đ Welcome! I'm Mike, and this newsletter is for people building creative projects alongside or instead of the 9-5. Each week I share honest insights about the messy reality of pursuing meaningful work while paying the bills. I manage engineering teams by day and spend my early mornings hosting a podcast and writing this newsletter. I also offer a limited number of coaching slots for people at creative crossroads.
Recently, a talented engineer on my team was frustrated. They wanted to take on more high-impact projects at work - the kind that get you noticed for promotions - but couldn't find time beyond their regular responsibilities. "I'm already swamped with my day-to-day work," they said, "I just can't find the time."
I gave them my usual response: "You can't find time, you can only make time."
They rolled their eyes. I get that reaction a lot. I know, I deserve it.
But I do believe it.
Whether you're trying to get ahead at work or start a creative side project, the challenge is identical. If you're ambitious (which you probably are), there will always be more you could do. More projects, more ideas, more opportunities.
Rather than hoping you will somehow find time for all of them, I think thereâs a better way.
Think in levers
Imagine your life as a complex control room filled with levers. Each lever controls something different - your work schedule, your social commitments, your living situation, your financial choices, your creative projects. You're standing in the middle of this room every day, deciding which levers to pull, which to hold steady, and which to push in the opposite direction.
You have a limited amount of energy at any given time in your life, which is why adding more and more levers that you have to push and pull every day is usually a losing battle.
What might help instead is figuring out the right configuration of the levers you already have.
Some levers will give you time but cost money (going down to four-day work weeks). Others give you energy but cost social time (saying no to evening plans). Still others might free up mental space but require difficult conversations (setting boundaries with family or colleagues).
Every lever has a trade-off. The key is being intentional about which levers you're willing to move and which you want to keep locked in place.
Ask yourself: "What am I optimizing for?"
Are you optimizing for security? Money? Your boss's happiness? To look good? Adventure? Freedom? To stop your anxiety? Your family's needs? Creative fulfilment? Your answer will lead to completely different lever configurations.
Which levers should you pull?
The good news is there are plenty of ways to find the right configuration for you. I'm making this a pick-and-choose list because there's no one-size-fits-all solution. Try something, reflect, experiment, and adjust:
Do a light time and energy audit for one week - Don't track every minute, just note where your time and energy actually go. It will also help you understand that time and energy arenât the same thing. As I wrote in Energy Multipliers & Digging for Gold, some activities drain you while others multiply your energy. This will help you see which levers you're currently pulling, when youâre trying to pull them, and whether that serves what you say you want.
Accept the uncomfortable truth: you are what you do - If you did an audit, check for themes. If not, check your calendar/todo lists for the past week. Look at what youâre actually choosing to make time for. If you dream of being a writer but never write, maybe you like the idea more than the work. That's fine. It's good data to have about yourself.
Block creative time like you mean it - Put it in your calendar at the same time each week and then respect that time. Pre-commitment removes decision fatigue and makes it easier to say no to random requests. Yes, you can say no to social events on Tuesdays because those are your writing nights.
Start stupidly small - Want to write? Commit to one sentence a day. Want to podcast? Record two minutes about anything. Want to exercise? The goal is put on your running clothes. Make your goal so small it feels silly not to do it. Youâll do more once you start anyway.
Undercommit - When starting something new, resist the urge to go all-in immediately. Want to start coaching on the side? Donât open a Calendly with every single evening free (yes, I made this mistake). Pick a day where you know youâll have the most energy and restrict it to a few hours (for me, Monday evenings). The lever doesnât have to go straight from off to overdrive.
Work with your natural system - Some get up at 6am and squeeze in an hour of creative work because their body naturally wakes them then. Others like Michael Box write scripts in parking lots while waiting for school pickup. You do what works for your constraints and patterns. Keep experimenting.
Ship when good enough beats perfect - If you want to create, your first attempts will probably suck. Create anyway. Get going, get good, get smart - in that order. Pick a date and ship it on that date, perfect or not.
Don't neglect the big levers - Sometimes the answer isn't optimizing around the edges. Maybe you need to negotiate remote work, push for a four-day week, or have that conversation about boundaries. Vinamrata saved money and took a full sabbatical to invest in herself. These big moves feel scary because they are, but there's usually more options than you think.
Consider strategic intensity - Sometimes you have to pull really hard on one lever and âlock inâ.
committed to six months of going all-in on his product, essentially working every day. This isn't sustainable forever, but sometimes you need a focused sprint. The key is making it time-bounded and guilt-free - you're not grinding forever, you're choosing to pour your energy into something specific for a defined period.The brutal prioritization method - This is inspired by Warren Buffett's "25-5 rule" where you list your top 25 goals, circle the top 5, then avoid the other 20 at all costs. I take it further: cross out all but one. For me, when I wanted to restart my creative work, it had to be just the podcast. Not the podcast AND the newsletter AND photography projects. Just the podcast. After a few months of consistency, I added the newsletter back. But I couldn't have restarted with both. I knew I'd try to spin 10 plates and drop them all rather than focus on one. One thing done is infinitely better than ten things started.
Run tiny experiments - "I will [specific action] for [specific timeframe]." Like "I will write for 10 minutes every morning for two weeks." Then observe: Was it easy or hard? Did you enjoy it? What did you learn about yourself? It's data collection, not a life commitment.
Practise saying no - A common theme with all of these techniques is being okay saying no. To yourself and to others. You only have so many levers. Youâre going to have to set some to the âoffâ position, and thatâs okay. But not being able to do this is a really good way to burn out fast.
The colleague who couldn't find time for high-impact work projects? They've started blocking focus time and delegating non-essential projects. Turns out the principles are the same whether you're gunning for a promotion or trying to launch a newsletter.
You won't find time for your creative work, but you can absolutely make it.
On the Pod
Last week: I had Dr. Michael Gerharz on to talk about communication and his PATH framework for strategic messaging. If you've ever struggled with making your ideas stick or getting buy-in from folks around you, you may like it.
Next week: Dr. Rod Berger joins me to talk about saying yes to opportunities, being Forest-Gump-like, and living a life that tells a good story. Rod has interviewed over 4,000 people and has a mindset of following his natural excitement and energy rather than rigid planning - an approach that's led him everywhere from refugee camps to meeting the Pope. Episode drops August 6th. Follow on Spotify or Apple not to miss it.
Worth Your Time
đ¸ Money versus Freedom - A great post from
on the realities of his journey escaping âgolden handcuffsâ. I love the nudge towards skill-building and how everything comes back to communication.đ¨ How to make money as a creative by
- Hard-won, real-world advice from 1,000+ creatives on how to actually make money with your art.đ¤ Iâm Losing All Trust in the AI Industry -
reveals why even top insiders in the AI industry might not believe their own hype, and what that means for the rest of us.đď¸ If youâre thinking of starting a newsletter, especially here on Substack, What I'd Do If I Had to Start on Substack From Scratch from
is fantastic.đŚ I Saved a PNG Image To A Bird might be the best YouTube video title I have read this year.