> Am I pressuring myself too much to make the switch? How did you do it?

It sounds to me like you feel pressure to do this because someone told you that you should be a creator. So in that sense, yes, that's foolish. Instead pressure yourself to accomplish something you want to accomplish.

Let me use a parallel from my previous life as a technical/digital marketer. There was a prevalent idea out there that you should be "building your personal brand" all the time. Every speaker would tell me this, and they were the experts, right? So I wrote lengthy blog posts in my free time. I'd tweet and retweet and follow the right people, making the right connections, working for the right company.

I had built up to several hundred twitter followers, hundreds of thousands of pageviews, and was on a path to becoming a well-known voice in digital marketing. And I was absolutely miserable. I felt constant pressure to say something meaningful every day. When my blog posts received lukewarm reception or criticism it was very hard for me. I'd internalize it and try to use it as fuel to do better next time.

Then one day I followed a fantasy author I had just read. He had 100 tweets, 10k followers, and only following a few others. And he'd only written one book so far! He'd done none of the work I had to "build his own brand," but he was infinitely more famous than I was. The reason why was obvious: he'd contributed something of great value. I was out there rehashing knowledge and adding 160 character commentary, but it was all low-value high-volume stuff. And I wasn't contributing because I enjoyed it. I was doing it because someone told me I should from a podium.

Those people who talk about contributing are the contributors. Those people who talk about building a personal brand have the podium because they built their personal brand. They're approaching things from their perspective. But I was an introvert who hated speaking. I was working to a goal I would HATE.

So how did I make the switch? I thought about what I wanted to accomplish. That was a comfortable life with financial independence with very little attention from the outside world. I realized the speaking circuit was a high-investment highly-visible way to make money, so I abandoned my "personal brand" altogether, which didn't make my bosses overly happy. After all, I was getting their name out their as well.

Instead I created something that made money quietly. I enjoyed the challenge of it, and I felt like I was finally working towards something worthwhile. I worked most weekends, and honed my skills. I became a better writer and learned a lot more about coding. Knowing I'd started on the right path - a competitive but clearly potentially lucrative path - gave me confidence and motivation. Now, a few years later, I'm basically retired. I still have goals, but things that would have seemed ridiculous to me a few years ago seem within reach now.

If you want to cure cancer, you don't need to write a blog or contribute to projects. If your goal is to become a name in the software development community, maybe you do. But don't create for creation's sake. Think about what you want to get done, and if that involves making money be certain that you can do something measurably better than what's out there already.

TL;DR: Don't focus on 'creating' as your goal, but on what you want to accomplish