field notes from reality
A JOURNAL FOR MINING MATERIAL FROM LIFE & THE WORLD AROUND YOU
looking at the world differently
Simple tasks to train your observation
This journal is a guided journey through the things that make life interesting — the people around us, the things we believe, the language we use, the experiences that shaped us and the strange behaviours we barely notice.
Each day gives you a new place to look and a simple process for exploring what you find. You won't be asked to sit down and simply be funny. Instead, you'll learn to notice more, question the familiar and turn your discoveries into interesting premises — the raw material from which jokes, stories and original ideas can grow.
Interesting ideas are everywhere
Finding them is the difficult part
Sit down and tell yourself to think of something funny, original or interesting and the world can suddenly feel remarkably empty. Yet every day you're surrounded by material. People behave strangely. Conversations take unexpected turns. We contradict ourselves. We complain about things we've willingly chosen. We inherit beliefs we've never examined. Ordinary words contain strange assumptions. Entire systems operate around us that we've stopped noticing. The problem isn't a lack of material. It's that familiarity makes most of it invisible. We provide you with a tool to direct your attention each day — helping you slow down, notice what's already there and investigate it beyond the first obvious thought. Because before you can develop a great idea, you need something worth developing.
Observe. Explore. Create.
Before every joke, there is an observation.
Every task follows the same simple process: begin with something real, explore it beyond your first interpretation, then use what you discover to create a premise. You might start with a behaviour, conversation, memory, complaint, belief or something that simply doesn't make sense, before questioning why it happens, changing perspective or following the contradictions and assumptions hidden within it. The aim isn't to force a joke or arrive at something finished, but to uncover one clear idea that feels surprising, revealing or full of possibility. You don't have to start with something funny. Start with something interesting.
Nine areas of human experience
Where you may find humour, and perhaps yourself
We naturally pay more attention to some parts of life than others, so the journal deliberately moves your attention across nine different areas: World, Self, Relationships, Philosophy, Perspective, Preferences, Experience & Origins, Language & Meaning, and Body. Together they provide a broad territory for finding material — from the systems operating around you and the people you encounter, to your memories, beliefs, tastes, language and physical experience. The purpose isn't to master each area, but to keep changing where you look, exposing you to observations and ideas you may never have reached by following your usual patterns of thought.
Build a
bank of ideas.
Before every joke, there is an observation.
A single observation might lead nowhere, while another might become something you return to for years. The value comes from accumulating them. This journal helps you build a personal bank of observations, questions and premises drawn from the way you experience the world. Some may become jokes, stories or sketches; others may connect with ideas you discover weeks later. Rather than waiting for inspiration to arrive, you finish with a growing body of raw material that is distinctly your own.
You dont need to be a comedian
You just need somewhere to begin
You don't need a notebook full of jokes, a five-minute set or even the confidence to call yourself a writer. The journal is built for the part that comes before all of that: noticing what catches your attention, following your curiosity and discovering whether there's something in the way you see the world worth developing. Give it one task a day for 30 days and see what you find. Every journal also includes access to the Three Comics Platform, giving you another place to play with ideas, explore comedy tools and continue creating beyond the page.