Try a hobby before you buy the gear
Pick one, maybe two
Start four things at once and you'll go to each of them once. One visit tells you almost nothing.
Two things on each hobby's page tell you how to begin: the cost to start, and whether someone needs to teach you. Cheap and self-taught means you can start tonight. If it needs a teacher, the first step is booking a lesson.
Take the cheapest way in
The cost to start is priced on the cheapest legitimate way in, and the first step describes that route. It's usually one of four:
- A taster session. The venue, the equipment and the coach are already there.
- Renting. Skis, dinghies, tennis rackets and most instruments rent by the session or the month.
- Borrowing, or using what you have. Your old trainers for running, your phone for photography.
- Buying second-hand. Starter gear someone else moved on from, which you can usually sell on again.
Beginner kits are sold to people who haven't tried the thing yet. Half of what's in the box stays in the box for the first month.
If it needs a teacher, take the class before you shop
Climbing, scuba, paragliding: anything that's unsafe to learn alone starts with a lesson.
The lesson also settles what to buy. A coach knows what the venue lends out, what you'll need soon, and what you'll never need. That advice costs less than any online gear list.
Buy what touches your body first, big items last
When you do start buying, begin with fit, hygiene and safety: shoes, gloves, pads, goggles.
Leave the expensive pieces for last: the instrument, the boat, the bike, the camera body, the kiln. Rent them until you're sure you'll keep going.
Decide in advance what counts as trying it
The first session is almost always the clumsiest. Your hands won't cooperate, you don't know the etiquette, your body isn't used to the movement. Judge after one visit and you're measuring unfamiliarity, not interest.
Pick a number before you start, say three or four sessions or a month, and decide then.
Go where beginners are expected
Plenty of clubs, gyms and studios run beginner nights, open days or weekend intro classes for people who have never done it. It beats working it out alone at home.