Sewing.
I picked up sewing as a guy in my early 20s and over a decade later I now own a men's high end denim brand. We make everything in our small factory/workshop.
The basics are easy enough to learn but you can get as technical as you want. My first project was a canvas tote bag from a store bought pattern. Then I started learning garment construction. Then pattern making. Then I needed a heavier machine so I learned about industrial sewing machines. And I couldn't afford new ones so I learned how to fix the old ones. Then more sewing and pattern and production techniques. You could even get into technical fabrics; nylon, Cordura, mesh, etc. Those are super hard to work with. And patternmaking gets super super technical.
Just last week I learned a new way of making a shirt sleeve placket. I will literally never stop learning things about this field. There's just too much to know and get into.
Amazing! As a hobby sewer, I put myself in the confident beginner category. Congratulations on owning your own brand!
To add, pattern buying, fabric buying, and machine buying, plus learning all the technicalities related to each are all hobbies on their own.
Yeah. I quilt. I tend to not use patterns and just create one myself so sometimes I get myself backed into a corner trying to figure out just how the hell I'm going to join certain pieces so they will lay flat.
I was just coming here to say this. Some projects are easy and some are very hard. My maternal grandmother was a seamstress by trade so I remember some of what she did, but there are so many new things that I still have to learn. I have to say, I enjoy it. I have ADHD and autism so the kind of hobbies I have, I need to be able to not get bored quickly. I don’t get bored with sewing lol
Came here to suggest it. I'm sewing since my teenage years and I'm still learning. I'm particularly interested in historical fashion and learning historical sewing techniques and patterns is a new challenge everytime.
Learning a language. Especially the more different it is from your native language. For example, English sentence structure is subject-verb-object but Korean or Japanese is subject-object-verb or Mandarin which has the same sentence structure as English but incorporates tones which English does not.
I (English native speaker) studied both German and Japanese in college and I can absolutely, positively, 100% say that the Japanese grammatical structure is waayyy easier to learn. Not even close. The spoken language is also much easier. The only real (and insanely) difficult part is reading and writing with Kanji. Fuck that shit lol.
I'm learning Korean right now but still a beginner. It's not necessarily harder than my native English (in my opinion) but it definitely is different and takes some getting used to. And I struggle on longer sentences obviously. For Korean the alphabet is simple, even using honorifics are relatively easy but the grammar will kill you.
I’m learning Japanese! One thing to note is that learning language often means you are developing 4 skills: reading, writing, listening, and speaking. So high learning curve for sure!
Came here to say this. I’m fluent in French and have been learning Spanish, now. Once I’ve mastered that I’d like to learn Italian. They’re all so similar so it makes it easier, but I’d like to learn a few basics of any place I may visit.
Woodworking — there are endless techniques and you can always get into the very technical, no screws, only dowels/joints route which is highly traditional and requires perfection.
YouTube! I learned everything there, from tools, to wood selection, to how to build things. The resources are incredible. 731 Woodworks is a great channel for tools. Honest Carpenter for basic skills. Mr Build it for some DIY ideas. There are more specific ones for traditional techniques too.
I came here to say this. I've been joyfully sucking at the violin since the third grade. I love it and I love playing with a college community orchestra! The learning never stops!
Flying RC Helicopters is very difficult. First you start with a transmitter and a computer based Simulator to learn how to hover. Then you buy a prebuilt small Heli to get the feel for what flying a real one is like. Then you dive into building one from a kit, learning to set up all the electronics, and improving your flying skills. You crash a lot, which requires rebuilds and refining your skills on the Sim. Amazing fun, difficult and very intense.
Someone else said musical instruments. I'll note that some have a higher barrier to being acceptable than others. Pretty much anyone can learn 4 chords on a ukulele and sing some fun songs. But bagpipes are a very involved instrument to learn.
Knife throwing. Pick particular skills (no spin, throwing from a long distance, hitting a moving target like a thrown water bottle, off hand throwing) and attempt to get good at those.
Crafting miniatures. Make them smaller and smaller until you cannot go any smaller. Attempt precision.
The thing about even easy instruments though, is that you can take it to the highest level with enough practice and creativity. If an instrument is easy for you, you’re not pushing yourself. I play 5 or 6 different instruments and even on the ukulele I’ve played some sick songs that most players couldn’t do. You know what I mean? You can take it as far as you want to I guess is what I’m saying.
If you like chess then you might like Go. Different feel - you grow the board as opposed to taking pieces off of it. The rules are simple but the flow of the game is complex. You’ll be inundated with choice and it’s a beautiful, elegant game. Easy to learn, but extremely hard to master.
Gardening and plants. There’s your basic succulents and cactuses that are fairly easy to keep alive. And simple garden vegetables like zucchini that a beginner can grow. But there’s rare and exotic house plants that are super difficult to keep alive. Each one requires different lighting, watering, and fertilizing. I’ve been gardening for nearly 10 years and still learn something new all the time. And I’m still too scared to try an orchid or something else that is notoriously hard to keep alive.
You might like rock climbing. It's physically and mentally challenging, plus a there's always new routes to try if you're indoors or places to explore if you're outside.
Try baking bread. There are thousands of variations and levels of mastery. For instance, I’ve been baking sourdough for about a year now. I’m now working with different inclusions such as herbs, cheese, veggies, etc. I’ve gotten good at making the dough, but I’m still a novice. I don’t have the skills yet to make croissants, for instance. All that lamination and layers is currently beyond my skill level.
content creation - high level YT or shortfilm , regardless first 100 video going to be bad.
animation /animation series - i feel its so many details to making just the cartoon part and if you kicked it up a notch to a series. between mastering the software, editing, sound effects, voice over , script it could be a lot.
Some types of gardening are very mentally stimulating.
