The origin story

Sixty percent of US adults say they sometimes feel too busy to enjoy life. Loneliness is an epidemic, and anxiety and burnout are at record highs. Many of us are looking for answers to the question How can I be happier?

I was among them.

As a marketing professor, I’m trained to look for signals. So when a tiny country that lives in darkness half the year consistently scores at or near the top of global happiness rankings, it grabbed my attention.

So I traveled to Denmark, hoping to leave with the secret to happiness.

I spoke with dozens of Danes: from multinational executives to parents to expats. Unprompted, almost every Dane spoke about hobbies as fundamental to their well-being. Good, old-fashioned, unproductive, just-for-fun hobbies. 

When I returned to the US, I poured myself into researching hobbies. The more I researched, the more I discovered: hobbies aren’t an escape from life. They’re a way back into it.

Join the Hobby Revolution

This movement isn’t reserved for the elite, the retired, or the eccentric. It’s available to us all. In a world that profits from keeping us distracted and depleted, choosing to do or make something is a small, powerful act of rebellion.

Ready to join?

  • The Secret to Denmark's Happiness (and why the US has trouble replicating it)

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  • In a world that profits from our distraction, hobbies are the ultimate act of rebellion

    I think many of you can relate to living a stressed, overstimulated version of adulthood where from the time you wake up to the time you go to sleep, there’s always somewhere to be, something to do, someone who needs you.

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  • The best insurance policy against burnout is a hobby

    I used to think hobbies weren’t for someone like me.

    Read more.

  • Making friends doesn't have to be hard. You just need a hobby.

    10 ways to start building deep, meaningful friendship

    Read more.