What Is a Passion Project?
Passion projects light up your day-to-day life. They’re a bit more serious than a hobby, but they’re not as intense as a side hustle. What is a passion project, you ask? Well, I’m here to break down exactly what they are, why you should start one, and most importantly, which one you should start.
What is a passion project?
Passion projects are personal projects that you put a lot of time, energy and, well, passion into. What a passion project looks like can differ from person to person. Some may prefer writing music or painting whereas others may want to get into cooking or gardening. And some even combine many passions together to create one singular project, like combining one’s love of cooking and writing and making a food blog.
What’s the difference between a passion project and a side hustle?
The main difference between a passion project and a side hustle is money. Passion projects are solely driven by passion, whereas side hustles are driven by passion as well, but they also help you financially. Side hustles can stem from passion projects, and in my opinion, that’s the best way to start a side hustle.
Why should I start my own passion project?
There are so many wonderful reasons why you should get your own passion project started. They can be as much effort (or as little) as you like. There’s no expectation to them other than to make you happy and creatively fulfilled. Here are just a few reasons why you should start your own:
They’re a great way to decompress and destress.
You can learn something new.
It’ll help stimulate your creativity or spark inspiration in other areas of your life.
They could help inspire a new career path!
And what should my passion project be?
Unfortunately, I don’t have a crystal ball and can’t decide your passion project for you (even though I wish I could—how badass would that be?!). To help you find out what yours should be, write down a few of your favorite activities. Really anything that brings you joy. Reflect on your list and identify which items you should pour more energy into and/or how you can combine a few of your interests to make one singular project. For example, I chatted with one of my best friends on my podcast about how she combined her love of Halloween with her love of FX makeup, art and photography to create a month-long Instagram series that she posts every October. (Listen to that episode on Spotify or Apple podcasts!)
If you’re still stumped on finding your own, here are a few ideas to get the creative juices flowing:
Painting
Playing the guitar
Roller skating
Baking
Photography
Crocheting
Book club
Writing poetry
Candle making
Bullet journaling