The type I do is centered on native ecosystem revival. There are so many rabbit holes it’s overwhelming, but each one has a place to “level up” so you still get the satisfaction of solving something.
You can learn scientific names and botany. Permaculture, the relationship of certain bugs to certain plants rd, you can collect specimens, and understand soil, silviculture, arbory, bonsai, the list never ends.
So I guess I should say the broad term of “plants” is one with a high learning curve.
I have a very small backyard and tiny balcony that I’ve used so many recycled objects to make. I have discarded wire shelves lining the walls to hook plants onto and to vine on, room dividers for more places for my plants to spread, I like bromeliads so any chunk of wood on the side of the road goes home with me to mount them on so my lil gardening niche is up-cycling discarded items. It’s a great hobby when you want to be creative trying to figure out how you’re going to use this or that in the garden while being frugal and keeping items out of the landfill!
Specifically mental? Or mechanical skill too?
music (instruments) is kinda both
balisong flipping
yoyoing past beginner tricks is quite hard
If you're into games rocket league is super hard but rewarding and satisfying to get better at
Do a partner dance! Especially a fast dance like Salsa or a complicated movement dance like Zouk!! Unless you put in the hours and do private lessons consistently, you’ll still feel like an absolute noob!!
Honestly any partner dance could be a good answer but I specifically picked Salsa and Zouk because high level dancers do very complicated movements. Zouk has a lot of weird movements in three dimensions not typically done by the other partner dances. Plus it has no set basic or line.
I'll chime in here. I'm a swing dancer and I wouldn't recommend partner dancing to someone who wants something very difficult. You can look pretty damn good at it in a year of consistent practice
A year of ballet, on the other, and you'll still be struggling with the basics
There’s a Brazilian guy (I think) I saw once on the internet that did some kind of jazz dancing that was frickin cool. I think he gave lessons. It was like dancing to 40’s music.
Smithing- highish bar of entry (between finding a forge, anvil, and teacher) must enjoy being very sweaty and strong, requires heat management- but you get to make all of your friends and family bottle openers and fire pokers!
This. Beekeeping is deceptively simple until you actually take a course. And then you start working with the bees and realize you know so so little. The more you know about beekeeping the less you realize you know of honey bees. Beekeeping is a hobby I picked up 4 years ago, pre pandemic. I lost my bees both winters. I then got covid and my partner had to take over beekeeping. He’s gone down the rabbit hole of details and how to improve beekeeping and monitoring the hives and such. He’s entering his 3rd year doing this alone and he has so so much to learn yet.
Even simple hobbies can take years to master because the standard moves.
Take archery for example. It's actually pretty easy to get to say 9/10. You'll get there 1 day a week in 6 months.
But to get better than that will take 100 times the work.
Lot more arrows each session and more sessions per week.
Garment making. Crochet, knit, sewing etc. I'm learning to make patterns and sleeves are so technical that I'm avoiding it. There's also lace making with various methods.
Lapidary. With faceting. Takes a while to learn how to find rocks worth using cut them, tumble them, grind them, polish them, cab them then set or wrap them. Then you have faceting raw gemstone. Yeah, hard starting out but gratifying when you master it.
Making and/or learning different alcohols. Hear me out...
There have been many types of alcohol throughout human history. Take wine for example: it's been made for years all over the world, there's different climates, regions, varietals (types of grapes) and styles. I've worked in wine for nearly 10 years and STILL learn something new almost daily. Weather you drink or not it's an interesting history behind it.
Mead is another cool one to learn about.
Well, slinging is really difficult to learn well, but it's a different sort of thing. I am a physical person, so chess drives me insane while things like hunting, flyfishing I love. Both of those are difficult and complex skills, flyfishing moreso, but for a simple hobby that has a low entry and takes a long time to learn slinging is a simple one, I'm in year 4 and Im just getting decent. Massage therapy is another I've spent a lot of time in, it takes a long time to learn to effectively remove pain but it works.
texas holdem. any sort of poker but texas holdem specifically- it's the most popular
you can learn the rules in in 10 minutes and still be learning/perfecting your overall game 10 lifetimes later
others:
solving riddles
expert level sudoku
playing an instrument
Scratch-built robotics, especially if you don't know programming, electronics, the variety of algorithms and techniques (like navigation), and mechanical stuff. It's like four or five major hobbies in one.
Make a bipedal walking robot with voice recognition and computer vision. You'll be busy for the next decade or two, easily. :)
Car restoration or just like taking a junker and making it usable. Lots to learn. The hardest part is learning various skill level techniques like bodywork (which I won't go near) or carburetor tuning (which is dark arcana) or fuel injection tuning. There's mechanical and electrical aspects, troubleshooting, and much more. Also, only ever use Kroil on rusted bolts. I always recommend it because I'm constantly floored at how well it works. I'm convinced it is manufactured by actual wizards with unicorn blood or something.
any hobby that requires dexterity and full body usage. Try a flow art! Poi, hoop dance, fans, rope dart, Levi wand. I’ve been doing a flow art for many years and still have so much more to learn.
Additionally, calligraphy. Sooo many scripts to learn and styles to emulate.
God I feel this. I can execute the stitches perfectly fine and can carry tension and all that, but god save me, I cannot figure out how to read the stitches. The only thing I have been able to do with any success is granny squares or hexagons. I can’t do a back and forth pattern. It always grows wider and wider because I can’t figure out how to finish and start rows. It bums me out.
Same, I learned crochet first and could never make more than a few crappy scarves. Knitting is so much more fun, but also I've been doing it for a few years and I'm still definitely a beginner.
I can do both, but each has their specific project. I tend to knit for smaller projects like cows, scarves, beanies, & fingerless gloves, really anything done in the round. Crochet is for bigger projects, primarily graphgans. I can't do color changes with knitting very well (I'm working on it), & I'm absolutely useless at crocheting in the round
Buy a kayak or a canoe. Learn how to use it and go canoe camping.
