Pursue Your Side Project

What is a side project? A side project is anything you chose to pursue outside of your normal day job and routine errands. A side project evolves out of a passion or an idea that lights a fire within you and won’t go away. It seeps into your mind during boring meetings and presses you to pay attention to it when you’re working on a deadline at work. Side projects can become the soul of how you live your life and can turn your boring career into something exciting and fun. Do you have a side project? Maybe you don’t have one right now, but you’ve got an idea that you want to pursue that you’re hoping to get to soon. Bad news is – you need to start now. Good news is – you can start now! Here’s how to make time for your side project without failing at the rest of your life:

1. Understand the requirements: Not all side projects are the same. In fact, you should think about how and what your side project will be so that you can allocate the right amount of time to it. Some side projects may require a creative mindset, while others need to be done at night. Consider the requirements for your specific side project, and then find a way to adjust your current lifestyle.

2. Make the time: I get it, no one has time for extra stuff in their lives. Here’s the cool thing though – you don’t need to be doing a lot of the stuff you’ve signed up for. Most of us think we don’t have enough time to pursue what we care about. But if we take the time to cut back on other activities, or reschedule our days, you’ll find a lot more extra time. Consider waking up a little earlier, working on your lunch break, or allocating time on the weekends.

3. Commit to small goals: we all have big, great dreams for our side projects. But if we break those big dreams into smaller goals, they’re much easier to swallow. Think about your goals on a weekly basis. Want to be able to do 100 crunches in a row? Make a goal of 40 in a row for the first week, 50 the second, 60 the third, and so on. Write down your goal for the week and then read it over and over throughout the week. The more you focus on the goal for that week, the more likely you are to complete it.

There you have it – three steps to working on your side project. Our daily lives are full of 9-5 jobs house chores, and commuting, but there’s a lot more to life than that. Be the inspiration for your own life and do the cool stuff you dream of.