2. Concentrate Your Mind on the Page

Studies in the workplace show that it takes up to 15 minutes to get your concentration back after a phone call. Just a few interruptions and your day drifts aimlessly away. You may not be a Zen meditator,
but any drill that teaches you to stop your thoughts wandering and to arrive in the ‘here and now’ pays dividends.

Writing pages is a useful concentration habit to develop. This is all you need to do:

Take three sides of paper – A4 size or smaller if you prefer. Write whatever comes into your head. There is no right or wrong way to write, you don’t need to feel inspired by great creative verses.

Just write anything, it’s strictly stream of consciousness stuff:‘Hello blank pages, I haven’t a clue what to write, but I’m writing anyway.’ Continue until you have filled the pages. As if by magic, something useful emerges from the page. Some people write such pages every day; others write them as and when they feel the need.

The discipline of writing your thoughts on a blank page acts as an invaluable brain dump in the morning to quieten the busy and logical part of your mind and get you centred and creative.