Yazdan Mansourian shares that to distinguish serious leisure from a hobby, people should consider the time, energy, and dedication they exert doing an activity. Serious leisure can be anything as long as people are dedicated and passionate about it.
So think about what you are passionate about -- that can be your serious leisure.
Serious leisure are activities you're passionate about.
Nick: We had a chat a few days ago about this subject. And you actually said to me, what I do is a form of serious leisure, and it did get me thinking. Yeah, I'm very passionate and dedicated to my research and sharing knowledge about ikigai.
So I guess for me, it is a form of serious leisure. It's not just my work, and it's not just a hobby, it's certainly challenging. I spend a lot of time and dedication on it.
So this idea of serious leisure is fascinating. And you just made this distinction: it is different to let’s say, a hobby, which we could perhaps define as either a casual leisure, but some people do take their hobbies quite seriously.
So is there a difference between serious leisure and perhaps someone who does practice their hobby three times a week?
Yazdan: It depends how much time and energy and dedication you consider for your hobby. First of all, I need to emphasise that it doesn't have to be serious for everyone, you know, it's just, if you are interested in spending more time on your hobby and you enjoy it, that's fine.
But it's not a kind of desirable situation that everyone should have a serious leisure activity. And regarding those six criteria that I mentioned earlier, someone might have one of these criteria more than the other.
So for example, for someone like you, you are turning it into your career, for example, so it's becoming your work. And then that's fine. For someone else, it might just stay at the hobby level, which is fine.
So the point here is just as long as an activity is enjoyable, meaningful, and you're passionate about, that's your serious leisure – and it can be anything.