How to find time for side projects

Throwing a stable job or business for the sake of a start-up startup idea is still a risk. But to combine one with the other is real and not so painful.

We have translated the article about this in Alconost with special love. After all, Alconost itself was once a parallel project of its creator-programmer. And then, when the translation agency became the main thing, new side-projects started to grow out of it: Nitro's online translator, selling Alconost Video videos, and now - the online generator of fast and accessible Maki clips. Parallel projects are stressful, difficult, but feasible, especially if you follow the tips below.

I am a web entrepreneur with a lot of ideas and time constraints. And sometimes it is very annoying. I know that I can create a lot of great things, but usually I just can’t make time for it. After all, so many other important things need to be redone.
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Know yourself? I understand you very well. I have a little daughter, and I work 40-50 hours a week. And my head is full of excellent ideas that, I know, I am able to implement. Parallel projects can be promising if you put everything in place. Craigslist began as a parallel project, the same story with Basecamp. And there are a lot of such examples.

Over the years I derived a set of principles that work in my case.

1. Make it a habit

Get into one or two habits that will help develop your parallel project. Let's say you decide to devote 30 minutes to programming every day. Find the right time for yourself. For some, it is an early morning while they are still asleep, for others it is a lunch break, for some it is a late night. I tried almost everything. Some options suited me, some did not. But as soon as I found my time, I did not stop. There were days when I worked only for half an hour, on other days I continued to work for hours, but this little habit supports my work on the project.

The development of your parallel project should become a habit, like a gym or a night's sleep. Do not think about whether to work today on a parallel project: just create a habit and stick to it.

2. Simple goals

At the end of each day, I write a list of small goals for tomorrow. At the end of each week - a list of more goals for the next week. At the end of each year - a list of ambitious goals for the next year. It helps to keep your mind focused and focus on what you are going to do.

3. Save time on other things.

There are things less important than working on your parallel project:

• View the latest episodes of 10 different television series. Maybe we should confine one?
• Track Reddit, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
• Permanent Google Analytics check (my eternal problem!).
• Golf and other activities that require a lot of time.
• Work (perhaps you should work 4 days a week, if you are serious about developing your parallel project).

Maybe one of the above is more important to you than a parallel project. This is normal, and I do not intend to dispute your priorities. But do not complain about the lack of time, if you consciously choose other activities.

4. Know what's important to you.

I love to spend time with my family. Much more than programming. Therefore, my priority is to be with them. This limits my time on weekends and evenings, but leaves me free early morning (when they sleep) and late night (when they sleep). So I plan my work on a parallel project for these convenient periods for me.

Remember: you have as many hours in a day as Albert Einstein, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Edison had. You just need to properly prioritize.

5. Say no

A year ago, I began to answer "no" to all requests that do not fall into one of the following categories:
a) activities that I really like;
b) things that bring me closer to achieving my goals.

It is difficult, and sometimes I notice that I still say yes, just to please someone, but it rarely makes anyone happy. Just remember that not all your goals should be related to your business.

6. One parallel project at a time

When nothing comes out of me, this is due to the fact that I was not focused solely on one project. I try to do a lot of things at the same time. You will never be efficient enough trying to do two things at the same time.

Complete the job started. Finish the project or suspend it before taking on the next one. Think of your parallel project as a romantic relationship: you should never start a new one if the current ones are not yet discontinued.

7. No podcasts

Do you listen to podcasts while you are working on your product? Stop it. You harm your own effectiveness. Any music or even the sounds of nature will be better suited if you sit down to program or write. Podcasts are good for walking, jogging, driving or waiting in line, but not for your valuable work time.

8. What suited me personally

• Come to work an hour earlier and update your blog early in the morning.
• Waking up early on the weekend and thus getting a couple of extra hours.
• To work on a parallel project late at night several times a week.
• Focusing on big tasks when I'm in the most productive state, and on small, simple ones - on bad days.
• Every time you listen to the same music tracks. A bit boring, perhaps, but my mind switches to working condition as soon as my playlist starts playing.

Thoughts from Alconost

And there is an unclear complexity in the work on the side project: you need to grasp the moment when the project ceases to be content with the second roles and in time to decide what to do with it.

If everything happens in a timely manner, the project consistently goes through the larva stage, hatching, takes most of the founder’s time (here you have to decide how to deal with the main project, which also takes time), eventually goes into the category of main projects, lives and thrives. Be prepared for the fact that a parallel project will sooner or later become the main one and force out your current main project from your life.

If this moment is missed, or deliberately does not translate the side project into the main category (for example, if the founder is not sure of its success), then such a project slowly fades away, does not realize its full development potential and, as a rule, eventually fades away completely.

And of course, if the side project does not bring returns, we must be able to cover it in time. Here it is important to understand that the amount of time, effort and money already invested should not in any way influence the decision to stop the project. In other words, to decide whether to continue working on the project, do not look back, look forward.

What does your experience say? Share your decisions in the comments!


About the translator

The article is translated in Alconost.

Alconost is engaged in the localization of applications, games and websites in 60 languages. Language translators, linguistic testing, cloud platform with API, continuous localization, 24/7 project managers, any formats of string resources.

We also make advertising and training videos - for websites selling, image, advertising, training, teasers, expliners, trailers for Google Play and the App Store.

Read more: https://alconost.com