making side projects happen 🍵 just design tea #18
step-by-step guide.
I read somewhere that if you spend even an hour every day making something - something that is truly yours and reflects you, you are ahead of 99ish percentage of people.
But who has an hour everyday? 🙄
As much as I would love to wake up at 5 AM everyday and spend an hour writing, I have accepted - like really accepted - that it is kinda hard for me.
And have been slowly building a system to still make writing happen.
You are reading this because of that system.
This is my love project, something that really brings me joy.
And that’s what side projects should do. Help you be someone you would really like to be. It shouldn’t turn into a pressure-pot of disappointment, struggle and burnout. You need a system and guardrails that lets you freely enjoy your time creating.
Here are some things that work for me.
🧠 step 1: brain-dump ALL your ideas
Baking. Gardening. Dabbling with Midjourney. Learning to drive. Job hunt. Writing a blog. Painting candles.
Time to accept we are only humans and have only 4000 hours acc to a book.
Bucket these ideas. Some examples of buckets - “helpful for your career”, “good for your soul”, “fuels your creativity”, “solves a burning problem”.
Juhi on Twitter recently shared a template that you could use for this!
💔 step 2: say no to good things
Confession: I would love to make TikToks.
I did the math. How much free time I have vs all the things I wanna do. Math wasn’t mathing. I had to say “not now” to a few things I would love to do.
Saying no to things you wanna do is the hardest. But that lets you are create ample mental bandwidth for few things that you have picked. They will be more you. They will not be done half-heartedly or inconsistently.
So think hard, and pick 1-2 things you want to do as side-projects. Move fast and confidently on your chosen projects.
🚀 step 3: define a MVP
If your project is to build a course, maybe start with creating 5 youtube videos or 12 short reels. If you are redesigning your portfolio, your MVP can have 2 projects and an about me page.
Be the best PM for your side project. PM the sh*t out of it. Have a scoped MVP. Have some timelines. Build to get to market asap. Market obviously being that shiny post on Twitter & LinkedIn.
📆 step 4: set up a system
For this newsletter, I have empty drafts in my inbox with cover image ready for next 6 issues. I have a running list of topics I want to write about. I have a calendar reminder every week to send it out.
Remove the friction. Do the easy parts when you are low on motivation. Do the hard parts first thing in the morning. Set yourself up for success!💛
🎯 step 5: have a simple OKR
I will write 1 blog/month this quarter. I will comment on 10 tiktoks daily. I will join a pottery class with 10 sessions.
Put a realistic comfy happy number and duration next to your side project and commit to it. Do not leave optionality. Don’t give yourself a choice to back out.
If you have done all the steps above true to yourself, this one will be cakewalk. Rinse and repeat.
❤️ my favorites this week
📝 how I’m redesigning my writing process by
Fellow substack-er, I loved her process and partly inspired me to start thinking about mine.
📺 We watched the movie AIR on a Monday night. You will like this movie more if you’ve read Phil Knight’s Shoe Dog. I would highly recommend that book, movie optional.
🎙 This bite-sized 14 mins podcast on How to Stop Feeling Overwhelmed is gold.
Talk next week, Chhavi x
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Thanks for the shoutout. I’m inspired to pick up and build better habits (in re to productivity) because of what you wrote here esp steps 4 & 5. Just subscribed, looking forward to reading more of your work. 🔥