Julia Cameron's morning pages habit means writing three pages of stream-of-consciousness first thing each morning. The speaker uses half-size paper and finds that even 10 minutes clears mental clutter and builds momentum for the day, comparing it to a warm-up before physical exercise.
Write morning pages. I learned this practice from Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way, where in which you write for 3 pages first thing in the morning. You just put your pen down and you just keep on going. Now I cheat a little bit. I use these half-size pieces of paper. So I wind up writing about 400 words over the course of 3 pages. And I gotta tell you, my handwriting is often illegible, but oh man, does it unlock me and gets me going to have momentum into the rest of my day. You may have heard before that you should be doing some writing at the beginning of your day. You should be using it for creative pursuits. And I think that's really important, but one of the most important bits of writing at the very beginning of your day is just get the ass out, get yourself moving. There are physical ways to do that with exercise, but I think a great intellectual way to do that is this practice of morning pages. I totally recommend to everyone. It's okay to do it small, but I recommend you doing it. It's the best 10 minutes you'll spend in the morning.
