I have a similar morning routine. Waiting for coffee to steep and drinking it creates a space to slow down and do something other than getting ready, in a way t

I have a similar morning routine. Waiting for coffee to steep and drinking it creates a space to slow down and do something other than getting ready, in a way that using an alarm or some hard rule like "three news stories" wouldn't replicate. A friend of mine starts work very early, so he has a different routine. He takes his dog out, gets dressed, then drinks his coffee on the commute. His coffee maker isn't especially smart, but it automatically heats water at the same time every morning. For him, taking the dog out is his manual "slow time", and automating coffee gained him a little bit more of it. I don't think it's coincidental that artisanal products and "Pintrest-style" homemade crafts are in vogue at the moment. Doing something manually is fulfilling, and often produces much better results than automation. But not everyone gets that fulfillment from the same tasks, so automation helps free time for the ones we value. It's probably telling that neither my friend nor I has a drip coffee maker; we each went to a pole of manual or automated production.