What I Learned From 30 Failed Side Projects

I’ve created over 30 side projects over the last 6 years — before work, after work, during class, at a friends house, whenever I could find the time. To me it always felt like art; the freedom, the creativity, the obstacles, reimagining what exists today — I’ve always loved it.

It was never easy, every side project was a steep hill of learning and failure, most would never even launch. A lot of times I found myself so consumed in what I was creating that I lost and damaged a lot of relationships along the way. I saw myself spiral and even though I had found something I genuinely loved doing, I felt stuck and extremely unhappy. I allowed it to eclipse the things and people that are most important to me — for a long time, I felt lost. Every day I woke up feeling like I failed already and in hindsight I did.

Have you ever heard this quote?

“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results.” — Albert Einstein

That was me, I was technically insane.

Not seriously insane, but I had seen myself fail over and over for the exact same reasons. The problem was me; I had to overcome a lot of my own insecurities, ego and pride to see a different perspective — to turn every mistake I made into an opportunity to learn, grow and do better. Similar to working on a side project, when it came to relationships or life I had to learn to focus on what is most important and I had to be accountable in making those things better.

Consistently failing over and over on side project after side project taught me that I could always build myself back up again, so I did.

I stopped prioritizing money over happiness and I took back my life. I found the balance in what I love doing and who I love to do it for and for the first time in a long time — I feel like myself again.

If you’re curious about what’s next, we just launched our Early Access program at https://www.clap.team. 🙂