Morning journal prompts
Morning journal prompts help you start the day on purpose instead of on your phone. A good morning entry takes about five minutes: it clears what's already in your head, names how you want to show up, and picks the one thing that matters most today.
How to use these. Write before you check messages. Pick one prompt from each of the first three groups. On a rushed morning, use the one-line group and go.
Clear your head
Some mornings start with yesterday's leftovers. Get them out before they set the tone.
What's already on my mind this morning, before I've looked at my phone?
Answer this with JoyWhat did I dream or wake up thinking about, and does it need anything from me today?
Answer this with JoyHow you want to show up
A to-do list says what you'll do. An intention says how you'll be while you do it.
Today I want to be the kind of person who ___, especially when ___.
Answer this with JoyWho will I see today, and how do I want them to feel after talking with me?
Answer this with JoyWhat's one word for how I want to move through today: steady, curious, patient, brave, something else?
Answer this with JoyThe one thing
Most days have one task that would make the rest feel lighter. Find it before email finds you.
If I only got one thing done today, which would make tonight feel like a good day?
Answer this with JoyLook forward to something
Give the day one thing to look forward to. Small is fine.
What's one thing today I'm looking forward to, however small: the coffee, a call, the walk home?
Answer this with JoyWhat small thing could I add to make today a little better: a song, a stretch, a text to someone?
Answer this with JoyOne line, for rushed mornings
For the days you have 60 seconds and a coat half on.
Give the task a time and a place
"When and where exactly" may be the most useful question on this page.
Unfinished tasks tend to keep pulling at your attention until you make a plan for them. People who made a specific plan for an unfinished goal were no longer distracted by it during later tasks, across a set of experiments.1 A vague "I'll get to the report" keeps nagging all morning. "Report, 10 a.m., kitchen table, phone in the other room" can rest.
The question about what will get in the way is an if-then plan, and deciding in advance when, where and how to act made follow-through noticeably more likely across 94 tests in a review of that research.2
Example entry: "On my mind: the thing Ray said at dinner. Energy: 5. Intention: be patient, especially when the kids are slow getting out. One thing: the grant draft, 9:30, library, phone in bag. In the way: wanting to check email first. If so, I'll write one paragraph before I open it. Looking forward to: lunch with Bea."
- Clear: What's already on your mind, and your energy from 0 to 10.
- Intend: How you want to show up today, in one sentence.
- Plan: The one thing, with a time, a place and a backup for what gets in the way.
Morning pages, honestly
The head-clearing group borrows from Julia Cameron's morning pages.3 Plenty of people swear by them. We looked for a controlled trial of morning pages themselves and couldn't find one, so they're a practice to try on its own merits.
If three pages is too much, five minutes of the same thing is fine.
If mornings are the hardest part
If you wake up dreading the day most mornings, or anxiety is worst right after waking, keep the entry short and gentle and see the journal prompts for anxiety. Low mood that sits heaviest in the morning, week after week, is worth raising with someone who can help.
Questions people ask about morning journaling
What should I write in my morning journal?
What's on your mind, how you want to show up today, and the one thing you'll do, with a time next to it. Five minutes.
Is it better to journal in the morning or at night?
They do different jobs. A morning entry chooses the day; an evening one closes it. If you only pick one, choose the time you'll keep, and the evening prompts are there for the other end.
What are morning pages?
Three handwritten pages of free writing, done first thing, from Cameron's book The Artist's Way.3 There's no rule about content. You write whatever comes until the three pages are full, then stop.
Related
In the journaling section: evening journal prompts, affirmations for the morning and motivation journal prompts.