Is My Hobby Destined to Fail Because It's Too Closely Related to My Work?

00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)

00:00:02.580 | All right, let's move on here.

00:00:06.700 | What do we got for our next question?

00:00:08.860 | - Hi, this is kind of random,

00:00:10.760 | but we actually have another question from Grant

00:00:12.600 | who also just moved to DC,

00:00:14.860 | but he has a question about specifically

00:00:18.020 | establishing KPIs for his career goals.

00:00:20.720 | - This is a tech guy, isn't it?

00:00:22.520 | - He works with Google ads.

00:00:23.720 | - Yeah, I know the tech guys when I hear them.

00:00:27.360 | - We'll take a listen.

00:00:28.820 | - Hi, Cal, my name is Grant.

00:00:30.940 | I work as a embedded software engineer.

00:00:34.660 | I'm also very interested in DIY electronics

00:00:37.220 | in the maker community.

00:00:39.140 | In college, it was easy for me to sit down

00:00:41.380 | and work on personal projects that involved coding,

00:00:44.220 | simple PCB and circuit design, et cetera.

00:00:47.020 | Now, even though I do have mental energy

00:00:49.900 | when I end my workday,

00:00:51.380 | I find it difficult to sit down and do more coding.

00:00:55.820 | You briefly mentioned coding as a hobby

00:00:58.620 | in your book "Digital Minimalism",

00:01:00.980 | but you then go on to describe

00:01:02.820 | more traditional offline hobbies

00:01:04.940 | to get your mind off of social media and the internet.

00:01:07.980 | I've tried some of these things first thing in the morning,

00:01:12.900 | but I find it to be a little bit unsustainable,

00:01:15.220 | and more than that, this is supposed to be a hobby

00:01:17.540 | to take my mind off of things after work

00:01:20.500 | so that I don't end up just binging Netflix.

00:01:23.380 | Is this hobby destined to fall out of my life

00:01:26.100 | just because I happen to also do something similar full time

00:01:29.940 | or is there a way I can find a happy medium

00:01:31.980 | for both personal and professional coding?

00:01:35.820 | Thanks.

00:01:36.660 | - Well, Grant, that's a good question.

00:01:40.300 | It hits home.

00:01:41.700 | That's actually a specifically a hobby

00:01:45.300 | I'm interested in as well.

00:01:47.460 | I would like to do more DIY electronics

00:01:50.940 | projects and I've actually had a hard time

00:01:53.100 | just like you getting this up and running.

00:01:55.300 | The time just isn't there right now.

00:01:58.220 | I'm finding I don't quite have the time.

00:02:00.740 | I'm not getting the right momentum going.

00:02:03.180 | I've had computer programming hobbies before.

00:02:05.580 | So a couple of years ago,

00:02:07.700 | I used to build computer games for my older boys

00:02:10.780 | and I kind of got in a groove on that,

00:02:13.260 | computer game programming,

00:02:14.340 | even though I was working on computers all day.

00:02:16.460 | So I've had a hard time getting this up and running.

00:02:19.340 | I was working on computers all day.

00:02:20.980 | So I feel you.

00:02:21.900 | Because I'm struggling to get the exact same hobby going

00:02:25.260 | and not haven't been that successful at it.

00:02:27.900 | I have four things to suggest that might make this helpful.

00:02:32.340 | Underscoring everything I'm gonna say here, however,

00:02:36.500 | is don't sweat it.

00:02:38.300 | Like ultimately hobbies are hobbies, right?

00:02:41.100 | Like it's not the end of the world

00:02:43.220 | that you have this working tomorrow

00:02:46.740 | that you have your own channel on tested.com by next week.

00:02:51.100 | It's a hobby, nothing bad is gonna happen.

00:02:53.660 | If in the end it's you're busy or you're exhausted

00:02:55.980 | or it's not quite clicking and nothing happens, you're fine.

00:02:58.940 | There's no bonus points for having hobbies.

00:03:03.140 | It's just, you wanna do things that are interesting.

00:03:05.780 | You wanna live deep.

00:03:07.060 | You wanna avoid the shallow distractions.

00:03:08.540 | Okay, so let's not sweat.

00:03:09.820 | Like we have to get this hobby up and going right away.

00:03:11.700 | But here's four things that would help.

00:03:13.580 | One is project choice.

00:03:14.780 | I think that really matters.

00:03:15.980 | For me, when I struggle with a new hobby,

00:03:19.300 | it's I don't have the right project that has gripped me.

00:03:22.780 | And so nothing happens, nothing happens, nothing happens.

00:03:24.820 | And the right project grips me

00:03:26.380 | and I find myself fighting to make time to work on it.

00:03:29.420 | I definitely had this experience

00:03:30.900 | with the computer game programming projects

00:03:33.060 | I would be doing.

00:03:33.900 | It had to be the right level of difficulty.

00:03:36.900 | If it was too hard, nothing would happen.

00:03:39.540 | If it was too easy, I'd be bored.

00:03:40.860 | But if it was the right level of difficulty,

00:03:42.980 | I'd have to force myself to get started.

00:03:45.620 | But then I would begin to make some progress.

00:03:48.940 | And then I would find myself putting aside time

00:03:52.180 | just to work on it.

00:03:53.060 | Like looking forward to like,

00:03:54.500 | okay, you're putting the kids to bed tonight,

00:03:56.100 | then I'm gonna go work on the program.

00:03:57.500 | So it was all about having the right product,

00:03:59.460 | the right project.

