What often keeps me reminded of my childhood days are the set of hobbies that I was very actively involved in! Yes. Spending time near the river, effortless fishing attempts accompanied by conversations with the bestie, writing novels that never got finished till now, riding bicycle that was bought on rental of 1 rupee for an hour, what not!

Like me, I keep seeing many people actively involved in their hobbies. But sooner as we grow, we are caught in so many responsibilities that we cannot focus on our hobbies.

How do we keep our hobbies alive? How do we ensure that our productivity is higher while equally focusing on our hobbies? These 2 are very terrible questions that need not just an answer, but feasible action plan.

# Take a break:

I strongly feel that, before you take up anything new; a strong break is much needed. Taking a break means we should be lost; keeping away from our regular & routine assignments. If possible, stay away from the mobile phone; you will be absolutely landed in lost state. Ensure that the break should keep you active and energized in everything that you do as part of the break. Playing in the field (If possible, the field with mud), get yourself caught in the rain, join for a trekking to see the highest view of yourself, walk on the beaches, listen to old music to bring the new in you, and so on. This is needed because, it will work out if we unplug for sometimes. Once you finish taking break, you will feel fresh; this freshness will bring clarity and assurance in new assignment. Keeping this freshness alive for longer is really a challenging, yet your commitment can make it happen. Even when you are on break, you can still be active in your professional career. Imagine, you are employed in hotel industry and you decide to take a break and you go on a break. While you are on break, you visit few hotels and hear about new recipes. You can bring this know-how to your workplace when you are back from the break. A break is certainly needed to keep you refuelled and recharged.

# Prioritise and Scheduling:

Quite often, people say that they do not have time to pursue personal hobbies. But the fact is they do not have the mindset to understand that all of us have same time availability. If we learn to prioritise our daily activities and scheduling them based on the priorities, certainly we will have time to run after our hobbies. An IT employee, who works hard in the office, finds no time for painting as it is his hobby. But imagine, if he can prioritise his tasks and finishes on time, he can definitely have time to chase his hobby. Setting aside certain time for our hobbies even if it is just for 15 minutes, it is worth achieving. Working on a task continuously for hours will keep you stressed, in order to keep yourself active, you can actively get into your hobbies. Maybe you can take a short walk outside, if your hobby is to play carom, you can do that, this will not just help you to keep your hobbies alive, in turn brings more productivity in your work. We are not good in prioritising; therefore, we fail in pursuing major hobbies that can keep us active and healthy.

# No cocktail:

We find no time for our hobbies, because we mix up both personal and professional life. We should stop carrying professional work assignments to home. Otherwise, it will lead to conflicts in personal life. If you can finish the work at office, you can focus on achieving your personal hobbies at home. This will also help you balance both personal and professional life. Never make any attempt to create a mini-office at your home. When you are at home; ensure that you are spending at-least 30 minutes in what you love doing or doing something that brings you a sense of happiness. Because, you need to get up early morning next day and report to your duty. You really need to be more active. So, keeping yourself active in your hobbies can also keep you active in your workplace.

We all have hobbies; we just need to keep them alive by actively and frequently putting them into practice. Both personal and professional hobbies can be better achieved with an active break, learning to how to prioritise and ensuring no cocktail of personal and professional life.

Prof.Yuvaraj Halage
Assistant Professor
DSCE- MBA