Most of us , whether we realise it or agree or not, work for income which in turn allows us to work on more interesting things. Some may save up some money which lasts for a duration and go do the interesting things. You are doing it right!

However what will help is doing it differently. Can you do time blocking? I assume that while you are doing interesting things at work, no one notices or cares. That is a great job! So why not block your 1st half to do the necessary boring work, and the second half the interesting work. Win Win! I agree this may need some discipline but think of it as a daily ritual! Btw, many greats [1] have had rituals like this, so who knows? :-)

The other aspect you might be missing is 'when interesting things turn boring'. Usually that happens when you want to ship the product and you hit the long tail of shipping. Try replacing 'doing interesting' vs 'doing interesting and shipping'. But we don't want to give up the idea of doing only interesting? That happens when you can work through the boring parts of shipping an interesting piece of work. Keep trying and you will find it, then find a job in that domain or do your startup in that domain and you are set. I realised 3D graphics was my calling the same way, so I am saying from experience.

[1] : https://www.amazon.com/Daily-Rituals-How-Artists-Work/dp/030...

If you read this article and found yourself wishing there was more detail about the writing routine of each author, then you might like "Daily Rituals: How Artists Work" [1]. It's a really great small book that goes in detail through the daily routines of many authors and artists.

[1] https://www.amazon.com/Daily-Rituals-How-Artists-Work/dp/030...

Well, no. I've been reading this book about the daily schedules of the greats [1] and there are many artists who had very active social lives while in their prime. Some more so than others - Francis Bacon would wake at 7am and work hard until lunchtime, when he'd share a bottle of wine with a friend in his studio and then drink, eat and party until the middle of the next morning, getting to bed at 3am. Rinse and repeat.

[1] http://www.amazon.com/Daily-Rituals-How-Artists-Work/dp/0307...

There's a whole book about this and its boring as fuck: http://www.amazon.com/Daily-Rituals-How-Artists-Work/dp/0307...

Everyone in the book sleeps, eats, drinks wine, and finally works for a couple hours when they can be alone. Later a little bit of opium.

The book Daily Rituals, from which most of these seem to be excerpted, is a great read into the daily routines of lots of "creative" people of all stripes -- writers, artists, scientists, etc.

http://www.amazon.com/Daily-Rituals-How-Artists-Work/dp/0307...