Bonsai, golf, archery and pool: the absorbing hobbies high performers keep
Tommy Lee starts his mornings with bonsai and the philosophy of slowing down, Bill Murray treats golf and archery as ways of staying in the body, Bryan Callen talks about pool and mastery under pressure, Michael Waddell about the mental game of a bow shot, Andrew Schulz about his padel obsession, Josh Waitzkin about foiling, and Seth Godin about what hobbies are for. A demanding pastime with nothing riding on it turns out to be where many driven people practice attention and patience, which makes it a mindset tool and not a distraction from work.
Driven people keep describing a demanding pastime as the place where they practice attention. Across seven conversations, the value of the hobby lies in how much focus it takes, and it works that way only while it stays yours.
Tommy Lee, a rock drummer, spends hours every morning wiring and pruning bonsai trees. He took it up after visiting Japanese temple gardens, where the paths are never straight: "They specifically and strategically curve the path to slow you down." The practice makes him slow down, and he says starting the day that way sets him up for a great day.
Bill Murray plays golf as an exercise in staying inside his body. A book taught him to separate planning a shot from hitting it, and to toss a ball between shots to keep his attention physical. He calls the effect decluttering. Joe Rogan says pool and archery do the same for him, because they require so much attention that everything else falls away. He calls archery a moving meditation. Bryan Callen adds that mastery at the highest level is about tiny adjustments and teaches you about yourself.
Hunter Michael Waddell still gets nervous at full draw almost every time, and says for many working men hunting is a chance to turn off the phone and clear their heads. Comedian Andrew Schulz has rebuilt his workouts around padel. Josh Waitzkin, a former chess prodigy, trains on a foil board twice a day and argues that the peaks of different arts sit close together, so skill carries over.
They agree that the value is in the attention demanded, that difficulty is the feature, and that the lessons carry into the rest of life. They disagree on pace. Lee's practice is about slowing down, while Waitzkin's is a training camp where never falling counts as failure. They also differ on whether to expect success: Waddell and Rogan insist on positive visualization, while two top performers told Waddell they always expected to fail.
Seth Godin supplies the warning: "Don't let a business ruin your hobby." Once a hobby becomes a business, it belongs to your customers, and the day fills with logistics instead of the thing you loved. Mel Robbins counters that trying something for your own sake has value even if it never pays.
The article adds cautions. The archery and pool material comes mostly from Rogan, not from Murray or Callen. Not every pastime here is low-stakes, since Waddell hunts for a living. A pastime can become its own trap, as with trophy hunters who forgot the relationships. Much of this is individual experience, not evidence about everyone. And for an injury, or before taking up a physically demanding pastime with an existing condition, a doctor's or physical therapist's advice matters more than anything said on a podcast.
What to do with it: pick something that demands all of your attention. Put it at the start of the day if you can. Split planning from doing. Keep a physical anchor between efforts. Take lessons and be willing to be a beginner. Expect nerves and go through them. Protect your body, remember the people, and think twice before turning it into a business.