00:04:00.500 | Like the last game I did, for example,

00:04:02.540 | was I wanted to do a ray casting 3D engine.

00:04:07.420 | I was using Python and using the PyGames library

00:04:10.140 | for some simple low performance graphics, right?

00:04:13.020 | And I wanted to make a game where my boys could

00:04:16.300 | in 2D create a maze.

00:04:19.340 | And then you could jump into that maze in 3D

00:04:21.500 | and actually try to navigate it.

00:04:23.060 | So I had to build a 3D engine

00:04:24.740 | so you could actually build the maze.

00:04:26.020 | I was like, let me just do a Wolfenstein 3D style

00:04:29.300 | ray casting engine, where you literally are

00:04:32.260 | casting rays from the virtual camera location

00:04:36.060 | and seeing where it hits walls

00:04:38.500 | and how far away that wall is.

00:04:39.700 | So we can figure out how high to draw

00:04:42.620 | that particular piece of the wall.

00:04:43.900 | There's a lot of geometry, basically.

00:04:45.620 | Slow, slow, slow until I got that first screen

00:04:48.500 | of something is drawing that kind of looks 3D.

00:04:51.940 | And then I couldn't not work on it.

00:04:54.220 | So project selection, don't underestimate that.

00:04:57.660 | That's my issue right now with Maker electronics.

00:04:59.780 | I don't have the right project with the right equipment

00:05:01.980 | where like I know how to do it

00:05:03.540 | and I can see progress right away.

00:05:04.780 | I just don't have the right project yet,

00:05:06.140 | but I think it's gonna roll quick when I do.

00:05:08.420 | Two, community.

00:05:10.580 | Get connected if possible to a community

00:05:12.940 | of people who are working on this, that changes a lot.

00:05:16.220 | There are, I'm sure there's robust Maker communities

00:05:20.100 | in the Washington DC area.

00:05:21.620 | You get involved with some other people

00:05:23.180 | that have some equipment, you make it social as well.

00:05:26.500 | That makes all the difference in the world.

00:05:28.860 | Start one up and I'll come to it, okay?

00:05:31.260 | How about that?

00:05:32.580 | You get it going and I will come to it

00:05:34.300 | and we'll build some DIY electronics.

00:05:38.100 | Work less would be my third recommendation.

00:05:41.700 | So yeah, do less work at work.

00:05:44.540 | Give yourself some more surplus energy.

00:05:47.100 | I know that's a bold thing to say in the abstract,

00:05:49.580 | but here on this podcast, we know how to get that done.

00:05:52.220 | I mean, we know how to actually apply time management

00:05:55.900 | theories that actually are incredibly effective.

00:05:59.020 | Go back, go to the YouTube channel,

00:06:01.020 | watch the core ideas video from the core ideas playlist

00:06:04.580 | on time management.

00:06:06.020 | And I will walk you through the principles

00:06:08.900 | of how I organize my time.

00:06:09.980 | If you're doing those types of things,

00:06:11.980 | you can claw back a bunch of time.

00:06:13.580 | And still, as far as your bosses are concerned,

00:06:15.220 | be an incredibly productive person that they can count on.

00:06:18.220 | Don't be worried about doing that.

00:06:19.700 | Don't be ashamed about doing that.

00:06:21.020 | If you get more productive, that is your benefit.

00:06:24.980 | You know, if right now you're producing work

00:06:27.780 | that everyone's happy with, and you find a way to do that

00:06:29.900 | in two less hours a day, that is not a problem.

00:06:33.900 | That is a benefit you should cash in on.

00:06:35.660 | So consider working less.

00:06:37.260 | Take some products off your plate

00:06:38.380 | and get much more organized about the work you have.

00:06:40.140 | Free up more energy, more time,

00:06:42.100 | so that you have that energy and time

00:06:44.940 | to actually work on the project.

00:06:45.860 | And finally, do the physical first.

00:06:48.300 | The number one hobby you need to do,

00:06:51.300 | and by hobby, I mean activity outside of work,

00:06:53.140 | is make sure you have a lot of physical activity.

00:06:55.620 | You're outside, you're moving, you're exercising,

00:06:57.700 | you're training for something,

00:06:58.620 | just like I was talking about earlier in the show

00:07:00.300 | that I'm doing in my own life right now for "The Last Caller".

00:07:02.780 | Do that too, because that's a separation

00:07:06.340 | between your work and your non-work life,

00:07:07.900 | and it's gonna get your energy back up much higher

00:07:10.540 | than if you're just coming home from work

00:07:11.820 | and sitting on the couch and saying,

00:07:12.940 | "I guess I should bring out another screen."

00:07:15.220 | All right, so those would be the four things

00:07:16.780 | I would suggest, but all of this is built

00:07:18.420 | on the underlying foundation of don't over-sweat this.

00:07:22.420 | If you're really busy right now,

00:07:23.500 | if you're really tired right now,

00:07:24.540 | if you're really mentally struggling with whatever,

00:07:27.260 | pandemic, et cetera, it's okay.

00:07:29.700 | It's okay, we'll take our time.

00:07:31.660 | I'm taking my time, you're taking your time.

00:07:33.700 | We'll give ourselves a few months,

00:07:34.900 | but then I wanna be in a really cool maker lab

00:07:36.700 | that you ran building cool electronics.

00:07:38.940 | (upbeat music)

00:07:41.520 | [Music]

Is My Hobby Destined to Fail Because It's Too Closely Related to My Work?

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