I get asked how I "do so much" sometimes when I meet people in the context of starting new side projects, releasing open source libraries, or being active in a community. None of this is prescriptive -- everyone has to decide what they want for themselves, but I have self-reflected on this question a decent amount.
But, first a caveat: one lesson I have learned over time is to try to not judge myself compared to others -- especially those I do not know well. I have gone through seasons of my life (a term I first heard on a Startups for the Rest of Us podcast a long time ago) where I mostly consumed instead of created. I have taken sabbaticals where I did not think about or write any code at all. I have taken vacations where I have completely disconnected from the digital life. To me, that's healthy and everyone gets to decide what makes them the happiest. However, if you are interested in "making more time" in your life to work on a side project (either for a short amount of time or longer), I do have some ideas.
Cut out everything extraneous
Time with family, day job, health (working out, sleep, cooking). Those are my priorities (and my current priority order) and I stick to them, but everything else is negotiable. You should make your own list! What isn't on my list: watching TV, sports, video games, etc. All things which tend to eat. up. time. If the goal is to make more free time in your day, I (mostly) avoid things that will suck up lots of it with minimal return on investment.
But but but, I hear you say, I like video games! That's fine, make your own list. But, know there is only so much finite time in the day so you are making an implicit trade-off.
Your trade-offs will change over time as well. When I was younger I could get less sleep to free up more time, but I cannot do that anymore without wrecking my next day. So, sleep became a non-negotiable, but other things got de-prioritized.
Consume
It might sound counter-intuitive after the last point, but one way I get exposed to different ideas is to consume more media. However, it needs to be a specific type which inspires me -- for me that is podcasts, books (mostly around business, bootstrapping, UX, and design), and (maybe surprisingly) social media.
Podcasts
The benefit is that I can listen to podcasts when I'm already doing something else: mowing the lawn, doing dishes, driving, grocery shopping, etc. I curate my subscriptions religiously, but I tend to listen to tech or business-focused podcasts -- here are the ones I prioritize:
- Startups for the Rest of Us (tactics for bootstrappers, some interviews, some Q&A)
- MicroConf On Air (conference talks about bootstrapping)
- Mostly Technical (2 guys talking, bootstrapping, somewhat Laravel-focused)
- Notes on Work (off-the-cuff Caleb Porzio, creator of Livewire and Flux)
- Soft Skills Engineering (not business at all, but I love it)
- The Town (the business of Hollywood)
- My First Million (somewhat bro-y business dudes)
- Lenny's Podcast (product-focused, but can feel "big tech"-heavy)
- The Pragmatic Engineer (can feel AI-heavy)
- Django Chat (interviews with Django folks)
I have tried listening to audio books, but I could never get into the habit for some reason. In my opinion, most podcasts are shorter and are easier to jump into and out of, so maybe that's why.
Books
I mostly read before I go to bed as a way to wind down. I tend to go back and forth between fiction (creativity! fun!) and non-fiction (learn! new ideas!).
Social media
With the death of Twitter (yes it died, no I'm not on X 😂), I have switched to Bluesky and Mastodon which I use similarly. With both, I heavily curate my feeds to tech and business folks. If someone is consistently a downer -- unfollow. If someone always posts about politics -- unfollow. If someone only posts about technology I don't care about -- unfollow. I don't feel bad about it and neither should you.
People get to post whatever they want, but I also get to unfollow them if I want. 🤷
Social media exposes me to ideas and thoughts from outside of my bubble which can be useful. And since Bluesky and Mastodon don't have aggresive algorithms boosting rage-inducing posts all the time, it's mostly pleasant.
Limit innovation tokens
"Innovation tokens" are a concept from Choose Boring Technology which resonated strongly with me when I first read it and I think about constantly. It is basically a way to reduce risk by using technology where you already know the trade-offs. It applies to my dayjob, but it is especially important for side projects when time is limited.
Be explicit about your goals -- if the goal is to learn a new technology, then use as many innovation tokens as you want. Go bananas. Spend 4 weeks setting up a kubernetes cluster because you read a blog post about it. However, your users do. not. care. Probably. 😉
For every new side project, I limit the number of new technology I try to incorporate -- and stick with my "boring technology stack" for everything else. However, my goal is normally to launch something as fast as possible. However, I also think it's important to play with new tech -- that is part of what makes it fun to me personally.
De-scope to de-risk
To me, the ability to launch new side projects fast is tied to de-scoping and prioritization. What is the minimal amount of features so that someone else can try your thing? It's different for every project and it's where you get to demonstrate your personal taste. I've released a new open source library that is literally one function. I have launched (along with Sangeeta) a "social network" where you can only sign up and add links to a profile.
I tend to put things out in the world that solve one particular problem without thinking about it too much. Do people seem to like it? Are they sharing it, giving it stars, etc? Are you getting feedback? Does this thing resonate?
Steve Blank says "No plan survives first contact with customers". In the same vein, I think "Projects that never launch never progress". You need to launch to get feedback, so launching as fast as possible is one of my expicit goals.
Repeatedly roll the ball forward
Consistently working on one thing and making small iterative improvements based on a highly prioritized list are the compound interest of side projects: it stacks up over time. After a month you can look back and think, "how did I get from 0 to here with only an hour a day?!" But, it's true and I have seen it happen over and over again.
Repeatedly showing up and focusing can build amazing functionality over time. Start small, iterate, and improve.
Conclusion
Again, I'll reiterate that what works for me probably won't work for you -- everyone is in a different stage of life and gets to prioritize their life as they want. However, hopefully some of this has been helpful or given you some ideas about how to make time in your life if you want to work on more side projects or launch that new open source library!
Thank you to Tim White and Sangeeta Jadoonanan for proofreading and edits.
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