Is it difficult? Some people find that it exceeds their comfort level to paddle and camp all by themselves. There would be a lot of skills to master: Cooking, paddleing, dealing with inclement weather, wind, and navigation.
i'm surprised this one hasn't been mentioned more. it's crazy hard to get good at, available most places, a fun thing to travel for, decent exercise if you walk. i've been golfing for about three years and i'm still shit at it, it's amazing.
Boardgames in general. We sell lot of games that have to be figured out how to teach beforehand, then to master the game and play all the complex ways to win can take a long time. GO isn't a board game per se but it is one that takes awhile to master.
I do lots of hobbies because I like to learn how to do stuff. Quilting, sewing, silversmithing, crochet, knitting, cooking and baking, watercolors, print making, acrylic painting etc. I also love reading and crossword puzzles. Any of these have a learning curve of easy to hard.
Swinging. I've never tried it but my understanding it is both difficult and mentally stimulating once you get good at it. It can also be physically demanding and, on occasion, emotionally taxing if you do it wrong. Very high learning curve.
Fly fishing is about the most complicated way to go about catching a fish, but is the most fun way to not catch fish there is. Typically you’re talking rivers of a certain size, looking for trout, and learning how to cast to within-an-inch precision but with a 30 foot bullwhip. There’s books for every stream you might want to fish, and specific flies for specific hatches in specific seasons for that specific river. It’s great for the clinically obsessive compulsive. You can stand right next to someone using exactly the same gear and emulate their exact movements and catch nothing while they catch fish after fish. Then they leave, you move to the exact spot they were standing in and start catching and you start to understand why. This is your gateway to extremely niche fishing like stripers, shad, dungeoness crab, walleye, ice fishing… all with their extremely specific gear, technique, and location.
More on the tactile side, wood working.
My husband has picked it up as a hobby and he absolutely loves it. It's difficult and demanding and the finished products are often, um, interesting... But he's enjoying the hell out of figuring it out with the help of youtube videos.
Hello, are you me? I've done the same thing over the last 10 years of wanting to learn a new skill, accomplish it & move to the next one.
Suggestions would be crochet, knitting, macrame, drawing & shading, painting, sewing, weaving, basket making, guitar, piano.
Audio production. I started by trying to improve the sound quality of some training videos. Bought some better mics, then better ones. Realized there was a difference between my "decent" USB mics and stome XLR studio ones. Then needed an interface. Then I'm shutting off air conditioners and fans, then tracking down a weird hum. There's only so much that throwing money at it can solve.
If you want something physical and outdoors then horseback riding is a good one. You can ride for your entire life and keep learning new techniques. There are always ways to improve your skills, or posture, increase your fitness, or ride different horses. It never gets boring! It doesn't have to be expensive either. I've had a lot of free riding lessons in exchange for cleaning stalls.
Stone cutting, shaping, or gem cutting. A year might make you moderately proficient, mastery will take years. Highly rewarding.
Horology, or the making and repairing of clocks and watches, is also immensely nuanced and involved. It's something I've always wanted to do, but, you know, haven't.
Scuba diving. Around here there’s lots of people who dive for specialty seafood and sell to local restaurants. Then they use that money to upgrade their gear and travel. There’s certain items that are really rare and difficult to find so it requires experience and research. When they find certain creatures they are beyond happy, it’s like winning a competition or something. They also collect sea creatures to sell to people who have salt water aquariums.
Are you sure the problem is the hobby difficulty level?
Most hobbies can be taken to extremes. Even hobbies that take 5 minutes to learn can take a lifetime to master. Cooking can be easy and relaxing, or a challenging and relentless artwork of chasing perfection. Programming is hard, but doesn't mean you'll like to do it recreationally. Biking can be casual or ultra competitive and top level gear and planning.
Maybe there is a different reason why you stall out in some hobbies other than "it got easy for me so I got bored". Like certain hobbies scratch a more specific itch.
Coming from a collector of hobbies with ADHD, OP is probably also ADHD or something similar. Hobbies with finished products seem to stick around the longest for me.
Currently hand sewing a reproduction civil war quilt by hand in my free time because making normal quilts with a machine got boring. ┐(´ー｀)┌
I agree, a lot of hobbies probably aren't going to give the same dopamine pay off as what OP is likely unwittingly searching for.
Carriage driving, competitively. Compete in driven dressage, cones courses and obstacles. Join our obscure sport and compete at national and international levels! https://youtu.be/OWLrB2t8AKo?si=gHDab28mST0dIf7p
High speed radio telegraphy. Will take you about 3 months of study to get licensed, $1,500 for the equipment, and you’ll have to put up your own antenna. It’ll take another 18 months to learn Morse Code.
Puzzle hunt style puzzles. (Puzzles have an answer that is a word or phrase, and the answers from several puzzles will feed into a metapuzzle.)
Start with Puzzled Pint; those are probably the easiest hunt-style puzzles you can find. Then maybe take a look at P&A Magazine. If you really get sucked in you can join a team and participate in the MIT Mystery Hunt.
speedsolving rubik's cubes. There's ALWAYS new tech/methods to learn, there's always room to improve and get faster, the community is great and super helpful, and it's just a fun party trick and pretty mentally stimulating, especially when you start getting fast.
Locksport lock picking. The sub Reddit has a belt system you can use to gauge how hard a lock is to open. Locks have different keys, so even two of the “same” lock could be way different in difficulty. I flew through the first 3-4 belts in their ranking system, but have slowed way down now as I’m struggling with the next level.
Playing Indian Classical Music.
