In the movie Finding Forrester, there is a scene where Forrester describes to his protege Jamal that reading the tabloids was dessert for him compared to the more serious reading and writing they did earlier in the day. I thought about this scene the other day when making a decision to work on a personal project or more serious business project.
10 times out of 10 over the past couple years I would pick keeping my focus on the serious business project. Instead, last weekend I spent a few hours working on a creative, digital personal project. Even though it has many of the same variables as a business project. I thought… my work is always serious. I need to spend some time on the dessert. Some fun work.
In the movie, the main character Jamal Brown is a standout student athlete at a New York City high school. By chance he meets and becomes friends with a reclusive award-winning writer, William Forrester. They discuss life, creativity, and writing in Forrester’s apartment, where Jamal eagerly goes after school and Forrester reluctantly mentors him. Subsequently, Jamal helps reconnect Forrester to community and family.
My only connection to it for this post is the dessert part. The reminder that even if daily business work is serious, spending time on creative personal projects after work is important. The result for me was I got to accomplish the fun digital project I have been wanting to do AND the break from business helped recharge me at work too.