Q1. Tell us about a side project that has meant a lot to you. 

One thing I've always been passionate about, starting back in my AAU days, then while playing basketball in college, are sneakers. Like a lot of people who are sneakerheads, I started collecting releases of kicks that I had first worn when I was a little kid. This love of the sneaker industry has expanded to begin learning how to build customized sneakers just like some of the famous guys around the globe, such as The Shoe Surgeon. I don't have a background in textile, so the idea of building a sneaker from scratch is overwhelming to me, but the idea of piecing together a shoe with the right colors and textures, but the framework already set -- that's magic. 

Q2. Why is it important to have ownership of, and to pursue your own ideas?

Here's the key thing I've learned over the last decade: your mind can get used to processes in the same way as your body. What I mean is that many athletes already understand that if they do the same workout too many times, the body starts to get bored, and becomes more efficient so you're not actually testing yourself the way you once did. I feel that way about the mind. My main profession is writing, and I love writing still, but I can sometimes find that I struggle to get to that point of ultimate focus where your mind is so deep into what you're doing that time flies past. That's why finding side projects -- heck, sometimes I even call them hobbies because we should all have hobbies -- so alluring. It's this change of pace that lets me test my mind in new ways, which in turn makes me a better writer. I'm an athlete, so one more metaphor: it's like cross-training. 

Q3. What would you say to individuals trying and struggling to move their own side projects forward? 

If it's possible, financial and emotionally, I encourage people to untether their side projects from expectations. I find that if I start a side project because I love it, but then I start putting financial hopes and expectations on it, I land in the same place I exist with my "main profession" -- that is, I'm never satisfied. If it's possible for where you're at to work on the side project, free of the construct of "goals and achievement and success" then that's the best place to live, because then you're doing it for the joy of learning something new and testing yourself.

< BY >