A few weeks ago, I was sitting on the couch in my living room with a bunch of my creative supplies. I had my yellow pouch with some pens, new Mildliner Mix highlighters, a couple of Currently List cards, and my notebook.
Basically the same stuff I’ve had for the past few months.
I wanted to get something down in my notebook, because it had been a while since I had actually made anything at all, so I started where I usually start: with a Currently List journaling card.
Last week, I showed you the small kit I’ve put together so I can create in the living room. It’s easy to grab when Charlie is napping, and it’s easy to put away when she wakes up. The Currently List cards are in there because they’re one of the easiest ways for me to start making.
A blank notebook page has infinite possibilities. A Currently List gives you very specific parameters.
You don’t need to worry about what your subject is, what you’re journaling about, or what you’re going to fill the pages with.
If you’re working on a two-page spread, like I usually am, you can pair the card with anything on the opposing page. A photo, stickers, patterned paper, gel prints, some more words. Whatever you’ve got on hand
You can also stick down the card, add one sticker, and be done.
I know because that’s exactly what I’ve done.
A while back—definitely before COVID, but after I had started making in small notebooks—I went a couple of weeks without making anything for myself, not even a single page. I was feeling sad and guilty and like a little bit of a creative failure.
I finally picked up one of my Currently List journaling cards and filled it out. I stuck it down on the page and put a sticker on the other side. And that was that.
I had made something again, and it was relatively painless.
The same seven prompts
Currently List started on December 31, 2011. I wanted something I could use as simple, repeatable weekly journaling throughout my 2012 Project Life album, so I came up with seven prompts:
watching
reading
listening
making
feeling
planning
loving
I haven’t changed them because, why?
Early on, I made a journaling card that people could use digitally or print at home. Then I had the cards made in physical form. I’ve got multiple Currently List journaling stamps. I’ve made stickers with the prompts too.
I encourage people to change the prompts if that works better for them. Keeping these same seven prompts week after week, year after year, is what works for me.
For years, I filled out a Currently List every Monday during Daily Pages. Since I didn’t do Daily Pages on Saturday or Sunday, it was my way to ease back into the week. It became automatic.
It was also an easy way to chat with everyone who showed up to the Daily Pages livestream. Watching is the first question on the list, and I love talking about television.
Watching is almost always my favorite prompt. I love having a record of what I’ve actually had on the TV. Reading and listening are usually easy too. I list whatever books, podcasts, audiobooks, or music I’ve been into.
Sometimes I have to think a little longer about feeling or loving. It’s easy to come up with a generic answer—I’m feeling good, fine, or bad—but most of the time I try to push myself to be just a little bit more specific.
I try not to skip prompts. But, once in a while, I’m not currently reading anything, especially around headache times. When that happens, I cross out the reading prompt and let my watching list come down a little farther.
Looking back at old lists
I pulled out a few old Currently Lists while I was working on this email.
On one from 2019, before I had even started the Daily Pages Livestream—I wrote that I was watching Watchmen and rewatching Dark. I was reading “manuals for stuff,” (no idea what stuff), listening to “so much music,” and making food.
I was feeling like I spent too much money on shipping. I was loving The Awesome Ladies.
Under planning, I wrote “ALP 2020.”
That one is funny to look at now. I was making plans for 2020 with absolutely no idea how much everything would change once the pandemic started in March.
Another list says I was loving “everybody except the lawn mower next door.” Everyone around us hires out their lawn care, and those ride on mowers are SO loud; especially when I’m trying to record.
I’m glad I wrote that down. It’s such a specific, regular-life complaint. I can immediately put myself back exactly where I was—standing at my desk, trying to record the livestream, and just listening to the neighbors’ getting their grass cut.
Your answers do not have to be special. Boring things done over and over again become something really cool without needing every single piece to be special.
The pages have changed over the years too. My older lists are generally decorated less. Once I had a full half-hour to make during Daily Pages Live, they got a lot more artsy.
Sometimes I put a Currently List on a full scrapbook page. Sometimes it goes into a pocket page, my December Daily, Week in the Life, or a Book of Me album. I’ve made stamped lists, sticker lists, handwritten lists, digital lists, and entire mini-books filled with Currently prompts. I’ve even talked through the prompts out loud on my podcast.
One time, when I was feeling super stuck and hadn’t created meaningfully in a few weeks, I decided to make a full week of Currently Lists. I put them in a mini-book with paper in shades of the rainbow and a Currently card on every page.
It gave me something to create each day without having to come up with a new subject every time. That was enough to help me get back into a regular routine.
My September 2026 list
This month, I filled out my Currently List digitally.
At night, I’m usually sitting on the couch in our media room, watching TV with Jeff, and my iPad Mini next to me. That’s where I do most of my digital art. My studio is right next door, but I don’t want to get off the couch every time I want something. And more than anything, I sure don’t want to put everything away every night either.
I opened a JPG version of the card in Procreate and wrote directly on it with my Apple Pencil.
Here’s what I wrote:
watching: NFL Week 1, Lanterns, Lupin, and food YouTube
reading: football and the news
listening: Harry Potter 6 and music playlists
making: journal pages and summer produce
feeling: headachey and sore
planning: visiting with Mom, Dad, and Lauren, and ALL ’27
loving: spending time with Jeff and Charlie
I love the colors and how easy it was to do on the iPad. I got to write each answer in a different color without needing to carry around seven different pens.
It’s also easy for me to fill out a Currently List when I’m having a headache time. The prompts are already there. I’ve literally been doing them for a decade and a half, I know exactly what’s on there. It’s easy to just write a few words and still get something about my life documented.
This particular list will help me remember the TV shows I was watching, how I was feeling, and the little things going on in the middle of raising an infant.
The format says a lot too. It says what I’ve got time for. It says where I’m creating and what I’ve got with me.
Fill out a Currently List
Here are the prompts again:
watching
reading
listening
making
feeling
planning
loving
You can download a free Currently List at theawesomeladiesproject.com/currently.
You can print the card or use it digitally. You can stamp the prompts, write them in your notebook, put them in your calendar, or jot your answers down on a Post-it. It doesn’t need to have a final special home.
If I had to make one in the laziest possible way tonight, I would grab a physical Currently List card and write one-word answers.
Any work you do is useful. There is no minimum that qualifies you for being done. You can answer three prompts. You can use one-word answers. You can literally just think about the answers if that’s all you have the brainpower for this week.
You’re going to think of so many cool ways to do this. Don’t wait until the perfect circumstances arrive (they never will), and don’t try to create your ideal version the first go-around.
Let it be imperfect.
For this week, I want you to fill out one Currently List. Once you answer the questions, you can stop. If you do it digitally, feel free to share it online. If you do it physically, feel free to snap a photo and share that.
Or just do it and chill.
Next week, we’re going to create a page in our notebooks. This week, filling out your Currently List is enough.
Additional Resources:
I LOVE making a Currently List on Monday's it's simple, no over thinking, I can dress it up if I have time or 'not' and it's an ideal page either way. Lately, I've played with making stickers of images of books, shows, movies, or even pages I've made, and making a visual list which makes for a fun little spread. Thanks for the inspiration!
this is simply wonderful idea! I get so pulled in different directions and forget what I'm even doing. Downloading this and printing it off right now. You also reminded me that I have a zine kind of in this area called 'New, Weird and Interesting: The Staying Motivated Sidekick Zine', maybe I should do a little post about it too :)