7 Micro Habits For a Successful Side-Hustle

Efficiency can beat hard work

We read super fancy stuff about side hustles and making money. And while it may sound like a dream, it’s true, depending on which kind of person you are in the comments section.

You see two types of people in the comments section — those who get inspired and those who criticize; the latter are the kinds who blame others for their lack of success. If they used their time wisely, they wouldn’t sit and spread negativity on somebody’s hard work.

You can build a side hustle that can be profitable and a full-time dream job one day. You can double your wealth if you want to, but only if you believe you can. If you’re with me till here and you already feel it will not work out, then there’s no point in reading ahead because it won’t. But if you can trump this negative inner voice and just for a second believe that maybe you too can do this, you can do what you love and get paid for it.

Six months ago, I started writing online with a goal to be self-employed before I turn 25. I turn 25 in 6 weeks, and I’m on the last 4 weeks of my 9–5 job.

With a few habits, building a side-hustle can be profitable. And no, you do not need to wake up at 4 am.

I believe in efficiency more than hard work and am the laziest person I know, so let me tell you some easy micro-habits that helped me.

1. Put up a time cap

What happens when you pursue something you love? Beautiful things. You get in a flow state, time flies, you produce great results until you burn yourself out one day because of overworking. I made this mistake in the beginning by sleeping 6 hours instead of my usual 8 and working before and after my day job. I fell sick after 2 weeks.

To do: Put a time limit on how much you will work in a day. And then, no matter how interesting a particular task is, or how it’ll only take a few minutes to finish, let it rest. It won’t run away.

2. Have a re-energising activity

If you have a day job, your mind is always worked up. To jump into doing a side-hustle task during or after work, your brain needs to be in the right place to create. For me, my re-energizing routine is simply sipping tea with my family and not seeing screens for those 30 minutes. It really helps me put my head in a better place to refresh and create.

To do: Find out what works for you to feel rested and energized. Play with your pets, spending time with your family, or cook a meal. Give your eyes time out from the screen and your brain some rest from work.

3. Weekly and Monthly Reflection

If you don’t have concrete goals, you will always go with the flow and then blame the water currents for leading you the wrong way. Set a monthly goal, and each week set a weekly goal on what you’ll do to get there. At the end of each week and month, reflect and re-strategize. This has helped me the most to build a good side-hustle.

To do: Set a monthly goal and action steps on what you’ll do this week, which brings you closer to your monthly goal. At the end of the week, reflect on what worked and what didn’t to create a weekly goal for the following week.

4. Take a mandatory day off

You will want to work weekends because you get more time as opposed to weekdays when you’re rushing and balancing two jobs. It’s important to take a day off completely to get your mind off work (even if it feels fun and not like work) and do other things. You don’t want to work to the extent that your brain runs out of ideas, so give it a break from churning them.

To do: Take one day a week entirely off work, no matter how eager you are to finish that one last task.

5. Keep learning (but be selfish)

You have limited brain energy to think, learn, and create — be bloody selfish about it. You need to learn constantly, but you don’t need to learn everything from everybody. You need to filter excellent advice and feed yourself only what will add immense value. Everything else is a waste of time you cannot afford.

To do: Something which helps me is the method of elimination. I don’t read all Whatsapp group messages or everything on LinkedIn as that depletes my focus resources. I prefer learning from a set of people I admire or new things I stumble upon that add value. Consume with the intent of investment. Your time is valuable and needs to be invested instead of being spent.

6. Put in the work and don’t lie to yourself

Most people talk more than their actions. We all read personal development and know what to do to accelerate our performance, but how many of us apply what we read? Don’t be a talker, be a doer. I wouldn’t have come up with this set of advice if I hadn’t put in the work and made mistakes. Diligently put in the work instead of creating an illusion. If you only put in 3 hours a week, don’t complain about the process not working out by comparing results to those who put in 10 hours a week.

To do: It’s a happy feeling to go to bed with a sense of accomplishment, to achieve what you set for the day. What is it you want to achieve today? Put in the work for it.

7. Daily feel check

Prioritize your mental and physical health. If these two things go down, you get impacted in the worst possible way. This is a contradictory point to the others above, but an important one. Don’t get trapped in the guilt of being underproductive because feeling unpleasant will produce unpleasant results. If you need time off, it’s not time lost but time devoted for wellbeing, which should be your topmost priority.

To do: Each day, take a minute off to see how you feel. If you’re overwhelmed or just not feeling alright, go do something that makes you feel better.

Takeaways

Building a successful side-hustle is a fun journey. Don’t stress it out; enjoy the process of learning and trying your hand at new things. Don’t be too hard on yourself. It’s called a side hustle for a reason because most of your time is going full time into work or university or other responsibilities.

Here are 7 micro habits to help you build a successful side-hustle:

1. Put a time cap to work.
2. Have a re-energizing activity.
3. Weekly and monthly reflection.
4. Take a mandatory day off.
5. Keep learning (but be selfish)
6. Put in the work and don’t lie to yourself
7. Do a daily feel check