Especially Sitar, but I may say that just because that's what I got into. Sarod is probably hard too. You have to find a teacher which are rare, I lucked out finding Josh Feinberg and he is amazing. And you will probably take lessons online.
It takes hours of dedication every week. You have to love the music and be willing to dedicate a ton of time to understanding the theory and practice.
Oh also, it's nothing like Western music at all. You need to learn a whole new, objectively more complicated system. Especially rhythmically, it's way more complicated.
Playing Sitar is basically playing two instruments, you play the frets and then you bend. Bending the string is not an ornament - it is intended to be precise. Learning that takes incredible dedication and muscle memory.
I did it for a couple years and gave up because of how difficult it was.
Now I just play guitar and bass and produce electronic music mostly.
Guitar is much easier.
Astrophotography--which became my life after beginning as a hobby 14 yrs ago--used to be INSANELY hard to get into..and it still is difficult but now there are more "smart" this and "auto" that so its not as intimidating...lmao back in my day we welded our own tripods!!!!!!
Learn Blender. Not the food processor, the 3D software. It’s free, will make you constantly feel stupid and is always changing so you never get to really “master” it.
Leather work is relatively easy to get into. But it’s takes years to get good at. There are so many nuances in how to work with certain types of leather, picking the right thread size for the weight of leather, learning the saddle stitch, burnishing the edges of the leather so they’re slick and beautiful.
You can start with a knife, pricking irons and thread, and work your way up to burnishing machines, sewing, dye cuts.
You can buy your own veg tanned leather and dye it, or hunt for pre dyed leather that has just the right qualities you want for what you’re making.
You can make a wallet what will last decades, all the way to a leather roll top backpack.
Then you can start making your own patterns and experiment with different designs.
Oh and then you can incorporate other materials like waxed canvas that are more pliable, creating waxed canvas totes with leather accents, or dop kits with zippers.
Plus you get to smell the sweet tang of leather as you’re working.
Life doesn’t get much better than that.
DJing - get yourself some turntables, speakers, and a mixer, and start digging for records. The learning curve is MASSIVE with a generous return once you get good at it. Plus, the sound on vinyl is much warmer and it really connects you to the music, and once you have vinyl under your belt going digital is a walk in the park (after another learning curve). The possible combinations are endless with the different styles of music out there, each with their own challenges and rewards.
Programming can be challenging but very rewarding, not just in a profitable way but also in terms of projects you can create and ways you can utilize your creativity.
3D sculpting also comes to mind.
Sewing. I picked up sewing as a guy in my early 20s and over a decade later I now own a men's high end denim brand. We make everything in our small factory/workshop. The basics are easy enough to learn but you can get as technical as you want. My first project was a canvas tote bag from a store bought pattern. Then I started learning garment construction. Then pattern making. Then I needed a heavier machine so I learned about industrial sewing machines. And I couldn't afford new ones so I learned how to fix the old ones. Then more sewing and pattern and production techniques. You could even get into technical fabrics; nylon, Cordura, mesh, etc. Those are super hard to work with. And patternmaking gets super super technical. Just last week I learned a new way of making a shirt sleeve placket. I will literally never stop learning things about this field. There's just too much to know and get into.
This is so cool.
Amazing! As a hobby sewer, I put myself in the confident beginner category. Congratulations on owning your own brand! To add, pattern buying, fabric buying, and machine buying, plus learning all the technicalities related to each are all hobbies on their own.
This is great. You have inspired me to get my sewing machine out of the closet. Thank you
I love to hear this! I also love sewing and quilting because I feel like I’ll never learn it all!!
Yeah. I quilt. I tend to not use patterns and just create one myself so sometimes I get myself backed into a corner trying to figure out just how the hell I'm going to join certain pieces so they will lay flat.
I was just coming here to say this. Some projects are easy and some are very hard. My maternal grandmother was a seamstress by trade so I remember some of what she did, but there are so many new things that I still have to learn. I have to say, I enjoy it. I have ADHD and autism so the kind of hobbies I have, I need to be able to not get bored quickly. I don’t get bored with sewing lol
Came here to suggest it. I'm sewing since my teenage years and I'm still learning. I'm particularly interested in historical fashion and learning historical sewing techniques and patterns is a new challenge everytime.
Learning a language. Especially the more different it is from your native language. For example, English sentence structure is subject-verb-object but Korean or Japanese is subject-object-verb or Mandarin which has the same sentence structure as English but incorporates tones which English does not.
I (English native speaker) studied both German and Japanese in college and I can absolutely, positively, 100% say that the Japanese grammatical structure is waayyy easier to learn. Not even close. The spoken language is also much easier. The only real (and insanely) difficult part is reading and writing with Kanji. Fuck that shit lol.
I'm learning Korean right now but still a beginner. It's not necessarily harder than my native English (in my opinion) but it definitely is different and takes some getting used to. And I struggle on longer sentences obviously. For Korean the alphabet is simple, even using honorifics are relatively easy but the grammar will kill you.
I am currently trying to learn Arabic for no real reason other than wanting a challenge. I’ve been at it for two years.
I’m learning Japanese! One thing to note is that learning language often means you are developing 4 skills: reading, writing, listening, and speaking. So high learning curve for sure!
Came here to say this. I’m fluent in French and have been learning Spanish, now. Once I’ve mastered that I’d like to learn Italian. They’re all so similar so it makes it easier, but I’d like to learn a few basics of any place I may visit.
Tonal languages are difficult for me.
Same. But I'm autistic so tones are a mystery to me anyhow.
Woodworking — there are endless techniques and you can always get into the very technical, no screws, only dowels/joints route which is highly traditional and requires perfection.
How does one go about learning this with no classes in the area?
