Six and half years ago, I attended the Future of Web Design conference in NYC. The conference provided a swag bag to the attendees that included a small notebook for taking notes. I never used it for taking notes and had it in a drawer all these years. I hadn’t drawn much in 2020 and didn’t want that to happen again in the new year. On January 1, 2021, I decided to use this notebook to sketch anything I wanted. I began drawing random faces, a standard warm-up of mine but ended up drawing a Jawa from Star Wars IV A New Hope. The goal was to draw quickly, 10-30 minutes, and not be too precious with these drawings. Using this random notebook and not a sharp-looking, high-end sketchpad allowed me to be free and avoided the roadblock of perfectionism. There’s something about a new art pad that can be intimidating. There’s a thought that I haven’t ruined it yet with a bunch of bad drawings. What I realized is that it’s better to have a pad fill with bad drawings than no drawings at all. Drawing brings joy into my life. It’s where I go to rest, meditate and recharge. I shared this thought on Instagram with a video of me flipping through the notebook. Regardless of good or bad, the practice of drawing regularly provides you the opportunity to improve your art. Using a notebook that I didn’t care about helped to eliminate the roadblock of perfectionism. It allowed me to be productive and created a series of drawings that brought me joy.