Passion Project Advice
Hands up anyone who is working on a passion project alongside work, life, and that all-important downtime. I am bringing this up as it can sometimes feel like our passion projects are set up to fail. Never having space in our diary, grabbing the odd snippet of time to work on it, and then also forgetting to work on it for maybe weeks, months, or sometimes years! Other life events happen, and more pressing tasks and work take their place. And then sometimes we just don't feel in the mood to work on it.
Over years of actively pursuing passion projects, I have realised certain things.
1. The ideas and projects that completely fulfill you will stick, whereas other project ideas fizzle and burn out (this is OK!) it is like panning for gold.
2. Deadlines are nice but also be kind to yourself if you don’t meet the deadline.
3. Planning tools and having someone to meet with regularly can help schedule time in your busy diary and help you feel accountable to someone.
4. If the timing is not right, that is OK. I am a visual person, so when a project gets stuck, or another project takes over I visually place the original project on a shelf in my head. I know this sounds bonkers, but it means to me that it is still there and waiting for when I am ready. I have needed to do this when I have a health relapse, for example.
5. That brings me on to projects that become physically or mentally impossible. Maybe this was through a big life event, or your situation changed… If this happens you may feel a lot of pain around letting the project go, however, once you do, in my experience, I was flooded with new ideas. And ideas that I could physically and mentally accomplish. Once I surrendered, my brain was allowed to think of what I could do, rather than what I couldn’t. This has happened many times in my life and the quicker I surrender the quicker I feel the overwhelming joy of a newfound passion project.
6. It is OK to have more than one passion project. However, you may find it hard to give enough attention to all the projects. One project may start to build more easily, and this may mean that you take a step back from the others. Again, the brain shelf is helpful for this! If you worry you will forget a passion project, write it down, put this somewhere safe and when you have more time and want a passion project, read the note and see if it brings you excitement and joy or if actually you no longer feel the need to work on it.
7. It is OK to work a long time on something and just stop doing it. (This is not a failure.)
8. It is fine to work on it for years. Only you are making the rules. The book I am working on started in 2018 and sometimes I feel embarrassed about this, however, I have seen how it has developed into a much better project and I am impressed by the fact that this idea has lasted through thick and thin, and I am still as excited if not more about it!
I see passion projects as a creative relationship and a balance of keeping it going and keeping everything else going at the same time! Lastly, if you are struggling for time to work on a passion project, at the very least talk about it with close friends and family. Talking to supportive people is another way of keeping it alive in your heart and you may even get some helpful advice and feedback as well as some encouraging words!
