Live Long and Prosper

Chapter 5, Practice Productive Procrastination, Steal Like an Artist by Austin Kleon.

My telescope. I can see the rings of Saturn.

One of my remodeling projects.
I repaired/painted the floor. Painted the walls,
and windows.

Design: Jessica Hische

This week Kleon encourages us to do nothing productively. He likes to call it “practicing productive procrastination.” He says our passions are a part of us and it is okay to have many of them all at once. You could call them hobbies. Kleon says hobbies are good. He said hobbies shouldn’t be money makers. You only do it for yourself. On the other hand, Jessica Hische suggests people should do the work while one procrastinates is the work they should do as a career. And it can be re-energizing.

Let’s be real. I’m in college and I don’t have a lot of time to do nothing, so that means I don’t have any side projects now. I need one. I’d like to have one right now. I have some planned for spring and summer break. The big project will be finishing some remodeling in my living room and dining room.

I’d like to reassure Kleon that I do have many hobbies. And I would tend to agree. My family likes to joke about how many hobbies I have and/or how often I find a new hobby. I like teaching myself new skills and when I get into something, I like to learn as much as I can. My hobbies range from cooking, bbq, fishing, bicycling, house remodeling, computers, cell phone repair and astronomy to name just a few.

So, life is short. Enjoy it. And I’ll see you back here next week. Bye.