have to turn around and travel to it in April, and that turnaround just makes it very hard from an expense standpoint.”
At stake is the future of a youth-sports industry that generated around $20 billion, according to one estimate, before COVID-19 sharply curtailed spending in 2020.
Also, inflation is giving some families a chance to revisit an issue that first came up when COVID-19 more or less canceled all youth leagues for a year or more.
“There was some optimism that maybe families would be like, ‘OK, let’s maybe have a more balanced approach to how we’re going to participate in sports,’” said Jennifer Agans, an assistant professor at Penn State who studies the impact of youth sports. “But until this economic wave, everyone was so excited to go back to normal that we forgot the lessons we learned from slowing our lives down. Maybe this gives another chance to reevaluate that.”
It’s a choice not everyone wants to make, but still one that is being imposed more on people in the middle and lower class. Another Aspen Institute report from before the pandemic concluded children from low-income families were half as likely to play sports as kids from upper-income families.
Kennedy said she has long been fortunate to have a supportive family — including grandparents who chip in to defray some costs of Liam’s baseball. But some things had to go. A spot on a travel team can reach up to $1,200, and that’s before equipment and travel, “and we just don’t have that kind of money,” Kennedy said.
Still, Liam loves baseball and sitting it out altogether wasn’t a real choice.
“It’s the whole parental, ‘I’ll go hungry to make sure my kids get what they need’ situation,’” Kennedy said. “So if I give up my Starbucks, or some little extras for me, then it’s worth it to make sure he gets to play. But it’s certainly not getting any less expensive.”
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AP sports: https://apnews.com/hub/sports and https://twitter.com/AP—Sports
We post galleries from major cosplay shows all the time, and they’re always excellent, but for the recent New York Comic-Con one photographer wanted to do things a little differently.
Wanting to try something beyond just taking nice photos, veteran photographer Andrew Boyle (disclaimer: I wrote the foreword for his book) thought that for this year’s show he’d try and make the cosplayer “the sole focus” of his work.
“After my cosplay photo book ‘Heroes & Villains’ came out in 2017, I thought I’d relax it up a bit with the subject matter, but it kept pulling me back; the effort, the enthusiasm and the sense of community amongst the costumed fans”, Boyle tells Kotaku. “I shoot in a uniform style inspired by the portraits of Richard Avedon, so that the sole focus is the subject without background distraction.”
“I also work in collage pieces and motion I wanted to integrate a unique hand made feel for each selected subject. For some, I used cut out pieces that referred to the character, others were repetition of shapes, or color blocking with paper and textures. It was a way to differentiate from other cosplay photography, all of which has it’s own approach, and take a different feel to celebrate all the effort and energy the NYCC crowd brings. Plus I love reading the reactions people have to seeing themselves portrayed in such a way.”
The result is this heavily-stylised gallery which, by removing the usual convention background, really lets each cosplayer, their outfit and their performance shine.
New sewing pattern line is generating buzz for its convenience and wear-ability. Designed for work, relaxation, and adventure: designed for you.
Press Release –
updated: Oct 25, 2018
LA PORTE, Ind., October 25, 2018 (Newswire.com)
– Something That Fits LLC, an innovative sewing company, is pleased to announce a new line of sewing patterns. The line will launch October 28, 2018. Photos by Kenzi Joy Photography.
Designer Emily from Something That Fits LLC is releasing the brand new Everyday Essentials Collection and each pattern has been individually designed and tested by the designer herself. The Everyday Essentials Collection will be released on Sunday, October 28, 2018.
Helping real women create beautiful clothes that actually fit.
Emily Kayser, Owner
Something That Fits LLC is known for helping real women create beautiful clothes that actually fit. Thus, for the first time, Emily has created an entire product line of her favorite and most popular sewing patterns.
The collection will be exclusively sold on the website somethingthatfits.com where the products are expected to sell out by the end of the season.
The sewing patterns are designed to fit all body types as the patterns are uniquely drafted to each client’s measurements to make the finished garments feel luxurious and comfortable all at once.
Some products even come with a video sew-along so that all sewists will be able to effectively complete the patterns. Patterns vary from fun casual shirts, to office-ready dresses, and range from $10-$20 with free shipping.
For more information about the Everyday Essentials Collection or for an interview with Emily, please write to info@somethingthatfits.com. Media high-res photos available upon request.
About Something That Fits LLC
Emily started designing her own sewing patterns after she was faced with trying to find clothing she actually liked that also fit her comfortably. She spent over a year learning digital pattern-making, and she individually drafts and tests each design to be able to update every pattern to each customers’ individual measurements.
