The 5am Club

What is the 5am club I hear you ask? I came across a man called Robin Sharma as I was video surfing ‘motivational videos’ one day. I did some research on him and found out he is a writer, motivational speaker and leadership expert. Thought: what makes someone a leadership ‘expert’?

Anyway in this particular video of his, he talked about how to get up early. Early as in 5am early. Why should you do that? According to a ‘poll of 20 executives cited by Vanderkam, 90% said they wake before 6am in weekdays’,  (Businessinsider.com). We don’t need a poll to tell us this anyway. So Robin Sharma says the average time at which these people get up is  5am. However some are known to get up way earlier, like the Fiat and Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne who gets up 3.30am.

Sergio-Marchionne of Fiat & Chrysler

It makes sense for one to get up earlier than everyone else in their time zone. Think of all the things that could get done. It’s no surprise most of these executives use this time to work out before breakfast, check their e-mails and respond to them and take care of their mind. And I don’t even have to mention how I can get this post typed up on a Good Friday morning when everyone else is asleep, that gives me more family time later on.

Joining the 5am club will take dedication, it’s not a breeze and Sharma states that you have to develop the habit which in his theory takes 66 days. In the video, he has tips on how to develop the habit and motivate yourself so as to not fall off track. My Monday to Saturday schedule is always the same, I get up somewhere round 5.45 and 6.30 so it’s not quite 5am but still earlier than most. It doesn’t have to be 5am, as long as you know you have an edge on the rest of the world, you have an advantage, whether it’s two, three or four hours is up to you. I tried to push it to 5am and it lasted two or three days but that was the end of it. To be honest I wasn’t as committed on that as I am on this blog. There has to be a reason for why you want to wake up early, otherwise the hunger will be non-existent.

Now what I would like to improve on is how I spend this time. I think knowing exactly what should happen is key. There’s no point getting up early and not doing anything constructive with that time, you might as well go back to bed. I am guilty of this. I don’t have a set plan, I do things slowly and sometimes it would come to 9am, and after three hours of being awake, I’d ask myself what I have achieved and I have nothing to answer for. Well today I woke up at 6.10, procrastinated a little and finished  this post by 8:15. That sucks! Normally I pay a visit to the kitchen first thing to check that the sink is empty, if it isn’t I’ll wash up the few things straight away and give the kitchen a wipe down; just puts the mind at ease. I didn’t need to this morning as I knew it was empty.

Well if you will be trying it out let me know how it goes or if you already are an early bird, how early do you get up and do you get much done at all?