Starting your own passion project can feel intimidating at times. As excited as we may feel about our overall idea and starting the project itself, sometimes we hold ourselves back, making excuses. “I’m too busy”, “There’s not enough time” and “I don’t know where to start” are all common phrases we may tell ourselves.
As I have worked on creating this website, there are lessons I learned along the way that reminded me about the importance of starting my passion project. Not only did these reminders encourage me to keep going throughout my creative process, but I think they will motivate you in your own creative pursuits.
Here are 11 truths I learned about working on passion projects:
- Stop putting it off
If you keep thinking about how you want to start your passion project without ever taking any action to actually get started, you’re just wasting precious time.
Make the decision to start right now and identify the first step you need to do to take action. Otherwise, you’ll never get started, and if you do, you’ll wish you started sooner.
- It’s okay to feel nervous, anxious or scared
You’re going to have 1000 thoughts and questions running through your mind- Are you making a good decision? Will you be successful? Will people respond positively? These thoughts may overwhelm you, making you question whether you should continue or stop right there. During those times, just remember why you wanted to start in the first place. If the reason is because it brings you joy, then you’re on the right track.
- Have a vision of what you want
You don’t need to have it all figured out, but you should at least have a vision of what you are trying to accomplish. In my case, I drew inspiration from different blogs and in my mind pictured what I wanted my final website to look like. I didn’t put too much pressure on myself to know right away how I would make it happen, but rather, reminded myself that things would come together as long as I actively made steps.
- Do something small and creative every day
When you think of the big picture and all the things you need to do, it can overwhelm you to the point where you already feel defeated and unmotivated. To combat this feeling, start to break down your project into smaller steps that need to be done. Then, decide what you want to do first. For some things, you may need to take a linear approach, but other tasks may allow you to be more flexible and creative as you work on different aspects of your project. Do what feels good that day.
One thing I learned is that if I’m forcing myself to work on something when I don’t have the right mindset, then I’m not going to do a good job, nor will I like the end product. For example, there were days when I was feeling more creative, so I would work on smaller design elements of my website, while other days I focused more on learning about the technical aspects of operating the website. Take it one step at a time!
- You know you’re on the right track when you feel excited
As I mentioned previously, there may be times when you feel overwhelmed or anxious. However, if you get bursts of excitement, then you must keep going! For me, I knew I was on the right track when I would randomly start thinking of ideas in the middle of the night. Can you relate? As much as I tried to turn off, I realized just how excited I was. Some of my best ideas came while I was trying to sleep. I had to make sure I wrote everything down before I forgot!
- Don’t rush the process
Most of the time, it may feel like we are ruled by deadlines. Some of these things may be out of our control, but when it comes to your passion project, you will likely be able to do things on your own terms. In my case, I started thinking about creating my website at the end of 2020 and took action in January 2021. I was feeling so excited and inspired to work on my website that I contemplated giving myself an official launch date. However, I ultimately decided against it, when I realized how much work I actually needed to do. At the end of the day, I wanted to enjoy the process of creating the website and didn’t want to stress myself out. Of course, I could have “launched” sooner, but to be honest, I think it all fell into place at the perfect time.
- Your passion project shouldn’t be a chore
My rule of thumb for working on my website is, “if I’m not enjoying it, then I’m not aligned with my purpose”. Now, I’m not saying that you have to enjoy every single aspect of your passion project. For example, there may be routine administrative tasks that you do not look forward to completing. However, if you start to dread the general work you are doing for you passion project, then you have some rethinking to do. Perhaps you feel like you’re in a rut, and just need some inspiration to get that excited feeling you used to have? Whatever the case is, remember why it’s called a passion project.
- Batch work can be your best friend
If part of your passion project involves posting regular content, then there may come a point where you need to schedule time for yourself to create that content. However, as I said above, this shouldn’t feel like chore. In my case, I try to share content weekly, which means as soon as I post one article (such as this one), I need to start writing another one. Just thinking about the never-ending routine gives me anxiety. One thing I have come to love is the concept of batch work, where I schedule some time in my calendar to write a few blog posts at a time. This approach not only helps me ensure that I’m in the mood to write, but it feels great knowing that I am ahead and can spend my time doing other things related to my website.
- Find your hypeman/hypewoman
This may be your passion project, but you don’t need to be alone on your journey. You may not be ready to tell the world what you’re working on just yet, but it can be really helpful to share your experiences with at least one other person who is working on a project of their own. You both don’t need to be working on the same type of project to be able to learn from each other and help each other along the way. If you need that extra push, your hypeman or hypewoman can help hold you accountable to completing certain tasks and even motivate you to keep you going!
- Be flexible
Things don’t always work out the way you plan them to, so it’s important to be flexible. While I was working on my website, one thing I wanted to do was take professional photos to use for my site. I wanted to invest in a photographer, but with all the restrictions during the pandemic, I had to keep pushing out my shoot. I could have easily got angry about the situation, but what use would that be? I chose to look at the bright side of things- this meant I would have more time to plan my content! At the end, even though I would have preferred to have it done sooner, everything still worked out, and maybe even better!
- Do it for yourself
I think this is probably one of the most important lessons I learned. At the end of the day, you should be working on your passion project for yourself. Sure, there may be some external influences as to why you are doing what you are, but don’t lose sight of what you want to do. If you have too many people in your ear telling you what you should do, then it’s not really your passion project now is it?
What are some lessons you’ve learned working on your passion projects?