The 5-Hour Week

When you read the title what was the first thing that came to your mind? Be honest. Did you assume this article will be about "how to only work a 5-hour week whilst earning big money"?

Well, I have good news and bad news for you! The bad news is that unfortunately if you started drafting your resignation letter after reading the title then you should immediately stop and stay in your current job! However, the good news is you should carry on reading because you need to know why you should do a 5-hour Week!

The reality that many professionals face today, is that not everyone is in a job they are passionate about and many may not even have any other choice except for the work they are currently doing. However, we all have a choice to be passionate about learning something new or aiming for greater goals. That passion should exist whether we are responsible for sweeping the streets or hold the title of CEO of a multi-million dollar firm. Our work does not determine or dictate our learning or passion in life. But seldom do we find people able to accomplish that higher goal and that could be due to procrastination or not finding the time or energy during our busy lives.

The term 5-hour rule was originally coined by Michael Simmons, founder of Empact. Michael believed we should all take out a minimum of 5 hours out from our busy schedules every week (or 1 hour every weekday) for "deliberate practice or learning". This philosophy is actually followed by many successful and busy entrepreneurs such as Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, Mark Cuban, Jack Ma and many more. Many of these thought leaders spend time every day learning or doing one of the most underrated skills in today's time, which is reading! Elon Musk (founder of SpaceX) actually learned how to build rockets just from reading!

How do we do the 5-Hour Week?

Unfortunately, many of us at this point will be nodding our heads in agreement but not actually convinced in our minds how we can achieve this 5-Hour rule consistently week after week. It is natural for us to get excited and then enter "burn out" phase very quickly. So how do we actually implement this? Well looking at this practically, when we return from work we are often mentally and physically drained and would prefer to just unwind or spend time with family (unless we are truly night persons). So in most cases taking time out during the evening to learn is very difficult. However, what if we spent 1 hour before work learning something new? What if we spent that 1 hour on a project we passionately always wanted to work on? What if we woke up 1 hour earlier every weekday? Just 1 hour a day may equate to only 5 hours a week, but that equates to at least 20 hours per month! Just imagine what you can learn and achieve with 20 hours extra every month!

Challenges:

Now the real challenge comes in sacrificing that extra 1 hour of sleep every weekday. Well, actually that is a myth. You do not need to lose 1 hour of sleep you just need to "shift" your sleeping pattern but do it subconsciously. Often the mental block of sleeping early will turn us off the waking up 1-hour early idea and that is why I emphasized the "subconscious" element. The trick is to not to consciously go to sleep 1 hour early the night before but continue your night practices and at the same time attempt to wake up 1 hour earlier the next morning. The first day you will feel "groggy" in the morning and probably experience something called "one bad night" at the end of that day. Actually, you may experience a few bad nights and mornings until your body clock naturally adjusts itself to your new waking-up pattern, either by forcing you to go bed earlier or just simply setting a new standard time for your sleep duration. Either way, a bit of pain will lead to a new regime in your life and a new "positive habit". 

Another motivating factor is that we know our brains are generally more efficient and productive during the earliest part of the day (just after sunrise) which means that 1 hour early in the morning will equate to actually more time than the average hour of time you spend in your typical day. It may even feel like you have got 2 hours at the price of 1! 

Finally, the sense of accomplishment from that learning session can act as a "booster" for the entire day. Even if you have a bad day at work, you will still feel accomplished and fulfilled since you learnt something useful or did something you are passionate about in the morning! Releasing "Endorphins" which are also called the "Happy Hormones" in the early parts of the day will result in a much brighter start! Actually, I would go as far as saying that the 5-Hour Week may even make you more happier and successful at work!

Next 3 Important Steps:

In order to convert a theory into practice we must take necessary measures and actions. 

The first step is to decide what do you want to learn, read or practice every morning? Try starting with something interesting that you are passionate about as that will make this habit much easier and far more enjoyable. For example, are you passionate about learning how to be a good leader, make money online, be a certified Project Manager, create powerful Excel spreadsheets, develop websites or something else altogether? Try to break your goals into small manageable tasks so you can cross them off as you achieve them, giving you a stronger and quicker sense of accomplishment. For example if you want to be an Excel guru, first learn all the basic formulas, then the more advanced ones, then simple macros followed by full VBA coding etc.. Personally, I am working on a project to help the PMO (Project Management Office) community which I will reveal soon in a different article. I have been wanting to do this project for years and like many, I had mapped it out only in my mind, until I started practicing the 5-Hour Week which is now started to accelerate and bring my ideas to fruition.

The second step to do is very important and that is to set your wake-up alarm to 1 hour earlier TODAY (for tomorrow morning)! Do not leave this simple task for tomorrow, next week or next month, but today. Yes, you may cry and curse me while you're waking up 1 hour earlier tomorrow morning but when you get that "feel good factor" after completing your learning goals or dream projects you will wonder why you did not do this before. This leads me to my final essential step which is to never underestimate the need for "patients" and "persistence". Nothing comes easy and patients and persistence are very much needed before you can see great results (in anything you do actually)!

The 5-Hour Crowdmornings!

You are familiar with Crowdsourcing and Crowdfunding. Well, imagine if there was such a thing as "5-Hour Crowdmorning" where we can work as a community to encourage and motivate each other to achieving the 5-Hour Week (individually or even collectively).

So, therefore, I need your help to start the 5-Hour rule from tomorrow morning and then simply reply to this article regularly with your experiences and accomplishments! This will hopefully become contagious with the other readers allowing for the domino effect to take place and the 5-Hour Week to become a common practice globally!

Thank you for your time and I really look forward to receiving your feedback, responses and more importantly your 5-Hour Week experiences (especially from those who are doing this for the first time).

Happy Learning...