Keep Passion Alive

Another benefit of regular time off is that it allows you to nurture your passions and hobbies. Many people are mislead into believing that to be happy, one must “do what they love” for work. This might lead an artist to commission paintings for an income or an athlete to become a personal trainer. However, psychologists have discovered that expected extrinsic rewards such as money or prizes decreases a person’s intrinsic motivation to perform a task ^{[1, 2]}.   In other words, when you do things you enjoy to acquire money or other rewards, it may actually lessen your enjoyment of the activity.

 

So it may actually be a blessing to keep that passion of yours as a cherished past-time.

Becoming Well Rounded

This is especially true if your passion is an activities that you do not excel in.  For example, a person who is gifted at improvising and lacks forethought in most of their endeavors might take an interest in chess to develop that skill. It is obvious why such hobbies should not be engaged in for work.  Despite being a source of great passion and meaning, a novice cannot produce valuable enough work to compete with experts of their craft. Your recreational time, then, can be used to develop these abilities that do not come as easily.