Wake up and let your thoughts flow before consuming any content.

Reading texts, emails, news, or social media in the morning interrupts the flow of creative thoughts that emerge in the morning. I've noticed that as soon as I connect myself with the external world through digital mediums of any kind, my mind begins to mull over and digest that content. This may take the form of remembering an image from a social media post, considering what funny thing to say in response to a friend, or what my calendar looks like to see if I can fit in a meeting -- all as I'm writing or doing some task that I want my undivided focus on. These distracting thoughts are micro context switches -- the brain diverges from its focal point and disperses energy that can otherwise be put towards the task at hand.

I've always liked the idea of writing morning pages per Julia Cameron -- allowing whatever thoughts are in the mind to flow and clear first thing in the morning. I haven't done the practice in over a decade, but I recall consistently doing it leads to some degree of mental clarity and a greater ease in creative output. The downside I experienced with it was sometimes getting led to an emotional trap where my thoughts may be looping in a negative pattern, and the morning pages reinforced that pattern by having it written out. On the other hand, I can see the practice of writing out one's demons might expose them for what they are -- thoughts, often irrational, illogical, and unworthy of our credence.