The 5 AM Club
In this summary of The 5 AM Club, we will be sharing some of the most insightful learning and key takeaways from the book that will help you to change your life and become a member of the 5 AM club.
The Preparation: Five Ground Rules
Rule #5: When you feel like surrendering, continue. Try him. Loves the relentless.
“Take excellent care of the front end of your day, and the rest of your day will pretty much take care of itself. Own your morning.”
Robin Sharma
Key Idea #1: The Three-Step Success Formula
Key Idea #2: The Four Focuses of History Makers
1- Capitalization IQ
What makes a legendary performer so good? Isn’t the amount of natural talent they are born into, but the extent of that potential, they actualize that capitalized.
Many of the finest athletes in the world had less innate skills than their competition. But it was that exceptional dedication, commitment, and drive to maximize whatever strength they had that made them iconic.
It’s not the size of the dog in the fight. It’s the size of the fight and the dog.
2- Freedom from Distraction
Ad addiction to distraction is the death of your creative production. Stripper all the layers of complexity from your days. Simplify, streamline everything. Less really is more. Concentrate on just a few word projects, so you make them amazing versus diluting your attention on too many tasks.
Have a few friends, but go deep with them. So the relationship is rich. Stop managing your time and start managing your focus.
3- Personal Mastery Practice
Everything you’re doing your outer world is an absolute consequence of what’s happening within you. Your fortune always follows your fearlessness. Your influence in the world matters the glory, nobility, vitality, and luminosity you have accessed in your sentence.
External always expresses internal, without all visited reflect within. Your creativity, productivity, prosperity, performance, and impact on the planet are always a sublime expression of what’s going on inside of you.
4- Day Stacking
As they live each day. So you craft your life. Each of your prized days represents your precious life in miniature. What we are doing today is creating our future.
“I expect to pass through life but once. If, therefore, there can be any kindness I can show, or any good thing that I can do to any fellow-being, let me do it now, and not defer or neglect it, as I shall not pass this way again.”
Robin Sharma
Key Idea #3: The Secret of Morning Genius (Transient hypofrontality)
When we get up at five in the morning, the stillness, solitude, and silence trigger our brain to change the waves from beta to alpha to theta. And then a pharmacy of mastery is stimulated in our brain, which supercharges it.
The cortisol levels in the brain decrease, the dopamine and serotonin level increases. The prefrontal cortex then quotes, which allows us to enter into the flow state. Flow is a state of mind when we are truly engaged in the activity that we are pursuing and we lose track of time. this state is most easily achievable in the early mornings because that’s when we have the stillness, the solitude, and the silence required.
“Living the same week a few thousand times and calling it a life. I need to tell you that too many among us die at thirty and are buried at eighty.”
-Robin Sharma #5AMClub
Key Idea #4: The Four Interior Empires
To be a genius and successful in the long run, we need to take care of these four interior empires:
Mindset: Refers to the psychological aspect of our being, our thinking, our optimism.
Heartset: Relates to our emotional intelligence. How good are we at managing our own emotions?
Healthset: It relates to our physical fitness.
Soulset: relates to spirituality. How are we connecting to that Supreme power?
What do you, by taking care of these four empires, can we achieve a truly phenomenal living?
“Elite producers and everyday heroes understand that what you do each day matters far more than what you do once in a while.”
-Robin Sharma #5AMClub
Key Idea #5: The Five Scientific Truths Behind Excellent Habits
Truth #1: World-class willpower isn’t an inborn strength, but the skill developed through relentless practice. Getting up at dawn is perfect Self-control training.
Truth #2: Personal discipline is a muscle. The more you stretch it, the stronger it grows. Therefore, the summarize of self-regulation actively creates conditions of hardship to build their natural power.
Truth #3: Like other muscles, willpower beacons when tired. Recovery is therefore absolutely necessary for the expression of mastery. And to manage decision fatigue.
Truth #4: installing any grit habits successfully follows a distinct four-part pattern for automation of the routine. Follow it explicitly for lasting results.
Truth #5: Increasing self-control in one area of your life, elevate self, controlling all areas of your life. That is why joining the 5:00 AM club is the game-changing habit that will lift everything else that you do.
“Own your morning. Elevate your life.”
-Robin Sharma #5AMClub
Key Idea #6: The 3 Values of Heroic Habitmakers
Value #1: Victory demands consistency and persistence. Anyone can be great for just one day. But to be great consistently is what is required to become heroic.
Value #2: Following through on what is started determines the size of the personal respect that will be generated.
