It's an explore/exploit thing. You need rewards from both. Your job focuses too much on "exploit" so you end up seeking "explore" rewards from side projects. Y

It's an explore/exploit thing. You need rewards from both. Your job focuses too much on "exploit" so you end up seeking "explore" rewards from side projects. You explore an idea, but after you select it, you're staring down the barrel of a whole bunch of "exploit" work to do. You're already burnt out on this reward system from work-work, so it doesn't seem appealing to you. So you do more exploring instead. My advice is to instead do worldbuilding or some other creative hobby that has only the creative exploration side.