The beginning of the day is the perfect time to be happy.

Before the first email, a kitchen is a different room. Nobody wants anything from you. The day has not yet been told what it is supposed to be about.

That hour has the least competition for it of any in the twenty-four, which is why it is such a good place to put something you actually like. Ten minutes of a book. The radio. Standing in the doorway with a coffee doing nothing in particular. Claim it early and the rest of the day gets amended rather than authored. Lose it and you spend the whole day answering.