“In fact, stop worrying so much about other people. Every time I’ve
worked on a project I thought other people would really love, it was a
massive flop. Every time I’ve worked on a project I loved, it worked.
If you’re sitting in this room, your taste is not as far off from
those around you as you’d think. Build something you love and others
will love it, too. (Not everyone, of course.)”
I stopped making excuses and motivated myself to work on side projects to keep myself inspired and to be a better designer. Before you start thinking of any ideas, you definitely need your shit together before that can happen. Make sure you separate your work and personal life. I know new year’s resolutions are usually bullshit but I wanted to change my lifestyle to the point where I wake up early consistently everyday and leave work consistently at the same time. I set a goal to timebox myself so I can actually live my life instead of living to work. It created a lot of discipline and changed my backward thinking from before. I would attack a problem knowing I have time constraints which forced me to think better instead of telling myself I can make more time because I can stay late to solve it. A lot of times taking breaks and coming back to a problem can give you a different perspective on something after you sleep on it.
Chris Wanstrath’s Keynote Speech (video) about starting side projects
