Rule 1 of 22 · Chapter I — On Attention
Protect your mornings
Why this rule exists
The morning is the one part of the day nobody has spent yet. If I give it away to the phone or the inbox, I spend the rest of the day borrowing against attention I no longer have. What I make before the noise starts is almost always better than what I make after. The quiet is not a luxury. It is where the real work hides.
In practice
I keep the phone in another room until I have done one thing that matters to me. Coffee, a page, a slow start, no screens. I decide the night before what the first task will be, so I am not negotiating with myself at dawn. Even twenty protected minutes changes the shape of the whole day.
When it doesn't apply
Some mornings belong to other people. A sick child, an early flight, a friend who needs you. When that happens, let the morning go without guilt and find the quiet somewhere else in the day.