Why Wake Up at 5 AM – My WHY
For a long time, my life ran incredibly smoothly, almost effortlessly. I was in a flow that I really enjoyed. But in August 2021, I realized that this flow had been missing for a while. I felt like I was hitting rock bottom.
I discovered that my problem is a common one in our society: no time. I love to read, but no, there’s no time. Meditate? No time. And exercising, you guessed it: no time. I worked and slept, and that was pretty much it. And yet, activities like reading, meditating, and exercising are precisely what allow me to get the most out of my work and sleep well.
To say the least, this irritated me. So, I decided: this is not how I want to live my life. After my planned vacation, I started my quest to find that flow again.
The book that changed my life
My willpower was (and is) high. I’m ambitious, I have a huge passion for entrepreneurship, and I’ve always wanted to be successful. And I knew I needed to change something to achieve this. Because of my immense drive, I knew I had to make a big change.
I don’t remember exactly how I first heard about The 5 AM Club, but something inside me said: you need to read this book. Right before my vacation, I bought the book, and as soon as I arrived at my destination, I immediately opened it.
The author Robin Sharma describes a method where you wake up at 5 am every day and immediately implement a Victory Hour. In this ‘Victory Hour’, you develop a routine based on four pillars: Mindset (psychological), Heartset (emotional), Healthset (physical), and Soulset (spiritual). At this time, the whole world is still asleep, making it the perfect moment to create time for yourself. Here, you can do precisely those things for which you otherwise ‘don’t have time’ (or make time), but which are oh so important for a happy and successful life. And that feels like a real victory, hence the name: Victory Hour.
I was immediately sold.
The beginning: waking up at 5 am
So, I decided to wake up at 5 am for the coming years and see what it would bring me. My girlfriend was just as enthusiastic as I was, and we decided to start while still on vacation. Full of enthusiasm, we set the alarm. The first day, I woke up mega energetic and immediately went for a run. This fits well with the first phase of The 5 AM Club: breaking your rhythm. For the first three weeks, you adjust your biorhythm. You’re full of enthusiasm and energy but also quite tired. Around 4 pm, I often crashed. In the first weeks of waking up at 5 am, I even found myself trembling on a terrace in Dijon because my body had to adjust so much.
After three weeks, the first phase transitioned into the second phase. This is the hardest phase, where I really had to push through. Here, you have no rhythm. Your body is still confused, and your feelings fluctuate wildly. One day you feel incredibly good and can take on the whole world, the next day you’re miserable. It’s a challenging phase, which definitely doesn’t motivate you to continue waking up at 5 am.
Fortunately, at the end of the third phase, you start to reap the benefits. The pathways in your brain for your new habit become wider, making it easier to maintain your rhythm. I had fewer severe mood swings and felt increasingly stable. Here, I realized that The 5 AM Club brings so many advantages. I felt healthier than ever and, for example, could concentrate better. In a future article, I’ll talk more about all the benefits.
The biggest challenge
It was a huge challenge to start, and after 2 years, it’s still a challenge every day to keep it up. It takes something to set that alarm time and time again. But the greatest discipline is needed at another time of day, namely in the evening.
To change something, you always have to give something up. In this case, it applies to your evening. After all, we all need 8 hours of sleep. My sleep is a priority and is not up for debate. And if I want to wake up at 5 am, I need to be in bed and asleep by 9 pm.
Giving up your evening: the secret to waking up at 5 am >
Look, it’s fine if you like to plop down on the couch with a bag of chips and watch Netflix in the evening. But I realized that such evenings brought me very little and often even had a negative impact on me. So, I made the choice to give up my Netflix and chips evening so that my life gets a successful boost by waking up at 5 am.
Willpower is the key to success
I understand that there’s a lot of resistance when it comes to The 5 AM Club. For many, it’s a significant change in their life, with giving up their evening being the hardest part. I’m the last person who would force this on you. What I want to make clear is that you shouldn’t underestimate the results of waking up at 5 am. It’s an amazing method to take control of your life and create more time for yourself.
And if you want this, then it’s achievable! Everyone has their own challenges. The more you do, the more challenges you’ll face. You’ll fall flat on your face often enough in life, and the challenge is to always get up one more time. Successful people have made themselves successful by not being led by fear. By keeping their goal in sight and feeling the drive to achieve that goal. By choosing time and again to take matters into their own hands and, in my case, to wake up at 5 am every day.
5x tips to keep up waking up at 5 am
And if you wake up at 5 am every day: wow! Then you are rewarded. Because thanks to waking up at 5 am and my daily Victory Hour, I am more relaxed, happier, and fitter. My business is doing better than ever before, and all my personal and professional relationships have improved. The 5 AM Club works like a ripple effect through my entire life.
In difficult moments, I do a few things.
- I get upset for a moment, and then ask myself: ‘What are we going to do about this?’ I write down the answer and work towards it.
- I keep reminding myself of all the benefits it brings.
- My drive and ambition push me forward. I keep my goals in sight through my One Page Personal Plan and the Weekly Design System.
- I surround myself with a team that supports me. My girlfriend also gets up at 5 am every morning and experiences just as many benefits as I do. My friends and family are also very positive about The 5 AM Club.
Make that time for yourself; it’s going to bring you so much. Be clear about where you want to go with your life. I’m convinced that everyone can be successful, and that everyone can wake up at 5 am. Don’t think in limitations: everything is possible, even if you have children!
The 5 AM Series
This is the second article from my series of 5 AM blogs. Here you read the secret of waking up at 5 am every day. There will be more articles about the pros and cons, implementing the new rhythm, and my experience after two years of waking up early. At the end of the series, hopefully, you too will be successfully standing by your bed at 5 am.