A slow morning isn’t lazy. It’s giving your mind a runway instead of a cannon.

Starting at full speed hands the pace of your day to whatever reached you first, which is usually a screen full of other people’s requests. A gradual start is not wasted time; it sets what state you are in when the real demands arrive. Those first twenty minutes have an outsized influence on the rest.

Give yourself a small margin tomorrow, even fifteen minutes, before anything is asked of you. Coffee, a window, getting dressed without a phone in your hand. See whether the day feels different by mid-morning, which is when you could actually tell.