1. Done is better than perfect

Just do the thing you want to do as consistently as you can.

“Done is better than perfect” and sometimes ‘done’ is just doing it as best you can. Not every day, without fail. Not always first thing in the morning. Not three pages (as Julia Cameron, creator of Morning Pages stipulates). Just do the thing you want to do as consistently as you can.

2. Know why you do something

I may be no further along my enlightened path to creativity, but I don’t think that’s my goal anymore.

Know what you get from something and why you do it. Julia Cameron might tell us that doing your three pages of Morning Pages every day is the key to unlocking your inner creativity. I couldn’t tell you if that’s what it’s done for me — but I know what value I get from it, even in the simple fact that it makes me feel different. I may be no further along my enlightened path to creativity, but I don’t think that’s my goal anymore.

3. It doesn’t have to be tangible

Writing my Morning Pages makes me feel different — that’s all I can say.

Impact doesn’t have to be tangible to be felt or to be valuable. Writing my Morning Pages makes me feel different — that’s all I can say. I have no idea if anything tangible has come out of it (other than the 200 journal entries!) — and I really don’t care to know. I am simply very aware that doing it feels good and I feel better when I know that I’m sticking to this loose habit of mine.

4. Achievement is a construct

I feel a sense of achievement… and I feel proud of that achievement.

We have some influence in how we gain a feeling of achievement. There is no inherent ‘achievement’ in sometimes writing my Morning Pages. Another person might think it’s all completely pointless and may not be able to find any potential for ‘achievement’ in it. But, in my world, I feel a sense of achievement — on a macro level, in the way I have developed a practice, but also each time I write a single Morning Pages entry — and I feel proud of that achievement. Purpose, I believe, is a construct and perhaps achievement is too. We can set our own goals and give ourselves cause to feel a sense of progress and pride, where perhaps we might not have seen any opportunity to do so. Don’t let anyone tell you your ‘thing’ isn’t valuable — find achievement in spaces that mean something to you.

5. Write to write

Remove the judgement; just write.

I sometimes think that my Morning Pages shouldn’t just be a stream of consciousness. I’m a writer – and, these days, an author – and I felt a certain kind of pressure that comes with that. If this is supposed to be leading me on a path of creative enlightenment, shouldn’t I be trying to write something… impressive? Or at least trying to improve my writing craft? Except, that doesn’t feel like what I need when I put my pen to my journal pages, and it doesn’t feel authentic. For me, the best thing to do is to get some words – my words – on the page. It doesn’t matter what they are. Know your goals, know why you’re doing it, remove the judgement; just write.

6. Try things you don’t think you can do

I’m glad I started it, even (and especially) when I thought I’d never manage it.

When I started Morning Pages (possibly two to three years ago now), I called each entry an ‘attempt’ because I doubted that I would ever stick with it. I’d tried (with little determination) and failed in the past. I was sure that this time would be no different, and, if I didn’t stick with it, at least I’d have called it already and pre-empted my ‘failure’ by reducing it all to just an ‘attempt’. Well, I proved myself wrong. I’m glad I started it, even (and especially) when I thought I’d never manage it.

7. Writing (for me) is clarity

Writing my Morning Pages… has brought newness.

More than ever, continuing my journaling practice (which started as just ‘writing my diary’ when I was twelve years old; I miss the innocent nostalgia of a ‘diary’) has shown me that I gain clarity from writing my thoughts down. It helps me sift though what’s in my head to understand myself and my thoughts more clearly. It helps me find thoughts that I never knew were there. I’ve had more ideas, as a result. Sometimes these are ideas that I can breathe life into in a tangible form; other times, they’re mini epiphanies, realisations, a new way of working through something, a decision I might not have made otherwise. Writing my Morning Pages (and my diary/journal, more broadly) has brought newness — one that seems to only come from the clarity that writing brings.

8. There’s nothing like writing with a pen on paper

Starting your day moving a pen across paper, is grounding and calming.

No AI will ever replace that feeling. Starting your day moving a pen across paper, is grounding and calming. It feels like inhaling a big gulp of air. I will always love it.