On Side Projects
“Excuses are leaks in a boat. When you cover one, another pops up, and it’s even bigger. It’s hard to keep the boat repaired and get safely to shore if you have an excuse mind-set.”
James Altucher
The most interesting people I have ever met are always into something.
It doesn’t matter if they have steady jobs or work as freelancers. People with drive and high expectations of themselves are always working on something that pushes them to the next level and fulfil their interests and curiosity.
Side projects are small endeavours that keep your brain learning and your creativity expanding. From running a meet-up, writing a blog to building a software product, side projects can help you discover and develop skills faster than any other learning method.
Here’s a couple of things you should know about side projects
Side projects are different than hobbies.
You can choose to learn how to draw cartoons or join dance classes. That is okay, and it will surely enhance your life. However, deciding to launch your own comic e-book or organising an online community of dancers is a very different matter.The first can make you happy and challenge you to some extent, but the second will terrify you, show you your limits, and change you as a human being.
Side projects are cheaper than MBAs.
Most people tend to think they need to take a postgraduate course in order to change careers or advance in the one they already have. Unless you can join one of the top universities in the world, my advice is to consider alternative ways to learn the skills you want to develop. The problem with traditional education is that the system is mostly designed to deliver education wrapped around bureaucratic structures that does not allow teachers and professors to update the curriculum fast enough to catch up with what is going on in the real world. There is no point in investing large amounts of money on education that could be completely outdated by the time you finish it. If you would like to explore further, I would highly recommend you read The Education of Millionaires by Michael Ellsberg.
Side projects can offer very practical knowledge and plenty of flexibility for experimentation and learning.
Side projects do not have to become businesses.
Entrepreneurship is often associated with starting your own business. Being an entrepreneur is more about starting and finishing things. It is about creating stuff that will advance your pursuit of a better life. Side projects can help you expand your potential, ease your transition into a new career, and can be a great exercise if you later decide you indeed want to start your own business. Ultimately, side projects are learning cycles you can embed in your life to ensure you keep yourself updated and participating in the design of your our future.
Side projects are not always fun
Creating new things, working with people and making things happen is a difficult thing to do. It requires emotional endurance, time and effort. When people and books say, “Do something you love”, they don’t necessarily mean that you are going to enjoy it, what they really mean is that you need to choose work that you still would like to do despite all the suffering required to make it happen. There is a lot of pain involved in the process of creation so you need to be very much in love with the journey.
The drive behind completing a project should be strong enough to take you through uncomfortable conversations with team members, make difficult decisions, deal with uncertainty and tiredness. Maya Angelou once said, “You will never be good at something you are not willing to sacrifice for”. Choose work that is challenging enough to keep you engaged, work that will stretch you and scare you a little bit.
There is a huge satisfaction in overcoming obstacles, there is joy in getting something done and there is an interesting sense of relief and happiness when you press ‘Launch’ and realise that all those weeks of fear and anxiety where completely unnecessary.
Side projects are about traction
This is indeed the secret sauce for any project. You need to keep moving. Don’t go to bed without doing one little thing that will help you keep momentum. Send that last email, look for that image or research a bit more. Whatever it is make sure it is happening. Every little thing you do is better than all the big stuff you didn’t do.
Brian Tracy
Sofia.
Originally published at verysimplestuff.com on January 6, 2013.
