An early morning' club for greatness

Leadership and performance expert, Robin Sharma’s latest book gives readers a tried and tested morning routine to make life serene, salubrious and successful.

Yesterday, at an event titled ‘Transform Your Life Forever’, a bunch of eager listeners were let in on the benefits of being an early bird and were encouraged to join the revolutionary ‘5 AM Club’ by legendary leadership and performance expert, Robin Sharma. The motivational guru and author famous for his best-selling book The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari attended the event, co-hosted by Crossword Bookstores, to talk about the salient teachings in his latest book The 5 AM Club: Own Your Morning, Elevate Your Life.

Replicating the ‘philosophy nestled in fable’ format of his debut novel, readers are invited to follow the journey of growth of two individuals, an artist and an entrepreneur, who on being mentored by an eccentric tycoon, discover habits and formulas that help them transform their lives for the better. Through their journey, we discover Robin Sharma’s 5 AM Club concept, which is based on an early morning routine he introduced over 20 years ago and has since been practiced by many successful entrepreneurs and leaders.

When asked why he decided to pen an entire book on a life lesson often compressed into a single adage, Robin says, “The way you begin your day sets up the way your day unfolds. If we own our mornings, we can have better days, weeks, months and years. And so the fundamental part of any transformation, is getting our mornings right and then everything else takes care of itself,” says the author. The book provides us with a formula to do just this - ‘get our mornings right’, and enjoying some quiet time is an important part of this process.

And the life coach says that these introspective moments are all the more necessary in today’s world, where days fly by at breakneck speed and illuminated screens provide constant distraction. “Tranquility is the new luxury, and a period of reflection every morning is game-changing. Because, what’s the point of spending our lives climbing these mountains only to realise that we’ve been scaling the wrong ones. By reflection, we can make better choices and be more strategic and intentional. It also helps us focus on our gifts, values, strengths and weaknesses,” the author affirms.

But apart from this routine, the book provides several other tips, formulas and sage advice to help us achieve emotional well-being and professional success and that’s why, Robin reveals that it took him four years to pen his book.

“This book is an eccentric, eclectic work because there are pieces on neuroscience, ideas on how to live a more prosperous life, philosophy on how we can live a life that is legendary… I really wanted it to be a very authentic book and also present some very disruptive ideas,” he says, giving an example of how he talks about three new ‘sets’ in his book apart from the commonly known ‘mindset’ – heartset, healthset and soulset, which together make up our ‘4 interior empires’.

And this is just one example of the many catchy terms and formulas Robin presents in the book, because chapters are peppered with captivating concepts like ‘the tight bubble of total focus’, ‘the daily 5 concept’ or a ‘habit installation protocol’ or formulas like the 20/20/20 formula, 90/90/1 rule and others. The pattern is clear – Robin presents fixed protocols, often packaged in user-friendly, self-explanatory names. And he does this with good reason, he says.

“People want a method. So, the 20/20/20 formula is a fixed, clear method. That allows someone to say, “Oh, I understand, I’ll get up at 5 AM, spend 20 minutes on movement, 20 minutes on reflection, 20 minutes on growth.” We all want protocols rather than general or vague instructions. I offer people inspiration and  specific routines that they could follow to get real results,” he shares.

While this formulaic approach does make it easier to form and instill a positive habit, the wealth of formulas spied in the book can make it a daunting read. And so, Robin suggests that the best way to reap the benefits of the book is to give it more than one read. “It’s better to read the book in one go the first time. Because I want people to get the intellectual, emotional and spiritual experience by feeling the entire story as quickly as possible. But then, it’s also a very layered book, because there are so many different insights, rituals and routines. So it’s a book to go through over and over again and study and digest it step-by-step after the first reading,” says Robin.

But Robin cautions that taking on change is a demanding process and that it takes time and dedication to make something a habit. He says, “All change is hard at first, messy in the middle, and beautiful at the end. Most people don’t have the grit, the commitment, to stay with the process. People find it hard because they forget that installing any habit, whether it’s waking up at 5 AM or being excellent in your work, it’s not an event, it’s a process. It requires practice over a period of time.”