100 the hard way

This is not the time in my life when I need to even pretend to commit to something like this (although I would like to say I’ve done so in the past), but for those who would like to commit to 100 days of something, Austin Kleon has you covered with a poster to track your commitment.

There’s another, more organized approach at the100dayproject.org. There’s a free newsletter, a paid newsletter, and it has the advantage of being a semi-public commitment. (Their FAQ explains a lot more than their front page does.)

Nearly identical in intent and approach, there’s the100dayproject.com (.com, not .org, and the Facebook groups are slightly different).

a mug, from 2009, when I was painting mugs

The point is self-evident: Practice may not make perfect, but it does make for fluidity. If I decide to paint/draw a coffee mug every day for 100 days, I may not end up with a perfect painting of a mug, but I will end up with 100 paintings of a mug — and the breakdown of any inhibitions keeping me from painting anything at all.

Remember: ABORTIVE ATTEMPTS are the gateway to MAKING THE THING THAT IS NOT. Just do it.