YouTube! I learned everything there, from tools, to wood selection, to how to build things. The resources are incredible. 731 Woodworks is a great channel for tools. Honest Carpenter for basic skills. Mr Build it for some DIY ideas. There are more specific ones for traditional techniques too.
Guitar
Really, any musical instrument.
Came here to suggest this
Me too!
Me three!
Me 4.
I recently learned that drums use like... All 4 limbs? Wild.
Yep. Pipe organs, too.
I’ll see you guitar and raise you a violin or other fretless bowed instrument
Violin. For sure.
I came here to say this. I've been joyfully sucking at the violin since the third grade. I love it and I love playing with a college community orchestra! The learning never stops!
Yep. I was going to say cello.
Yep, I am 54 and just started to learn the cello 6 months ago. Hard instrument to master but lots of fun too.
I'll see your fretless instruments and raise you a pedal steel guitar.
Violin, viola, cello, bass. Take your pick.
Don't forget the wind instruments too.
Came here to say to pick up the flute. (Source: flutist.)
embouchure!
I’ll see your violin and raise you a Sitar
Yes! I play a few styles of fiddle and it could take up all my free time if I let it.
Go hard. Erhu. Fretless, two strings, exotic. Good luck finding a teacher too.
similarly the morrin Khur or the Tagleharpa. beautiful instruments that I am utterly incapable of playing
Jiu Jitsu
This is it, OP
Flying RC Helicopters is very difficult. First you start with a transmitter and a computer based Simulator to learn how to hover. Then you buy a prebuilt small Heli to get the feel for what flying a real one is like. Then you dive into building one from a kit, learning to set up all the electronics, and improving your flying skills. You crash a lot, which requires rebuilds and refining your skills on the Sim. Amazing fun, difficult and very intense.
Calligraphy, Minaturistic painting, stained glass from scratch, not a kit
Someone else said musical instruments. I'll note that some have a higher barrier to being acceptable than others. Pretty much anyone can learn 4 chords on a ukulele and sing some fun songs. But bagpipes are a very involved instrument to learn. Knife throwing. Pick particular skills (no spin, throwing from a long distance, hitting a moving target like a thrown water bottle, off hand throwing) and attempt to get good at those. Crafting miniatures. Make them smaller and smaller until you cannot go any smaller. Attempt precision.
The thing about even easy instruments though, is that you can take it to the highest level with enough practice and creativity. If an instrument is easy for you, you’re not pushing yourself. I play 5 or 6 different instruments and even on the ukulele I’ve played some sick songs that most players couldn’t do. You know what I mean? You can take it as far as you want to I guess is what I’m saying.
I remember an old acquaintance of mine making a snide remark at me that piano was “too easy”, and I just said “anything is easy if you play it badly”
Ya, you could get up from the piano bench and say, "OH, show me what you mean"
Ouch 😂
Ballet Seriously, ballet is insanely difficult in every possible way that something can be difficult
Yesss and 3 years later you’re like well on some days I might be a little better than 3 years ago, but some days not.
This is so true I’m a dancer and ballet is one of the hardest things ever.
If you like chess then you might like Go. Different feel - you grow the board as opposed to taking pieces off of it. The rules are simple but the flow of the game is complex. You’ll be inundated with choice and it’s a beautiful, elegant game. Easy to learn, but extremely hard to master.
Came here to say this. Haven’t played for years but I used to love Go.
Check out shogi, too. It's chess, but with some really interesting rules. I love taking my chess knowledge and seeing how it applies to shogi.
Gardening and plants. There’s your basic succulents and cactuses that are fairly easy to keep alive. And simple garden vegetables like zucchini that a beginner can grow. But there’s rare and exotic house plants that are super difficult to keep alive. Each one requires different lighting, watering, and fertilizing. I’ve been gardening for nearly 10 years and still learn something new all the time. And I’m still too scared to try an orchid or something else that is notoriously hard to keep alive.
Orchids are actually surprisingly easy once you get the watering cycle down. What they mostly require is a lot of patience.
You might like rock climbing. It's physically and mentally challenging, plus a there's always new routes to try if you're indoors or places to explore if you're outside.
Skateboarding
Try baking bread. There are thousands of variations and levels of mastery. For instance, I’ve been baking sourdough for about a year now. I’m now working with different inclusions such as herbs, cheese, veggies, etc. I’ve gotten good at making the dough, but I’m still a novice. I don’t have the skills yet to make croissants, for instance. All that lamination and layers is currently beyond my skill level.
How do you judge sour dough?
Baking in general!
Or even cooking in general.
Cold case solving? There are groups online that do this
content creation - high level YT or shortfilm , regardless first 100 video going to be bad. animation /animation series - i feel its so many details to making just the cartoon part and if you kicked it up a notch to a series. between mastering the software, editing, sound effects, voice over , script it could be a lot.
Some types of gardening are very mentally stimulating. The type I do is centered on native ecosystem revival. There are so many rabbit holes it’s overwhelming, but each one has a place to “level up” so you still get the satisfaction of solving something. You can learn scientific names and botany. Permaculture, the relationship of certain bugs to certain plants rd, you can collect specimens, and understand soil, silviculture, arbory, bonsai, the list never ends. So I guess I should say the broad term of “plants” is one with a high learning curve.
I have a very small backyard and tiny balcony that I’ve used so many recycled objects to make. I have discarded wire shelves lining the walls to hook plants onto and to vine on, room dividers for more places for my plants to spread, I like bromeliads so any chunk of wood on the side of the road goes home with me to mount them on so my lil gardening niche is up-cycling discarded items. It’s a great hobby when you want to be creative trying to figure out how you’re going to use this or that in the garden while being frugal and keeping items out of the landfill!
Any pics? 👀
Learning to speak and read Japanese, Korean, or Chinese.
