The 5 Stages of a Personal Project
And two new podcast episodes
Personal projects are magical. They are often a low-cost, and powerful way for you to make an impact, build a portfolio of work, and help you find your people.
My personal project, my podcast, has changed my life. It didn’t happen all at once though. So here are the 5 stages of a personal project and my related journey!
Reply back and let me know about your current or next personal project too!
Stage 1: I am going to try a thing
I kind of stumbled into podcasting in 2018. I didn’t really know what I was getting into then. I learned about a brand new podcasting course via one email. I applied, got in, then went from there!
Once I joined the course, I knew things were different pretty quickly… Being in an online course community with 300+ people all wanting to start a podcast was inspiring and empowering! Have you been in a space like that before? Let me know!
As part of the course, I started reaching out to a few close friends to see if they were interested in chatting on “my podcast.”
They said “yes” and then my idea…. was becoming real!
Takeaway: when you are starting a new project, try to have your close friends part of it. This will calm your nerves (a little bit) and help you get started.
Stage 2: That thing was fun. I should do it again
After these first couple of recordings, I could tell things were starting to feel different. Inside of me and externally. I couldn’t really process it though. It was all happening in real-time.
Then! I started to realize that I could talk to people on the podcast beyond my close friend group. I noticed that podcasting felt different than what I expected too. I liked parts of the production process more than I expected as well.
This turned my initial curiosity into a state of wonder and awe….
Takeaway: After you do something you are excited about, new possibilities, feelings, and learnings emerge. It’s awesome!
Stage 3: Ugh, this thing is harder than I expected. But I like it, so I am going to keep going.
Around this time in 2018, the podcasting course was wrapping up…
And then something happened!
I emailed Alexandra DiPalma, who co-created the course I was in, to see if she was open to chatting on my podcast. To my surprise, she said yes and we met up in-person to chat.
First, the podcast conversation was amazing. And second, she also told me that they were going to run another round and cohort of the podcasting course. And that she and Seth Godin wanted to know if I wanted to be potentially involved in it as a coach. I was ecstatic, honored and really nervous too haha!
This was a big unlock for me though because:
I ended up loving helping people launch their own podcasts
it created built-in accountability for me to keep going
it helped me further develop my podcasting skills
I was able make some money too
Takeaway: this is the part where most people quit. If you keep going, good things will happen.
Stage 4: Glimmers of hope
In this stage, your work starts to get noticed more. People want to learn more about your thing. And they start to introduce you as “hey, this is X. He has this thing that’s cool.”
You don’t quite know where your project is taking you, but you can see and feel interesting things happening here and there. It’s still a grind though :)
In this stage, you will also start to become more confident. This can lead you to diving deeper into your work, leading to a beautiful place of experimentation, risk-taking, and more.
Takeaway: personal projects can open a lot of interesting opportunities and relationships when you keep going!
Stage 5: When your project becomes an identity-based habit. “I cannot NOT do this.”
This is where I am at with my podcast and Podcast Mixers.
Publishing another episode is just *what I do.* As
said “don’t find a niche, find a mode.” This is me. And my mode is podcasting.This is why I don’t really care about traditional metrics like downloads, etc. It’s also why my content has veered a little bit away from the perfect “portfolio career” fit. I just want to keep publishing and follow my curiosity.
A few more cool things can happen in this phase:
ideas connect more and come easier, and you have more confidence in your ability to execute on them
you may have a lot more optionality too via collaborations, partnerships, monetization options, etc
people take you more seriously because you take your project seriously
Takeaway: in this stage, it doesn’t feel like you are competing against anyone too. You are doing your own thing and it’s very liberating and empowering!
Tell me about your personal project! What phase are you in?
🎧 Portfolio Career Podcast Episodes
#309: On Perfectionism, Creativity, and Control with Katherine Morgan Schafler
In this Podcast Mixer episode, you will learn about Katherine’s book and positive reframing on perfectionism, how it is context-dependent, her personal journey to writing this book, the interesting intersection between creativity and perfectionism, and so much more!
#308: The Hot Seat with Brooke, Ben and Kelsey
In this Hot Seat Podcast Mixer episode, you will learn about friendship, community building, moving to NYC, relationships, Reading Rhythms, and so much more from Brooke, Ben, and Kelsey
Alright, that’s it for now.
Thanks for being here,
-David Nebinski, who wants to know about your personal project
PS: what do you want to accomplish in March? I would love to hear!
PPS: you are awesome, thanks for reading all of the way to the end! 🫶
What a great post David! <3