📖 The 5 AM Club by Robin Sharma
Topic: Productivity | Medium: Hardcopy | Rating: 4/5
Outline
A philosophical narrative on optimising your morning for productivity and success.
Why I read this book
To increase my productivity and rigour around my daily routines. I still struggle with procrastination/motivation and feeling guilty about not being “productive” all the time.
Three keynotes
1. Your genius is alive in the morning
"Brain waves change from beta > alpha > theta.
A pharmacy of mastery is stimulated in your brain which supercharges it: cortisol decreases, dopamine rises, and serotonin soars.
The pre-fontal cortex quiets: access to genius-level insights, advanced creativity, and world-class performance.
Entry into flow state.” (Adapted from Sharma 2018, p130)
Upon waking your mind is in its peak physiological state. Energised, creative and where self-discipline is strongest. Exploit this state by working on yourself and your talents.
2. Start your day with success-habits
"What makes the best of the best is not their genetics but their habits. And not the extent of their gifts, but the strength of their grit." (Sharma 2018, p.160)
Our results are a reflection of our actions. Starting your day with success builds momentum for the rest of the day; and has a compounding effect day after day. These habits are generally simple (e.g. exercise, read etc.), however, the challenge is having the grit to perform them habitually, especially on the days when you don't feel like it.
3. Work with your energy cycles
“Exceedingly excellent creative production without calibrated human asset protection leads to a noticeable performance reduction. . . . Becoming legendary in your industry is all about sustainability. And making sure you show up at world-class not just for a month or even for an entire year.” (Sharma 2018, p.267-268)
There are times in the day where you can produce significantly more output per hour. So why not exploit/respect our biological clock?
Lately, I have experimented with the following:
1. Working first thing in the morning from 5:00 am – 6:00 am. My mind is sharp, decisive and under time pressure before my morning workout. If I don’t exercise that morning, I also find that I get a lot of my work done by 9:00 am (when I used to start a normal working day).
2. Reading whenever my concentration for work has decreased. I justify this as “productive procrastination”. 😂
3. Taking short naps when I feel like it. Generally, just before or after midday.
Of course, it's never perfect. But I try. 😅
Thoughts/reflections
Fortunately for me, I am a morning lark and naturally wake up early. To those who aren’t morning people, I think they shouldn’t take the timing from this book too literally, but the concepts are still valuable. For me, the biggest takeaway is working with my energy cycles and getting the most important work done upon waking.