You have a project. Should the main job be simple?

Question

Time Management

So, you are on fire with some idea, work on your project in your free time. For simplicity, we assume that both the project and the work are in the IT field. Such questions have already been raised more than once that it is difficult to do everything, after work there is little strength to do something else, especially when there is a family / children - they also need attention, etc. Now we are talking about something else.
Option 1: the main work is simple, you quietly program yourself in a narrowly limited framework, rivet forms, reports, etc. Often such tasks are found in the field of ERP / CRM systems, and other business automation. Puzzling over algorithms, solving innovative problems - this is a rarity here.
Bottom line: you come home not tired, and direct your energy to the project.
Option 2: the main work is an eternal challenge, every day is like an Olympiad, complex algorithms and architecture, at some point the brain just boils. At the same time, a deep immersion into the subject area takes place, you start to "ache" with the task, sometimes at home you cannot get it out of your head.
Bottom line: you give all your mental strength to work, and at home they no longer remain for your project. Well, attention is more difficult to switch.
I thought that the result could be different, I will say for myself: I get even more tired of work No. 1. And when solving complex problems, it seems that the brain is more heavily loaded, but there is less fatigue, because moral satisfaction from work remains.
How are you? Who was able to bring to a result a serious project (several months, years), combining it with the main work?
ps If the project could bring the necessary level of income, I would refuse the "main" work as a programmer without hesitation. But that's another story, how to find yourself in a market oversaturated with applications.

Answer 1

I also have a bad experience. From which I concluded that a programmer, in principle, cannot create a project that will bring money. Business makes money, not a programmer. You need to be a businessman, not a programmer. Unfortunately, we programmers often overestimate our contribution to the business, and it seems to us that we ourselves can write an application and earn a lot of money. But it's not.
I have been developing my project for 6 years, there is no commercial output, but it's interesting all the same. In addition, this project of mine helped me to increase my salary by 3 times. This project as a portfolio speaks of how cool I am. So for the sake of a portfolio, it’s definitely worth doing, but you shouldn’t expect millions of dollars and worldwide fame.

Answer 2

Everything is individual. How did you decide that there are standard solutions to life's issues?