Seen this a lot, and I'm in the same boat. I dislike this commodified view of life and free time, where every thing you do must result in a sort of real-life stat increase, like you would see in a video game (Persona 5 anyone?).

I think ultimately this way of thinking is extremely naive. It implies there is no underlying themes or philosophy in music or fiction whereas listening to a podcast will cause you to learn something new. The subtle messaging a good album possesses can be far more profound than listening to a guy talk about data science for an hour each day. Listening to a good album or reading fiction can give you new ways to frame problems or reconsider old approaches in your work.

We need more polymaths.

Slacking off and not getting necessary things done is terribly self-destructive. But so is cramming "learning", "goals", and "growth" into literally every second of your day.

I occasionally overwhelm myself with all of this stuff to learn, read, listen, do, and it takes a mental toll on me.

There is just so much out there, but we can't do it all.

:)

In the Arts there may be little specific track, but it is acquisition of keys anyway, and a fundamental one, because the consideration of art is the encounter of patterns. Pattern for your further recognition, application, and for your development in general as a "pattern-rich entity".

Some truths are only mass-publishable as fiction.