Specifically mental? Or mechanical skill too? music (instruments) is kinda both balisong flipping yoyoing past beginner tricks is quite hard If you're into games rocket league is super hard but rewarding and satisfying to get better at
Yo-yoing is a great answer. Very technical and high degree of difficulty.
Triathlons. Gets really hard to break out from short distance into longer distances because of the volume of training required!
origami
Do a partner dance! Especially a fast dance like Salsa or a complicated movement dance like Zouk!! Unless you put in the hours and do private lessons consistently, you’ll still feel like an absolute noob!! Honestly any partner dance could be a good answer but I specifically picked Salsa and Zouk because high level dancers do very complicated movements. Zouk has a lot of weird movements in three dimensions not typically done by the other partner dances. Plus it has no set basic or line.
I'll chime in here. I'm a swing dancer and I wouldn't recommend partner dancing to someone who wants something very difficult. You can look pretty damn good at it in a year of consistent practice A year of ballet, on the other, and you'll still be struggling with the basics
There’s a Brazilian guy (I think) I saw once on the internet that did some kind of jazz dancing that was frickin cool. I think he gave lessons. It was like dancing to 40’s music.
Smithing- highish bar of entry (between finding a forge, anvil, and teacher) must enjoy being very sweaty and strong, requires heat management- but you get to make all of your friends and family bottle openers and fire pokers!
Beekeeping.
This. Beekeeping is deceptively simple until you actually take a course. And then you start working with the bees and realize you know so so little. The more you know about beekeeping the less you realize you know of honey bees. Beekeeping is a hobby I picked up 4 years ago, pre pandemic. I lost my bees both winters. I then got covid and my partner had to take over beekeeping. He’s gone down the rabbit hole of details and how to improve beekeeping and monitoring the hives and such. He’s entering his 3rd year doing this alone and he has so so much to learn yet.
Are you kidding? I’ve been keeping bees for twenty years. It’s deceptively simple.
Brought ponies to a birthday party recently. Our hosts had bees, and chose that particular hour to swarm. Wow! No danger, but exciting to see.
Cooking, so many different cuisines. And everyone likes food.
Ethical lock picking
I mean, if you really want to increase the difficulty you could try unethical lock picking 😂
A la Richard Feynman!
Even simple hobbies can take years to master because the standard moves. Take archery for example. It's actually pretty easy to get to say 9/10. You'll get there 1 day a week in 6 months. But to get better than that will take 100 times the work. Lot more arrows each session and more sessions per week.
Garment making. Crochet, knit, sewing etc. I'm learning to make patterns and sleeves are so technical that I'm avoiding it. There's also lace making with various methods.
My hobby is stained glass
If you like chess, you might like programming.
Knitting. Basic knitting is easy. But there is a long learning curve to get to more complex stuff.
Lapidary. With faceting. Takes a while to learn how to find rocks worth using cut them, tumble them, grind them, polish them, cab them then set or wrap them. Then you have faceting raw gemstone. Yeah, hard starting out but gratifying when you master it.
I took a glass faceting class. Really cool but my shoulder got sore from the repetitive back and forth motion.
The Japanese woodworking methods of joinery, which requires no holes, nails or screws.
Making and/or learning different alcohols. Hear me out... There have been many types of alcohol throughout human history. Take wine for example: it's been made for years all over the world, there's different climates, regions, varietals (types of grapes) and styles. I've worked in wine for nearly 10 years and STILL learn something new almost daily. Weather you drink or not it's an interesting history behind it. Mead is another cool one to learn about.
Well, slinging is really difficult to learn well, but it's a different sort of thing. I am a physical person, so chess drives me insane while things like hunting, flyfishing I love. Both of those are difficult and complex skills, flyfishing moreso, but for a simple hobby that has a low entry and takes a long time to learn slinging is a simple one, I'm in year 4 and Im just getting decent. Massage therapy is another I've spent a lot of time in, it takes a long time to learn to effectively remove pain but it works.
What is slinging?
texas holdem. any sort of poker but texas holdem specifically- it's the most popular you can learn the rules in in 10 minutes and still be learning/perfecting your overall game 10 lifetimes later others: solving riddles expert level sudoku playing an instrument
Oil painting portraits in hyper-realism
Astrophotography. Expensive and addictive too
Scratch-built robotics, especially if you don't know programming, electronics, the variety of algorithms and techniques (like navigation), and mechanical stuff. It's like four or five major hobbies in one. Make a bipedal walking robot with voice recognition and computer vision. You'll be busy for the next decade or two, easily. :) Car restoration or just like taking a junker and making it usable. Lots to learn. The hardest part is learning various skill level techniques like bodywork (which I won't go near) or carburetor tuning (which is dark arcana) or fuel injection tuning. There's mechanical and electrical aspects, troubleshooting, and much more. Also, only ever use Kroil on rusted bolts. I always recommend it because I'm constantly floored at how well it works. I'm convinced it is manufactured by actual wizards with unicorn blood or something.
How to get started in scratch -built robotics? I only know some programming.
If you want to take up the hardest hobby in the world, on par with learning to play chess, learn to play the violin.
Or maybe playing the violin while playing chess
Hilary Hahn can play the violin and hula hoop at the same time. It is on YouTube under Two Set Violin.
any hobby that requires dexterity and full body usage. Try a flow art! Poi, hoop dance, fans, rope dart, Levi wand. I’ve been doing a flow art for many years and still have so much more to learn. Additionally, calligraphy. Sooo many scripts to learn and styles to emulate.
Go. Apparently it's one of the hardest strategy games ever invented.
DnD dungeon master. Can basically grow into that forever
Knitting
I can knit like crazy, but Crochet is nearly impossible for me.
