Progress vs. Productivity

As I write this, it’s Day 67 of the 100-day project for 2025. If you haven’t followed my progress, check out this blog post explaining my project or this one recapping my 1^st half progress.

One of the challenging aspects of the project I selected (that I didn’t fully anticipate) is shifting from completing one small piece per day to spending many days or even a week working on one larger piece. Most of the 1^st half was the latter, either a small 8” x 8” gel printed rock or smallish (8” x 10” and 9” x 12”) collage stack of rocks.  But, since Day 50, I have been focused on larger, more complicated gel-printed pieces. 

When I planned to write this blog post early last week, my thoughts favored the satisfaction of finishing one small piece per day. Because, for ~40 days, it was wonderful to walk upstairs after my morning studio hour, knowing I had already completed something that day. That I was productive and had something to show for it. This is very satisfying to the recovering Type A perfectionist lurking inside me, who loves efficiency and control. I’ll never fully get rid of that person, but after years of reflection and 2 children, I’m more capable of telling her to shut it. 

However, I need to remember…

• I’m doing the 100-day project to develop and explore ideas recurring in my sketchbooks for too long, NOT to be “productive”, even if that is sometimes a bonus.
• When I get to the end of this project, my success won’t be measured in the quantity of pieces produced, but the progress I’ve made exploring these ideas.
• And, getting up every morning to focus on my creativity is an accomplishment, regardless of whether I finish a print or sit and stare at my sketchbook for an hour.

During the past 2 weeks, it’s been easier to remember and reflect on the above points. I’ve had many days of solo parenting, and when my husband returned, he had food poisoning, now my daughter is home from school with a new virus (isn’t it almost May?!), so yeah…..

The progress on my 100-day project has slowed way down. I thought I’d be printing a new large grid of rocks by now, but I’m still cutting stencils for it. (1) It may take another day to get all 14 stencils cut, and that’s OK. I’m still making small progress every day, and in the end, the tortoise wins the 100-day project, right?

(Footnote 1 – I also haven’t finished my printed rocks for Days 57-65, because of poor plate planning. I started a larger floral piece on my 16” x 20” gel plate, not realizing I also needed that plate for the final background layer of my rock stack. Oh well, it’s a good opportunity to work on my patience, also not my strong suit.)