What is a 100 Day Project and Why I Did One
If you haven't heard of the 100 Day Project before, this may give you some inspiration!
One of the myths about creativity is that some of are born with it and some aren't. As someone who self identifies as a creative and coaches people to unlock their creativity, creative ruts are common and depressing.
But creativity is muscle - so I decided to try a different approach to get the juices flowing and keep me on track.
I'd heard of the 100 Day Project from friends and wanted to try. The idea is to take one small creative action everyday. Repeat it for 100 days while documenting and sharing it each day.
The discipline and commitment it takes to repeat one thing every day intrigued me. I wondered if I could do it. I also wanted a chance to engage with other artists on Instagram in a new way.
So I started thinking about things I already do that I wanted to get better at. Something I could create a routine around.
It was a chance to experiment with being part of an online community. And a reason to post on Instagram everyday. I also promised myself I'd treat it like a game. If I couldn't keep it up there was no pressure to pretend.
What came from this commitment was so much more!
What is The 100 Day Project?
It's a global art community.
It’s a free global art community. It was inspired by a 100-day project Michael Beirut created at the Yale School of Art for his graphic design students. In 2014 Elle Luna and a group of friends took the idea of his Yale workshop and launched it as a global art project on Instagram.
It's an exercise in creativity.
People ask themselves this question all the time. The truth is we’re all creative. We express it in different ways.
From how you run your business to what you cook. Even those improvisational answers you give your kids when you’re not ready to talk about a sensitive subject.
It’s an exercise in discipline.
The goal is to practice one small action everyday instead of focusing on a finished product. And to document and share it for 100 days as a way to jump start the creative process.
“It’s a bite-sized way to play creatively,” Elle says. “Most people’s schedules are full with work and family commitments. This is a way to satisfy your curiosity about being part of a community that celebrates process.”
But where do you start? How do you choose something you can stick with for 100 days?
Here are six essential ingredients that helped me choose the project I stuck with while enjoying the process.
100 Days Of Insta-Poems
As my project I decided to do a quick free-write each morning and share it with a photo. I have thousands of photos I haven’t shared.
I made it part of my morning routine. Using tarot cards to keep it simple and doing a free-write from whatever cards I picked that morning. Then, I paired it with a photo I had ready to go in my Instagram Preview App and shot a quick photo of some of the tarot cards I choose.
You can head over to my IG feed @JenBaxterSF to see some of the poems that went along with these photos!
