Welcome to week three of my little experiment of one. I figured out last week that reserving time for “fun activities” wasn’t in my best interest, so I was much more excited for this one. My routine looked like this:
6:55 Wake-up
7:00 Make lemon water, feed cats, drink water while tea was brewing
7:10 Once the tea was complete, sit down to write morning pages
7:35 Once morning pages are complete, make breakfast and do whatever
8:30 Get to work!
Your first question is probably going to be “what’s morning pages?” The simple answer is that its three handwritten pages of, well, brain dump. I used it mostly as a journal and to just write whatever came to my head. This concept was conceived by Julia Cameron, in her book The Artist’s Way. It’s said to lead to clearer and more creative thinking, even for people who aren’t creatives; in the book one example that stuck out to me was a lawyer who claimed it helped him do better in the courtroom.
There are some rules to get the most out of morning pages. One, they need to be done as soon as you wake up in the morning. The idea is to get your own voice out before the critic in your head has a chance to wake up (you know we all have one). Two, they be handwritten, and in an 8.5 x 11 in notebook. Three, you can not go back and read your morning pages, at least not for 12 weeks. Mine are probably illegible, as I have scribble scratch handwriting, especially first thing in the morning. Then there are tips to make it easier: like using a wide ruled notebook instead of a college ruled. (I found this article from BuzzFeed is a great explainer, and this article is nice for solving some rookie mistakes.)
Personally, I found that I loved morning pages. My brain tends to death spiral sometimes, and I’ve always found that journaling or getting it down on paper was a great way to stop the spiral. This was a great way to clear my brain before doing other things, like writing or programming. I noticed my focus improved the entire week, as did my mental state.
One of the best parts about this morning routine is its simplicity. I have 4 tasks to do in the morning, and once they’re complete, I’m good to do what I want. That could be taking a walk or reading a book, but all this past week I wrote stuff for my blog. It was a nice, simple routine, that could be modified and scaled back if I wanted to throw something else in there, such as a workout.
Honestly, I’m planning on sticking with this routine as long as I’m working from home. Once I start working in the office, I’ll need to re-examine my routine, but for now, this is what I’m going with. The simplicity, flexibility, and focus provided suits me, as does the mental relief it provides. Overall, I’m happy that I did this experiment, and encourage each of you to try different morning routines if you don’t have one yet that suits you!
Storylines & Sunshine 