Let's PLAY 🛝

exploring play as a project motivation

Hello, friends –

Here's something you might not know: I didn’t actually start #The100DayProject. It first began when Michael Bierut made a short daily practice of making a quick sketch, something akin to the creative version of stretching. He later taught it as a class at Yale, and a few years after that Elle and friends brought it to Instagram. (Elle and I actually got to interview Michael about this a few years ago – you can listen here!)

When I first joined in 2015 and began helping Elle facilitate in 2017, I thought of the project primarily as a way to practice – because I was learning about it from Elle, and that’s how Elle thought of it. But over time, I've noticed people come to this project for different reasons, not just to get better at something. Learning, growing, improving – that’s a great motivation, but it’s not the only one. In my decade+ (!) of doing the project, here’s the main reasons I’ve seen people participate:

To play – to do something for the joy of it, with no focus on process or outcome other than enjoyment.

To practice – to learn or improve a skill, to work with the goal of getting better at something.

To produce – to work towards a finished product (like a book or an art show) or a concrete outcome.

Fast, don’t think too hard – which of those resonates most with you right now?

You might have more than one. And there can be overlap! We can want to get better at something and have fun doing it (in fact, I recommend it!).

As we brainstorm project ideas, let’s start with play.

• What activities make time disappear when you're doing them?

• Think back to childhood – what did you love to do?

• Looking at your potential project ideas from the list you generated the other day, which feel most joyful and fun?

• What activities leave you feeling energized?

More next week –

XO,
Lindsay