Field notes
Take your shoes off
Modern Savage
We are going to ask you to do something slightly ridiculous. Go outside first thing, take your shoes off, and stand on the ground. Grass, ideally. Wet grass, cold, even better.
The reason is not mystical. Your feet have more nerve endings per square inch than almost anywhere else on your body, and for the whole of human history they were in contact with the earth. Now they live in a padded shoe on a flat floor, and they have gone quiet. Cold, uneven ground wakes them up in about four seconds, and the rest of you comes with them.
The other thing it does is make you present. You cannot stand barefoot on frosty grass and think about your inbox. You are just there, cold, slightly awake, noticing the light. We want you in that state before the day starts, and there is no cheaper way to get there.
Two minutes is enough. Longer in summer if you like. Then shoes, then the day.