Surround yourself with people who love side projects

Phil Rosen

Good morning, Tip Jar team. It’s good to see you here. Today is about work, and the people who can make it better.

And I’m not talking about your day job, but the projects you pursue beyond that.

A blog, YouTube channel, Etsy shop, art…

These pursuits play a dramatic role in nurturing passions and upgrading skills.

But when we make fail to make progress on our own, finding “builders” to spend time with can be key.

This could be the most important five minutes of your week.

And, by the way, don’t forget to check out my #1 bestselling book, Life Between Moments, on Amazon.

Let’s get started.

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Here’s a good quality to aspire toward.

Be the person who has to adjust their goals because of a constantly-improving set of skills.

Everyday, we add one tiny piece to our identity. The person you are today is also the person you must try to shed for something better — smarter, wiser, more experienced.

But putting yourself on an upward trajectory requires finding the right type of people to help you get somewhere beyond what you can reach.

When you can’t muster the motivation to get your own passions off the ground, you can turn to others for catalyst.

Find builders — people who are always working on something, those ambitious individuals who never idle.

Builders constantly have a side project, and are creating something even when no one’s telling them to.

Indeed, the people around you influence your willingness to build, launch a hustle, or upgrade your skills.

It’s no coincidence that the best, most inspirational individuals I know are those who are always working on something outside of their jobs.

Passion is infectious. It’s leading by example.

If the dedication is there, a project can take off and pull others up with it.

Passionless, lost, and unhappy isn’t where you start. It’s a place you end up if you don’t have something to build and no one to nudge you forward.

Each day, you must take on the decision to build – and find builders to accompany your journey.

Failure doesn’t happen overnight.

It happens gradually, inch by inch.

But the same is true of success. Any single achievement is less about the milestone and more about the incremental, inch-by-inch building that it took to get there.

Are you working on more projects outside of work than you were one year ago?

Three years ago?

Ultimately, your life has very little to do with who you are today.

It’s about whether you’re building — and whether your friends are building.

The hope must be that by this time next year, you can look back and think to yourself: “All that building really did add up.”

Look in the mirror not to think about who you are, but what you could become — should you be willing enough to build.

— Phil

Tip Jar Recs

A hobby becomes a paycheck: Caitlin Giddings loved riding her bike, but things quickly changed when she started to do it as a job (Outside).
Pandemic catch-up: You can’t make up for lost time, but these parents are trying. (The Wall Street Journal)
Something different: An essay about an editor, the thralls of booze, and the enemy of a family. (The New Yorker)