Excellent piece, Christin Platzek. My experience has been that few people — mostly men, usually single men — are the only ones who can accomplish the ten-things-to-do-before-6-am morning routines. I tried those types of “successful” mornings a few times in my life but I was neither male or single and all my non-work-success responsibilities were still there needing my time and attention. Rising earlier and doing more robbed me of the energy I needed to be successful in my personal life, resulting in exhaustion and illness — every time. The morning-routines-for-success are unrealistic for the majority of people — not because we are lazy or unmotivated but because we have full lives containing people we love who require time and attention. Life is not a list to be checked.