Delivered November 14, 2025 @ 12:00pm ET

Weather in Bloomington, IN - Sunny and beautiful, 21⁰ C / 69⁰ F 🍁 

Table of Contents

• Junk in your attic?

  • What Are Morning Pages?

  • What’s the Point?

  • Why Longhand Is Key

  • How to Start

My name is Gerry Hays, Founder & CEO of Doriot® (pronounced “Doe-ree-oh”), named after French-born American U.S. General Georges Doriot, the father of Venture Capital. I’m also an author (First Time Founders’s Equity Bible), inventor (U.S. patents for ads on t-shirts, coat checking, and VentureStaking® - pending), and 21-year professor of venture capital and entrepreneurial finance at Indiana University.

Democratize Venture is my platform to explore the venture markets and share the insights, strategies, and frameworks I bring into the classroom. It’s also a way for me to share principles of prosperity — because at the end of the day, venture is a pathway to prosperity.

Junk in your attic?

I don’t know about you, but every once in a while, I get so lost in my head that I can’t tell which way is up and which way is down.

Between social media, the news, and all the noise of everyday life, the mind can start to feel like a cluttered attic — crammed with thoughts, worries, comparisons, fears, unfinished ideas, and self-doubt. If I’m not careful, that junk starts taking up valuable space. And the problem? The longer it stays up there, the more I start ruminating on it — looping on things that don’t serve me.

I’m not alone here, right?

The problem is that the more we dwell on these thoughts, the more they hardwire into our consciousness. And once they’re in there, they don’t just sit quietly — they echo. They start defining how we see ourselves and what we think we’re capable of.

I tell my students this all the time, especially the ones who are stuck or frustrated — trying to land a job, feeling overwhelmed, unsure of where to go next. One thing I’ve learned is that the key to moving forward isn’t just in what you do, but in what you believe. As I mentioned last week, you need a portfolio of core beliefs that empower you — not limit you.

So, what do you do when your attic’s full of mental junk?

There’s a natural way to clean it out. It takes about 45 minutes each morning. It’s simple, but it’s powerful.

It’s called the Morning Pages.

What Are Morning Pages?

First off, I didn’t come up with this. Morning pages is a strategy that came out of the book The Artist’s Way. My wife introduced me to this book several years back when I had hit massive wall.

Morning Pages are handwritten pages you write first thing in the morning. Before the phone. Before emails. Before exercise. Before the day begins.

I wake up early, grab a hot cup of coffee, and I take two sheets of notebook paper and write on all four sides. That’s it.

And no — this is not a journal. You don’t re-read them. You don’t share them. You don’t even have to make them “good.” In fact, the less polished, the better. And it doesn’t matter what you write.

Morning Pages are basically a brain dump — a clearing of the mental clutter. I often refer to it as a “vomit” of thoughts. Not glamorous, but it works.

What’s the Point?

I’m currently in a 30-day session of morning pages that I expect to extend at least another month. Here’s how they’re helping me:

1. They clear my mind.
I wake up with thoughts floating around — some helpful, many not. Morning Pages let me sweep all of that out so I can think clearly. It makes room for more creative and productive energy.

2. They unlock creativity.
I’m surprised at the creative thoughts that come rushing out. They don’t have to be actionable in the immediate moment and they open the door for even more creative thoughts.

3. They quiet my inner critic.
For anyone that suffers from imposter syndrome, the morning pages really help to temper those thoughts down; and

4. They reduce my anxiety.
As an entrepreneur, where you have to lead with faith, not fear, the morning pages help me to look at fear on paper and realize it’s just thoughts, not reality.

Why Longhand Is Key

If you commit to this, you might be tempted to type your pages. Don’t.

Writing by hand is slower — but that’s the point. It grounds you emotionally. Typing puts you in editor mode. Handwriting puts you in feeling mode. It brings you closer to what’s really going on.

And honestly, there’s something satisfying about watching the pages stack up. When I finish a session, I burn them in a firepit, grateful for what they helped me process.

How to Start

Wake up.
Grab a pen and paper.
Write two pages (front and back), by hand. No structure. No agenda. Just write.

If you don’t know what to write, start with:
“This is stupid. I have no clue why I’m doing this. I should be sleeping.”

It doesn’t matter. Just keep writing. Trust me — stuff will come up. And that stuff can be really ugly, but you’d rather get it out of your head and on paper so you can look at it.

You don’t need more productivity hacks.
You need less mental clutter.

Morning Pages are how you get the junk out of the attic. Try it tomorrow morning and keep it up for at least 30 days. You’ll see.

Wishing you a focused and fulfilling weekend,