I choose topics that are deliberately not work-like. For example, one of my favorite online compos, js13kGames, is about writing small video games really fast.

I choose topics that are deliberately not work-like. For example, one of my favorite online compos, js13kGames, is about writing small video games really fast. You pretty much have to reject all of the "best practices" from your typical working environment to have a shot at this: can't use established libraries (size restriction), very little time to do proper testing and CI, code compactness is more valuable than CPU cycles... The entire mindset is completely different. For a person working in gamedev all of this would probably feel like work. Lucky bastards.