Indeed, the best thing to do is to spend your time engaging in activities that someone else things is fun, instead of what you enjoy.
You'd be surprised, however, at the amount of kids who go "professional" from a very early age because of parental pressure or something like that. All I said was that if that is the case, it is too early to go professional.
On self-started projects: Noodles was my first of them, and I’m working on some more. Side projects are great, but right now I’m looking for something bigger.