100 Days, 10 Journals: What the 100 Day Project Really Taught Me
I'll be honest with you — when I started the 100 Day Project this year, I wasn't sure I was going to make it.
And not because I didn't want to. But because I knew going in that the timing wasn't ideal. Life was full. Travel was on the calendar. My mental health has its own rhythms that don't always cooperate with commitments. And yet — I said yes anyway. Because two of my creative friends were doing it, and something about doing it together felt worth the risk of it getting messy.
Spoiler: it did get messy. And I finished anyway. All 100 days, all 10 journals.
How I Structured It: 10 Days Per Journal
From the start I knew I didn't want to work in one journal for 100 days straight. So I broke it up — a new journal every 10 days. Ten journals total. Each one its own little container for that season of the project.
This decision ended up being one of the best ones I made. Each journal became its own small chapter. When I flip through them now I can actually feel the different energy in each one — which ones were made during travel, which ones came from a really good creative stretch, which ones I fought for.
It also meant that starting fresh every 10 days gave me a little reset. It was a fun challenge to try various approaches, it kept each new journal interesting and fresh.I never tired of this setup.
The “Rule” I Actually Followed
This was never about completing a full journal spread every single day.That felt like too much pressure. Rather, it was about doing something in that journal, every single day.
Some days that looked like a full composition with layers and collage and mark-making. Other days it was a few marks before bed, just enough to show up. Both counted. Both were the point.
This year more than ever, the 100 Day Project was about continuing to build a consistent creative practice — not about producing a body of perfect work.
If you go in expecting perfection, you'll quit by day 12. If you go in expecting presence, you might just make it to 100.
When It Got Difficult
For the first 50 days or so, I was documenting everything. Filming my process, sharing along the way, feeling energized by it. And then something shifted.
I started to notice that if I couldn't film, I wouldn't create. I was letting the documentation become a gate between me and the practice. And when I saw that happening — when I realized I was skipping journal time because the camera wasn't set up — I knew something had to change.
So I stopped filming as consistently. And honestly? I'm at peace with that.
I've been open about the fact that I have mental health struggles, and the second half of this project coincided with a season where I needed to be more careful about what I was taking on. Pulling back from the filming wasn't giving up — it was choosing the practice over the performance of the practice.
That distinction matters so much to me. I make art because I need to. Not because someone's watching.
The Thing That Made the Biggest Difference
I would not have finished this without my friends Andrea Chebeleu and Crystal Gurney.
We committed at the beginning to doing check-ins every 10 days. Did we always make them? No. But knowing they were there — knowing we were in it together — changed everything. On the days when I was asking myself why am I even doing this, I had people to keep going with.
If you're considering a project like this, do not underestimate the power of an accountability partner. Or two. The creative community you build around a challenge like this is often more valuable than the artwork itself.
My Biggest Tip for Anyone Considering the 100 Day Project
Remember your big “why” and who you're doing it for.
The rules you set? You made them up. Which means you're allowed to adapt them. It's okay if your day 91 looks nothing like your day 1. Mine certainly didn't — and that's not a failure, it's evidence of 100 days of real life showing up alongside the art.
Flexibility is the key to consistency. It’s what allows you to keep showing up.
If you want to see every journal, every era of this project — the colorful stretches, the quiet ones, the ones made on back porches and in hotel rooms and during a week I spent teaching an in-person retreat — it's all in this flip-through video.
And if you've done the 100 Day Project — or you're thinking about trying it — I'd love to hear about it in the comments. What kept you going? What would you do differently?