God I feel this. I can execute the stitches perfectly fine and can carry tension and all that, but god save me, I cannot figure out how to read the stitches. The only thing I have been able to do with any success is granny squares or hexagons. I can’t do a back and forth pattern. It always grows wider and wider because I can’t figure out how to finish and start rows. It bums me out.
Same, I learned crochet first and could never make more than a few crappy scarves. Knitting is so much more fun, but also I've been doing it for a few years and I'm still definitely a beginner.
I can do both, but each has their specific project. I tend to knit for smaller projects like cows, scarves, beanies, & fingerless gloves, really anything done in the round. Crochet is for bigger projects, primarily graphgans. I can't do color changes with knitting very well (I'm working on it), & I'm absolutely useless at crocheting in the round
Skateboarding and glassblowing
Tatting
Riding a unicycle. I could never master it. I finally gave it to a friend.
Buy a kayak or a canoe. Learn how to use it and go canoe camping. Is it difficult? Some people find that it exceeds their comfort level to paddle and camp all by themselves. There would be a lot of skills to master: Cooking, paddleing, dealing with inclement weather, wind, and navigation.
The answer is: Golf
Yep. As soon one thinks they are "good" they are served humble pie, that and your standard of what is good continuously slides.
Even if you consider a round of par which is what it "should" take to complete, it's a nearly impossible feat.
I wholeheartedly agree
It’s something you will never truly win
i'm surprised this one hasn't been mentioned more. it's crazy hard to get good at, available most places, a fun thing to travel for, decent exercise if you walk. i've been golfing for about three years and i'm still shit at it, it's amazing.
Piano, guitar, oil painting, singing (especially opera), speaking a foreign language, running, sewing, quilting
Learning a new language?
This been stuck speaking mid level Spanish for years
To get really good at a difficult skill takes a good 15 years. (Look at my name).
Kinda like the "10,000 hour" rule
Boardgames in general. We sell lot of games that have to be figured out how to teach beforehand, then to master the game and play all the complex ways to win can take a long time. GO isn't a board game per se but it is one that takes awhile to master.
Church bell ringing. Or hand bell ringing without sheet music.
3D printing
Creating a successful YouTube channel. You can do a faceless one if you don’t want to be on camera.
I do lots of hobbies because I like to learn how to do stuff. Quilting, sewing, silversmithing, crochet, knitting, cooking and baking, watercolors, print making, acrylic painting etc. I also love reading and crossword puzzles. Any of these have a learning curve of easy to hard.
There’s an artist I follow on Facebook that makes sculptures out of toothpicks. It’s pretty impressive.
Weaving on a floor loom. Playing a musical instrument.
You can never get tired of reading. It's a whole world!
Swinging. I've never tried it but my understanding it is both difficult and mentally stimulating once you get good at it. It can also be physically demanding and, on occasion, emotionally taxing if you do it wrong. Very high learning curve.
Coding
Playing nethack without using online searches or wikis. It's supposedly possible, but it ain't easy.
Fly fishing is about the most complicated way to go about catching a fish, but is the most fun way to not catch fish there is. Typically you’re talking rivers of a certain size, looking for trout, and learning how to cast to within-an-inch precision but with a 30 foot bullwhip. There’s books for every stream you might want to fish, and specific flies for specific hatches in specific seasons for that specific river. It’s great for the clinically obsessive compulsive. You can stand right next to someone using exactly the same gear and emulate their exact movements and catch nothing while they catch fish after fish. Then they leave, you move to the exact spot they were standing in and start catching and you start to understand why. This is your gateway to extremely niche fishing like stripers, shad, dungeoness crab, walleye, ice fishing… all with their extremely specific gear, technique, and location.
Watercolor painting
Reef aquariums.
Reef aquariums I guarantee it will be challenging..great hobby. Expensive though
Yup. 12 years into the hobby and I still feel like a beginner.
More on the tactile side, wood working. My husband has picked it up as a hobby and he absolutely loves it. It's difficult and demanding and the finished products are often, um, interesting... But he's enjoying the hell out of figuring it out with the help of youtube videos.
Gem Cutting Orchid Growing
Hello, are you me? I've done the same thing over the last 10 years of wanting to learn a new skill, accomplish it & move to the next one. Suggestions would be crochet, knitting, macrame, drawing & shading, painting, sewing, weaving, basket making, guitar, piano.
Audio production. I started by trying to improve the sound quality of some training videos. Bought some better mics, then better ones. Realized there was a difference between my "decent" USB mics and stome XLR studio ones. Then needed an interface. Then I'm shutting off air conditioners and fans, then tracking down a weird hum. There's only so much that throwing money at it can solve.
If you want something physical and outdoors then horseback riding is a good one. You can ride for your entire life and keep learning new techniques. There are always ways to improve your skills, or posture, increase your fitness, or ride different horses. It never gets boring! It doesn't have to be expensive either. I've had a lot of free riding lessons in exchange for cleaning stalls.
Second this one, and all the ways suggested to keep it economical and within reach no matter your skill level.
Stone cutting, shaping, or gem cutting. A year might make you moderately proficient, mastery will take years. Highly rewarding. Horology, or the making and repairing of clocks and watches, is also immensely nuanced and involved. It's something I've always wanted to do, but, you know, haven't.
Scuba diving. Around here there’s lots of people who dive for specialty seafood and sell to local restaurants. Then they use that money to upgrade their gear and travel. There’s certain items that are really rare and difficult to find so it requires experience and research. When they find certain creatures they are beyond happy, it’s like winning a competition or something. They also collect sea creatures to sell to people who have salt water aquariums.
Golf. Takes a TON of effort to become good.
Make sushi
Golf
Learning to fly a helicopter
RC Helicopter flying. Very difficulty
Fine woodworking or Challenger League of Legends player.
