The Remarkable Impact of Hobbies on Career | Karen McFarlane Holman, Ph.D. | TEDxLenoxVillageStudio

Full Talk Title: The Remarkable Impact of Hobbies on Your Career

We are masters of feeling guilty every time we get distracted by our hobbies when we feel like we should be working.  But what if our hobbies are actually enhancing our careers? Bolstered by a recent scientific study, scientist and punk rocker Karen McFarlane Holman proposes a way for us to quickly dispel guilt and identify our strengths that we may not have recognized before. Karen McFarlane Holman, Ph.D. is a chemistry professor at Willamette University and is the Founder and Director of Science Rockstar Kids, a unique online program that offers interactive online science explorations for elementary school-aged children.

As a recipient of the Carnegie Foundation Professor of the Year award, Karen has been inspiring and empowering tens of thousands of budding scientists for 30 years through her classroom and online teaching, science camps for girls in Saudi Arabia, laboratory research mentorship, a scientific TEDx talk, and 26 book chapters and articles. As Founder and CEO of Punk Rock Professor, LLC, her current mission is to use creativity and connection in a variety of accessible platforms to inspire kids and adults to follow their
curiosity of the world around us.

[geraldemery]

When I make time for my hobbies, I feel so much better about my work. It is a struggle and that little voice in my head says ‘you should be doing xyz with your time’, but every time, 5 minutes into my hobby time, I feel relief and happiness.

[levshalazar]

The title underplays actually how important this is. Bravo Karen!

[cowboycodyvance]

Hobbies, anything that gives us a moment to be free within our selves, to create, to have purpose, seems like a great thing in my eyes. Relieved to see more people understanding the importance.

[liamnneely]

We are more than our work, be more than your work. This message is vital, Karen! Thank you for getting it out there!

[justineberne]

about bloody time someone broke it down like this. we have been living to work for so long with such little joy. hobbies need to be a more important part of our every day lives!

[kalebmurch]

For me, my hobbies are my life. All the work I do is done to sustain them. That is how I have chosen to not only create work/life balance but also support my mental well being and humanity.

[astridsvensen]

I couldn't agree with this more strongly, I've said for years that everyone needs a creative release, and if you don't have one you just kind of wither away inside.

[vladkarchenko]

I always work best when I don’t feel like my job is the be all and end all in my life. When I have more things in my life to give meaning to me and my experience, I don’t take things so seriously and means I am relaxed and make better decisions.

[harryduganesq]

I took up a hobby for the first time EVER a few months back. I must say, it's really been so helpful in me finding simple joy in my day to day life.

[slowmodern]

We need to detach value from money! What a great message, thank you so much for this reminder, Karen!

[valteradnan]

That guilt, I understand that so well. I always have this sense of shame that I can’t do anything that I like until I have done all the things I ‘should’ do first. This inevitably leads to me becoming depressed and withdrawing and unable to do the things I ‘should’ be doing anyway.

[samirahussein]

This makes so much sense to me, I know from my own life that having things outside of my work life allows me to feel so much more motivated. Karen, GREAT talk. We need to continue to highlight the importance of things that bring us joy in life.

[idimarus]

I remember getting lost in my hobbies like that too! How I miss those days where you could just get lost in things that make you happy!

[pizza-addict]

From a young age I knew that I wanted to work doing something I loved. And I did! For about 10 years! Makes sense as to why I did burn out with that love, I needed other hobbies for outside of my first love!

[nubblesleopard]

Karen is such a great speaker and I LOVE THIS LINE OF THINKING. I wish I had done more to ensure I had hobbies for my later years!

[caroldutton]

Who would have thought, having things outside of what we do to make money would give us a better sense of satisfaction in life. This should be a part of our basic needs.

[paigeh]

Thank you so much for sharing your experience and insights on this topic Dr. Holman!! As a current graduate student, I feel similarly to how you felt that we need to "hide" our hobbies from our PIs! Being involved in Chem Club in college, I knew that I always wanted to share science with a laymen audience. Now I have an academic Instagram account and science podcast and I feel like my passion for content creation needs to be hidden from my boss--but I push through coming home from lab to work on recording podcasts/making Instagram posts because I know giving back and having these hobbies make me who I am!! Thank you for being such an inspiration to all of us at Willamette both inside and outside of the classroom! Without faculty like you, I would not have been inspired to engage in these hobbies!

[zendayamala]

I am only now trying to find things that bring me either excitement or even a cathartic experience as I've only ever had my job and what fulfillment comes from that and I see now finally in my 40's that I need more.

[lilyschmyer]

Wow! Karen's passion and understanding is so inspiring. When she was with that group of women and the one lady, realizing how she had given up her guitar for her career.... I cried! We have been conditioned to think everything is all or nothing, that we must constantly compromise but Karen here so beautifully explains how when we encourage harmony in all facets of our life, that's when we really thrive.

[ricardom.arnold]

Karen, great talk, my hobbies have saved my life more than once. It is an escape with a purpose.