Oh, Rebooters – it’s been a very weird few weeks! We’re a bit later than usual with this one, because life has just Got In The Way in a big way for us both during August.
But we hope you’ll forgive us when you hear this very juicy little episode all about the magic of personal projects!
First up – a Lewie update!
Oh, Lewie. He is part of the reason for our delay (though only a part), but we just wanted to reassure you that he’s ok now – we snuck an update in before we launched into the main bit of this episode.
Onto personal projects, then
Close to your heart but also the source of a good deal of angst? Yep, that’s probably a personal creative project, we reckon!
We dived straight into fear and putting yourself out there and how that really comes to the fore with projects which aren’t for someone else or to a brief – eeeek. It doesn’t have to be art, necessarily – but it will be something that is just for you to express yourself, without anyone else calling the shots.
To be clear, when we say “art” we mean “creative pursuits of all kinds” which could be writing, cooking, creating a community group, loads of stuff – but anything that isn’t for a client, really.
What we talk about
How personal projects differ from hobbies and pastimes, and whether we need a drinking game for the number of times we’re going to feature the word “personal” in this episode – both spoken and in the show notes!
Fluffy bumblebee bums and YOU CAN STROKE A BUMBLEBEE. Never say we don’t bring you variety and truth in our podcast!
Whether adding the word “project” defines your personal project rather than just experimenting with your creative thing and seeing what happens.
Different approaches – what one person defines as a personal project, someone else might define as a hobby and that’s totally ok – it’s your own definition that matters.
The ADHD angle of always having so many things on the go and sometimes struggling to define what fits into which category.
Our own current projects we’re pursuing – there’s a massive range between us and it’s actually really exciting to hear them all listed! (we won’t list them here but listen in to hear a crazy amount of stuff we’re both doing around our work!)
Does a personal project have to have an ultimate goal, or a defined end point, even if you don’t ever make it there? (big questions – we’re not sure we expected this episode to be so deep so fast!)
Projects which are quick and easy and projects which go one for a long time or are by their very nature ongoing – they all count 🙂
Does it matter whether you document your project or whether the project itself is the document of the journey?
And can learning and experimenting be part of your personal project as well as part of your creative practice and pursuit more widely?
Is having a purpose the thing that separates a project from a thing you just do for joy?
How do you make time for your project(s) if it’s not something that can be completed in one go? Do you plan in time for it or wait for inspiration to strike?
You can have an open ended project – you don’t have to finish it just because it is a project. And you might be thinking of the purpose of a project as part of a legacy – but as long as it serves its purpose of making you happy, fulfilling your need to create, while you’re alive, then it’s served its purpose already. (I think we may make this point in a less garbled manner in the actual podcast.)
We have sort of concluded that if you buy a notebook for it, or start a new notebook/sketchbook, that might be the definition of a project 😂
There’s definitely a fluidity between hobbies and projects and back again – one can become the other and vice versa.
And it was a more ferocious debate (and we are more different in our thoughts on it) than we expected when we picked this out of our list of things to discuss this season!
But in all seriousness, it’s probably more about getting out of your own way and just starting the project that calls to you. Doing the thing you want to do because it feels right. And showing yourself, and/or others, through your personal projects, what you’re capable of – because you don’t always get the chance to stretch your creative muscles fully when working to a brief and creating what the client needs and expects.
As always…
We’d love to hear your thoughts, but more so this episode as we’re the most confused we’ve ever been at the end of an episode about a topic we chose… smooth, huh?!