Starting a 6-Figure Side Hustle While Working Full Time: How I Used Lessons from Positive Psychology to Pull it Off
It’s only impossible if you think it is
You get all kinds of success advice on the internet from people who don’t know what they’re talking about.
Don’t trust them.
In fact, don’t trust me either.
Instead, trust positive psychologists who study successful people. They examine why people succeed and have learned a lot about their habits and the inner workings of their minds.
That’s what I did, and I used what I learned to create a 6-figure passive income business that more than replaced my full-time income.
Let me explain…
Where it all began
In 2020, I was working full time, going to school, and had just had my second child. I had always been a go-getter and side hustler, but as I reflected, I realized I had let many of my goals sit on the back burner. The result was boredom, lethargy, a lack of joy, and postpartum depression.
The one saving grace was that I had spent the past five years studying positive psychology part-time at Claremont Graduate University. I learned what to do to create an environment where I could thrive, but I was so busy working and learning that I never changed my habits. Whoops.
The Turning Point
One day, I took time to reflect deeply on what I had learned from positive psychology. I realized I had many useful tools at my fingertips that were scientifically proven to work, but I wasn’t using them.
That day, I made a commitment to put those concepts to work in my life. Almost immediately, I found that I was happier, more creative, and a better problem-solver, and I had more grit to keep working on my goals when things got hard. Within 2 months, I went from making $42 on my side hustle to $4,500.
Here’s what I did, the research behind my actions, and how you can use it to achieve more in your life:
1. The Most Important Thing to Do First
If you want to achieve a big goal, you need to start with your goal in mind. It sounds simple — maybe even simplistic — but research supports this.
Via the Psychological Bulletin:
“Results from a review of laboratory and field studies on the effects of goal setting on performance show that in 90% of the studies, specific and challenging goals led to higher performance than easy goals, ‘do your best’ goals, or no goals. Goals affect performance by directing attention, mobilizing effort, increasing persistence, and motivating strategy development.”
To increase your performance, you need to set a goal and make sure that it:
- Is specific
- Is challenging
- Is realistic
- Provides feedback
- Helps you achieve a specific reward (like money, weight loss, or a work promotion)
You’ll also be more successful if you agree to the goal (as opposed to the goal being decided for you) and have people around you who support you in working toward that goal.
2. Optimize Your Environment for Success
Our world is noisy. There is an infinite amount of content created to keep you entertained.
And distracted.
According to Professor Michael Posner at the University of Oregon, if you are focusing on something and get interrupted, it will take 23 minutes to get back to the same state of focus (from Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention–And How to Think Deeply Again, by Johann Hari).
Concentration is powerful because it is a key component of Flow.
According to the late, renowned Dr. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, Flow is a state in which you are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter.
In an interview with Wired, Csikszentmihalyi explained:
“The ego falls away. Time flies. Every action, movement, and thought follows inevitably from the previous one, like playing jazz. Your whole being is involved, and you’re using your skills to the utmost.”
When I started my side hustle, I knew I had limited time, so I set up my environment to allow for deep concentration and Flow. Because of this, my mind solved problems rapidly and with little friction. The quality and amount of work I was able to complete in a short amount of time was staggering.
So, how can you create an environment in which you have a better chance at achieving Flow?
Try these scientifically-backed strategies
- Limit phone usage by switching your phone to grayscale as opposed to color (source)
- Take a short nap before you concentrate on a specific task (source)
- Take a 20-minute walk in a beautiful setting before you sit down to concentrate (source)
Here’s Csikszentmihalyi:
“Attention is our most important tool in the task of improving the quality of experience.”
3. Leverage The Power of Positive Emotion
Our mind is one of our most powerful resources. However, it often gets ransacked by all the noise in the world.
For example, the bad news we hear on TV can easily cause negative emotions. Those negative emotions can lead us to narrow our focus, causing us to concentrate on things in life over which we have no control.
Instead, we need positive emotion.
Let me explain …
According to Psychology Professor Barbara Frederickson, Ph.D:
“The broaden-and-build theory posits that experience of positive emotions broaden people’s momentary thought–action repertoires, which in turn serves to build their enduring personal resources, ranging from physical and intellectual resources to social and psychological resources.”
In layman’s terms, Dr. Frederickson means that when we experience positive emotions, we are better able to see the big picture, think more creatively, be resilient, and even improve our performance.
“Positive emotions literally change the boundaries of our minds and of our hearts and change our outlook on our environments.”
-Dr. Barbara Frederickson
So, how exactly do you boost your positive emotions?
Try any of these simple actions before you work on a task or project. They induce positive emotions and provide the well-researched benefits of the broaden-and-build theory as described above:
- Think of a positive memory
- Treat yourself to a small delight like one piece of candy or a short, inspiring video
- Listen to a happy, upbeat song
I love to leverage this strategy before I work on important projects. For example, I’ll listen to popular and inspiring commencement speeches and podcasts like My First Million to get my mind primed with big ideas and inspirational stories.
To Sum It Up
Here’s what positive psychology research says will help you achieve your goals:
- Set a specific goal that is challenging, realistic, and clear. You need to be able to track your progress every day.
- Prepare your mind and environment for peak concentration. Make your phone boring, take a nap, or go for a walk in nature before you get to work.
- Prime your mind with positive emotions. Got an important task? Before you start, recall a memory that makes you smile.
So set a goal, put your phone away, and treat yourself before you start your next project. If anyone questions you, you can send them this post.
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