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Getting up at 5 a.m. every day? For a long time, the author considered the “5 a.m. club” to be empty talk from productivity gurus. Until she tried it herself…
Back in 2012, I read in this very magazine that Michelle Obama wakes up at 4:30 a.m. every morning to work out with her husband, Barack Obama. I had two responses: “couple goals” and “ew.” The “ew” was directed toward the idea that someone, of their own free will, would decide to wake up at 4:30 a.m. every day.
But it turns out that the former first lady is not the only successful person to subscribe to this morning routine. In an interview with Kourtney Kardashian for Poosh earlier this year, momager Kris Jenner (arguably the first lady of reality TV) revealed that she too wakes up at 4:30 a.m., has had a coffee by 5, checks her emails at 5:30, and then fits in a workout before showering and embarking on a full hair and makeup routine ahead of meetings at 9:30. Jennifer Aniston and Goop queen Gwyneth Paltrow also subscribe to this early-wake-up philosophy, as does Richard Branson (though I would definitely be waking up earlier if I lived on a private island in the Caribbean).
So a few months ago, in the midst of a slump that I couldn’t shift, I decided to give it a go for myself.
It can sometimes feel that we need to overhaul our lives to get them back on track. In the past I’ve broken up with a boyfriend, quit a job, or signed up for a half marathon in an attempt to spark change. Sometimes this tactic has worked, and sometimes it hasn’t. But this time, inspired by some of the most successful women on the planet, all it took was reading The 5 A.M. Club by Robin Sharma. The tagline? “Own your morning. Elevate your life.” I was sold.
The concept is pretty simple: You wake up at 5 a.m. and do 20 minutes of exercise, 20 minutes of reflection, and 20 minutes of planning or study (“move/reflect/grow”). Sharma explains that it is a “proven neuroscience-based practice” and will help you unlock talents, successes, and personality traits that you were previously unaware of. And it only takes one glance at the book’s 13,700 five-star Amazon reviews to see that an army of fans around the world have reset their lives by resetting their alarm.
Yes, the part where your alarm actually goes off in the pitch black and brings you out of a dream where you and Harry Styles are playing scrabble on a beach in Bali (just me?) is horrible. But within 10 minutes, you’re up and over it. I quickly found that implementing a more structured bedtime routine the night before helped, as did things like putting my skin care and clothes in another room so that I could get up and out quickly rather than blundering around in the dark and waking my husband. And, crucially, do not press snooze—ever.
I don’t quite stick to the 20/20/20 ethos; I find it too rigid for me. If I get caught up in reading a brilliant book, for example, I’m loath to put it down and head to my next 20-minute activity. I tend to go with the flow of what feels good each morning. However, I do make sure that I get in at least 20 minutes of movement (this can be anything from a gentle, intuitive stretch to a HIIT class), 20 minutes of something nourishing that is unrelated to my job, and some time planning out my day.
So what has it changed? Well, everything. No, seriously, it has changed everything, and I say that as someone who was a hard cynic just over eight weeks ago. My sex life is better, for one. Suddenly I have time to “do bits” in the morning, when I’m not too tired, feeling bloated from dinner, or busy googling “what if he had picked the red card” after binge-watching the entirety of Squid Game. In fact, we’re full of life, without the tick-tocking of time weighing down on us (because you have lots of it when you wake up at 5 a.m.; who knew?).
Consider your New Year’s resolution handled.
My day-to-day motivation around work has gone up too. I find myself bursting with ideas, able to flow more freely through my tasks and excited by the projects I take on again. I’m also less stressed. I now have time to plan out my to-do list ahead of my shift or spend 30 minutes getting on top of an assignment I would have found overwhelming if trying to navigate it alongside the constant ping of Slack, ding of emails, and the often all-encompassing expectations of my colleagues.
I feel a greater sense of achievement and satisfaction at the end of the day, and that niggling guilt that accompanied evening downtime has mellowed to an almost unnoticeable level for the first time in my life. I mean, can you imagine watching Netflix without a lurking sense that you’re failing at life? It’s game changing.
All this might seem predictable, but joining the 5 a.m. club has also had many surprising benefits: My friendships have improved, and not because I’m making plans for 6 a.m. I spend some time replying to WhatsApp messages each morning when I know people won’t reply so I can just get rid of all the notifications without more popping up.
Add to this the fact that there is something really confidence boosting about sticking to a habit, feeling in control of your time, and achieving 10 things (or fewer, depending on the day, it doesn’t really matter) before anyone else is even up, and you’ve got yourself a pretty potent recipe for a good life. Sure, there are still things that go wrong in my day, moments where I feel at breaking point, and things I run out of time to do, but there is also the reassurance that in just a few short hours, I’ll have the chance to catch-up, to reset again, and to experience a renewed sense of calm.
In short, I am totally head-over-heels with my new 5 a.m. routine. I can’t believe how simple it has felt to take ownership of my life again—and it’s empowering to know that even if I stopped, this free tool is always there to come back to. The only real downside? My friends have to hear about it a lot. But if they woke up earlier, it wouldn’t encroach on their time so much. Shrugs.
This post was originally published in Glamour UK.