How I Manage Multiple Interests (with ONLY 4 hours a week)

0:00 I've been juggling a full-time job with my creative side hustle for over 2 years now. And no, I'm not burnt out. Quite the opposite, actually. I feel creative and in the best shape of my life. If you feel like there's never enough time to do what matters to you, then this video will give you everything you need to make progress on your creative hobbies, your fitness, and your side hustles, even with a demanding 9 to5. I break down my current systems, the routines that work, the one that failed, and the biggest lessons that I've learned in the past two years. This is a mindful approach that shouldn't leave you overwhelmed because it's not about doing everything. It's about doing the right things. Well, okay, let's start with one lesson that quietly changed everything for me. Get used to batching your decision making. Here is an example to

0:47 show you what I mean. I started digital art a year ago, and I want to get really good at making immersive illustrations, and I know that what I need to do is to practice a lot and draw more, but with a full-time job, time is limited. So, it's the classic realization. I just don't have enough time to make progress kind of thing. And if you're watching this, I'm sure that you can relate. But it's a lie because time is not actually the problem. Speed is the problem. You don't need more time. You need to stop wasting it. And I don't mean cutting doom scrolling, although that helps. I mean stop wasting time making decisions again and again. Decision making is draining. If you manage to remove it from your workflow, then what you get in return is

1:34 speed. For example, I know that after my rough sketch here, I go into the grayscale paintings first. And only once I'm done with the value composition of the full piece, I can start to color. That's the sequence. No need of decision- making. Just following a process that I already mapped out. This way, when I sit down to draw, I don't think what now. I just do the next step. And everything you do should have a training plan, a road map, or a curriculum of some sort that tells you what to do next. A plan is what makes the decision. Practice just follows them. Once you've done something twice, systematize it. That's how you stop burning energy on process and put it back into progress. Okay, so you've done your plan. Now the next step is to act on it because having a plan doesn't

2:19 actually mean that you will act on it unless you make it very easy to start. So here is how I do that. I use a timer. Bear with me because it makes sense. Do I know how long it takes to do this next step of the process here? Well, not really, but I still set a timer and it's always the same amount of time, 20 minutes. I call it a sprint. becomes sort of a challenge like how far can I get to by the end of the sprint. But this is just a fun side effect of a timer. A timer is not only a gamification tool. It has three really gamechanging benefits that are not obvious at first. Number one, it lowers activation energy. Even with a clear plan, starting is actually hard. The timer removes the friction that you feel. So once it's ticking, you kind of

3:05 feel already in motion and you start straight away. Second, it gives you better estimation. With practice, you get better at estimating the time that you need to do stuff. And as a result, you get better at breaking work down into chunks that you can actually finish. For instance, I now know that I can expect to finish the first shading of a complex scene like this one in one sprint of 20 minutes. And number three is parking sons law. It's dodgy name, but what it says is that work expands to fill the time that you give it. So, for example, if I don't use a timer here, I will spend hours perfecting this tiny atmospheric tweaks, whereas with a timer, I will do it in the space of 20 minutes. The timer doesn't just help you start, it helps you finish faster and

3:50 focus better. So, now you've got a plan and you're using a timer. But what are you actually pointing all of this effort towards? In my experience, motivation will fade away and you will not last more than 6 months without implementing a strategy to keep fueling that motivation. And I call the strategy the treasure hunt. The concept is that without a long-term ambition, systems are just busy work. You need something big, something exciting, something that feels almost too good to be true because systems give you the map. Timers get you to move, but you still need a treasure to hunt. I have one big treasure I'm hunting for every activity that I do. Actually, I don't really call it treasure. I call it the impossible goal. But while writing this video, I thought that treasure hunt sounded cooler. But

4:37 essentially, what it is is that thing that you would really love to achieve, but you have no clue how it's only ever something that other lucky people do, so you're not even sure that it's possible for you. For example, I dreamed to do the free handstand push-up like Goku one day. And I charted a road map to get there. And I do see progress, which is super motivating, but it still feels absolutely impossible. This impossible goal is super important for motivation. But it's also very important to be aware that the adventure happens in the pursuit of it. And that's where the value comes from. But you wouldn't access any of that value if you're not pursuing a goal that excites you. Because the map without a treasure makes you feel a loss of purpose. and the treasure without the map gives you anxiety. So, they really need each other. So, make sure that you have your

5:22 own version of the impossible goal for everything that you do, including your day job, even if that impossible goal is to not needing to work at it anymore. And of course, what I share in this channel comes from my own personal experience. But that's why I'm also currently talking to other people in my audience because I don't make these videos just to document my journey. I want to help others like me actually move forward in their own journeys. So, if you're someone with a lot of interests and ideas, but you feel stuck or overwhelmed or unsure how to build something with them, I would love to talk to you. Just click on the link to my calendar in the description and in the pin comments and book a time that works for you. It's completely free, of course. It's not coaching. It's not a pitch. It's just a quick 15 minutes of me asking you questions to better understand the real challenges that people like us are facing. It helps me

6:08 focus on the lessons that I have learned that are the most relevant to you specifically. And that's how I can build a channel that is more valuable for everyone. For example, one lesson that I did not mention in this video, but that I have been asked before is how to make a daily practice feel effortless. And that's super relevant because if you're trying to juggle multiple interests at the same time, it helps you a lot to make at least one of them feel effortless to do. In this next video here, I explain how I do that step by step. I'm using drawing as an example there, but the principles are applicable to any creative activity that you're doing on a regular basis. I'll see you there.