8 Tips to Make Time for Your Creative Hobbies Outside of Work

Creative projects can be incredibly rewarding and relaxing, but how do you fit them into your routine? These expert tips will help you get motivated and organized…

Whether you work in the creative industry or not, finding artistic hobbies or side projects can have many benefits. From inducing a flow state, to filling your brain with feel-good hormones, making the most of your free time with creative pursuits has been shown to support mental health and wellbeing.

As you return to work or studies after vacation, now’s the time to find a balance so that you maintain your projects alongside work and life’s demands. That’s why we’ve assembled eight tips and words of encouragement from creativity and time management experts.

Find great ideas, manage your energy levels, and hack your brain so that you can achieve your personal creative goals while carving out quality time.

1. Remember what creativity actually means

Creativity is a word with “an aura of mysticism”, according to business consultant Mònica Rodríguez Limia (@rodriguezmon), and many of us feel intimidated by it due to creative block. Blockers like overthinking and insecurity stem from forgetting what creativity is.

Many of us believe we’re not creative, or good enough to make something worthwhile. But the truth is (drumroll, please!), that “creativity is a condition of the human being”. It is not just for professional artists, and it’s not about originality either, but practice and progress. The first step is to accept this reality and reject the fear that your first attempts will be bad. If you start with a negative mindset, you’ll find it hard to get motivated to make time for your hobby. And speaking of mindset…

2. Train your brain to make creative habits stick

Before you formulate a grand plan for the creative projects you’ll complete, learn how to achieve your goals by changing your mindset. The thoughts you have about a hobby or project matter, because thoughts are how we experience the world. Ask yourself: are your thoughts aligned with your desired results?

Are you doing this hobby because you think you should, or because you want to? What beliefs do you have about your creativity? Do you believe it will be hard to keep up?

Artist, designer, and life coach Jessica Dance (@jessica_dance) encourages us to challenge our negative beliefs by consciously thinking new, motivating thoughts. Write them down or say them aloud, to train your brain to get excited and feel motivated.

3. Achieve your creative goals by “knowing your why”

Any project involves obstacles, accidents, and even boredom some days. To work through this, Jessica also advises that you stay in touch with your why. Why will this activity improve your life? Why are you learning something new, or reconnecting with an old passion?

Your reason could be to exercise your mind, do a creative activity with a friend or family member, or to relieve stress. Keep it conscious in your mind, for those days when you feel like giving up.

4. Make it easy: find inspiration in daily life

Ji Lee (@jilee) is an artist and designer alongside a career at Facebook and Instagram, who has always focused on personal projects to gain exposure and fulfillment. One of his tips is to explore your local area and discover mundane subjects that could become projects. Try this on a lunch break, before or after work, or on your days off.

Ji encourages us to “search, wonder, and be curious”. This approach is accessible and easy to fit into a busy schedule, and involves minimal tools, like a sketchbook or tablet. By starting small and local, you’ll practice your creativity regularly, and acclimate to a new routine.

5. Make it personal, and distinct from your work

Everyone has different experiences, so why not draw on yours to give your hobby or project personal meaning? If a project becomes sentimental, you are more likely to continue it as well as get more satisfaction. Ji has also found this point to be helpful, having created projects inspired by his family and childhood.

Try to find subjects unrelated to your profession, but that you are passionate about. You’ll end up telling a powerful story through your project, because you really care.

6. Reconnect with activities you loved as a child

Ji’s final advice is to separate work from play by reconnecting with your childhood self in your hobbies. Rediscover things you have become used to as an adult, through fresh eyes (Ji gives the example of the alphabet: how can you reinvent the letters with drawing or typography?).

As a bonus, you might also be able to do this with your own child or a friend, to create new opportunities for quality time.

7. Find the perfect time of day to do your hobby using your energy levels

Hanoi Morillo (@hanoimorillo) is an investor, speaker, and author specializing in productivity and energy management, who also appeared on Shark Tank Colombia. She explains that managing your energy, rather than your time, is the key to efficiency. If you’re struggling to make time for your hobby or project, her tip could be life-changing.

Hanoi notes that only you understand how long you focus, and when you have energy during the day. So consider your chosen hobby: does it give you more energy, or drain you? In the first case, try doing the activity earlier in the day, and in the second case, later in the day would be better. Use your energy to guide your schedule, so you never feel “too tired” to enjoy your hobby.

8. Find great tools to support your work/life balance

Finally, to help with motivation and energy management, you’ll need a centralized space to lay out your plans and minimize distractions. Fede Sánchez, digital product designer and Notion consultant at Elastic Heads (@elasticheads), wants you to leave behind the distractions and balance your personal and professional life.

That’s why he advises creating your own custom productivity system, recommending Notion in particular. With endless templates from happiness journaling to engineering roadmaps, you can bring any project to life and track your progress quickly and visually.

More resources to maximize your creativity and benefit your life

1. Explore Domestika’s management and productivity courses, where you can learn to balance your life with flexible and accessible lessons taught by experts.

2. Need more motivation? Try these nine self-help books that focus on nurturing creativity and mental health.

3. Ready to find your calling? Learn what the Japanese concept of ikigai is, and how it can build a creative career and life.