You should always have at least one project, or a performance, that you can complete with no meetings, no bosses, and no external accountability. Just you doing something for yourself, where you don’t need to explain yourself at all, or need to make money doing. If it resonates with other people, it’s even more special because you made it for yourself.

Something during which you can express yourself and follow your inclinations without saying why. It can be silly, even stupid, and you know it, and you do it because you love it.

A critical voice might frame this as a hobby, because you’re not getting paid for it. If you consider the person who broke the four minute mile a hobbyist runner because he worked professionally as a doctor, then that’s true. 

You don’t let it fall by the wayside because you don’t dismiss it. You practice, you explore, and you show up.