Find your interests

About this tool

Find your interests: what it is and how to use it

This free tool helps you find your interests by starting from what already holds your attention. It asks eleven short questions in three steps: notice what draws you, sort what you would do unpaid and want more of, then pick one thing to try this month. It runs in your browser, and your answers stay on your device.

Interests, hobbies and how big a start can be

The questions here are ours. It is a reflection exercise, not a test, and it makes no claim about what your answers say about you. What it borrows from research is a way to think about the size of the thing you pick.

The sociologist Robert Stebbins sorts free time into three kinds. Casual leisure is immediately rewarding, short-lived and needs little or no training. Project-based leisure is a short, one-off or occasional creative project. Serious leisure is "the systematic pursuit of an amateur, hobbyist, or volunteer core activity" that can grow over years. He writes that the serious kind is not meant to be seen as the most important of the three.

Our guide Pick a hobby that fits your life looks at the research on hobbies and gives 30-day starters for ten hobby families.

How to use it

1. In Notice, answer the five questions in a few words each. Skip any that draw a blank.
2. In Sort, tick what you would still do if nobody paid you, and what you want more of. Add a note if some answers share something.
3. In Try, choose one thing, write one small first step and pick a date.
4. Press See my summary to get all of it on one page, then copy or print it.

An example

Say you lose track of time sorting old photos, watch videos about old buildings for fun, and friends ask you to fix their laptops. Two of those are about keeping old things going. One small test for the month: go to a single meeting of a local history group before the 30th, then see whether you want a second.