Morning pages revisited 📖
How to get started with mindful mental garbage collection
In programming, there’s a concept called “Garbage Collection.” Simply put, it’s what a program needs to do to free up memory, the space of things it can access to run correctly. Sometimes things get stuck in memory and can’t be garbage collected, even though the program doesn’t need to access them anymore. Then there’s a risk of these things taking up all the space and crashing the program because it doesn’t have room for more stuff.
Yes, this is a metaphor for you and your brain – or mind.
One of the most transformative habits I’ve built lately is beginning the day by sitting down and filling up 3 pages of handwriting in my notebook1. I wrote about it in my post about morning routines but thought I should report back since I’ve managed to do it consistently for over 1,5 months (hurray for me). I got started because my partner sent me this interview (in Norwegian) with Ida Jackson. This is definitely an “it worked for me!” kind of thing, but I think it’s worth a try. So, this is what worked for me.
Use habit stacking and rewards
Since I’ve written about habits (behind a paywall, sorry, not sorry), I was able to take those learnings into practice. At the start, I made sure that the notebook and pen were ready when I woke up. I didn’t have to look for them. Then I inserted this activity into some habits I’d already started: Getting my face ready for the day and drinking a cup of coffee.
The coffee part also served as a sort of reward. Yes, I might be a caffeine addict, but I still find sitting down with that first cup of coffee in the morning immensely hyggelig. I know that it’s something I’ll make sure to prioritize. Then it was mostly a matter of switching out scrolling on the phone with writing. And this would be the tricky part (but it helps to be on a healing roll).
Delayed scroll gratification
The morning pages practice works best if I haven’t unlocked my iPhone to take it whatever work chat, Twitter, news, or what else it offers. That my raw thoughts and emotions haven’t been “kidnapped” by whatever my transcontinental colleagues have been up to since I went to bed or what the algorithms find meaningful to show me. Not scrolling before writing was the most challenging part of this habit-forming. Because I use my phone as my alarm clock, and since I have started my days scrolling on it for over a decade.
I started putting down my phone away from the bed so that I had to get out of bed to turn off the alarm and use that momentum to just get out to the bathroom. Later, I started using my smart watch (because I do like to snooze – sue me) and a good old mechanical alarm clock.
I’ve also tried to change my mental model: My morning state of mind is precious. It’s something that I want to “protect” from whatever is on my phone. It’s something I want to save for my morning pages.
This habit took a while to practice, and sometimes I still forget and find myself scrolling before getting out of bed.
Use pen and paper
Use pen and paper. Don’t get tempted to sit down on your keyboard. Yes, you’ll find that your thoughts might go faster than your hand manages to transcribe them, but that’s also the point. It doesn’t matter if your handwriting isn’t legible because you’re probably not going to read whatever you wrote afterward. You think differently when you’re writing by hand, and you won’t get distracted by whatever else is on your computer. You don’t need to get a fancy notebook either unless that is something that makes you happy and works as a reward. And if you happen to be without your notebook, use the paper you can find.
Don’t overthink it – literally
If you have managed to sit in front of your notebook or whatever paper you’re writing, write whatever comes to mind. What happened yesterday? How are you feeling right now? Are you stressed? Why? Are you content? Why? Is there something you need to do today that seems important? Why? Is there a bunch of things you need to do today? Write them down and move on. My pages often end up being a diary of what happened the day before and what I think about the things that happened. And sometimes it’s just that mind-dump (aka garbage collection) of different things I find stressful.
And writing down things I find stressful allows me to interrogate them and then find them less stressful. And that’s super useful.
I’ve also found that morning pages allow me to practice gratitude and deal with my own bullshit, so other people don’t have to. In other words, I’ll write down something that irritates me to find out that it’s well within my power to deal with it by changing my attitude or decide not to care.
When you forgot or got distracted
An important part of habit-forming is not to be too hard on yourself or get caught up in the how and not the why. Yes, it’s called “morning pages,” and it’s definitively a great way to start the day. But that’s not always possible or practical. I have my dogs and me to think about (and they like to snooze even more than I do). You might have kids or other obligations that will demand your morning attention. But that’s OK. You can do these pages later. And it’s better to do one page than none. As Ida points out in the interview, you can buy a small notebook.
I find writing beyond the 2nd page often challenging because it feels like I’ve written everything that was on my mind, but it’s pressing through where the interesting stuff often trickles up from the underskirts of your mind. But if it doesn’t, that’s OK. There will be stuff there the next day. It’s enough that you spent time doing something great for yourself.
Are you already writing morning pages? Do you have other “tricks” or experiences that have helped you? What worked or didn’t work? You can reply to this email or write in the comment section – I’d love to know!
I bought a deep blue Moleskine dotted notebook as a treat after the habit had caught on.
A great start to the day! Habit forming and positive ones are essential and I think you've found a really good way of putting that into action. As you mention, writing literally gives you the framework to focus. A pen and notebook are indeed some of the best tools and technologies we have when it comes to bringing ourselves back to the simple essence of 'being'. We are present, attentive to our thoughts and feelings and we are active. Writing with a pen and paper is a simple means for being with oneself. Dump that garbage. I like the metaphor. I have another one. My writings are like suitcases, baggage that I constantly drag around with me everywhere I go. I'm learning to unpack, throw out, forget even and indeed travel with the bare minimum. My habits, and I have recently put my memory to good use in remembering those habits (I'm getting old), are becoming almost rituals. And like you, the coffee is a welcome morning moment. I like to add the tea late morning too - a ritual, a ceremony, a celebration even, of those simple pleasures.
Thank you for writing this post and wishing you more ink to paper and less garbage heaps.