Many of my “important” projects have. Here are some differences between my examples and yours:
I didn’t do my important projects under a boss.
I didn’t try to publish papers, but instead just discussed my ideas on forums and mailing lists.
I never worked “twelve hours a day, 7 days a week” on a project unless I found the work itself fun. (During one of the project that I did mostly for financial reasons, I played WoW a lot, and it still worked out pretty well.)
You might want to try my approach, before giving up on “important stuff” altogether.
Many of my “important” projects have. Here are some differences between my examples and yours:
I didn’t do my important projects under a boss.
I didn’t try to publish papers, but instead just discussed my ideas on forums and mailing lists.
I never worked “twelve hours a day, 7 days a week” on a project unless I found the work itself fun. (During one of the project that I did mostly for financial reasons, I played WoW a lot, and it still worked out pretty well.)
You might want to try my approach, before giving up on “important stuff” altogether.