Three Pages in the Morning
The Best Way to Spend the First Half an Hour of the Day
I first learned about morning pages two or three years ago, got super excited about them, and probably tried once or twice, then forgot about it.
Recently I heard Tim Ferriss talking about it in his video on “Taking Notes and Journaling” (link to the video at the end of this post). This time, I realized the value and started. I am writing every day for a week now.
It takes me about 30 mins to complete 3 pages.
It is not exactly the very first thing I do upon waking up, but it is under the first five things, and I am working on getting it closer to the first.
I start writing my morning pages at 9.30 AM — a bit later than I would like to.
I haven’t read any of the pages I have completed and haven’t found any unexpected benefit either. Most of my content is like a journal entry, but I find it much better to write in the morning than late-night (last thing before going to bed).
It allows me to write only about the things that have passed the test of sleep, and it helps me prepare for the day to come.
What are Morning Pages?
Simply put:
Three pages of whatever crosses your mind — that’s all there is to it.
Morning Pages are three pages of longhand, stream of consciousness writing,
done first thing in the morning.
The only thing you need to remember is three pages and first thing in the morning.
Why first thing in the morning?
Because “You are trying to catch yourself before your ego’s defences are in place.”
Why three pages?
The first one-and-a-half pages are to get you started. Where you finish all the little things you could think of. The second page-and-a-half comes harder, but it will be the more important. As you have cleared up the mental cobwebs in the first part.
It is equally important to stop at the end of three pages; to avoid “self-involvement and narcissism”.
But I have no experience with writing !?!
Morning pages are not about how well you can write, it’s not even to show others; the idea is simply to fill up those free blank pages with words.
You don’t need to be creative — think of it as writing your daily Journal.
There is no wrong way to do Morning Pages.
The morning pages are not supposed to sound smart — although sometimes they might. Most times they won’t, and nobody will ever know except you. Nobody is allowed to read your morning pages except you. And you shouldn’t even read them yourself for the first eight weeks or so.
What’s in it for me?
The final and most important question. Why should I spent my precious first half an hour of the day writing anything on paper — while I could be checking social media or sleeping?
Morning pages work as a meditation — to get rid of the clutter in your brain.
It is impossible to write morning pages for any extended period of time without coming into contact with an unexpected inner power.
Morning pages will teach you that your mood doesn’t really matter. Some of the best creative work gets done on the days when you feel that everything you’re doing is just plain junk. The morning pages will teach you to stop judging and just let yourself write. So what if you’re tired, crabby, distracted, stressed? Your artist is a child and it needs to be fed. Morning pages feed your artist child. So write your morning pages.
If you are interested in trying out Morning Pages the information you have by now is more than enough to get started.
I would mention the resources I used to learn about Morning Pages and picked some of the lines in this post from:
