Tom Hodgkinson - from worker to idler

17Oct2009 Filed under: 4 Hour Work Day, How to be a happy scanner, How to be happy, Play all day Author: John

Tom Hodgkinson is editor of bi-annual magazine The Idler and author of several excellent books including How To Be Idle, How To Be Free, and The Idle Parent.

He very kindly agreed to be interviewed for my upcoming book about how to get paid to play.

We did the interview as a video call over Skype and braved multiple connection dropouts and shockingly unflattering webcams to record it. (Tom’s the one on the right)

Watch the video below and discover Tom’s journey from worker to idler, why idling takes dedication, and how to write a book in your sleep.

Find out more about Tom and The Idler

Currently rewriting your own life story? Check out our “Find your story” London workshop in November

Share and Enjoy:

NEXT POST: Find your moment
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

3 Responses to “Tom Hodgkinson - from worker to idler”

danny hearn
January 18th, 2010 at 12:14 PM

Ohh i’ve met Tom. Really nice chap, the only thing i’d say to counter Idling, is that Tom comes from quite a privileged background being educated privately. Without that step up and access to vital contacts i’m not sure you could easily just land a highly paid guardian columnist role?
John
January 18th, 2010 at 12:36 PM

I don’t know much about Tom’s background but you might be right about private education. I don’t know how much that really enables you to get a Guardian column. I cold-called the Guardian and placed a 1300 word article in the society section with no track record at all.
Hannah Baverstock
July 2nd, 2011 at 1:29 AM

Parts of this interview really strike a chord with my recent experience. I agree with what Tom says about the workplace often being unhealthy when it requires you to act in a certain way that isn’t natural for you, and how this can lead to stress. I also think he’s right when he says that taking complete responsibility for your life, which also gives you freedom, although scary, can put you in a much better mental state.

about this blog

This is the personal blog of John Williams, author of "Screw work, let's play: How to do what you love & get paid for it" to be published by Pearson in June 2010.

Join my mission to play all day and get paid - to do whatever creative, fun stuff we feel like doing and make a good living out of it.

entries feed (RSS)
comments (RSS)

entries by email

Recent Articles
Recent Comments

creative maverick