Feeling stuck in a creative slump again

Hey reader,

Have you ever had strategy and planning sessions for your passion projects? Lately, I've been stuck in a creative rut, and I think it's because I've been trying to juggle too many passion projects at once without making progress on any of them. But this morning, I decided it was time to take action and make a change.

In my job, we do a lot of planning for each half of the year. These planning sessions are incredibly helpful in setting milestones and clear objectives. They usually take about a month to ensure thorough planning and success for our team.

All the good stuff. So this morning I asked myself — why not apply the same approach to my passion projects? To get started, I need to reassess my priorities and determine which passion projects align most with my long-term goals. Instead of spreading myself too thin, I'll focus my energy on those projects that truly matter to me.

To start off, I made a list of all the pros and cons for each side project (or passion project, or side hustle or whatever you wanna call it). This helped me identify the gaps between them. At first, I didn't see a clear answer about what was working well or not. But at a closer look you may notice that some projects had more pros than others.

Over the past few months, I've been testing my Webflow skills by taking on some small client projects. I didn't share my progress publicly because I wanted to figure out if pursuing this path was really right for me. That was a good move because I've now come to the realisation that, for now, it's not something I want to fully commit to. I still enjoy product design, but taking the leap into becoming a self-employed web developer isn't quite what I'm ready for at this moment. Maybe in the future? Who knows!

Instead of beating myself up over the time I've invested in learning Webflow, I'm choosing to be proud of myself for embracing this opportunity and acknowledging that it's not the right fit for me right now. It's all part of the journey, and I believe that recognising what doesn't align with our goals is just as important as finding what does.

Not gonna lie, with a baby on the way in November, time is becoming even more precious. So, I had to do some serious thinking. In my second evaluation, I looked at the impact and ease of implementation for each project and guess what? Newsletter and mentoring are the clear winners in terms of quick wins and bringing me joy. Now, YouTube is a different story. It demands a lot more time and effort. But hey, the good news is I already have an audience and I'm getting quicker at editing videos.

For a while, I've been considering starting a community for Italian designers using Circle. I've had this idea of creating content in Italian for a while now, mainly because there's a lack of resources available in the language. Having a cozy and supportive space where we can share ideas and uplift each other sounds incredibly rewarding.

After going through this little exercise, I'm feeling reenergised and excited to dive back into my passion projects. I can't wait to share more updates in the upcoming newsletter. By the way, have you ever done a similar exercise for your hobbies or passion projects? I'd love to hear about your experience!

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I'm Sara, a designer and content creator, on a mission to help fellow designers like you level up their design skills and increase their worth. Want to connect? Simply reply to this email. 💌