Using The 3 Things Method for Cartoon Journaling Ideas

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Writing about your life is as easy as 1, 2, 3…

Ever stare at a blank page in your journal and feel like your brain is just…empty?

The three things method gives you an instant list of ideas of what to draw and write about — without overthinking. In your journal, you could choose to express only the difficult, frustrating events from the past day, week, or month, if you want to, but why not break it up and add variety?

I love writing down the challenging parts of life, but reflecting on what I learned also helps.

The past month was full of ups and downs. I’m working on improving my ability to share more of my personal challenges with the world online, but you don’t have to. Your cartoon journaling can be private—just for you.

Here’s what I wrote for each category. It’s written in a cartoon font style, with a little bit of drawing a face or using bubble letters here and there.

3 Things You Liked (From last month)

You don’t need to ‘come up’ with anything. Just react to your own life.

Celebrating twenty years of marriage felt remarkable and pretty surreal. Time moves so fast that stopping to appreciate what you have makes it unique. If I wanted to expand on this answer, I could. My wife and I went to dinner at a Brazilian steak restaurant and had a lovely time eating too many pieces of delicious sliced meat. I didn’t put that down there, but if I see this entry again in a few years, I bet I’ll remember that evening.

I was proud to consistently work on new gag cartoons for my series The Rabbits Next Door and complete thirty-five new comics. These journal prompts do the heavy lifting, you just have to show up with a pen.

3 Things That Annoyed You

Have you ever noticed how compelling stories come from things that annoyed you?

Use that to your advantage — your Cartoon Journal deserves some drama.

In mid-February, everything spiraled downward for me. I got sick, then sick again, and ended up in the hospital. During this time, I was disappointed that none of my more than 1,400 newsletter readers signed up for my online Cartoon Journaling class, which was scheduled for Feb. 19th.

It was a sad time. Life can be that way, though, so having a place to write or draw about it helps. I’ve worked through it all emotionally, but it makes me wonder if and when I should offer a class again.

3 Things You Learned

By listing three things in each category, you’re covering a range of emotions — good, bad, and surprising. That variety makes your journal more interesting and keeps your ideas flowing. Taking a look at it all makes life easier to process.

For example, the next time I want to teach an online drawing class, I can email a short survey to readers and find out what they want to learn the most. Maybe the cost felt too high? Either way, people aren’t interested in paying for my drawing instruction yet, or I need to attract more newsletter subscribers.

Writing out these concerns allows me to make them feel and look real, to fully ‘see’ them.

Imagine flipping through your journal a month from now, seeing your thoughts, feelings, and funny little doodles all in one place. It’s like a time capsule of YOU.

It’s your turn now. Open up your cartoon journal.

What are your 3 Things from last month?