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Hobbyist: A person who pursues an activity in their spare time for pleasure.
-Dictionary.com

Yesterday, six headlines (of 17) appeared in the filtered “top stories” section of the most referenced productivity blog on the Internet. Here they are:

• "Get the Most from Your Rechargeable Batteries [Saving Money]"
• "Five Quick Searches That Turn Firefox’s Address Bar into a Network Command Line [Firefox]"
• "Coolest Cubicle Contest: The Final Showdown and Monster Roundup"
• "How the Kindle Saves You Time (If Not Money) [Ebooks]"
• "Embed Your To-Do List Onto Your Desktop [Lifehacker Book Contest Winner]"
• "IM App Digsby Available to All, Adds More Features [Featured Windows Download]"

These headlines the headlines of a hobbyist publication. A quality hobbyist publication that presents its content with brio and skill, but a hobbyist publication nonetheless. Indeed, if blogs like Lifehacker were magazines in Barns and Noble, they’d be displayed next to Popular Science and Pen Computing Magazine,  not Healthy Living, Psychology Today, or O, The Oprah Magazine. Right?

Don’t get me wrong: I truly have nothing against Lifehacker and its ilk (I’m a subscriber, afterall), and Lifehacker does have non-hobbyist articles that engender productivity. It should also be noted that hobbies are great things, and having fun is (in my opinion) a lot more important than being productive.

Still, I think it’s important to differentiate between the productivity habit and the productivity hobby.

The “Hobbyist Productivity” Genre

Hobby: an activity or interest pursued for pleasure or relaxation and not as a main occupation: Her hobbies include stamp-collecting and woodcarving.
-Dictionary.com

Quick story: I overheard two guys conversing the other day at the gym. They spent about 45 minutes enthusiastically talking about powerlifting competitions and cited books, magazine articles, studies, etc. They were enjoying themselves. But they weren’t working out, and when it comes to return on investment for their time, these guys probably lapped the point of diminishing return a long time ago.

But other positive things were transpiring. These guys were forming a connection, exchanging good will, and perhaps deepening a friendship. And maybe it’s these kinds of conversations that get them to come to the gym in the first place. Cool.

But in the same manner that my listening to that nuanced gym conversation probably won’t make me much stronger (I just need to work out more often), reading works of the hobbyist productivity genre probably won’t make me significantly more productive, either.

But what is the hobbyist productivity genre?

An article or book belongs in the hobbyist productivity genre when…

• Its (1) about productivity, (2) you have absolutely no clue what it’s saying, and (3) it hits the front page of Digg;
• The words “hack,” “tip,” “tweak,” and “trick” are used in the same paragraph;
• Its advocating productivity for productivity’s sake;
• Its focus is on sexy means rather than effective ends;
• It’s a blog post that features more than 5 firefox plugins;
• The article focuses excessively on implementation and doesn’t mention outcomes;
• The acronym GTD appears in the article but the phrase “Getting Things Done” does not (this applies to any of the productivity acronyms, including 4HWW);
• An article is titled “Introducing the ‘Hobbyist Productivity’ Genre.”

The Take Home Message: Be a Conscious Consumer

It appears that a lot of people consume hobbyist productivity materials for the same reasons that they buy an expensive personal digital assistant when a good ol’ paper planner would’ve done a better job. That is, they do these things because they elicit the often illusory feelings of being productive.

One lesson that has hit home recently is this: you can get mired in bible verses without being a Christian, you can watch The Biggest Loser while putting on weight, and you can consume loads of information without gaining knowledge.

It’s also possible to practice the productivity hobby without developing the productivity habit. The former isn’t bad, but it’s important to remain cognizant of the hobby/habit distinction.

Note: For another alternative perspective on productivity, see this great post by Lisa Gates, entitled The Trouble with Productivity.

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