It’s almost 11 o’clock as I take my first sip of coffee. I’ve been up since eight, but I feel like there’s a lot more to accomplish before I can even think about getting to work. There is the business of finishing the coffee and the English muffins with strawberry jam; there are groceries to be bought, especially deli meats for lunch and fruits to keep things healthy; I need to swing by Union Market to pick up a pound of their ground coffee beans for the office; and I still have to make and pack my lunch before heading for Midtown.

These are all things that can easily be avoided. I can choose to go directly to the office, perhaps pick up some rotisserie chicken-with-two-sides combo from across the street for lunch, and there’s nothing wrong with coffee beans from Starbucks. I can be at my desk a good two full hours ahead of time, get started on my work right away, and have enough done by lunchtime to feel productive.

But I’d rather take things slowly when I can. These mornings have become a sort of sacred ritual for me, starting with a good forty minute routine at the gym to work up an appetite followed by a few minutes at the laptop reading the Times and ESPN. I’ll be mindful of work-related email as they come in, and sometimes I’ll take my phone along to the gym so I can plan out my day while on the bike, but the focus usually shifts back to the exercise at hand or the food being put into my mouth. It’s a quiet and peaceful process. And it’s time that’s hardly wasted.

The important thing is to remember to put the strawberry jam back into the fridge before I leave.