Mornings are an important part of our day. But the majority of us spend this important time in a hurry or rushing. Morning times are chaotic as they are filled with urgent and important tasks. We take care of daily chores like cooking and cleaning, get ready to office, and hurriedly step out of home to our workplace or college. Some of us even skip our breakfast due to lack of time.
We rarely plan our morning time well or use it productively to transform our lives. But when we start using our morning time productively, we become more productive in life and achieve our goals. Our whole life transforms. And this journey of transformation starts with waking up early in the morning.
Unless we wake up early, we cannot really set that time aside for our goals or use mornings productively. To avoid being caught up in urgent tasks, we need to wake up early. So, at what time should we wake up? This question is answered in the book ‘The 5 AM Club’ by Robin Sharma. Robin Sharma is a bestselling author, a leadership expert, and a highly sought-after motivational speaker.
In the book ‘the 5 AM Club’, the author tells us that the best time to wake up is 5 AM. This could be too early for some of us, and we may wonder what’s so magical about this time. Below are 10 reasons as to why we should wake up at 5 AM.
1. 5 AM is a time with very few distractions. The majority of the world is still sleeping. During the daytime, it’s easy to get distracted. When we get constantly distracted, we give attention to nothing, and we cannot be super productive. At 5 AM, there is not much activity that distracts us, and this isolation period helps us give undivided attention and focus to tasks important to us.
2. When we start our day at 5 AM peacefully without distractions, the brain’s prefrontal cortex temporarily shuts down. This is the place that handles rational thought. So, a person’s tendency to analyze, stress, and worry comes down drastically, and this frees our mind to give the best to work.
3. The peace of 5 AM stimulates the production of neurotransmitters dopamine and serotonin. These are happiness-inducing hormones. So, it’s easy to go into a flow state at this time. Flow state is the state where you are fully energized and focussed on the task you are working on.
4. When you get up at 5 AM, you will be more focussed and productive throughout the day.
5. Most people are not comfortable with the idea of getting up at 5 AM. So, when you wake up at 5 AM, you automatically gain a competitive advantage.
6. Many elite performers, top-notch executives, and highly successful people wake up at this time.
7. You start your day with a positive and peaceful state of mind. This sets the tone for the rest of your day.
8. You will find abundant time in life to do things that matter to you. You get to do things that are important and not so urgent like exercising, reading a good book, meditating, journaling, planning your day, planning your life etc.
9. You feel good about yourself, and your confidence levels boost because getting up at 5 AM is a challenging task.
10. Your chances of earning more money and becoming more successful in life go up because you get time to do tasks that are important and not urgent. Many people live their life chasing after urgent and important things due to lack of time. This approach leaves no room to focus on ‘important and not urgent’ tasks.
These are some reasons why you should start waking up at 5 AM. So, how to do it? Below are some tips for waking up early.
1. Have a strong reason as to why you want to wake up early. If you don’t have a strong reason for waking up early, you will not be able to do it. Find your compelling purpose.
2. Understand what you gain by waking up early. Will you get extra time? Will you feel good about yourself? List down the benefits you gain.
3. Understand what you lose by not waking up early. Will you lose that undistracted time? Will you miss the peace and calmness around? List down these as well.
4. Sleep early. If you sleep late, it’s impossible to wake up early. So, plan your sleeping time to give you 8 hours of sleep.
5. Keep an alarm far from your bed. When it rings in the morning, you will be forced to move to turn it off. And this prevents you from snoozing.
6. Plan ahead what you are going to do with the free time you gain by waking up early. Have a well-designed morning ritual as to how you spend your precious morning time.
7. Stop using social media and gadgets at least 1 hour prior to your bedtime. This helps you in sleeping better and faster.
8. Work on it gradually. If you are someone waking up at 8 AM every day, you cannot suddenly change everything and start waking up at 5 AM. Every day, gradually reduce your waking time by 10 to 15 minutes, and very soon you will be waking up at 5 AM.
These are some tips that help you wake up early.
Waking up early boosts your productivity, makes you more creative. You can get more work done in less time when you make the best utilization of this peaceful hour. If you are looking to read more research-backed benefits on waking up at 5 AM and how to utilize this time for greater results in life, then ‘The 5 AM club’ book is for you. This book is life-transforming with many insights and wisdom, which is so typical of a Robin Sharma book.
Happy mornings!
“Early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy, and wise.” – Benjamin Franklin.
