11 Reasons to Wake at 5am

4 years ago, despite labelling myself?‘not a morning person’?and being an avid snoozer, I decided to build the habit of waking at 5am.

It changed my life.

I want it to change yours.

And with my upcoming?5am Club Morning Routine Challenge , I have been reflecting on the impact it has had on my life.

Before I get started, if you’re thinking to yourself…?“This isn’t for me.” “ I am not a morning person.”

Ask yourself, is that true? Have you tested waking early for a consistent amount of time?

For about a third of the population, that is true. According to the book?When , about a third of the population are genuine night owls. Meaning it would be going against their natural chronological rhythm to be waking super early.

Even then… I hate labels.

They tend to become defence mechanisms. And self imposed limitations to becoming our best.

And as Paul Graham once said,

“The more labels you have for yourself the dumber they make you.”

Which is the first of the 11 reasons to wake at 5am…

1. You develop a growth mindset.

As mentioned before, I held onto the label of not being a morning person for most of my life…

And in proving myself wrong, I started to question every other label I had for myself.

“Am I really terrible with words?”

“Am I really a terrible public speaker?”

“Am I really just a simple guy?”

“Am I really ‘big boned’ and destined to be overweight?”

Of course not… and waking at 5am consistently gave me the belief I could become whoever I wanted to be.

And I used my newly created time to become that person.

I launched a newsletter, and discovered a love for writing.

I practised public speaking out loud on my morning walks when no one was around.

I developed the habit of exercising every morning, a keystone habit that meant I ate healthier throughout the day… and ultimately led me to a passion in physical fitness and performance.

2. You play bigger

The time you free up by waking at 5am, isn’t like any other time… time isn’t created equal.

Most people wake up frantic, busy and react to their day. And as “how you do anything is how you everything”, they tend to stay in that state for the rest of their day.

They don’t have any time to connect with themselves, their future, their high purpose.

And it’s why most people are playing at a low level.

When you’re up at 5am, you’ll be all alone, away from overstimulation and noise, no one will be vying for your time, Your attention isn’t being fragmented by tech, email and other forces. So your prefrontal cortex — the rational part of your brain switches off! Allowing your brian to stop rationalising, stressing and overthinking, and instead it’ll enter a state of flow and imagination.

It’s why I call it Magic Time.

My best thinking and ideas happen in this time.

And as everything that has ever been created was first a thought, it is the quality of your thinking and imagination that determines your future.

So waking at 5am becomes a self fulfilling prophecy…

Your imagination improves, you begin to connect to your high purpose, you get clear on what you really want. You get space to think about how you get there. In that space you gain clarity. Clarity leads to confidence, and confidence leads to bigger ambition.

And you now have the time now to act on your ambitions.

Remember to have the results of the top 5% — you have to do what 95% of people aren’t unwilling to do. Cement this in your mind and you will achieve greatness.

3. Everything in your life improves

“The bigger your future the better you present.”

With your renewed vision, your whole life improves.

You’ll develop a deeper sense of purpose and identity.

And in that, hard decisions will become easier to make.

You’ll no longer entertain lesser goals, or distractions.

Your standards will rise. You’ll request more from yourself.

You’ll take care of yourself. You’ll eat better. You’ll exercise more.

You’ll want to be better in your relationships.

Waking at 5am is like a pebble dropped in a still lake. It’s one habit that ripples into everything else in your life.

4. You’ll develop discipline and willpower

Life is too comfortable.

We can get food and groceries delivered in 15 minutes after a click of a button. A taxi in 2 minutes. We can chat with our friends online. We don’t have to leave home to work.

People have become accustomed to comfort.

Which is why most are soft. They shy away from hard things. They have no backbone. No discipline. No willpower. No self control. No personal responsibility.

They outsource this responsibility and blame outside circumstances.

They hold on tightly to labels like they are the truth.

“I’m not disciplined.” “I have no willpower”

But discipline, willpower aren’t innate, they are skills developed through relentless practice.

They are skills developed in doing hard things. In doing things you don’t want to do.

Few want to wake at 5am. I still don’t.

Waking at 5am is hard!

Which is why waking up early is the perfect training field to build your discipline and willpower muscles.

The things that feel hardest are the things that are most valuable. They lead to our greatest growth and fulfilment.

Do hard things. Wake at 5am.

5. You’ll make real progress

Being busy and being effective are two very different things.

Being effective comes from getting the right stuff done. Not stuff done.

