Side projects, like variety, are the spice of life; let me explain. Most of us have a delicate balancing act of work responsibilities, home life and exercise/sleep patterns. While all of these are undoubtedly important; side-projects add an extra element to the otherwise drudgery of daily life. There needs to be more than just wake up-work-gym-tv dinner-sleep-repeat cycle ad nauseam. A side project can help keep you mentally engaged while breaking up monotony.
Side projects are not merely just hobbies. A hobby is an activity that is done in free time with usually no metrics attached. A side project is the next step up from that, wherein there is usually a deadline attached to a side project. Examples of this include training for a marathon (side project) vs just going for your morning run or build a drone for a local piloting competition vs just flying a drone in your backyard. The deadline is an important because it forces (however artificial it may be at times) a sense of prioritizing time and efficiency, while also leaving room for fun and learning along the way (by all means, who wants to hate a voluntary side project?). The side project should also be one that you look forward to most days, rather than just another item on the ever-untamed To-Do List.
Hopefully, this side project can induce some sort of creativity, which like an atrophied muscle, can easily wither away if one does not use it regularly. After all, a side project is the perfect chance to use your Special Sauce that I discussed in my previous article. The local drone flying competition, to use an earlier example, is the perfect scenario to prove to the world (or at least the local community) that you indeed the special sauce when it come to piloting miniature flight machines. Ditto for making a costume for the comic-book convention that is coming to your local city soon, or perfecting the literal special sauce for the barbecue competition you’ve had your eye on.
Now, an important caveat is to not let your side project cause unnecessary anxiety. The side project is supposed to add joy to your daily life, not to completely trample it. The side project doesn’t need to be competitive either. Building a bonfire pit in your backyard or restoring a classic car to road-worthy condition are examples of this. Knowing this, let progress by your guide rather than absolute perfection. In essence, side projects should be something that you would have a growth mindset over, rather than a fixed mindset (to borrow from Carol Dweck’s book , which I highly recommend).
Home Page 