![\"Mind](\"https:\/\/www.lellobird.com\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/header-100day-article-2020-0402-lellobird-768x477.jpg\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The 100 Day Project<\/a> launches next week, April 7, 2020. And, of course because I’m a pantser<\/a>, to borrow a term from NaNoWriMo, I didn’t officially decide until yesterday what my project this year is going to be.<\/p>\n Thinking ahead 100 days seems extra poignant this year \u2013 personally, I feel a little anxiety but also a strong sense of hope in looking ahead that far, and realizing that there will be an end to all this craziness, whenever that may be.<\/p>\n “The great surrender is the process; showing up day after day is the goal. For the 100-Day Project, it’s not about fetishizing finished products\u2014it’s about the process.” \u2013 founder Elle Luna<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n This year more than ever I feel like really getting into the process of making is beneficial for me \u2013 losing myself in art for a little while helps keep me sane.<\/p>\n This might be a good year to do a collaborative project – like drawing the same thing as a friend every day, or emailing a friend a drawing for them to finish, or making up prompts for each other, or illustrating your friend’s song or poem<\/a> – as a way to keep in touch with someone you can’t see in person.<\/p>\n For anyone else still on the fence about what to do, I thought it might be helpful to take you through my process selecting a project, and a few of the things I learned doing the 100 Day Project for the first time last year<\/a>.<\/p>\n I spent some time reading other people’s assessments of their own projects and pondering my experiences. I think this line from Annabel Tempest<\/a> sums it up nicely: “although [it] didn’t make masses of perfect work it did make masses of perfect moments.” If you think of it not as turning out 100 professional-quality projects but as a journey, it takes some of the pressure off. Last year I learned a lot not just about weeds and about drawing plants and using gouache and hand-lettering, but also about the places around me, and my work ethic and style.<\/p>\n The great thing about this project is that there are no rules \u2013 it’s all about personal growth, so if you miss a day or change your mind halfway through or whatever, it’s okay.<\/p>\n Here’s my process:<\/p>\n Brainstorm.<\/strong> Ask yourself:<\/p>\n Some ways to brainstorm:<\/p>\n Take a look around.<\/em> This year, stuck at home, my top three ideas all came from looking around my studio and thinking about what I had on hand. I love ephemera, and have a big collection of outdated library circulation cards (you’ve probably seen my fabrics<\/a> and prints<\/a>), as well as pretty but dilapidated old books (too many of them, according to my husband), a bunch of old stamps and a jar containing pretty much every fortune cookie fortune I’ve ever gotten, as well as those I’ve begged off friends and family.<\/p>\n Doodle.<\/em> Map it.<\/em> Make a list.<\/em> Whatever method I’m using, I like to brainstorm on paper with a pen or pencil \u2013 I feel more creative that way. But if you’re a tech person, feel free to do this step with online notes or diagrams.<\/p>\n And keep track of those ideas you didn’t use \u2013 you may use them in a future year, or just for other projects. I’m a big believer that no creative effort is ever wasted, even if you don’t turn it into something tangible right away.<\/p>\n Narrow it down.<\/strong> Ask yourself:<\/p>\n If you really can\u2019t decide, ask others to vote on your top choices \u2013 after narrowing it down to three choices I took a family poll this year and one was a clear winner. You could also ask your Instagram followers, your writing group, your mom group or any other group of people whose opinions you value.<\/p>\n Keys to success.<\/strong><\/p>\n Keep it simple.<\/em> Pick something you won’t be bored with.<\/em> Use the Reflection Guide<\/a> worksheet.<\/em> Let go of perfection.<\/em> Share.<\/em> Still need ideas?<\/strong> I can’t wait to see what you come up with!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The 100 Day Project launches next week, April 7, 2020. And, of course because I’m a pantser, to borrow a term from NaNoWriMo, I didn’t officially decide until yesterday what my project this year is going to be. Thinking ahead 100 days seems extra poignant this year \u2013 personally, I feel a little anxiety but […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":815,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[172,175,173,174],"class_list":["post-814","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tutorials","tag-100-day-project","tag-brainstorming","tag-how-to","tag-tips"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lellobird.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/814","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lellobird.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lellobird.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lellobird.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lellobird.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=814"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.lellobird.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/814\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":961,"href":"https:\/\/www.lellobird.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/814\/revisions\/961"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lellobird.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lellobird.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=814"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lellobird.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=814"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lellobird.com\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=814"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nLook at your hobbies (existing ones or ones you\u2019d like to develop), cruise through other people\u2019s past projects online, start a Pinterest board of images that inspire you.<\/p>\n\n
\nLast year, I looked at all the weeds in my yard and at the baseball and soccer fields where I spent every weekend minute watching my kids’ games, and realized I wanted to know more about them.<\/p>\n
\nBecause I’m a visual person (duh), I like to brainstorm with thumbnails \u2013 I’ll take a blank sheet of paper and draw a million little doodles and ideas, with one thing leading to another.<\/p>\n
\nWhen my kids were in preschool, their teachers used to help them figure out what the class should explore next using mind maps<\/a>. They’d ask the kids to come up with a topic, and then the class would brainstorm related ideas that they’d write down on clouds shooting off the main idea, until they had a whole web of ideas and angles to explore. I’ve used this same method while leading a meeting with a multi-national company to help them figure out what info needed to go on their website, so it’s pretty flexible. This technique is actually a good analog for how my brain works, so it works well for me and helps me corral ideas a bit around a theme. (example above)<\/p>\n
\nIf you’re more of a linear thinker, a list can be a great way to brain-dump all your ideas before you try to narrow it down. I keep a running list of ideas for projects in the back of my sketchbook as they occur to me throughout the year, since there’s no way I’d be able to remember them all in April otherwise.<\/p>\n
\nMy problem isn’t usually coming up with ideas, but narrowing it down to the one I want to focus on next!<\/p>\n\n
\nYou’ll be more likely to stick to it if you pick something you can do in half an hour or less every day. There are going to be days when you have deadlines or have to get dinner on the table or are dealing with life and just don’t have a ton of time to devote to the project, but if it’s something relatively quick, you can still knock out that day’s installment and get on with things.<\/p>\n
\nMost importantly, pick something you want to do every day for the next 100 days. Pause a moment here to do the math and realize that 100 days from April 7 is July 15. That’s a lot of days!<\/p>\n
\nThis sheet from The 100 Day Project encourages you to think of things like three ways I can simplify my project, what materials I’ll need, how I’ll make time for the project, what I’ll do to get back on track if I miss a day and how I’ll celebrate the 100th Day.<\/p>\n
\nThis project is all about the process and the showing up every day. To tell you the truth, there were some drawings last year I didn’t love, that just didn’t turn out the way I was hoping, and it was hard to post those on Instagram and show the world something imperfect. But the fact that I did one every day meant a lot to me.<\/p>\n
\nAnnounce what you’re doing to the world \u2013 put it on Instagram, tweet it, tell your friends \u2013 seriously, once I started telling people in my daily life what I was doing (which was somehow harder than telling the entire internet, go figure), I became accountable to a lot of people IRL, in addition to Instagram followers, who wanted to know what the next weed was going to be!<\/p>\n
\nSome of other people’s past projects to inspire you:<\/p>\n\n