Braxton Sanchez 🥉

I do 3x10 minute sprints because anything longer melts my brain. First block is chord flips with an index card that says G C D and I slide a coin each rep. Second block is strum-only on muted strings while watching the oven timer tick because the click keeps me honest. Third block is the song of the week with a cap on two mistakes before I reset. I track wins with a cheap sticker sheet on the case so I do not chase perfect, just stickers.

The trick is to make drawing the default, not a project: one small sketchbook and one pen or pencil, parked where you already unwind, and a 20-minute timer. My nightly flow is simple: 3 minutes of line and circle warm-ups, 12 minutes on a tiny prompt, 5 minutes to date the page and jot one sentence about what felt easy or hard. To kill decision fatigue, prefill a 30-prompt list on a sticky note and cycle it—mug, keys, shoe, plant, hand, chair, corner of the room, profile from a photo, folded cloth, spoon, crumpled paper, etc. If you hate lists, do a weekly theme like kitchen week or hands week, so each night you draw whatever fits that theme without thinking. End each session before you're totally satisfied; leaving something unfinished makes it easier to come back tomorrow. For progress tracking, use a paper calendar taped inside the sketchbook cover: star sticker for a full 20 minutes, dot for a 2-minute minimum, blank for a true rest day. On Sunday, spend five minutes flipping through and snap one photo into a Month Sketches album; at month's end, compare week 1 and week 4 to see line confidence and proportions improving. Build a tired-day safety net: the two-minute rule—draw the contour of your non-dominant hand, or one object on the nearest table, then you're allowed to stop guilt-free. Add two skip tokens per week so rest is planned, not a failure; burn them only when you're fried. A tiny ritual helps motivation—a specific playlist or cup of tea—so your brain associates that cue with we draw now, and because the tools and prompts are fixed, you spend your energy on marks, not choices.

Ugh, I keep packing lunch and then leaving it on the counter next to my keys I also lost. Last week I even found Tuesday's chili in my backpack on Friday, which was… expensive to forget. What helps: freeze half the portions right away and keep a stash of shelf-stable sides at work (rice cups, tuna, nuts) so if I forget, I'm not buying takeout. Label dates big, because I never remember what's in the mystery tub. Also put a sticky note on the door and set an alarm named GRAB LUNCH, because my brain refuses to be helpful.