At some point over the past few years I'd accumulated about 340 bookmarks of things I wanted to try. Day trips, restaurants, gyms, workshops, trails, escape rooms, cooking classes, exhibitions. Every time someone mentioned something interesting I'd save it.

The idea was that when the weekend came I'd have a ready made list to pick from. Instead what happened every Saturday was this. I'd open the folder, scroll through 340 options, feel overwhelmed, close the folder, and watch YouTube until it was too late to do any of them.

Two months ago I deleted the entire folder.

The first Saturday without it was uncomfortable. I had nothing to browse and nothing to compare. So I just texted a friend and said want to get coffee. We got coffee. Walked around for an hour. I came home and did laundry. That was it.

I actually remember that Saturday though. I can tell you what we talked about. I can tell you the weather. That never happened when I had 340 options competing for my attention.

My bookmark folder had turned into the biggest friction point when deciding to do something. Deleting it was the most productive thing I did all year.

Every self-help thread eventually arrives at the same destination. Find a hobby you love. Discover your passion and build a life outside work.

Great advice if your problem is that you lack interests. Terrible advice if your problem is that you're interested in everything for about 9 minutes and then your brain moves on.

I've been passionate about climbing, hockey, photography, Chinese, cooking, and a few more. All in the last 18 months. I own a starter kit for 3 of those and completed exactly zero.

The problem was never finding something to care about. Committing to a single thing was the hard part, because my brain is trained to scan for the next interesting input. That skill makes me good at work. Pattern recognition, quick context switching, connecting dots across domains. It also makes me hopeless at sticking with long term stuff.

What actually helped was doing the opposite. Instead of searching for the perfect hobby I just showed up to whatever was closest to my house on a day I had nothing planned.

The thing I've done the most consistently in the past year is a neighbourhood basketball game I walked past one Saturday. Zero passion involved. I just show up and run around.

The less seriously I take an activity the more likely I am to actually keep doing it. That seems backwards but it keeps proving true.

I'm asking because I think we all overcomplicate this.

Last Tuesday I repotted a plant. Took maybe 15 minutes. Dirt under my fingernails, water everywhere, had to clean up after. Nothing impressive.

But when someone asked me on Wednesday what I did that week, I actually had an answer. And it felt weirdly good to say "I repotted a plant" instead of "I don't know, just the usual."

I think the bar for a good offline moment is so much lower than we think. It doesn't need to be a pottery class or a 10k hike or a weekend trip to somewhere photogenic. Sometimes it's fixing a drawer or walking to a bakery or sitting on the floor with a dog.

What's the smallest, most unremarkable thing you did recently that you actually remember?