I read a book recently that changed my life. Having worked for myself the past eight years, I love finding new ways to become more productive and efficient. So when I discovered you could be more successful if you wake up at 5:00 am, naturally I had to know more.
With so many of us now working from home, productivity is more important than it ever has been. Have you ever wondered what successful people do? Why are they so successful? What are their secrets?
We’ll start with why you should wake up at 5:00 am, a trend I’ve seen in more entrepreneurs now than ever.
The book I read was The 5:00am Club by Robin Sharma.
The 5:00am club was established some twenty years ago. Now, it is back on topic and I’m here to explain why.
Related: How to work from home better
Own your Morning, Elevate your Life
This is the byline of the book: “Own your morning, elevate your life”. It sounds simple because it is.
The 5am concept is one of the easiest ways to become more successful. It is straight forward, easy to implement and anyone can do it. Sure, it might not be the easiest habit to form in the beginning: but it is worth it.
So, why does it work?
The early hours of the morning when you just wake up are the peak productive hours of your day. There are no distractions when you rise before anyone else in your household so its only natural you will achieve more.
Your energy is at its peak when you first wake up. Moreover, waking up at 5:00am will give you two full hours of time without any distractions.
Related: The 10 Best Books for Entrepreneurs
Wake up at 5:00 am
These two full hours of alone time will be the most productive hours of your day. This should be when you work on the creative aspects of your business and important tasks like writing or business planning.
Waking up early will also ensure you go to bed at 10:00pm latest. Why does this matter? Because if you’re anything like me, the end of the day is reserved for social activities: watching a tv series or spending time with family. To make sure you don’t spend too much time on these unused hours for productivity, you will give yourself a time limit.
Procrastination kills Productivity
It should go without saying that procrastination kills productivity. So, why do we still do it?
Enjoying tv series, cooking a fancy meal or reading a novel are ways to pass time. They are however enjoyable. Non essential tasks are still enjoyable – so this isn’t to say you shouldn’t enjoy them. It is merely taking into account how many hours you spend on things like tv series, books and socialising.
Spending time doing things we love is a necessary evil. We only have so much time in a day, however, so it is important to disperse our time between procrastination and productivity. Working all day doesn’t sound fun for anyone, but the 5:00am rule is all about using our most productive hours in each day to our advantage.
Buy the book: The 5:00am Club
Adopt Habits that Lead to Success
Entrepreneurs who wake up at 5:00am have long understand the benefits to rising early. “Seize the day” so they say. By maximising those first few hours of the day to perform your most important tasks, you will inevitable get more from each day.
Forming any new habit takes discipline. I will never forget the first few mornings I tried to wake up at 5:00am and how difficult it was to begin with. However my days have become noticeably more productive and more often than not, I’ve finished my work by lunch time each day.
After lunch I spend my time working on medial tasks like responding to emails and taking meetings. As tempting as it is to check your emails as soon as you wake up, this takes your attention away from creativity and towards monotony. And guess what? Those emails aren’t going anywhere.
So, what are you waiting for? Buy the book and start to wake up at 5:00am each day. You’ll thank me for it later!
Brooke Saward founded World of Wanderlust as a place to share inspiration from her travels and to inspire others to see our world. She now divides her time between adventures abroad and adventures in the kitchen, with a particular weakness for French pastries.
