Why Personal Projects Are Essential for Career Success
I can’t seem to find time to get my garden together.
Some people will know that I’m studying herbalism at the moment, but what they won’t know is that I’m not the best gardener. I’m often remarked that not only is my thumb not green - its toxic. Even my office cactus suffers. Seriously, I come close to killing it maybe two or three times a month.
But I can figure things out. It’s not impossible, I just need the headspace to sit down and do it.
But I’m not doing it. Ironically, the biggest impediment to my horticulturalist skills is studying and researching gardening and horticulture. I’ve been spending more time on YouTube videos, obsessing over assignments, and trying to balance everything I need for a day of life coaching and maintaining my project skills, that I haven’t stuck one spade in the ground.
So, how do we re-prioritise the things that are important to us in our private lives, in some kind of balance with activities that are inherently stressful?
I mean, obsessing about gardening is far more unpleasant than actually gardening. But it’s that “oh do I know enough” that makes us prioritise more taxing brain work over activities that help us decompress. Yet, how we manage our private lives can make a potent impact on our careers - positively or negatively.
The Sheffield University Management School did some interesting research - apparently, hobbies only help your career if they don’t use the skills you need for work. “Pursuing a hobby in an intense or serious way can boost people’s confidence at work – but only if it uses different skills to their job, according to new research by Dr Ciara Kelly and colleagues at the University of Sheffield’s Institute of Work Psychology.” The findings go on to say:
…leisure activities that are either different from work – or similar but pursued in a lighthearted, playful, less serious way – can help to keep people happy and healthy by acting as a buffer between their personal and professional lives. This barrier gives people time to develop themselves and recharge their batteries, which is particularly important in helping to generate and preserve ‘psychological resources’ such as confidence.
And that makes sense - my most creative roles were during times I was knee deep in my creative pursuits - writing, speaking with creatives, getting out in nature. These roles required similar skill sets; organising, planning, executing - but not exactly the same.
And such hobbies can invariably become passions, and passions become “side hustles” where everything cross-pollinates and feeds what we do.
A Forbes article, “Should You Start a Side Hustle? 5 Ways to Ensure Success” gives us reason to start thinking about personal passion as profitable:
One of the best reasons to start a side hustle is to feed a passion. Perhaps you love to write but your regular full-time job doesn’t give you as much chance as you’d like—a side hustle can give you an outlet for your creative spirit. Or, you thrive on making birdhouses—and a side hustle gives you the chance to make, display and sell your brilliant creations. It’s worth mentioning that if you’re pursuing a side hustle because of your passion, you may choose to do so without pay for a time or for minimal remuneration—because you love the project, and that love adds unquantifiable value to your life!
So how do I get my garden started? Still haven’t moved away from the desk, but here are some tips from some successful people:
"The key is not to prioritise what's on your schedule, but to schedule your priorities." - Stephen Covey
Life and work - that’s the balance that you should achieve. Life should feed your work, not the other way around.
"Don't count the days; make the days count." - Muhammad Ali.
If everyday you keep waiting for something new to happen, it won’t happen. And don’t worry about not having done it yet - you will. Make the most out of your day, and you’ll start seeing progress.
"You can't manage time, but you can manage yourself within the time you have." - Brian Tracy
Don’t let the day get away from you - sometimes work only takes 30 minutes. You don’t need huge spans of time, just dedicated time.
"Amateurs sit and wait for inspiration, the rest of us just get up and go to work." - Stephen King
Do it, even if you don’t feel like it.
"Success is not final, failure is not fatal: It is the courage to continue that counts." - Winston Churchill
It doesn’t matter if you’re not good at it yet. And even if you think you’re “successful” and don’t need any more “to do”, remember that you are more than a paycheque - feed your soul.
