My Matrix for Choosing Work and Side Projects

I have worked in education for the last 13 years. In that time, I have done almost everything — working directly with children, running workshops and summer camps, teaching subjects, training teachers, developing curriculum, doing research, and leading large-scale implementations.

But why do I do what I do?

• I love being with children and young adults
• I love creative mediums — writing, filmmaking, theater, nature exploration
• I want to see how education can be a tool for living conflict-free
• And most deeply — it is a sadhana. My first and foremost priority is to be light and free from within. As a human, I have skills and I need to work, but this sadhana continues.

My Ethos

With young children: nature exploration, theater, project-based learning.

With young adults: self-directed learning, third spaces, citizen science, projects, socio-emotional learning, and life skills.

The Four-Factor Matrix

When I choose full-time work, I look at four things:

1. Ethos — Does the work align with how I believe learning should happen?

2. Money — One stable source of income. Enough to save, enough to survive in a city with some dignity.

3. Practice Ground — One place where I can do direct work with children on a daily basis. A place to try ideas, document them, run pedagogical experiments, explore new children’s literature, theater, research. If not direct contact with children, then close and direct engagement with a group of educators or a team — something where I can impact, experiment, and make meaning out of it.

4. Bonus factors — the team, the culture, the organization’s history. How close is the workplace to my hometown? How expensive is the city? Will I find friends and a community of like-minded people there? Is there long-term growth?

Where I’m Willing to Compromise

Finding work that ticks all four boxes is genuinely difficult. I have made peace with that.

I am now okay working on large-scale projects that aren’t perfectly aligned with my educational philosophy — private schools, large CSR projects — if some elements from my ethos are present, if there is good money, and if I get some form of direct engagement with children or educators. I will do whatever I can within my capacity in that space.

In short: I can compromise on ethos (1) and bonus factors (4) if money (2) and practice ground (3) are solid.

Context also shapes the decision. Right now, for example, I’m thinking about finding work near Bhopal because my partner Nidhi’s hometown is close by, and she needs to travel there frequently due to a medical emergency at home. Geography becomes a factor.

Similarly, if I’m at a point where I urgently need to save money — for a family need, a health emergency, or simply to build a financial cushion — money becomes the primary driver, and I might compromise more on ethos or practice ground.

The decision always comes from a combination of these four factors, weighted by where life is right now.

After Stability Comes the Butterfly Effect

Once I have meaningful work aligned with my ethos, financial stability, and a daily practice ground — I invest remaining time and energy into what I call the butterfly effect: small, intentional acts in a chaotic world. Unpredictable in outcome, long in impact. An investment in the ecosystem.

This is where side projects come in.

How I Choose Side Projects

In my earlier years, I only chose work that gave me direct, daily contact with children. Money and other factors didn’t matter much. That was the right call then — I needed to build experience, intuition, and grounding.

Now, with over a decade of that behind me, I choose side projects differently. I look for broader network impact — work that builds the ecosystem, not just my own practice.

Some examples of what this looks like:

For young children, I want to engage in original theater for young audiences, nature exploration, and creating original, contextual, critical, and creative children’s literature.

My focus right now is on writing new stories and poems that can become books, theater productions, or find a home in a bi-annual children’s literature magazine in Gujarati. This sits at the heart of my ethos — theater, nature, and project-based learning woven together. A magazine is not just a publication; it becomes a recurring reason to show up — in libraries, learning centers, and schools — doing storytelling sessions, theater performances, and nature explorations with children. It turns a single creative act into an ongoing relationship with communities of young readers. In coming months I am focusing to work based on this mental model.

I am also documenting my past projects around experiential learning, nature education, and related work. We will publish these as zines and articles — both online and in print — so that other educators can use these playbooks in their own contexts.

Career curiosity also guides my side project choices. For instance, I am doing learning calls with different organizations to learn and contribute to curriculum design and learning experience design through volunteering.

All of it is guided by Skill building and Career/personal curiosity and volunteering (contributing to a larger ecosystem — small acts, long bets, butterfly effect.)