Making time for your passion project

In my last post I posed the question – “Can you take your passion and turn it into profit maker?” I think it is possible, especially if you know how to get over a few hurdles that most entrepreneurs face in one way or another. The first is making the time to do the thing you love.

As we get older, our responsibilities tend to increase – a job, a mortgage, kids, a dog. The more responsibilities you have the harder it may be to set aside the time to convert our hobby into something more.

Don’t lose heart! It can be done!

For starters, it’s helpful to take a good hard look at how you are actually spending your time.

No time to even do your laundry, you say?

What if you limited – or quit – your social media habit? What if you politely told your chatty friend at daycare drop-off or yoga class that you have something important to do? What if you got up just one half-hour earlier? Or quit watching television? (The average American watches over 5 hours of TV a day!)

Try keeping track of how you spend your time for one week and then see where you can improve. I did it for an entire year and found it hugely helpful. Once you figure out what you’re spending time on versus what you actually want to spend your time on, you might want to try one of our Best Day Ever schedulers to make it even easier to track your time fully to make sure your goals are aligned with your daily actions.

Ad agencies have a concept called billable time. That’s the actual productive time you are working on a specific project. Evaluate your “billable” time – time working at your 9-to-5 or actively involved in parenting or housekeeping. (Remember, you could be paying someone to keep track of your toddler and scrub your bathroom.)

With this assessment of your time in mind, how could you shift or increase your billable hours to include your passion project?

Tackle your project 3x3
Once you’ve cleared time in your schedule, one fantastic method to take a bite-sized chunk out of your to-do list is called the 3x3 Project. Developed by professional intuitive counselor, author and podcaster Slade Roberson, his recipe is simple: 

• Perform 3 actions each week that move you closer to your goal.

• Do it for 3 months.

• Set down the framework for each month and then focus on the weekly actions. Think big but act small.

Life coach Diana Frajman tried the 3x3 Project for herself with the hopes of increasing readership on her blog, www.croneconfidence.com, and the results went far beyond what she expected:

“The idea of doing three things every week for three months puts a focus on the goal. Even seemingly random activities compound towards the greater goal. It’s in the act of doing something that creates forward momentum,” Diana says.

“There were several pleasant side effects created from this project. My readership continues to grow like a ripple on the water with little extra effort. My confidence got a big boost because I proved to myself that with a little focus and effort wonderful things can happen, which also lessened my fear of failure – something that a lot of folks who want to take a hobby and make it legit suffer from.

“But most of all, I learned that if you just focus your efforts on a goal and make regular, consistent action towards it, synchronistic events appear out of thin air to guide even quicker to your destination. So a good rule here is to plan but also be willing to go with the flow should an opportunity present itself.”

So grab your day planner or your favorite scheduling app and block out time three days a week for the next three months to see just how much you can accomplish! Even devoting 3 half-hour chunks of time – if that’s all you feel you can spare – will give you the time and space to start focusing on your dream.

Next week, we’ll look at some other common blocks to accomplishing your dream, and some simple solutions to bust the blocks.

Photo by Icons8 team on Unsplash