Morning pages are a tool invented by Julia Cameron and introduced to me through a Tim Ferriss video. From Cameron’s website:

Morning Pages are three pages of longhand, stream of consciousness writing, done first thing in the morning. _There is no wrong way to do Morning Pages_– they are not high art. They are not even “writing.” They are about anything and everything that crosses your mind– and they are for your eyes only. Morning Pages provoke, clarify, comfort, cajole, prioritize and synchronize the day at hand. Do not over-think Morning Pages: just put three pages of anything on the page…and then do three more pages tomorrow.

I started writing morning pages a couple of months ago. They’re a fantastic way of getting thoughts out of your head with very little friction. I don’t meditate (even though I should) but I think morning pages may have similar or complementary benefits.

The only requirement is to write 3 pages so you could write out your schedule for the day or your shopping list, but that’s a waste of the opportunity. It’s most helpful to really think about what’s been bouncing around in your head and write it down on paper so you can make sense of it. Writing is thought on paper. Morning pages can help you gain clarity.

I don’t keep my morning pages. They either go in the trash or deleted from my iPad. At most I keep them around until the next morning so I can reflect (mostly about how dumb I was the day before).

The habit of writing morning pages is also a great way of creating content. I’m working on being a net creator, and there’s nothing better than starting off the day by creating 3 pages of content. Some of that content is already turning into blog posts (after lots of editing 🙂).