Do you really need another side-project?

Hello again my friend,

We’ve got thirty days left in December, and this is the time of year when all my old side-projects come back from the dead. Not because I’m thinking about them (or working on them), but because all the domains I impulsively bought email me, reminding me they’re about to renew.

And every December, the free time creeping toward the holidays does the same thing.

It gives you more space to think:

And of course, think of some half-baked side-project.

I’ve done this for a decade. Start something in December, abandon it by February, repeat. But this year is different. Ten years of trial and error finally taught me something I wish I learned at twenty:

You don’t need another holiday side project.

Not the half-baked kind born from boredom, guilt, or “new year, new me” hype. Not the project you’ll sprint through for two weeks and ghost by mid-January.

However, I like money. It’s fun. It feels like winning. Business keeps score with money. So of course it becomes the scoreboard for ambitious people. Hopefully not just because the holidays also means more expenses. Unfortunately, in my case, those holiday side-projects were built for the wrong reasons.

So today, I want to share a few lessons from a decade of failed projects, in case they help you dodge the trap this year, and see that we may be better off doubling down on the thing that actually matters.

Let’s lock in.

The thing you love doing every day has a better chance of making $10k than the thing you only love thinking about.

Holiday projects often fail because the free time we have during the holidays ends. When the free time’s gone, we fall off.

And it’s often because all that time to think takes us down the wrong path. We see people’s success, the ads for a “new year, new me,” and we’re convinced we want those things, and money will lead to those outcomes.

But, I’m convinced that if we were repeatedly slapped in the face with content pushing us to find what we love, we’d win more often (ironically).

More time spent on trying new things until we find what love enough to do it every day. Less time spent rushing into a half-baked idea for earning $10k a month.

That is, if we can get out of our own way.

December also has a second trap. Overthinking. It’s worse when we have free time. I’ve dealt with this a lot.

So much money goes into convincing people that something is wrong and feel unsatisfied. There’s so much content today designed to convince you you’re broken, unhealed, misaligned, or one missing habit away from becoming a better person.

We’ve gone a little overboard with the therapy language. Not therapy itself, the culture around always finding something wrong with yourself.

In some ways, it’s helpful. Most business success happens because we’re not satisfied. But it’s on a completely different level now. As if an entire generation’s mission is to find what’s wrong with oneself and ‘heal’ it…or else, you don’t fit in. As if that’s a bad thing.

There’s a time and place for therapy. It’s not for every time you scroll Instagram.

It’s fine to be odd, weird, and yourself. It’s great to want to work on yourself, but ideally, it’s because we’re pursuing the things we want. Not outside pressure forcing us to take actions we don’t really believe in.

We’re told that waking up, taking vitamins, and having a coffee isn’t enough. Now it’s all about:

…just to go to work.

Everyone I know with a routine like this is so drained by the end of it because the hate every step. They don’t get any work done after anyway. You kill the mental demons by doing work that gives you energy and makes you happy, not routines that drain it.

Happiness is like armour against your own mind playing tricks on you (or getting played by others).

Going into the holidays, I tell myself:

And, I’m so fortunate to already do so much I love, that I don’t necessarily need a new thing.

That’s the root of it all. I may still be feeling the vibe from Thanksgiving, but I can’t get it out of my head. We’re all very fortunate, there are billions of people who would trade places with us, and while times can be tough, there’s a lot to be happy about.

As always, thanks for reading.