Why I’m Obsessed with Generative AI for My Journal Illustrations

Many of you have likely leveraged generative AI for brainstorming, crafting notes, or other creative projects. But have you considered using it to animate your journal entries? I was intrigued to see how this approach would work, and the outcome was truly impressive.

What Did I Create Using Generative AI?

To ensure a fair evaluation, I provided multiple notes and scenarios for the AI to illustrate.

1. My Aspirations for Next Year

I have set ambitious goals for 2025, and I typically spend a lot of time visualizing them— or as I like to put it, “my mind drifts in many directions.” I’ve worked hard to overcome procrastination and start pursuing my objectives, but I was curious to see how Adobe Firefly would interpret those goals.

Here’s the prompt I submitted:

My aspirations for 2025 include achieving a high level of financial stability, committing to five CrossFit workouts weekly, and maintaining optimal mental health through consistent journaling and meditation practices. I’m also aiming to reach a C1 level in spoken Danish and start winter bathing at least twice a week. Additionally, I plan to consume a diet comprising 90% unprocessed foods and further limit my media consumption.

Your task, should you choose to accept it, is to create an illustration that encapsulates these goals, allowing me to visualize them whenever I wish. Please ensure the image contains no text.

The image created was stunning and perfectly aligned with my vision—I have a strong passion for hiking and want to immerse myself more in nature next year.

I also tested the prompt in ChatGPT, but it didn’t yield the specific results I was hoping for and it included some text, much of which was unreadable. This was despite my awareness of the generative AI’s difficulties with text generation.

2. The Progress I’ve Achieved Recently

I’m highly goal-oriented, yet I sometimes overlook my victories. To remind myself of my recent achievements, I prompted Adobe Firefly with the following:

In the last few months, I’ve made numerous new friends. I’ve become more consistent with my workouts and have cut my screen time to under an hour a day. Additionally, I now regularly meditate and journal. I’m proud of these accomplishments and would like to visualize them. Could you create an image of someone journaling while working on a significant goal?

Clearly, it seems that Firefly shares my love for mountains…

I realized with my prompt that specificity is key; the image displayed above came from my fourth attempt. Using a structured approach to AI prompts would have simplified this process.

3. My Weekly Check-In

Although I’m efficient at completing tasks, I could improve my weekly evaluations. To address this, I’ve started scheduling time for weekly reviews, and I asked Firefly to illustrate my latest review:

I would like an image that showcases my recent week. This week, I kept up with four workouts, enrolled in a new business software tool for my travel blog, and successfully implemented my new weekly schedule. Could you generate an image that reflects all this?

Let’s just say the current weather I’m experiencing certainly doesn’t feel like beach weather. Nonetheless, I think this image effectively represents my review…

4. My Focus Areas

Having numerous ideas is a double-edged sword; while it fosters creativity, it can sometimes lead to overlooking key areas of focus. Thus, I thought it would be beneficial to have generative AI visualize my current priorities.

Here’s the prompt I provided:

My current focus should be on: gym activities, expanding my business, and learning a new language. Please create an image featuring a laptop, notepad, and kettlebells.

The resulting image was simple yet effective…

This illustration effectively captured my current focus areas simply and clearly, encouraging me to enhance my task management and productivity.

Why I Found This Exercise Enjoyable

Despite the more challenging aspect of designing prompts, I genuinely enjoyed this exercise for several reasons.

1. Better Visualization of My Personal Goals

I believe that visualization is one of the most powerful techniques for achieving objectives. Believing in your ability to realize something is crucial, and having a visual representation of what you desire can significantly enhance that belief.

Many of my visions remain abstract, making it undeniably helpful to see a more organized representation of them. I intend to use Firefly again to refine these visualizations in the near future.

2. Bringing My Progress to Life

In addition to looking forward, I found value in this exercise for illustrating what I have recently accomplished. It reinforces the notion that my progress is often more significant than I perceive. This can be especially impactful during annual reviews when reflecting on substantial advancement in specific areas.

Similar to visualizing my aspirations, I plan to revisit these illustrations approximately every three months. Doing so will help remind me of my continued progress as I strive for the next level.

3. Recognizing Weekly Patterns

An interesting observation I made during weekly reviews is that each week has its unique characteristics. Naturally, there are peaks and valleys, and often a recurring theme ties all your experiences together.

By employing AI to generate images from my weekly reviews, I find it easier to identify those themes for each week. It could be enjoyable to look back a year from now if I maintain this habit.

AI can bring your ideas to life and serve as an effective tool for illustrating your notes and journal entries. These visualizations can help highlight both positive and negative phases in your journey, making it easier for you to move forward.