A common perception among people who take up certain hobbies, or are considering taking up a hobby is that the hobby is a one-shot, all-or-nothing deal. That if you’re going to start a new hobby, activity or sport, you have to be committed to sticking with it long-term in order to get the benefits from it.

Total rubbish, I think. By all means stick with the things you truly enjoy, but don’t keep plugging at something you get no real reward from just because you feel you should.

Following on from the previous post on hobbies that harm and hobbies that heal, I want to give you another strategy for thinking about and getting more from your hobbies. I call it the “Have Tried” List.

Build your “Have Tried” List

The “Have Tried” list is a simple concept in the vain of the 360-degree Achievement Timeline - It’s a list of all the stuff - all the sports, hobbies, crafts, activities - that you have tried so far in your life. It’s easy. Grab Paper. Write list. Job done.

Once you’re finished, the point of this list is:

1. To get you looking at all the stuff you’ve had a go at, no matter how big a success or failure it was.
2. To discover how you feel about the list - proud of your experiences or sad about the lack thereof

In my opinion, life is not about toiling away at the grindstone - it’s about getting out there and enjoying yourself, about trying new things and gaining new experiences. These experiences are what make life fabulous! These experiences stimulate creativity, make you happier and more spontaneous - they make your life better!

No matter whether your list is awesomely large, or embarrassingly small, it’s not the size that counts its what you do with it - My hope is that by you making this list you’ll feel motivated to try more things and put a few more items on there.

You could even make it into a competition with a friend, relative or partner - see who can build the biggest list by the end of the year!

My “Have Tried” List

I admit it - I am a dilettante; a dabbler; a relentless, spontaneous try-er of new things. And I love it.

My Have Tried list may well read like a wish list for some people, but the reason I am sharing some of things I’ve experienced is not to impress you with what I’ve done but to get you thinking about what you’ve done, and more importantly about what you could do!

Have a read of some ideas from my “Have Tried” list, and see if you’re inspired to try something new.

• I have scuba dived inside a sunken Lancaster Bomber, and met a charming eel
• I’ve crawled on my hands and knees up a waterfall 75 foot underground
• I once competed in a humorous speech competition at Toastmasters
• I’ve put a Rubik’s cube inside a glass bottle
• I’ve tried Ceroc, Ballroom and Tango Dancing (and a bit of Robotics)
• I’ve tried archery, fencing and air rifle shooting
• I’ve blown things up (nothing dangerous)
• I’ve learned to iron and bake better than my girlfriend
• I’ve even applied for a job at MI5 (not a hobby, but still cool)

If there is anything on your “Have Tried” list that you’re particularly proud of, please share it in the comments!

The Scramblejam Blog is now live, following several weeks of tweaking, tuning and design refinements - we are finally launching, as of now on our intended target date of 1st January 2008. Hello!

Thanks for visiting, there is a lot of exciting content coming in the next few months, as the blog starts to grow and (hopefully) become more popular. We have loads of articles we want to write and lots of interesting and inspiring ideas to share with you - even if there is only a little here at the moment, we hope you will come back soon to check out what we have in store.

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