Should you be allowed to talk about your side hustle at work?

In this economy, lots of people are turning to side hustles to fill out their bank accounts. Or maybe you have a passion project that you want to spend your time and energy on. Either way, it’s a common thing that you should be allowed to have. But just because you’re allowed to have that doesn’t mean that other people aren’t going to try to stop you from enjoying it. For example, maybe you’re working on a book during nights and weekends, and you want to talk to your coworkers about it at lunch. Should that be allowed? Or is that taking away from company time?

The best managers know how to encourage their employees without clipping their wings. They cheer them on from the sidelines while keeping them on task. Sure, you don’t want them losing focus on the job at hand, but you also know that they are people with full lives who need to be treated as such. We all have lives outside of work, and we should not pretend like they don’t exist. That would only be doing a disservice to ourselves. But what are the boundaries around talking about your outside project at work? Should your manager get to swoop in and tell you what’s appropriate and what isn’t?