by Deborah Walker
In my last post, I discussed The 5AM Club, Robin Sharma’s early morning protocol to transform your life. Sharma is a charismatic and enthusiastic productivity guru who coaches very successful people. In his productivity protocol. you get up at 5 am in the morning (actually 4.45 am to give you time to get ready) and undertake an hour-long ritual, the 20/20/20 ritual, which consists of:
- 20 minutes vigorous exercise.
- 20 minutes reflection: meditation, journaling etc.
- 20 minutes learning.
The last third of the book is also packed with wisdom drops. To give you a flavor, I’ll list just one set of protocols, which you can explore in greater detail in the book and in Sharma’s free podcast.
- Tight Bubble of Perfect Focus. Switch off the internet. Don’t be a data-zombie
- 90/90/1 Rule. For 90 days focus the first 90 minutes of your workday one thing.
- 60/10 . . . Then work 60 minutes and take a 10-minute break. Then repeat the 60/10 rule.
- Daily Five. Every day write down five things you want to accomplish.
- 2nd Wind Workout. Do another workout later in the day, perhaps a walk in nature.
- 2 Massage protocol. Get two 90-minute massages every week.
- Traffic University. Listen to podcasts and audiobooks while you’re commuting.
- Weekly Design. Every Sunday create the blueprint of your success.
- Sixty Minute Student. Study for sixty minutes every day.
But the core message of The 5AM Club, is to get up at 5 am and undertake the 20/20/20 routine.
Productivity gurus love routine and habit. They say you should have a regular bedtime and a regular time to wake up. I don’t do that. But I am an early riser and no stranger to 5 am. It should have been easy for me to test this productivity habit.
I tried it with a serious intention for two weeks. Sharma’s advice is to follow the protocol for 66 days, as some researchers have found that it takes that long to establish a habit. But two weeks was all I wanted to do.
On the days, I did it, I would say it was pleasant to get up early. I’m lucky enough to have a lovely park at the bottom of my road. I enjoyed my early morning walk. I also doubled up: listening to self-help podcasts during the 20-40 minute walk, and meditating (a bit, although I don’t care for it) and listening to the Bible for the spiritual side.
I managed this, off and on, for two weeks. It was by no means a perfect attempt, but it was a genuine attempt, which started off strong, trailed off and then stopped. In Sharma’s framing, I’m a victim who uses excuses, rather than a hero who gets the job done. These are my excuses.
Very early morning vigorous exercise makes me ill.
I tried jogging on the first couple of days. Exercise that early in the morning made me feel sick. I was also exhausted throughout the day, so I switched to walking.
I didn’t want to go to bed early every night.
A major reason I failed was the fact that to get up at five, I needed to go to bed early, at 9pm, to get my 8 hours in. Sharma doesn’t advocate skipping sleep and encourages early nights. And I just didn’t want to go to bed early every night. Hey, I was in Madrid for three nights. We didn’t go out to dinner until 9 pm.
It didn’t work for me.
On the days that I did manage it, I didn’t feel any different, at all. It occurred to me that I might already be happy and productive. Although somewhat worryingly, in Chapter 8, Sharma states that most people only think they’re happy and are fooling themselves.
It felt like a waste of premium writing time.
I didn’t like using that first hour on the 20/20/20 protocol. The first hour for me is very good for writing.
After two weeks, and to give The 5AM Club a good try, I changed the protocol to:
Wake at 5am on the days I felt like it.
- 2 hours writing.
- 20/20/20 protocol.
- Rest of day.
But that trailed away after a week or so. The 5AM Club did not work for me, which is a real shame as I wanted it to, and thought it would be my kind of thing.
I consoled myself with the thought that perhaps I’m already happy and productive, and even if like most people, I’m fooling myself, does that really matter?
The post Waking up to Productivity: Testing Robin Sharma’s The 5AM Club. appeared first on SFWA.