My 100 Day Project: Unfinished & Late

The 100 Day Project (#100dayproject) is a "free art project that takes place online" every spring. Back in March/April, an inkling to water color paint was a full bee in my bonnet. No idea why my brain fixated on the idea, but I figured the 100 Day Project would be a great way to get painting out of my system.

Now, I'm super great at starting stuff and not-so-awesome at finishing. I figured I wouldn't make it to day 100 (spoiler: I was right), but I went for it anyway. Also, super great at coming up with ideas, not-so-awesome at sticking with them (they tend to evolve). So I used #jt100daysofcreativeplay just in case painting became something else, this gave me some freedom (it did, and it did). I gave myself the simplest requirements: once a day, for 10 minutes, I would make something. That's it.

Even though I didn't finish, stick to the plan, the whole thing sputtered out, and I'm sharing this two months after the challenge ended, I wanted to make note of what going through the project gave me:

• I went into the challenge knowing that I probably wouldn't finish, and that would be OK. I didn't want that self-conscious hang-up to keep me from doing the thing. This felt like a first for me. Yay self-awareness and giving oneself grace.
• I went into the challenge knowing that I prefer to skirt the rules (reading directions straight through is the closest I get to narcolepsy). Hence the open-ended hashtag. Again, self-awareness, and also not giving a toot about how this would look publicly.
• Somewhere in the first 25 days I realized I needed a system for keeping track of what I created/when, especially because I would forget to create, forget I already created, or have no idea which day of the challenge I was on. The simplest system I could do in seconds after I finished my minutes was the best solution - date & day of challenge handwritten on the piece. Making a note to bring this to other parts of my life: Systems, in the moment, that feel seamless, but save me time and panicky feelings later.
• You can get a lot done in ten minutes! Why haven't I been chunking down everything in my life to tiny intervals?! I'll tell you why. Because the perfectionist in me says it's not enough or that it won't matter etc etc, but it is enough and it does matter.
• You can get a lot done with small daily actions (see previous bullet).
• When I prioritize what I want to do with my time, I am much, much happier, and equally as important, less resentful of everything else going on.
• On that note, I'd rather do something that fills me up for a small bit of time each day then go weeks without it (see also: reading fiction, journaling, exercising, talking to friends)
• I hardly get any buzz from completing things. What lights me up is following the creative spark, doing the thing, and talking about it/sharing it with other people. This is OK. I do finish a lot of things all of the time, but when it comes to my own inspiration and creating, I want to honor the flow of this process.

I ended up going about 68 days, give or take a day I lost track. I'm a bit disappointed with just the plain 68% stat, but I've been taking what I learned from the process and trying it out on other things (chores, exercising, creative pursuits, reading). In that way, this was a great project for me and I'll consider it again April 2020.

You can see a bit more on Instagram at #jt100daysofcreativeplay (2019) and #jt100daysofoutdoors (2016 and I keep adding). More photos below.

Other resources:
100 Day Project
Elise Cripe is great at all things goal setting & long-term projects
Liz Lamoreux's e-courses are perfect for getting into an art habit
Jamie Ridler also creates tons of resources and support for art practices