A "One-thing-a-day" project is all about showing up
On January 1, 2010, I started a little project of documenting life through taking a photo every day. Quality camera phones were barely a thing back then. But I started and didn’t really stop. In the middle of last year I took my 5,000th photo.
As a result I’m a pretty big believer in the rewards of having the sort of project that involves showing up to do your thing everyday. A photo. A doodle. A few lyrics. What have you.
Having the sort of project that asks you to show up, regardless of what kind of day you’re having can help you quickly build up a body of work while developing serious creative muscle.
That said, I’ve learned that there’s also a benefit to giving yourself some space from the work and forcing yourself to produce isn’t always the healthiest.
How do you know if you’re in a spot where this sort of project will serve you well?
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Consider a daily project if the idea you have is a simple one.
Part of why I’ve been able to take a photo every day for over 14 years is that an individual photo typically doesn’t take a whole lot of effort. If I was trying to make a video everyday, I doubt I’d still be at it. That might work as a 30 day project.
Keep the ambitions in check. Remember, things that aren’t so impressive over one day look a lot more impressive when strung together for a year.
If your creative work tends to revolve around larger works, like a song, maybe try a song a week? Or break it up into something like 8 lines of lyrics or a new riff every day.
You want to elevate your C game.
Good athletes and performers bring a good A game. Great ones elevate their C game to the level of most people’s A game.
Yeah, in theory it’d be great to always have your A game, but that’s not life. All kinds of variables that means you won’t always have it. But if you want a C game strong enough to still be valuable the best way to do that is with a bunch of reps.
Improv has been my greatest teacher of that this year. I’m not always my sharpest week after week, but consistency has made me a lot less worried about those down weeks.
Consider a daily project if you’re looking to build up a body of work.
Perhaps you’re a little newer to your craft. Or maybe you’ve just never had the focus to assemble portfolio of sorts that you can use to promote yourself to others you want to work with.
Either way, having a few of those pieces emerge out of a something-of-the-day project seems very likely. If you show up to something every day, every now and then you’ll hit some gems you’re proud of that you want to keep coming back to.
Some of my favorite photos from this 365 project? I’ve had those printed again and again.
Consider a daily project if you struggle with perfectionism.
If you sometimes let perfect be the enemy of good, or better yet, the enemy of done, you’re not alone. It’s a common hurdle. But building the muscle memory for just showing up really pays off.
It’s a bit like Lorne Michaels’ famous quote about SNL. We don’t go on because we’re ready. We go because it’s 11:30.
This commitment to shipping the work will help numb you to all the second guessing by showing you the reward of having work you can say you’ve brought to the finish line.
Consider a daily project if you’re in a season of newness.
When you’re in a time of novel experiences and new beginnings, your discoveries, observations, and epiphanies will be firing away wildly, sometimes faster than you can process or store these thoughts.
A daily project can give you somewhat of a multidimensional journal to capture what the experience is like through creative work you can always revisit later.
Some of us might need to hear the message to stop forcing ourselves to work like robots in the name of productivity, but others can really benefit from the discipline of a daily practice.
Take a second to think about where on that spectrum you might be this year.
Let me know if you’ve got a 365-day sort of project! Friendly reminder: it’s actually a 366 day year in ‘24!