A lot of folks spend their evenings on their side hustles. I don’t have a lot of free evening time anymore. But even if I did, I don’t know if I could make that arrangement work.
My friend and business coach Shawn Blanc has a saying: “Work with your head. Rest with your hands.” His idea is that information workers engage mentally with their work. When their day is done and it’s time to rest, they need to turn off their brains and engage in a rejuvenating hobby (Netflix doesn’t count). His suggestion is to find hobbies that are physically engaging, like car maintenance, woodworking, or exercise.
If I sat at my computer all day and designed things, then spent the evening making music in front of the same computer, at the same desk, in the same room, I’d never get a break from my mental work. I wouldn’t even get a break from my physical studio. As much as I love my studio, that’s not good for my mental health.
A creative practice benefits from existing in a separate physical environment from one’s workplace — even if your work is creative, or you work from home. This is one of the big reasons I like having a laptop I plug in to a huge monitor: when it’s time to do something different, you can unplug the laptop and bring it to a different space, but avoid managing multiple machines.
On the other hand, I think there’s a benefit in buying a desktop computer instead of a laptop. When you stop working for the day, walk away from the screen and find something else to do. For me, shifting from a mental task (designing rectangles and programming websites) to a physical task (like playing guitar or exercising) has huge mental health benefits for my day-to-day life.