Employees have operated side hustles long before the concept’s COVID era boom.  Motivations vary from income diversification and securing a sense of ownership to skill development and expressing a creative outlet.

Regardless of the endeavor or underling reasons for its pursuit, the following practices can help you find balance and success.

Keep Commitments

When “on the clock” for your employer fully dedicate yourself to providing service to that organization. This was once as easy as reserving side hustle efforts for weekends. Now, with the rise of remote work, things have become more complicated. Enhanced flexibility makes it easier to cram side hustle actions into both lunch breaks and the daily bookends once reserved for commute time.

There’s nothing wrong with maximizing your downtime but serving two masters is a tricky affair. Be mindful of your mindshare and keep your promises. That means fulfilling your workplace obligations as a top priority.

Guard Your Time

Running a side hustle can decimate your free time. To ensure you make the most of each minute, be thoughtful about your actions, say “no” to non-value activities, and schedule work in project blocks designed to produce real outcomes.

It also helps to ruthlessly judge your To Do list. To ensure you take the most productive path, run all proposed tasks through a mental funnel designed to Eliminate, Automate, or Delegate activities where possible. Anything that falls to the bottom of that decision matrix will require action. Over time, this habit will make you more productive as low-value activities fall away.  

Stay Energized

Your day-job and side hustles should be different enough that you look forward to each. They can be wildly different like a writer launching a product or something related to your profession like a CHRO providing 1-to-1 coaching.  

The chance to learn new skills and leverage existing ones in a different setting can be energizing. Just be sure to honor any agreements with / or obligations to your current employer. If uncertain a good practice is to operate in different industries. 

Strive for Balance

Some people purposefully keep their side hustles small and reap a measure of income and activity diversity. Those with their eyes on growth however will eventually have to consider making their side gig their full-time pursuit.

It’s hard to succeed in two directions. It’s even harder if you have interests beyond the working world. Time is finite. Be sure to devote some to health, rest, family, friends, faith, hobbies, and whatever else means the most to you.  

Need a career coach? Contact me via www.PlotlineLeadership.com.

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Photo by Los Muertos Crew