Learn to do things yourself
It helps because like, you were made to do things. Work together. But also do things yourself.
Have skills.
Know how to affect and work around in the world.
1. Learn more universal practices
And it teaches you things. People talk about being disorganized. Well do something that forces you to be organized. You learn the principles of organization.
Someone might be disorganized, but they really love painting miniature figurines. And then they realize that like if they keep their paints in a certain order it helps make the process more efficient. And if they clean up after they are done with a session, then they realize that it is easier to find things. And if they take notes on where they were, then it is easier to jump in when they come back to it.
In that exercise, they just learned mise-en-place, and keeping a journal.
But you could learn those things from cooking in a restaurant or a chemistry laboratory.
What I mean is that humans are humans.
So there is similarity with how we interact most effectively when doing certain things.
For the most part, you have better outcomes when you are well-rested. So like you see rest come up in a number of pursuits. Because, well, people in general need to be well rested.
2. Learn new skills
Doing things yourself is a good thing because you learn new skills. And those skills can build on other skills.
Like you can learn to hammer a nail for one project, then you realize, well now that I know how to hammer a nail, I can do these other projects.
Making a box can lead to making a storage unit.
And if you learned how to spray paint a sign, now you could theoretically spray paint your storage box and make it nicer.
3. Supercharged saving money
I mean not always, but hear me out.
I suggest that if you are living a middle income lifestyle in the United States you actually have ample free time. I mean that in a more absolute amount. Like the person working 3 jobs does not have free time. You being tired after working a normal 9-5, I mean you still have time to watch TV for an hour or two. Whether you want to work on projects after that is another story.
But like consider that you could work on projects while watching TV.
You are turning your dead time into productive time.
Caveat: Avoid the trap of being productive all the time. That is a trap. That is not what humans are meant to do. Have fun, be happy.
4. Relax better
It is counterinuitive to people who do not understand, but it is actually true, and I would argue that it is universally true: active relaxing is more relaxing than mindless relaxing.
If you are tired, it is better to work out and sleep really well, than watch TV while drunk and veg out and kinda sleep later.
It is better to relax reading a book, than just watching TV.
It is better to relax doing a project while watching TV, than just scrolling mindlessly on your phone.
You will feel better doing an active relaxation, compared to a mindless one.
I find that instead of just sitting and reading online, it actually helps me relax if I have some small mindless task to do.
Example:
If you want to watch TV, put a show on your phone and pick up your room while doing it. Clean the dishes. Go outside and pull weeds.
Sure, I would say that there are like occassions where you do not have time to do things. But like, that is quite a spot. That is when you are really working. And if you are working and happy then go for it.
But like some people, I argue, would be happier and have better lives if they did their laundry.
Like if you do not have time to do your laundry, maybe you should evaluate what you have going on. I would posit that most people who are so busy that they do not have time to do laundry, are burning out. There are some people that do manage it, but usually...well...most people do not. You are most people.
5. Greater than the sum of parts
You learn more about the world and you reach inflection points, by doing things yourself.
You go from being able to do one skill, and a disparate skill, and eventually they might combine so that you can do something you never thought possible. But what I mean is not that. What is I mean is that 2 + 2 = 7. You learn a skill, and another, and you meet someone who becomes a lifelong friend. Or you connect with someone and are able to help them. Or you like do a good, anonymous deed. Or you figure out a project at work, using a schema you gleaned from darning socks.