The equilibrium of a side project

Most ambitious designers and engineers have found themselves in a situation where they thought of a fantastic side project, was extremely optimistic and motivated to start, then slowly fizzled out to never touch the design or code base again. I've done this plenty of times, and honestly, it sucks.

I realized that side projects need to be what they sound like while designing this site – side projects. Not a project that takes 8 hours each day on top of the work you already have. Not a project that is reinventing the wheel. And definitely not a project that is too hard for you to do. This seems obvious, but it's a good thing to keep in mind when considering side projects, and it requires you to be honest with yourself. And all in all, it needs to be fun and rewarding to at least some degree.

I haven't shipped many side projects, per se, but this mindset is what helped me with my site. I kept my expectations (somewhat) realistic and still had a couple of things to learn about, which made the project both rewarding and satisfying as I completed it.

If you enjoyed this, you should definitely read Brian Lovin's post on an adjacent subject about side projects.