Value #3: The way you practice in private is precisely the way you will perform once you are in public.
Key Idea #7: The Lifetime Habit Arc
This is the four-part automation pattern that was talked about in the previous part of this book summary.
The first step is the trigger. It’s the cue that initiates the habit. Once the habit is initiated, we need to follow a particular ritual to continue it. Once we are able to complete the habit, it’s time for us to reward ourselves.
And once that award is pleasurable, that’s when repetition comes into the picture.
“Limitation is nothing more than a mentality that too many good people practice daily until they believe it’s reality.”
Robin Sharma
Key Idea #8: The Habit Installation Protocol
According to research, it takes around 66 days for any habit to become automatic. But these 66 days are divided into three-stage. Stage one is destruction, where we destroy our old habit and try to implement a new one.
The next 22 days is installation, and this is the toughest phase of all three.
The last stage is integration. This is where the habits slowly start to become more matched with an automatic.
Each of these stages is spread over 22 days, making it a 66 day minimum time period to install any new habit.
Key Idea #9: The 20/20/20 formula
Pocket #1: Move
5:00 AM to 5:20 AM is where we have to move. This includes doing intense exercise, hydrating ourselves, breathing deeply.
When we do exercise first thing in the morning, our cortisol levels decrease and our dopamine and serotonin increases, which elevates our mood and metabolism. This means we are ready for the day ahead. We are less stressed and our energy is high.
Pocket #2: Reflect
This pocket is from 5:20 AM to 5:40 AM. You ruminate and you reflect on your life. You can do it either by meditation or by writing in your journal, by planning your day, by praying or contemplation, anything that feels natural to you.
Now, this step helps us to be more aware of our own selves, of our mission, vision, and goals in life. It ensures that we are in alignment with our greater purpose.
Pocket #3: Grow
which is from 5:40 AM to 6:00 AM. in these 20 minutes you have to review your goals both for life as well as for the week as well as for the day.
You can read books related to your own field, you can hear to audiobooks podcast or take some online training course, whatever it is that you need to do to grow in your respective field.
“And all it takes is a single morning filled with positivity to deliver a monumental download of inventive ideas that elevate an entire generation, you know.”
-Robin Sharma #5AMClub
Key Idea #10: The Benefits of Journaling
Journaling multiplies our clarity and awareness. It helps us to know ourselves better and only by gaining this clarity and awareness, can we be sure of whether or not we are on the right path.
Journaling activates deliberate gratitude. Very often in the business of our daily life before get to feel grateful. Journaling is a great way to handle your emotions when you are feeling low.
Journaling allows for planning and goal setting, so execution improves. As we have heard so many times, what gets written gets done. Also, Journaling captures your life’s best experiences. Journaling allows you to re-experience joyful times.
So a simple act of writing in your journal can truly elevate your life.
“You need to remember that your excuses are seducers, your fears are liars and your doubts are thieves.”
-Robin Sharma #5AMClub
Key Idea #11: The Pre-Sleep Ritual
When we talking about getting up at 5:00 AM, it’s not really possible until and unless we sleep on time. We need to sleep on time and have quality sleep, but this ritual, this pre-sleep ritual helps us to do just that from 7:00 PM to 8:00 PM make sure that you have the last meal of the day and turn all your devices.
Try to isolate yourself from overstimulation. From 8:00 PM to 9:00 PM you can have family time. You can have real conversations with your loved ones, or you can meditate if you want. You can spend some time reading or listening to audiobooks or podcasts. The idea is just to relax and calm your mind.
“Art feeds my soul. Great books battleproof my hope. Rich conversations magnify my creativity. Wonderful music uplifts my heart. Beautiful sights fortify my spirit.”
9:00 PM 10:00 PM is when you have to prepare for your sleep. Make sure your room is cool, dark, and technology-free. You can organize your exercise gear for the next morning.
And last but not the least: Practice gratitude before you sleep, so that you end your day on a high note, on a positive note.
Key Idea #12: The Amazing Day Deconstruction
In this part of the book, Robin Sharma has deconstructed what an amazing day looks like, starting from 4:45 AM to 9:30 PM. Things cannot get more granular than this.
Of course, different people will have a different timetable and their needs would differ, but you can take this as a basic guideline and try and reframe the structure according to your needs.
By keeping what works for you you can tremendously improve your current lifestyle.
“Do not let the hero in your soul perish in lonely frustration for the life you deserved and have never been able to reach. The world you desire can be won. It exists. It is real. It is possible. It is yours.”
