India, March 27 -- Some people have elaborate, optimized morning routines. Other people, like myself, hit snooze on the alarm, stumble to the coffee maker, and putter about as they gradually come to life. There's been a deluge of morning-routine content on social media and in the pages of magazines, newspapers, and books. According to Google's Ngram Viewer, which tracks the appearance of words and phrases in books, "morning routine" has nearly quadrupled in the last two decades. If you don't follow an intricate series of steps upon rising, it can make you feel like you are doing something wrong. But the truth is more complicated.

Every day we wake, we face a messy and complex world rife with uncertainty. We cannot control the weather. We...