It’s Just Ten Minutes
The Ten Minutes Count
Every morning, I give myself ten minutes.
Coffee. Birds. Quiet.
That’s it.
No phone. No food logging. No writing out my get shit done list. No mentally rehearsing the day before the day even starts.
And this morning, I caught myself trying to turn that ten minutes into something useful or productive.
I thought, “I could log my food right now. I could make my list. I could get a jump on the day.”
And then I stopped myself.
Shut the fuck up and just stop. Remember why.
I give myself those ten minutes for a reason.
They are not empty time and they are not wasted time. They are not a gap that needs to be filled with one more task.
They are mine.
And honestly, this is exactly how it starts. Do you feel like this?
The scurrying and the hurrying. The trying to get ahead before the day even starts.
You start the morning already rushing yourself and already pushing. Already thinking about what needs to be done next. Already stacking one thing on top of another in your head.
And somehow, even when you are doing more, you feel more behind.
That is the trap. That’s the bullshit we tell ourselves.
Because when the day starts with hurry, hurry becomes the theme of the day. You carry it into everything. You drink the coffee, but you do not really taste it. You hear the birds, but your brain is already halfway into the task list.
You are physically sitting there, but mentally you are already running.
And that was my whole reason for starting to do this. To slow the fuck down.
Those 10 minutes set my intention. They ground me.
They remind me that I am allowed to enter the day without sprinting into it. I am allowed to have a few minutes before I start handing myself over to work, coaching, decisions, messages, lists, people, and problems.
We have gotten so used to multitasking that stillness can feel lazy. Sitting with coffee can feel unproductive. Listening to the birds can feel like something we have to earn after everything else is done. So typical and so common and I am so done with that.
Your brain needs space. Your nervous system needs a minute. Your life needs small places where you are allowed to exist without performing, producing, fixing, planning, tracking, or optimizing.
And that is what I thought about this morning when my mind started drifting into other things.
It is only ten fucking minutes. Chill the fuck out. Ten minutes of quiet will not ruin my day. It helps my day.
It might be the reason I move through the day with a little more patience, a little more clarity, and a little less angst.
I do not have to squeeze every drop of productivity out of my morning.
I am allowed to have a few minutes that are just mine.
So I can drink the coffee. So I can listen to the birds. So I can remember that I do not need to start the day already chasing it.
The lists and the work will be there. The logging will be there. It is okay to let it wait. The day asks plenty from me already.
I give myself ten minutes before I hand myself over to everything else.
That is the point.
It is just ten minutes.
And I am allowed to keep it.