Passion Projects | 7 Tips for Starting Something New

I’ve spent over a decade working in the social-impact sector, beginning my career with unpaid internships and freelance teaching gigs at tiny arts nonprofits, to now working for a nationally-recognized artist-services organization. What originally drew me to the nonprofit art scene was its energy and inspiration; an energy that comes from making art, celebrating creative culture, and fostering a do-it-yourself (DIY) community.

Over the past few years, in addition to my nonprofit work, I have been focusing on my own personal creative projects. As a perpetually busy person who has many interests, I’ve often thought about how to balance these passion projects with my professional and personal life.

Whether your personal passion project is focused on rallying a group of people around a common cause or putting a little more creativity into your day, I can help. Here are some helpful tips I’ve used over the years that have allowed me to find balance within a full calendar. 

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Get a handle on your schedule

• Honestly assess your time. Do you spend a little too much time on the Internet or watching TV? It’s okay to unplug your brain sometimes, but try not to fall into the habit of doing it all of the time. Or perhaps your schedule is full of obligations you no longer enjoy. Before making time for a passion project, you have to get a sense of what’s already on your plate and what you can start to leave behind.
• Know when you work best. Are you an early bird or a night owl? I’ve found I am the most effective and focused in the early morning, so I’ve trained myself to get up at 6:30 most weekdays so that I can get an hour of writing in before I go to work. How can you rearrange your schedule to enable you to dedicate your “best time” to your passion project?

Achieve a little at a time

• Set realistic goals. This could be an entry in itself, but it’s hard to feel like you are doing enough on your own project when you don’t know what you are trying to achieve. Setting incremental goals will move you toward your vision of success without getting overwhelmed by how much ground you need to cover. It’s been a life-long goal of mine to be a published author, but I had to break that huge, idealistic goal into realistic goals, such as developing a book topic and proposal, writing an outline, and then writing the book chapter by chapter. Accomplishing those concrete tasks helped me assess whether I was making progress toward my passion project.
• Do something small every day to develop your project. Once you have a list of manageable goals, break them into bite-sized tasks. Sending an email, organizing a community group, setting up promotional flyers—all of this can be done in short, focused segments. For example, when I was gearing up to kick off a crowdfunding campaign to raise money to support my book tour, I broke campaign preparation into small tasks like creating an email list, choosing my donor reward levels, and writing the project description text. Block off a little bit of time each day to work on your idea, and commit to this time.

Change your mindset

• Develop self-discipline. Choosing to focus on a creative or entrepreneurial project means setting boundaries in your life—you will need to learn to prioritize social engagements and say “no” to things that feel less important than your project. This also means committing to the time you have set aside to work on your project each day (see above). Don’t let life’s endless tasks and petty distractions encroach on the time you have set aside for yourself.
• Resist comparing yourself to others. I know this is tricky, but when you are pursuing your creative vision, that vision is yours alone and only you can be the judge of its progress. I struggle not to compare myself to other writers and entrepreneurs, so I always remind myself that part of actualizing a creative vision means charting my own path.
• Take breaks. While you do have to put in the time and effort to create a successful project, working during all of your free time will most likely cause you to burn out fast. Take time to nurture yourself as well as your project by setting up a weekly work pattern. I spend my weekdays focused on my full-time job and passion project so that my weekends can be spent with family and friends. This way, by the time Monday morning comes around, I’m able to refocus and get things done.

I’ve found that when I take a small amount of time to concentrate on the things I’m really passionate about, I dedicate more energy, focus, and purpose to the other tasks I need to accomplish, whether that’s a project at my day job or simply cleaning my house. When you fully engage with a passion project and build toward its success, your whole life becomes more robust.