A Better Way to Begin the Day

We live in a world that constantly urges us to get moving: another message to answer, another task to finish, another responsibility waiting right behind the last one. Most of us wake up already bracing for the day’s demands. It’s easy to slip into motion before we’ve even asked a simple but essential question: What is all this activity for?

Everyday life tends to swallow our intentions. We rush from one task to another, judging our days by how much we accomplish rather than whether those accomplishments align with our values. Productivity can make us feel busy, even successful, but it doesn’t always help us feel grounded.

If you’ve ever ended a busy day wondering why you still feel unsettled, you’re not alone. We can fill every hour with work and still feel disconnected from the deeper purpose behind our efforts.

That’s why the order in which we do things matters. Intention isn’t an accessory — it’s the foundation that shapes everything that comes after. And surprisingly, an ancient agricultural law offers timeless guidance on this point.

In the book of Leviticus, the Torah describes a law called Shemittah. In simple terms, Shemittah is the sabbatical year — the land’s year of rest. And the way the instruction is presented is unusual:

“When you come into the Land that I am giving you, the Land shall rest a Sabbath to G-d… for six years you may sow your field.”
(Leviticus 25:1–8)

Rest comes first. Work comes second.

Anyone who works the land — including many here in Georgia — knows that soil can’t be pushed endlessly. It needs recovery. It needs rhythm. The ordering here isn’t backwards; it’s instructive. Before talking about the six years of labor, the Torah begins with the seventh year of rest.

The message? Start with purpose. Begin with awareness. Let meaning come before motion.

Jewish tradition teaches that Shemittah is more than a farming schedule. It’s a blueprint for how to live. Before the six years of doing, building, and producing, the Torah calls us to pause and remember what all the doing is for. What deeper values should shape the way we move through our days?

Think about how we typically approach our work. We jump into emails, errands, problems, responsibilities — but rarely do we stop to reorient ourselves toward the values we want to express. It’s like tending to chores or correspondence without remembering that each interaction is an opportunity to bring patience, kindness, or integrity into someone’s life.

When we begin with awareness — with “rest” in the Torah’s deeper sense — everything that follows becomes more meaningful. A morning cup of coffee becomes a moment of gratitude. A commute becomes a pocket of reflection. Routine tasks gain purpose when we see them as ways to live our values.

Starting with purpose doesn’t make life less busy, but it makes it more coherent. It reminds us that nothing is too ordinary to matter.

And here’s the encouraging part: this practice isn’t limited to religious people. Anyone can begin their day with intention. Pause before the doing. Name the principle that will guide your choices. Let meaning lead and let productivity follow.

The Torah’s “rest first” instruction turns our modern instinct upside-down. We tend to think we’ll get to the purpose once everything else is done. But the Torah suggests the opposite: Purpose is what gives our work its meaning.

So this week, try starting in a different way. Before jumping into your to-do list, ask yourself: What value do I want to bring to today? How do I want to speak, act, and respond? What would it look like to let purpose — not urgency — guide the rhythm?

You may find that the day unfolds with more clarity. Tasks that once felt routine may feel more grounded. Conversations may become opportunities. Ordinary moments may carry unexpected significance.

Because when we start with purpose, nothing is just “ordinary.”

And maybe that’s the deeper wisdom here: Put first things first, and daily life becomes meaningful in ways that last.

Yonatan Hambourger is a rabbi and writer dedicated to serving spiritual seekers of all backgrounds on behalf of Chabad of Rural Georgia. You can contact him at y@tasteoftorah.org.