The Sidequest is the Point

April 15, 2026

You're lame if you don't do anything outside school or work. Not only lame, but stunting your own value. Sidequests are more main than your main quest.

In high school, I was MVP of a sports team, won a national award for French Public Speaking, and worked part-time, among other extracurriculars. And I did them for fun for the most part. I always thought that I could sacrifice some grades for this. But they probably had the opposite effect!

I was not a particularly social kid and never thought of myself as super smart, but I had two things going for me:

1. I wanted to have a lasting positive impact on my community
2. If I got started on something, I'd dive deep into it and I'd want to win

A lot of things shaped me this way, with a clear one being my time in Scouts. Your parent sends you to do some outdoor and community activities, with a culture akin to mock military (think marching, saluting, standing at ease/attention during a flag ceremony). The motto for cubs was to "Do Your Best" (not just try your best) which my scout leader would emphasize every week.

After being part of this for 9 years, discipline became nothing out of the ordinary, that much was obvious as I started training badminton competitively. Badminton built on the discipline, always pushing myself to do better, not cheating myself, especially when doing 100 burpees for not putting 100% into simple drop-clear drills. My progress skyrocketed past those who had been training for years longer than me.

This desire to do better through focused practice translated to school too. And that's not to mention being active has soooo many physical and mental benefits.

At least give yourself the chance to accidentally grow by straying off the main path. All roads are connected, so just be curious about where the side trail leads you!

• Hobbies help with hobbies/sports
  • Sports help with learning and motivation
    • Learning and motivation help you do well in school
      • School helps with job
        • Job is good for life

ECs were my sidequests because they felt right to jump into, but this applies way beyond school. Even companies understand this! When I was little, I heard that 3M employees get to spend 15% of their time on whatever side-project solves their burning question (3M's 15% culture). Google does the same, at a rate of 20%. These for-profit companies aren't doing this out of the goodness of their hearts, but because it has quantifiable benefit for the company (read in between the lines: you have time, which you can portion for beneficial side activities).

But you're not a Google employee. You don't get a scheduled 20%. So where does the time come from?

Time will pass whether you like it or not. Fill it in, use your desire for stimulation. You aren't 90% time efficient, not even 60%. The fact that badminton took so much of my time outside of school unintentionally forced me to be more efficient in my time not training to finish my homework.

Now let's discuss the modern alternative to questing, side or main: doomscrolling. Sure it might seem fine to go for a quick scroll on the toilet, but that has a lasting impact. Earworms are when have a song stuck in your head; reelworms are way worse than earworms. An itch begs you to hit the scroll again, until the reelworm disappears because you've started swiping your thumb on the app without knowing it.

We are desensitized to the doom in doomscrolling - think about how doom shroom kills everything, that's the level it's on; the phone is the shroom and you are the zombie. Reels rob you of your time. That passive stuff is no good.

• not on the field -> currently
• bench-warming -> at least you're on the field
• do something -> best

Get up and do something. Starting is the hardest part, which is why I refuse to provide a list for you. Instead, I'm telling you to start juggling (instructions below). You make tangible progress, it's easy to start, and you are active while doing it.

Once you start, the reelworm flips. The stuff in your head becomes what you're building, not what you watched.

You must have a small ("arbitrary", "fun", "side") goal you work toward because the big picture doesn't matter anyway. Lives get tough, we evolve but not fast enough, the world keeps spinning.

Appendix

How to Start Juggling

Step-by-step, no excuse. You know how to do each of these, I hope I've broken down the barriers for you.

Super quick youtube tutorial by flyjuggler

Otherwise only 2 steps:

1. Grab 2 round objects (e.g. balled-up socks)
2. Toss one ball upward, should land on the other hand
3. While the first ball is in the air, throw the second ball upward, toward the other hand
4. Catch

It might have been more than two steps, but what matters is that you started!

High School Extracurriculars

Don't scroll further unless you want the specifics - I'm proud of them :)

Badminton — provincial tournaments, OFSAA A-flight, part-time coach

Ultimate Frisbee — co-founded the team, divisional playoffs first place, team MVP

French Public Speaking — CPF Concours d'art oratoire; 1st in Ontario, 2nd in Canada

Piano — RCM Level 8

Band (Alto Sax) — platinum and gold at festivals

DECA — school executive, roleplay & exam awards at Ontario provincials

Scouts Canada — (started as a beaver) camping/hiking, community service, Duke of Edinburgh's Bronze

Various High School Clubs — president of a finance club, co-founded filmmaking club, chess club exec

Just so you know I did other stuff for fun

Minecraft — 400 stars in Bedwars (more now) and was Bridge Grandmaster

Chess — went to real-life tournaments, currently 1800 rated on chess.com