Earlier this month I came across a TikTok video that featured Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way. The video expressed how transformative the book was for their life, and the user recommended every creative to check it out. Curious, I went about checking out from my local library.

The Morning Pages Really Work

Julia Cameron stresses the two pivotal tools in helping people find their creativity. One of them is the Morning Pages. The Morning pages are done in the morning and are meant to be three pages of stream-of-conscious writing. Whatever comes to mind, you write it on the page. It’s supposed to help you get into the habit of writing without feeling so much self-doubt or criticism.

Personally, I did not expect much from the morning pages. I did not think it would make an impact on my daily life. But I was wrong. The very first day after doing them, I felt lighter throughout the day. The clouds that hung over me were gone, and I felt more confident. I don’t know the science behind it, but I can feel its benefits. I’m currently in week 2, and I have yet to miss doing morning pages.

The Artist’s Way Helped Me Realize I Was My Biggest Enemy

Part of the challenge of week 1 is to work through the negative feelings surrounding our creativity. Most of the time, our source of criticism and doubt stems from bad experiences we’ve had with others that made us feel small. These are the enemies to our creativity.

However, I realized that my biggest enemy was myself. I found myself realizing how I tend to judge my work based on my feelings. For a long time, I have had a twisted view of my self-worth. I did not believe in myself or whatever I did. So, whenever I wrote or finished a project, I did not allow myself to feel proud. I was doubtful and brushed it off as something anyone could do.

I did not judge my work objectively. And so, what happened next was that I stopped. I stopped wanting to write and create. This was out of fear and pessimism. However, now that I understand this, I’m able to recognize it for what it is. It’s unfounded doubt. There’s no reason for me to listen to it. This might be obvious to you, reader, but it’s hard to recognize these things personally. Yet now I feel more confident in pursuing my creativity and putting myself out there.

Jumpstarted My Productivity

The last point I’ll make about my week 1 experiences, is that I have become more productive. Beginning this new journey has me wanting to be better. And I realized that in order to make the most of my creativity and time, I needed to build better productivity habits.

One way I went about building better habits is making the most of Notion. I’ll do a separate blog post on this, but I have found Notion to be incredibly helpful in how I manage my time. I’ve used Notion to break up the different parts of my life and create dedicated space to them. There’s something about having a specific place for a hobby or project that allows you to sharpen your focus. It’s become a place where I can put my goals, daily schedule, and random scribbles all in one place. It’s given my daily life order. Order that I didn’t know I needed.

Going Forward with The Artist’s Way

I am very excited to continue working through The Artist’s Way. I’ll be posting my weekly experiences and reflections to document my progress. I hope you, dear reader, find it to be inspirational for your own creative journey, or make you want to check out the book as well.

Have you read Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way? What was your experience like? Sound off below! I’d love to read it!

Pick up your own copy of The Artist’s Way here at Barnes & Noble!