It comes from working on the important not the urgent.

And if you wake at 5am nothing is urgent. It can all wait till the world wakes up. So it’s the ideal breeding ground for your biggest and boldest ideas…

You know… the things that tend to get pushed to the bottom of the pile for the urgent.

Most wake in a flurry of urgency. They check their emails and immediately get pulled into the whirlwind of life.

A whirlwind that happens, but can wait.

By waking at 5am you will have time to work on your vision, before people will want you to you work for theirs.

6. You’ll gain life changing confidence

Confidence is not innate. It is another skill that is developed.

Confidence is a byproduct of progress and positive action.

It rides on momentum.

It’s developed by having intense trust in yourself.

It’s built in keeping your word.

Wake up and hit snooze, you are breaking that word. You are voting against the person you want to be. You’re starting the day with negative momentum.

The day will feel like pushing water uphill.

Starting the day by waking early, on time, and making progress towards your goals you’re building mini wins. You’re voting with your actions for the person you want to be.

Start your day with these mini wins, you’re more likely to have more wins throughout the day.

These wins stack up, and ultimately lead to BIG wins.

The confidence from these wins will lead to bigger ambition and better decision making.

The more confident you become the more aggressively you’ll pursue your goals. The less fear you’ll have and the more courageous you’ll be.

When you lack confidence, you hesitate in decision making. You become apathetic and passive.

Confidence is foundational in living an extraordinary life.

7. You’ll be more motivated

Most wait for motivation.

But you can’t be passive with motivation.

Motivation is not random. It occurs intentionally.

It’s formulaic.

You need a deep emotional connection to your goals, plus a belief that it is possible. Less distractions and complexity.

So if you want UNWAVERING MOTIVATION, you need time, first thing in the morning, to connect with yourself, your vision and to take aggressive action towards that vision…without distractions.

8. You’ll sleep better

At first you’ll find it hard to fall asleep, meaning the first few mornings you’ll find it hard to get up. Really hard. You will be exhausted. You’ll question if it is really worth it.

Stick with it.

Get up no matter what.

That exhaustion will, eventually, lead to better and earlier sleep.

And over time as long as you follow the routines I’ll be sharing in the 5am challenge, you’ll reset your circadian rhythm and waking early will become easier and easier.

But where the real win is, is in the quality of your sleep.

Your quality of sleep is a great indicator of your current level of physical and mental health.

For all the above reasons, when you consistently wake at 5am, you will become healthier and healthier. In body and mind.

I only spend around 7.5 hours in bed, as from that I get around 7.15 hours of quality sleep, as I have created a flourishing body and mind… which without the time between 5–7am I’d unlikely have.

9. You’ll make more money

Doesn’t it go without saying that if you work on the important over the urgent, are more confident, more motivated, healthier, more ambitious, have clearer thinking and be more decisive, then you’ll be more successful…

Even if you just used your newly discovered time to learn, you will become wealthier.

As Jim Rohn said,

“Your level of success will seldom exceed your level of personal development.”

10. Your life will become richer and more fulfilling

Fulfilment comes from growth, contribution and living aligned with your higher self

All by products of waking early, connecting to your high purpose, working towards that, remaining disciplined and focussed. Progressing towards a bigger, better version of yourself.

As Robin Sharma wrote in The 5am Club,

“A major key to happiness and internal peace is knowing you’ve done whatever it took to earn your rewards and passionately invested the effortful audacity to become your best.”

11. Ultimately you will become a new person

3640 hours. 151 days. 22 weeks. 5 months.

The amount of extra time I have free’d up over the past 5 years, from the habit of waking at 5am.

Now fast forward that for say 20 years…

That’s an extra 1.6 years!

1.6 YEARS!

And as I say above, not all time is created equal. This isn’t extra time to spend watching Netflix. These hours are spent forging a new mind and body. These hours are spent learning, growing and becoming the best version of myself.

Waking early takes all the luck, chance and guesswork out of reaching your full potential.

Your future becomes a destiny you are passionately and deliberately working towards. Not fate.

As Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote,

“The only person you are destined to become is the person you decide to be.”

Create space in your life to get clear on that person, then forge that person when everyone else is asleep dreaming, whilst you are working on yours!

….

So just a few reasons then!

Ready to make it a part of your life? Ready to experience all of the above?

Click here to join me from the 20th-26th March for my 6-day 5am Club Morning Routine Challenge.

Its time to work smarter, play bigger and live harder.

Big love,

Joel