The 100-Day Project
Earlier this year, I used a 100-Day Project to restart and reevaluate my interest in writing about purpose in life. The 100-Day Project is the brain child of Michael Bierut, a well-known graphic designer. As he describes in Suleika Jaouad’s book, The Book of Alchemy: A Creative Practice for an Inspired Life, what became the 100-Day Project was initially his personal response to the disorientation of 9/11. Each day he drew something based on a photograph in the newspaper. There was no pressure to draw something “good,” just to show up and draw something for as little as 10 minutes every day. Later, he assigned graduate students in the graphic design program at Yale to do the same thing: select and do one creative act for 100 consecutive days. Read his essay, The Art of Dailiness here.
Elle Luna and friends brought this idea to Instagram in 2014. She and Lindsay Jean Thomson now run #The100DayProject Newsletter and organize an annual effort where people launch their 100-Day Projects on the same date (in 2026, it was February 22nd) and then share their progress on Instagram. People who sign up for their free Newsletter receive daily inspirational prompts during the official 100-day period. You can start your 100-Day Project whenever it works best for you, in my case, January 24, 2026.
People have reportedly done all kinds of things – paint, draw, dance, doodle, sing, brush their teeth. While 100 days of creative activity is rewarding, my guess is that a person could do about anything, like maybe even slowly de-crapping their basements. Experts suggest that a project should be reasonably specific and yet flexible; something that a person can devote at least 10 minutes to each day; portable, if there are plans to travel during the project period. You should have the necessary stuff and pick something that promises to uplift you in some way.
I used Rich Armstrong’s book to figure out if I wanted to do a project and, if so, what. I don’t think you need a book to just get going but it’s a very easy read and helped me. He provides background on projects, ideas about why to do one, and offers ideas about a structure for evaluating project ideas and picking one.
Rich proposed that by doing this and sticking with it, you’ll learn things you didn’t anticipate and this was true for me. My 100-Day Project (96 days, in my case) involved each day writing something or other that related to living with purpose. It had been months since I’d done so on my blog and I wondered if this interest of mine had moved on and if I had anything new or potentially interesting to say on the subject. Mind you, I did not have a lot of time or energy as we were in the thick of cancer-world for this entire period. Mostly it meant capturing my thoughts on the subject with some intention and then writing them down when I could, often in-between other things. They were daily “shitty first drafts” (thank you, Anne Lamott) but putting my mental jumble into words often helped me clarify my thinking and find solid ground. It gave me a teeny-tiny structure for thinking beyond my day or situation and illuminated things that I hadn’t before seen. Many reflections from that period will fold into this blog.
I recommend the experience, especially during a stretch when the illusion of control has been busted and want to claim a tiny bit of yourself to just start something creative that tickles your fancy.