Your Career Needs Sidequests

How small, curious detours can keep you growing

The Landing Pad is a weekly newsletter for marketers focused on career growth, job opportunities, and the mental side of modern work. Each week blends open roles, honest perspective, and practical encouragement for wherever you are in your career.

Ok so lemme nerd out for a second. I’ve played video games my entire life, and if you’ve ever played a story driven game, you know there’s always a main storyline. There’s a big objective, a clear path, a set of steps you’re supposed to take in order to move the plot forward. That’s the main quest. It’s the thing that technically matters most. It’s what the game is built around.

But then there are sidequests.

Sidequests are optional. A random character asks for help. A hidden path opens up. You stumble into something that has nothing to do with the main objective. You don’t have to do it. The game will continue without it. But it’s there, waiting, if you decide to explore.

I’ve always loved sidequests. I’m the type of person who tries to complete everything. I’ll wander off the main road just to see what’s there. I’ll follow the small storyline that doesn’t really matter in the grand scheme of the game. And the funny thing is, those side paths are often the most memorable parts.

Lately I’ve been thinking about how much this applies to real life, especially when it comes to your career.

Most of us treat our careers like a single storyline. We wake up, go to work, build experience, chase promotions, make more money, try to level up. Even if you love your job, even if you feel lucky to have it, it can still become linear. Structured. Focused entirely on the next step in the same direction.

But what if your career had sidequests too?

Sidequests in real life are the small paths you explore outside of your main job. They can be helping a friend launch a t shirt company. Teaching yourself how to program something on the weekends just because you’re curious. Learning to paint. Experimenting with a new tool. Saying yes to a small project that technically isn’t your responsibility. They’re not always life changing. They’re not always permanent. They don’t always turn into something bigger.

That’s actually what makes them powerful.

A sidequest is finite. It has a beginning and an end. You explore it, you learn something, you enjoy it for what it is, and then maybe you move on. There’s less pressure attached. It doesn’t have to carry your identity. It doesn’t have to pay your bills. It just has to engage your mind.

When you spend most of your energy on one main storyline, even a good one, your thinking can get narrow. You solve the same types of problems. You operate in the same environment. You define yourself by the same metrics. Over time, that can start to feel heavy, especially if your main quest isn’t going the way you hoped.