From Someday to Today: Turning Your Passion Projects into a Reality
Passion projects are those heart-driven ventures we promise to pursue “someday.” Novels we plan to write. Paintings we dream of creating. Businesses we aspire to launch. They're parts of us we wish we had more time for, and yet they remain untouched, gathering dust in the corners of our hearts until “someday” when we have the time. My recent journey to complete a second draft writing of a manuscript I started five years ago revealed an undeniable truth: time for our passions is not found but made.
Almost as soon as I finished that first draft (five years ago), my life spun in different directions, providing me with many seemingly valid reasons why “now” wasn't the right time for me to focus on my writing. My story sat on a shelf, waiting patiently for my return. It wasn’t until about four months ago that I felt compelled to revisit that shelved story. I was on holiday leave, and on a quieter day, I opened my laptop and that first draft copy I had written all those years ago and started writing. I was surprised at how easily I fell back into the depths of storytelling and wondered why I had waited so long to return to something that brought me so much fulfillment.
I found myself spending as much time as I could writing, and as my leave ended, I grew concerned about what would happen when work started again. I wanted to keep writing - and - I also had a busy work and life schedule awaiting me. Would I slip back into the space of wondering when I’d find time - or - was there a different option? In this, I found myself with a challenge I often help my coaching clients navigate: to truly explore a passion, you must intentionally carve out space and make choices about how you spend your time.
So, I did what any coach would do… I gave myself homework and proposed the following challenge. "What if, for the next two weeks, I replaced the time usually spent on more passive activities with writing?" I considered four things as I set out on my quest:
Redefine My Relationship with Time. I looked first for discretionary time that I could possibly redirect to my writing. I discovered that if I shifted some things around, I had two hours every evening and then at least four hours on the weekend.
Create a Routine. Consistency in routine helped me establish boundaries regarding when I would focus on my writing. It also made it easier to share when I’d be in writing mode with others.
Embrace the Power of Small Steps and Small Wins. I wrote roughly one chapter during each session and felt that breaking down the enormous task of writing a book into smaller, manageable tasks that gave me a sense of accomplishment along the way.
Set Realistic Goals and Deadlines. I gave myself permission to take as much time as I needed to finish and reminded myself that part of my passion was to be fully involved in the experience of creating something. The destination was less important than the time it took to get there.
Learning how to pick up and put down my work was the trickiest part. I revisited the boundaries and made some tweaks until I found a framework that worked for me. I can see progress and moved away from the elusive notion of time (or seemingly lack thereof) as the reason for waiting. I leaned into the need for discipline so that I wouldn't sacrifice other things in my life that were also important to me.
How’s it going? Well, time will tell… Over the course of the next few weeks, I'll bring you along on my journey and dive deeper into these and other insights to help you create the space for your passions - and turn your “someday” into “today.”
