The prospect of having some amazing project under your belt is an exciting one. The stories we have yet to tell, the products we have yet to create, and the content we have yet to publish has the potential to impact the world. There is the possibility that hundreds or thousands of people sharing our similar interests will love and appreciate the work we do. Making something amazing that people enjoy opens doors for us that would otherwise remain closed.
Dream, Meet Reality
Unfortunately, we all have real lives outside of the amazing things we want to create. We clock in at 9 and clock out at 5, day after day. Bills need to be paid, chores need to be attended to, and important relationships aren’t going to nurture themselves. Our bodies and minds are quite unforgiving when they don’t get the sleep and sustenance they need. Go too long without exercise and you start to put on the pounds. The important ideas in our heads start to feel ever less important as we consider that working on them doesn’t keep the lights on or put food on the table. These things take a lot of time, and we don’t have much left in the day after other obligations are met. So they get put on the mental backburner, waiting for that magical day when money somehow becomes a non-issue, when time grows on time-trees and a hungry audience suddenly shows up at the doorstep, excitedly demanding us to create and throwing fistfuls of money at us.
Of course, logically we know that this will never happen! But either way, we keep busy day to day. Songs remain unsung, books remain unwritten, games remain unprogrammed, and canvases remain blank. In my case, cartoons remained unanimated in favor of more “important” things.
Side Hustlin’
But I’m here to tell you that there IS a way to get the ball rolling toward the stuff of your daydreams! Enter the “side hustle.” A side hustle is a project you work on after normal working hours. The thing you want to work on doesn’t need to pay the bills just yet, and it doesn’t need to be a replacement for your normal job just yet. By setting aside time each day to hustle, we make it possible for ourselves to eventually something done. Now you may be thinking, “But Chey! What was all this a minute ago about being too busy for a side hustle? I thought you understood me!” Don’t worry, I do understand! My lack of time in a day was a common psychological roadblock for me, too. I always thought about how fantastic it would be if I could do my own thing full time. But I realized that that would NEVER happen unless I hustled on the side first. I overcame that “not enough time” mentality by committing a small amount of time in my day and then following up on that commitment by building a productive habit. Remember, everyone who has ever been successful at anything had the same amount of time in a day that you or I have.
So, perhaps you’ve got something that’s been brewing in your mind for a while now. You want to get it out. Whatever you do, don’t wait for that mythical day when all the conditions are perfect for you to work full time on your own stuff. You may have limited time right now. You may not be perfect at your craft yet. But by golly, you’ve got the same amount of time in your day as anyone, and you’ve got a few skills and a dream. The conditions are perfect RIGHT NOW. So ready, set, go.
Start Today
If you fall into this category and can relate with what I’ve written here, I invite you to try something. It’s simple: Make a quick plan. For the thing you want to make, think of what the first step is. For Meager Quest, my first step was a storyboard for the first episode. Break that first step down into as many smaller, bite-size steps as you can. In my case, it was a list of “shots” or drawings. And then figure out a time every day when you can sit down for just 15 minutes to do SOMETHING to move down that list of tiny to-do’s. Stick with that for a week, and let us know how it goes. You may find the result surprising.
