For many years, I spent quite a bit of time every morning hand-grinding coffee beans, preparing a cup of pourover coffee, and cooking steel-cut oats for some yummy oatmeal with berries and nuts:

This ritual took time, but it relaxed me and encouraged me to truly enjoy my breakfast every single morning. It helped me start my day with positive vibes, regardless of what I’d find on my to-do list or in my email inbox.

Usually I’d sit down at my laptop to plan my day with the oatmeal finished and a sip or two of coffee left. I’d do a little work, then shower and get back to things.

Rituals make us feel good because they create a sense of familiarity. And, more than that, they signal to our minds and bodies that it’s time to enter a certain mode.

Right now I’m staying in a rental villa in Bali. I don’t have my coffee grinder with me. Nor, for that matter, am I preparing my breakfast myself—there are way too many restaurants here that offer healthy, tasty, and affordable meals. So no coffee-grinding and oatmeal-preparing ritual here.

But I do like having a ritual to start my workday, so I developed a different one. I’d be lying if I said that I thought hard about it or planned it, but what naturally developed is that, once I arrive at the coworking space, I sit down at my desk, check my calendar, make my to-do list for the day—and then I journal and play the day’s Wordle before I start on task #1.

Different ritual, same result: when I’ve finished journaling and Wordling, my body knows it’s time to start work, and focus comes naturally.

We all have different work contexts and perhaps your schedule is not as flexible as mine. If your workday always starts with a standup meeting and you arrive at the office just minutes before it starts, perhaps it’s hard to fit in a little ritual. (Though you could still develop a nice ritual for after that morning meeting?)

If you’ve never created a start-of-workday ritual, try it. And if you feel guilty doing anything other than jumping into the most urgent task right away, remember that you might just earn back the time the ritual takes—and then some—through increased focus.

A few suggestions for items to include in your morning ritual, whether at home or at the office:

• Making your absolute favorite breakfast as well as you possibly can
• Doing something the “hard” way (e.g. hand-grinding your coffee beans)
• Washing your face attentively, with quality skincare products
• Making your bed
• Tidying up your desk (without procrastinating by going overboard)
• Reviewing what you accomplished yesterday
• Taking a look at your calendar and task manager for upcoming events and deadlines
• Playing Wordle!
• Making a to-do list for the day

This might all sound like procrastination. But energy, mood, and emotions are real. Not every hour of your time is equally effective.

Because what if settling yourself down every morning with a nice little ritual took 5% of your workday—but made you 10% more efficient?

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Watch: Akiflow Intro/Review

Speaking of having a morning ritual, one app that’s great at helping you plan your day is Akiflow. This combined task-and-time-manager came to my attention recently and I’ve been test-driving it. It’s got a lot going for it, particularly if you enjoy time blocking.

Akiflow has a built-in morning ritual, in which you first review what you did yesterday and then make a very intentional plan for today.

I made a video to introduce you to this app and to explain how it differs from classic “task management” apps: