DISCLAIMER → my intention with this article is not to discourage you from your dreams. It is actually the polar opposite. I want to ensure you give yourself the fighting chance to succeed.
Hey.
How are you doing? No, seriously. Are you doing well?
(mental health checkpoint)
Often times throughout my career as a developer (and general human) I've personally found myself taking on too many hobbies than I know what to do with.
- Blogging
- Making YouTube videos
- Working on personal projects
- My job
- Tweeting
- Learning guitar
- Building healthy relationships
- Going to the gym / staying fit
- Raising my puppy
- Read books
- Learn to cook
- Family
- Video games / TV / Social events / Entertainment / Travel (I'm human)
Being a creator / developer comes with the enormous power to create amazing things.
That comes with a decent amount of anxiety, for me at least.
The thing is, no one ever told me that trying to do all these things at once was unsustainable.
I always thought "productive" people just like... figured it out...?
So for too many years I tried to do all my hobbies at once.
The result? Master of none.
As soon as I got my first startup idea going, I thought my dedication to that idea was going to last. No surprise that I eventually got bored of it.
The silver lining is during this time, I wasn't working any job so I had time to start working out everyday.
I was in the best shape of my life!
I decided to start making videos as I built my startup, but as soon as I got my YouTube channel upload routine going, my entire workout routine went out the window.
As soon as I started to really enjoy learning guitar, I stopped reading my books and broke my YouTube routine.
As soon as I got my first full time job - all I did anymore was work, cook, play guitar, repeat.
I stopped making videos. I stopped my personal project. I tried reading and playing video games, but I pretty much ran out of time in the day after spending time with friends/family.
I felt ashamed.
I'd never achieve success, I can't even maintain all 8 of my hobbies, I thought to myself.
In the beginning I asked how you are doing. Think about that again.
Do you relate to me at all?
In my experience, lots of people struggle with trying to do too much.
If there is anything I can advise for people who have tons of hobbies/jobs they want to pursue, is to be realistic about the amount of time you have in a day, week, etc. to pursue these hobbies/jobs.
Now include all the time you need to get a good sleep, eat well, and do the things that you need to do to maintain you and your family's happiness. Don't skimp on these.
No one performs at their best when unhappy or deprived of sleep.
Now, if you find some things don't fit into your week, you need to re-think your strategy or you will burn out.
You are not a super-human.
And that is okay.
Neither am I. Or like... anyone else.
After struggling with this for so many years, I came to a epiphany that has served me well for a while, which is why I felt the need to share it with you.
There is simply, no sustainable way to do everything.
If you try to do everything, other areas of your life will suffer. It just makes sense.
Don't blame yourself.
That can only hurt you.
Accepting that you can't do everything is your secret ticket to getting ridiculously good at the smaller set of hobbies you focus on.
But what if I'm unhappy if I can't do everything?
I'm not telling you to drop your other hobbies, I'm just saying it may be time to hone in and focus on a select few, until you are comfortable/satisfied enough to explore other hobbies.
Life is full of ebbs and flows (cliché, yes) but hear me out.
Have you ever gotten bored of something?
Wouldn't it be nice if getting bored of a hobby wasn't plagued with the feelings of guilt and shame that we, like, aren't good enough...?
Maybe it is just me.
All I'm saying is, if you try to focus on a new job, while establishing a new workout routine, while learning guitar - you probably aren't going to give any of these facets of your life a fighting chance to succeed.
But that's just me.