2024W4: New Year FOCUS (an annual project with daily-ish tasks)

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I’m no spring chicken, so I don’t have a lot of excuses to not be doing things every day that I should be doing every day! In other words, I am old enough to know what I should be doing, and do them! Exercise daily? I only need to work out a couple times a week, and the other days I am active so that works for me. Eat better? I’ve been “plant based” aka vegetarian for almost 20 years, which is enough time to figure out how to get all I need nutritionally, calorically, etc. etc. and still enjoy junk food occasionally.

But obviously I see the value of an annual project to commit to daily. Last year I chose to draw and post on Instagram daily. It was perfect to explore different digital workflows as well as to get in the habit of putting my work in the social media sphere every day.

This year, it felt like the right time to take on something I’ve considered for a while now: I call it my 365 Notes project. The idea is to write 365 snail mail notes over the course of the year, which comes out to an average of one note a day. I have hoarded collected stationery for years, I love to send snail mail, I have been studying and practicing calligraphy and hand lettering since 2017, and I think about other people a lot!!! All the ingredients are there for a successful annual project like 365 Notes.

I’m still refining the system to support this project. I have a place to write down the name of someone I’m thinking of, and a tracker so I know who got a note and how I’m progressing toward 365. And I have a little kit with note cards, stamps, stickers, etc. that I can move around to whatever is my workspace at the moment.

So far the system is working! I’ve sent 18 note cards so far this year. I feel a surge of energy every few days, I’ll write and mail out several notes at a time, and I have been hearing back from folks already who receive my mail. It is SO MUCH FUN to stay connected, and in some cases to reconnect, with people this way.

U.S. friends, yesterday the rates for first class letters went up again by 2 cents, to $0.68 for a regular ol’ stamp. It’s nice that you can order stamps online very easily and quickly, and you can access the full catalog of stamps online and not just what your local post office has left for you. I recommend these if you’re ready to order, which are seasonally suitable for the weeks to come:

  • Year of the Dragon stamps — I’m so stoked about Lunar New Year!!!

  • Love 2024 stamps — Valentine’s Day is near

  • Winter Woodland stamps — it’s still cold in many places in the U.S.

  • John Lewis stamps — order now to be ready for Black History Month, but also order a couple extra books because every month is a good month to think about civil rights and people who inspire us to step up for civil rights and human rights

2024W1: Writing In New Planners And Journals

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Happy New Year!!! 🥳 Lots of fun things are ahead this year and I. Am. Excited.

Did you get a new planner??? A new journal? Sometimes an overachiever, I started the new year with a whole new set of planning and organizing tools. I’ll tell you about the entire system and all its components later.

My new Hobonichi Techo Weeks planner. Thank you, Brenda!

One tool that is new to me was a gift from my friend Brenda: a Hobonichi Techo Weeks planner. You can get lost learning all about the Hobonichi family of products, which has inspired a lot of followers and fans and devotees over the years. I decided in December how I wanted to use mine, and even though I had four weeks in 2023 to get started, I found that I could not write in my new planner! I was just paralyzed to make the first mark in this beautiful planner.

I know this isn’t uncommon among all humans, but I am a regular journaler, and have been for years, and have started many journals and planners with no hesitation. Why was this one so different?

I went searching on The Google and hoped for an article, a think piece, a study of some kind to validate this very common feeling and back it up with some science and data. I found nothing! (But if you have an article to recommend with some science to back it up, please leave it below!)

I did find some really neat ideas for making the first marks in a new planner or journal though, which of course I have to share:

Also Apple iOS users — did you know that Apple has a Journal app now, included in their iOS 17.2 release? I used it last week twice and it integrates nicely with… life. All the creepy AI and privacy-encroaching components of our phone can finally be put to use for our benefit!