If you had a year to do whatever you like, what would you do?
This is my question. How do you spend your time, what do you prioritise, and how do you show up in the world?
I'm here because I've drawn some hard lines in the sand, temporarily rejecting one way of life for the chance at another. It's my big-dream sabbatical.
The dream is to unlock a lifestyle where I have the freedom to follow my curiosity, create interesting things, and do things based on an authentic self (still under discovery). And I want the autonomy to do it on my own terms.
The big-dream sabbatical is a pretty ambitious assignment. And I've set some goals. My primary aim is to create things that feel most interesting to me AND make recurring monthly income, with a target of £2,000 by December. There’s a caveat: I must make the £2,000 from what I've created—not from selling my time. If I do that, I can justify continuing this experiment into 2026. If not, I'll head to London to find some work.
The Plan
You might be unimpressed by the plan because it's not much of a plan at all. But this not-much-of-a-plan has two key components:
- Do creatively fulfilling things.
- Make some money at some point.
These two points are immediately a paradox, but that is the nature of what I am grappling with: the artist's struggle for pure creative freedom versus keeping food on the table. This is where the not-much-of-a-plan really kicks in.
Extending the definition of creativity, it's easy to see the spectrum between the struggling artist persona and the tech bro persona. Some forms of creativity pay dividends. If you channel your creative energy at the right time, in the right direction, and toward the right opportunity, you may make some money.
So, I need to be strategic about what I'll be creating and give myself a sincere reality check on whether these things can lead to the 2K goal – otherwise, it’s Canary Wharf via a suit shop for me.
A Creative Spectrum
Let’s look at this as a spectrum. On one side, I’m a struggling artist, creatively fulfilled. On the other, I’m a tech bro founder, being creative-ish (maybe) and making my 2K. The spectrum shifts from intrinsic motivation – I create because I like it – to extrinsic motivation – I create because I think others will like it (and pay for it).
The not-so-much-of-a-plan places me somewhere in the middle. I’ll create things that I believe are strategically sound, but I won’t be creating purely to make money (initially). I’m not going to focus on paintings or music because I don’t believe I can convert those into cash. I also won’t fully dive into entrepreneurship because I want some of that self-expression stuff to be baked in- otherwise it's just a hustle.
So where to point the creativity energy, strategically? There’s a logical space to fill. Creative people everywhere have made a living for themselves, thanks to the greedy attention-grabbing economy. And it’s with my tail between my legs that I admit this seems to be the sensible middle ground: an opportunity to explore many different business models here, and the opportunity to make things that are creatively fulfilling.
Warwick, the Influencer
Kidding, but not kidding. The next part of the not-much-of-a-plan acknowledges that an audience is an asset. Once there’s an audience—people who like your vibe and believe in what you’re up to—that audience can be monetised. Either the audience itself (if it’s big enough, we join the greedy attention economy machine), OR, more authentically, these will be humans who value what I create.
It’s like a reverse business model: I don’t know the product yet, but I’ll have potential customers. At some point, I’ll turn to the audience and suggest they need more of my creations, clever thinking, and scruffy writing—and that they should pay for it. So stick around for that!
Building my audience, the medium will be in video formats. First, because I think that even if my videos get no views it's a wonderfully expressive creative act that I'll gain a lot from creating for myself. Second, because video is where the cool kids are. I’ll be on YouTube here and Instagram here—it all kicks off next week. Contnet will focus on topics around creativity and how the journey of unlocking my creative future lifestyle is going. This newsletter will also become more focused on these.
That's the plan.
Now you know. If you’re not convinced yet, well fine, neither am I.
Worst-case scenario: I spend 12 months creatively exploring, and nothing else comes from it. But even then, I will have done what I set out to do: tried something new.
Can he make a creative lifestyle a long term reality? Stay tuned!
See you next week—and keep a lookout for some greedy attention-grabbing content on the socials from me.
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