In Defense of Dabbling: The Brilliance of Being a Total Amateur

Resist grind culture and discover the joy of dabbling.

From Karen Walrond, author of The Lightmaker's Manifesto and Radiant Rebellion, comes a delightful jaunt into how to be a total amateur—by doing the things you love even if you're not any good at them.

In today's grind culture, hobbies become side hustles. Work creeps into leisure time. Perfectionism reigns. We look up to experts, and we look down on amateurs. And when someone asks us what we like to do, we realize we have absolutely no idea.

But amateur just means "one who loves." So what if being a total amateur is actually a good thing? What if we've been so focused on achieving that we have forgotten how to be interesting?

In her new book, Karen Walrond strikes out to discover the things she loves that demand no excellence—just desire. As she cultivates practices and rituals, without any expectation of success or accolades, she shows us how to do the same. And she helps us learn Seven Attributes of Intentional Amateurism: curiosity, mindfulness, self-compassion, play, zone-stretching, connection, and awe.

Follow Walrond as she dabbles in throwing pottery, swimming laps, playing piano, learning to surf, and photographing the Milky Way (spoiler: it doesn't all go well). Listen in on her conversations with other amateurs—and experts too—about how intentional amateurism enhances mental and social health. And to get you started on your own intentional amateurism practice, she also serves up a list of more than two hundred ideas for things to dabble in—ways to discover your own path to being a total amateur.

Walrond reminds us that it's in the living that we create a life, so failure isn't a concern; in fact, it's kind of the point. If we get better at a hobby or a craft, that's simply a byproduct, never the goal. Transcendence awaits: What joy might we find if we simply started doing the things we love?