Day 17 How hobbies can make our work better -Part 1 Based on the article: How does your hobby make you better at your job? Undoubtedly, it is important to have hobbies. It is a good thing to have a passion in life. Moreover, the more hobbies a person has, the more enjoyable life is. Firstly, hobby is an inexhaustible source of positive emotions, energy, and drive. When you are tired of a difficult working day, switching to the activity that you enjoy will help you to recover and provide an essential respite from the daily grind. Even more, it can be a real lifesaver in terms of attaining balance, coping with stress and some negative things. Secondly, hobbies allow people to develop and express their creativity. It is especially important if work does not require creativity. It allows a person to develop in wider directions. Thirdly, hobbies broaden our mind, they show us how the world is rich and various outside our work. In addition, hobbies can positively affect our work because they can develop the skills needed for our specialization. The article of the magazine “Real sample” brought us great examples of how hobbies made work of people from different areas better. Elaine, an interior designer, admitted that calligraphy was the mindful act because the formation of every letter required her to be in the moment. That acquired skill helped her to be 100 per cent focused on clients to understand their needs and wants on the meetings. Mary, a manager, shared her experience of river rafting. As a river is full of intimidating complexities, to overcome obstacles, she needed to split them into parts and then strategize each piece of the river and think over how to move forward. So, it helped Mary to learn how to break a challenging task down into smaller parts. She applied the skill to the management of her project for each phase from launching a product to managing a team. Danny, a home and lifestyle expert, opened for himself collecting matchbooks from restaurants and hotels as a hobby. It taught him how it was essential to see not only a bigger picture, but also to pay attention to even the tiniest things, such as colour, embossing, size, shape and wording because they seem to be insignificant when we analyze them separately, but playing together they create an impression and set the mood. To be continued