Key Idea #13: The 10 Tactics of Lifelong Genius
#1: The tight bubble of total focus
What this means basically is that people who Excel in their field stay away from distraction. The work in the tight bubble of total focus where nobody can interrupt them. to execute this all in to do is ensure that you have a scheduled routine away from all interruptions and distractions to completely focus on your work.
#2: The 90/90/1 rule
This rule states that for the next 90 days, use the first 90 minutes of your work, working out to focus on one thing that could be the game changer in your line of work. By doing this, you’ve ensured that the first 90 minutes of your day is completely focused on the single most important activity of your career. This alone will give you great results. So try this out.
#3: The 60/10 method
This method states that after every hour of work, take a 10-minute break. Go for a short quick walk, drink some water, do some stretches, and then get back to work. By doing this, you ensure that you are not overstressed. You’re not sitting in one place for long and you refuel yourself for the day ahead.
#4: The daily five concept
This concept says that every day in the morning, write five goals that you want to complete on a particular day. So that this day becomes your absolute best day. By making these five lists every day, you ensure that you are staying on track and moving towards your ideal life.
#5: The second wind workout
We all know the workout is great for us, so why do you just reserve it for the first half of the day? By scheduling a second workout, we can ensure that we are ending our day on an energetic note.
#6: The two massage protocol
This is a little bit extreme. According to the book it advises us to have two massages in a week. This would really, really help us to relax, to gain that energy that we lose throughout the week and get more refueled.
#7: Traffic University
The idea is to not waste the time we spend on commuting. We can accomplish so much more than for utilizing the time productively, and that’s what Robin Sharma has called us traffic university.
#8: The dream team technique
Now we cannot accomplish what we want to accomplish without the help of others. By delegating some of the tasks to our team members, we can ensure that everyone is doing the things that they are good at. So having a dream team is definitely a critical part of any pursuit.
#9: The weekly design system
This tactic states that every weekend, preferably on Sunday, sit down and plan your entire week. How does your week look like? What are the things you want to accomplish this week? What do you want to do each day?
By having this weekly plan, you can be sure that you’re sticking to your goals and then further you can break those goals into daily five goals.
#10: The 60 minutes student
This tactic state that all the lifelong geniuses study, they study for a minimum of 60 minutes each day. It could be a book about your field or the latest update in your field. It could be maybe having a talk with your mentor.
But the idea is to learn because the moment we stop learning is the moment we stop growing.
“Limitation is nothing more than a mentality that too many good people practice daily until they believe it’s reality. It breaks my heart to see so many potentially powerful human beings stuck in a story about why they can’t be extraordinary, professionally and personally. You need to remember that your excuses are seducers, your fears are liars and your doubts are thieves.”
Key Idea #14: Twin Cycles of Elite Performance
These are our five assets and we have to protect these. And the way we protect them is by following this twin cycle: the high excellence cycling and the deep refueling cycle.
In the high accident cycle, we work with complete focus in our tight bubble of total focus without any distraction and interruption. And then in the deep refueling cycle, we cool down, relax, and then re-energize ourselves.
“One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon instead of enjoying the roses that are blooming outside our windows today.”
-Robin Sharma #5AMClub
Key Idea #15: Use Joy as a GPS
in this concept, the author has mentioned that we can use joy to guide us on the right path. Spend time with people who sparked joy in your life. Spend time in the pursuit and places that spark joy.
So basically, try and avoid anything and everything in your life that do not spark joy. It could be people, pursued or a place. So when you use joy as a GPS You ensure that you’re not only achieving your goal, rather you are happily achieving them, instead of waiting to be happy after you achieve your goal.
By using joy, we can ensure that we are not just accomplishing things via happily and joyfully doing it.
“All change is hard at first, messy in the middle and gorgeous at the end.”
-Robin Sharma #5AMClub
Key Idea #16: The Heroic Human Cycle
Unless you possess all these seven virtues, no matter how accomplished you are, you still are not at your fullest potential. Every great human being has these qualities in them. They are humble. They are brave. They forgive others. They act with integrity. They are understanding, sincere and polite.
“To lead this to inspire others by the way you live. To lead is to turn your terrors into triumphs and more than all else to lead is to be a force for good on this tiny planet of ours.”
-Robin Sharma #5AMClub
What did you learn from the book summary of The 5 AM Club? What was your favorite takeaway? Is there an important insight that we missed? Comment below or tweet to us @storyshots.
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