Increase Your Productivity

Over a period of 4 years at a full-time job, I wrote a book and grew a blog from nothing to 4500 subscribers, typically writing a 2000-4000 word post every week. All my work was over a couple of evenings and Saturday mornings. For the latter part of the period, I was flex-working remotely from a different city so I had a lot more control over my schedule.
The following are the behaviors I learned and internalized. Now that my entire life is a set of side projects, these really come in handy. Without these I'd get nothing done.
Feedback: Create feedback loops involving other people. Blogging naturally contains this. At first you get hooked in a sort of superficial way to the positive feedback/comments. But later, that external loop goes internal, gets hooked up to a gyroscope inside you, and keeps you going even if the feedback is inconsistent. Harder to do with a book, but you can engineer things. In this case, I started a writing group. Not for critiquing (I didn't show my manuscript to anyone until I was done, I abandoned beta-testing after Chapter 1), but for simple writing company. The pressure of having to show up to support others on their writing projects got me into a rhythm on my own project.
Find Work-Life Chemistry, not Work-Life Blending or Balance:Most people try to find a mythical "balance." This is dumb. It means you will do both your day job and your side projects with exceptional mediocrity. Slightly smarter is looking for work-life blending: optimizing schedules, rituals and feedback (points 1-3) in ways that get you to "good" on both fronts. Even this is not enough. What you need is to turn a zero-sum or negative-sum game into a positive-sum game. To use a chemical metaphor, you don't want mechanical mixing or an endothermic reaction. You want exothermic. You want your side-project and main work to feed off each other so that people actually see your side project as an asset.
Own Your Hedging: Unless it is a hobby, a side-project is generally a hedge, and your coworkers will (correctly) suspect that you are building a life-raft and question your commitment to your main work. It's the opposite of burning bridges. I was in denial about this for a while. Then I admitted it to myself. Finally I admitted it to others. The right way to frame your hedging is to openly own it. If you are valuable enough, your side-project serves as a credible BATNA threat (best-alternative-to-a-ne
Understand Your Script: If you are doing side projects, be honest with yourself. Introspect and figure out what that says about your life script. Don't pretend to be a dedicated careerist when your side project suggests that you are looking for an opportunity to start your own startup. You're fooling nobody. Once you understand your script, enact it openly, in a best-faith way. It is important for others to understand where you're coming from. It is even more important that they understand where you're headed. You'll be surprised at how many people want to share part of your journey with you anyway, even when it is clear it isn't a marriage for life.
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