I've been meaning to share this for some time. But I keep putting it off. It's a bit of a personal project, but it's one I think might be able to help other people like me, who feel uncreative or simply struggle with the stress and guilt of being unable to be creative every day.
On March 31st of this year, I decided to start doing a daily project. I've been seeing all sorts of people creating something everday, whether it's a photograph or some elaborate drawing, or simply a
different type of monster. People all over have been doing something every day to stay creative and I finally decided it was time for me to try it out for myself. But the question was, what's the best way for me to be continuously creative every day? If you know me, you know I'm a bit of a gypsy when it comes to my creativity. I move from one thing to another, usually day by day or week by week, occasionally month by month. I have a hard time sticking to one thing and one thing only, and when I do, I get burnt out very quickly. So I knew that whatever I was going to do every day, it needed to somehow be consistant, but offer me a way to be creative through multiple mediums/themes/etc.
One of my very favorite things are
post it notes. I love them, in all their shapes and colors and varieties (in which there are
many). I use them every day, many many times a day. So, I decided that they would be my means of creativity. They're the perfect solution to serve as my canvas so that I could create different things on them, depending on my mood.
I have also been striving (struggling) to keep a physical planner every day so that I can try to be better organized. Since my schedule is usually the same with very few actual appointments to keep up with, I have very little reason to keep up with a planner, honestly. But I really love having it, so I'm still working on how to fit it better into my life to keep certain aspects more organized. Regardless of that, it has served as a great reminder to keep up with my daily doodle. I started adding a small note with a little box at the top of each day that I will check once I have done my daily doodle. In the beginning, this was a great help to remind me to keep up with it, but now I've made it into a pretty good habit and usually remember to do one everyday on my own. However I do also keep post it notes in my planner on days that I may accidentally forget.
You can see below that most of my doodles so far have been on traditional sized, 3x3 post it notes in various colors. I have better daily access to those and they're the perfect size for whatever it is I want to do for that day. And they're usually pretty inexpensive, which is always a plus when it comes to knowing you're going to need about 365 of them.
My ideas and inspiration usually vary and are a great reflection of what I'm currently working on in my spare time, which has been doodled lettering for awhile. Some have more abstract doodles or designs, and yet I've found that more often then not, my doodles contain mere sentences, much like a diary or a journal. (Which I have not shared here because they are usually pretty personal, obviously.)
Overall it has been a great daily project that's easiest enough for me to keep up with and yet fulfilling enough for me to feel a little creative (or thoughtful) every day. I keep them in a graph composition book, just because I had an extra one on hand. I can usually fit six 3x3 post it notes on each page so that each layout is about two weeks worth of post its.
If you're thinking about taking on a daily project and some are just too daunting, even though you love them (such as the
documented life project), then it might be a good idea to do something small like post it notes instead. Or the
daily paper / index card project that I just learned about. (I prefer post it notes because I can stick them anywhere I want and the pages don't get too bulky.) Unlike some projects online, I usually just go with whatever ideas are in my head or whatever things I feel inclined to do rather then following a list set up to use. I'm hoping this will help spark my own imagination as I keep going as I tend to struggle with coming up with ideas on my own at times.
The best thing I've found about doing this though isn't that I've gotten any great ideas (so far) or that it's improved my skills, it's the fact that I feel better about myself. Even if what I make is terrible, I have a tangible creation that I can look back on when I'm feeling uncreative and uninspired. I know that I can make something, even if it's ugly. Even if it's terrible. No one has to see it. No one even has to know I made it or what any of it means. It doesn't have to make sense, it doesn't have to look pretty, it doesn't have to do anything. And it's one of the perfect ways I've found to stay creative and to just be more free with my art.
I know there are tons of other daily post it note projects and that my idea to use them isn't the first, nor will it be the last, but it has been a perfect solution for me so far. Also, you'll probably notice some dates jump around and seem to be missing. I have decided I only want to do this during the week, Monday through Friday, so weekends are for me to actually be more hands on with my creativity. If you decide to take on a project like this, remember to make it work best for you. Don't let yourself feel guilty for making the project your own.
Feel free to post your links and ideas in the comment section below on how you stay creative, everyday or just in general. I'd love to hear them!
(Disclaimer: This project was not sponsored by any post it note companies. I used several types, both name brands and generic.)
