Personal Projects: A Key to Maximizing Creativity

It's a little scary when you find an AI pic in Adobe Stock for Hump Day and the camel has a sport jacket you used to wear!

By adding a side quest to your day, you create space for curiosity, exploration, and playfulness and could discover something amazing and totally unexpected along the way.
Ali Abdall

With Matthew in 2015

by Skip Cohen

It's Hump Day!

​It's not only the middle of the week, but for many it's considered the middle of the summer as well. It's a time when business might be slow. Fortunately, it's anticipated with people on vacation and the usual lull of things being relatively quiet... except Mother Nature's wrath this year.

Many years ago, Matthew Jordan Smith joined me on the Weekend Wisdom podcast sponsored by Sprout Studio. We talked about the importance of stepping away from your core business with special projects.

Special/personal projects help you stay focused on your creativity. This is especially important when your bread-and-butter business isn't as glamorous as you had hoped. A unique project allows you to be in complete control and can be virtually anything you decide to capture. Even if you love what you're doing and it has the glamor, personal projects help you keep creativity and motivation fresh!

And you never know when a special project can become something bigger than you planned. Special projects can become exhibits, gallery shows, books, and even new businesses. For example, Matthew's book Future American President was based on an idea that was part of his life for at least three years before publication.

For me personally, the new Facebook Group and podcast, Before They Take Away My Keys, is outside my normal work. It's a personal project that's near and dear to my heart, but having nothing to do with my core business. Another example that many of you have done is a 365 project - they help fulfill a similar need: challenging creativity and consistency.

Projects involving doing something daily don't have to do with imaging. For example, there was a story on the news recently about a father and his young son who decided to play catch EVERY day for a year. They never missed a day - rain, shine, or snow...and they kept it going even when away from home. It was a relationship builder with a purpose to create something memorable.

From Google: Personal projects offer a unique space for growth, creativity and self-discover. They turn abstract dreams into tangible reality, reminding us that the most important work we do is often the work we choose for ourselves.

If you don't have a personal project in your life, it's time to start. It's the "side quest" to each day that's referenced in today's quote. 

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