Antiquated thinking posits that you shouldn’t mix work and play. But the truth is, your personal interests have a lot to do with your success, particularly if you’re in an idea-centric field — which means just about every job that has problems which require creative thinking.

It’s no coincidence some of the most profound and popular scientists are also musicians: Albert Einstein played the violin. Numerous bios of Steve Jobs cite his schooling in calligraphy as a driving factor for why the early Mac computers were so far ahead in terms of graphics. Think about what skills you have that aren’t officially job responsibilities, but get applied nonetheless.

Do this fun exercise:

1. On the left-hand side of a piece of paper, write a list of your favorite career moments
2. Beside it on the right, write a list of your hobbies and activities off the job
3. Draw circles around something in the left column that happened because of something on the right, and join them with a line

The connections are now much clearer. By recognizing how various parts of you falsely appear miles apart but are actually adjacent in their applicability, you stand a much higher chance of succeeding at what’s important.