A habit that will make your day way more productive

The three-morning page is a concept that was introduced by the amazing author Julia Cameron in her book The Artist’s Way.

The idea is to write 3 pages of longhand flowable writing when you first wake up in the morning, you shouldn’t write something authentic or poetic, or even anything that makes actual sense, just write what comes to your mind. Dedicate a notebook for that habit, try to commit as much as you can, and you will notice a life-changing difference in your life!

You can watch Julia giving a very brief idea about how morning pages work here.

When the author was asked about why she was into morning pages, she simply replied that she wants to get to the other side every morning.

What she meant here is that she believes this habit will make us connected with our fears, concerns, and thoughts, however random, unnecessary, or silly they may be.

The idea here is that you spill everything that fogs your mind on a daily basis, like your job distress, your relationships’ turbulence, or your monthly installments, you vent out those thoughts on your morning pages and then you go out with your day with less stress and a clear mind unbothered by any unneeded outliers, making you much more present and useful throughout your day.

You may think of it as a type of meditation, meditation comes in many forms and one of them is writing. It’s a type of reflective writing where a person can connect with his mind for personal improvement.

From a personal experience, as someone who loves writing, I was shocked at first as I couldn’t really find anything to write in the first couple of days. But with time it got easier and easier. I once wrote about my dream; the other day I wrote about how excited I am for my friend’s wedding.

And just like that, I developed the habit of writing 3 full morning pages. On heavy days at work, I usually write in the morning about what makes me worried and anxious. I discovered that this writing manner gave me two benefits.

First, it feels like I am somehow facing my worries, which made me feel more connected to them, and that surprisingly made them feel less intimidating to me, or in other words, made me feel like they are not that big of a deal.

The other thing I noticed is that I go to work with a mental to-do list, because I tackled my concerns before while I was writing the pages, and had an idea of how this day can go in an easy way. That to-do list made my days way more pleasant, organized, and effective.

So if you are like me and many others, suffering from occasional, heavy, and stressful working days, I highly recommend the 3-morning pages. Honestly, it began to feel like a ritual to me!

There is no wrong way to write the morning pages but let’s begin with some recommendations Julia gave in her book for having the most with this activity.

You shouldn’t write anything smart, It may actually turn out to be something really artistic but that shouldn’t be your initial goal.

No one should read your morning pages, not even you, for at least 8 weeks.

Write anything that comes to your mind, literally anything. For example, “Today I have a lot of things to do, my job .. my cat’s food …” Even when you come to a mental block and you feel like you really can’t write anything, you can start by “I don’t know what to write here, I don’t know why it feels hard doing ….” etc.

Don’t give up easily, getting out of bed and throwing yourself at writing will be hard to get used to at first. But you should persist in doing them for at least 30 days to be able to turn the whole thing into a habit.

Julia recommends writing using your hand, not through typing as writing will feel more personal and will help you to be more connected to what you write.

It’s advised to do it first thing in the morning because we are the most vulnerable when we wake up, our egos and self-consciousness are still sleeping and then will arise through the day. So doing it midday or in the evening would not be as effective.

Avoid short pages, 8.5x11 or A4 papers are ideal.

Morning pages are for everyone, lawyers, business people, dancers, and even housewives. Everyone can benefit from this practice.

Julia wrote a follow-up book named The Miracle of Morning Pages: Everything You Always Wanted To Know. but I recommend reading The Artist’s Way first.