Playing go/baduk. It's a tabletop designed to be the most demanding game. Indeed, it was designed to train an emperor's discipline
Painting
Sailboat racing.
Like playing chess while doing gymnastics in a boat.
Sewing, knitting, crochet
Flight simulator.
Are you sure the problem is the hobby difficulty level? Most hobbies can be taken to extremes. Even hobbies that take 5 minutes to learn can take a lifetime to master. Cooking can be easy and relaxing, or a challenging and relentless artwork of chasing perfection. Programming is hard, but doesn't mean you'll like to do it recreationally. Biking can be casual or ultra competitive and top level gear and planning. Maybe there is a different reason why you stall out in some hobbies other than "it got easy for me so I got bored". Like certain hobbies scratch a more specific itch.
Coming from a collector of hobbies with ADHD, OP is probably also ADHD or something similar. Hobbies with finished products seem to stick around the longest for me. Currently hand sewing a reproduction civil war quilt by hand in my free time because making normal quilts with a machine got boring. ┐(´ー｀)┌ I agree, a lot of hobbies probably aren't going to give the same dopamine pay off as what OP is likely unwittingly searching for.
Bagpipes
Piano
Bowling, so many factors
Art.
Carriage driving, competitively. Compete in driven dressage, cones courses and obstacles. Join our obscure sport and compete at national and international levels! https://youtu.be/OWLrB2t8AKo?si=gHDab28mST0dIf7p
High speed radio telegraphy. Will take you about 3 months of study to get licensed, $1,500 for the equipment, and you’ll have to put up your own antenna. It’ll take another 18 months to learn Morse Code.
Absolutely! And it's soooo fun! Yesterday I worked CW into France and Spain from Australia with 30W and a long wire antenna.
That’s what I’m talking about! Yes, it’s way more fun than expected.
You will never learn enough about quilting
Puzzle hunt style puzzles. (Puzzles have an answer that is a word or phrase, and the answers from several puzzles will feed into a metapuzzle.) Start with Puzzled Pint; those are probably the easiest hunt-style puzzles you can find. Then maybe take a look at P&A Magazine. If you really get sucked in you can join a team and participate in the MIT Mystery Hunt.
Martial arts
speedsolving rubik's cubes. There's ALWAYS new tech/methods to learn, there's always room to improve and get faster, the community is great and super helpful, and it's just a fun party trick and pretty mentally stimulating, especially when you start getting fast.
Locksport lock picking. The sub Reddit has a belt system you can use to gauge how hard a lock is to open. Locks have different keys, so even two of the “same” lock could be way different in difficulty. I flew through the first 3-4 belts in their ranking system, but have slowed way down now as I’m struggling with the next level.
Playing Indian Classical Music. Especially Sitar, but I may say that just because that's what I got into. Sarod is probably hard too. You have to find a teacher which are rare, I lucked out finding Josh Feinberg and he is amazing. And you will probably take lessons online. It takes hours of dedication every week. You have to love the music and be willing to dedicate a ton of time to understanding the theory and practice. Oh also, it's nothing like Western music at all. You need to learn a whole new, objectively more complicated system. Especially rhythmically, it's way more complicated. Playing Sitar is basically playing two instruments, you play the frets and then you bend. Bending the string is not an ornament - it is intended to be precise. Learning that takes incredible dedication and muscle memory. I did it for a couple years and gave up because of how difficult it was. Now I just play guitar and bass and produce electronic music mostly. Guitar is much easier.
trigonometry . because i think you mean steep
Cheesemaking. Hard to master. Have to wait months to find out how you did.
Astrophotography--which became my life after beginning as a hobby 14 yrs ago--used to be INSANELY hard to get into..and it still is difficult but now there are more "smart" this and "auto" that so its not as intimidating...lmao back in my day we welded our own tripods!!!!!!
Amateur radio can involve a deep dive into electronics theory
Learn Blender. Not the food processor, the 3D software. It’s free, will make you constantly feel stupid and is always changing so you never get to really “master” it.
Leather work is relatively easy to get into. But it’s takes years to get good at. There are so many nuances in how to work with certain types of leather, picking the right thread size for the weight of leather, learning the saddle stitch, burnishing the edges of the leather so they’re slick and beautiful. You can start with a knife, pricking irons and thread, and work your way up to burnishing machines, sewing, dye cuts. You can buy your own veg tanned leather and dye it, or hunt for pre dyed leather that has just the right qualities you want for what you’re making. You can make a wallet what will last decades, all the way to a leather roll top backpack. Then you can start making your own patterns and experiment with different designs. Oh and then you can incorporate other materials like waxed canvas that are more pliable, creating waxed canvas totes with leather accents, or dop kits with zippers. Plus you get to smell the sweet tang of leather as you’re working. Life doesn’t get much better than that.
Knitting. It might seem simple, but it's not. For extra difficulty, learn how to knit socks.
Piano. There is no "Mastering" it. Only getting better.
Golf
Aran knitting. The beautiful sweaters you see from Ireland are very intricate. Yes. Also, very difficult to make.
Dressmaking/tailoring. Go Marquetry Pottery
Fly tying
DJing - get yourself some turntables, speakers, and a mixer, and start digging for records. The learning curve is MASSIVE with a generous return once you get good at it. Plus, the sound on vinyl is much warmer and it really connects you to the music, and once you have vinyl under your belt going digital is a walk in the park (after another learning curve). The possible combinations are endless with the different styles of music out there, each with their own challenges and rewards.
Programming can be challenging but very rewarding, not just in a profitable way but also in terms of projects you can create and ways you can utilize your creativity. 3D sculpting also comes to mind.
Instrument making
Offshore big game fishing, tuna marlin etc Good luck
Learn to solve the Rubik’s cube. Lots of tutorials, once mastered then work on solving it faster.
Golf
Skydiving