5am Club by Robin Sharma - Book Cover

The 5am Club

Own Your Morning. Elevate Your Life

Robin Sharma

Overview

The 5am Club by Robin Sharma came as a suggestion through an old friend when I requested book recommendations via a recent social media post. First and foremost, thank you my friend. I can only hope to recommend something you haven’t read that is equally as compelling and inspiring.

As just stated, I indeed found The 5am Club to be compelling. I could hardly put it down! As far as inspiring goes, I didn’t make it past day three without adjusting my morning routine. The book is filled with practical advice, thought provoking stories, research based methodologies, and a web of powerful quotes and slogans beautifully interwoven.

But what I like most about the book is that it is a fictional story. The author, Robin Sharma, has crafted pure genius in this body of work. Instead of talking directly to the reader like most authors in the industry, he opted to have numerous characters bring his message to life. Instead of quoting great minds of the past, his characters quoted great minds of the past. His characters were colorfully crafted, the scenery beautifully depicted, and from time to time I would forget I was reading a personal development book, as much of the wisdom is so masterfully woven into the story.

Key Insights

  • Lays out a practical framework for optimizing your morning.
  • Establishes key concepts and then builds, continuing to add value chapter to chapter.
  • Masterfully lays a framework for maximizing productivity into a compelling story.
  • Beautiful illustrations that capture key concepts, bringing visual aid where needed without disrupting the flow of the story.
  • Inspiring to say the least. I found myself eager to try the concepts and practices shared throughout the book.
  • Not only instructs the reader how to maximize performance and potential, but also stresses the importance of rest, time with family and friends, and the pursuit of enriching hobbies.
  • A fun and refreshing way to learn about routine and personal mastery.
  • Would I recommend this book? The short answer, “Yes”. The long answer, “Yessssssss”!

Additional Thoughts

I’ve long known that storytelling is a superior method for passing down information. As humans, we naturally remember stories better than a series of facts or data. When I was in the Marine Corp, we would play Kim’s games in order to develop the skill of remembering intel. KIM is actually an acronym for “Keep In Memory”. In essence we would be shown a collection of random objects (mostly military of course) and given a short period of time (maybe sixty seconds) to examine them. During this time, we would quickly scan the objects and try to group them via color, shape, size… really any way we could, in an attempt to remember what we were looking at. Now, the cruel part of the game was that we wouldn’t be asked to recall what we had seen for hours, if not days later. As such, the winning methodology was to create a story in which all of the objects played a role in. By creating a story (as silly as the story might be), we could repeat that story to ourselves until asked to recall it at a later time.

Bringing the conversation back to The 5am Club, the story is engraved in my mind! The characters, the destinations, the activities… all with lessons associated with each of them. Like I said, masterfully crafted.

A few of my favorite quotes from the book!

The place where your greatest discomfort lies is also the spot where your largest opportunity lives.The Spellbinder
Robin Sharma: The 5am Club
All change is hard at first, messy in the middle and gorgeous at the end.Stone Riley
Robin Sharma: The 5am Club
Everything you now find easy you first found difficult.Stone Riley
Robin Sharma: The 5am Club
The life of the caterpillar must end for the glory of the butterfly to shine. The old ‘you’ must die before the best ‘you’ can be born.The Spellbinder
Robin Sharma: The 5am Club
Elite production without quiet vacation causes lasting depletion.The Spellbinder
Robin Sharma: The 5am Club
No idea works until you do the work.Stone Riley
Robin Sharma: The 5am Club
There’s a ton of competition at ordinary, but there’s almost none at extraordinary.Stone Riley
Robin Sharma: The 5am Club
Victories occur before warriors walk onto the field.Stone Riley
Robin Sharma: The 5am Club
Your influence in the world mirrors the glory, nobility, vitality and luminosity you’ve accessed in yourself.Stone Riley
Robin Sharma: The 5am Club
To regularly do that which is hard but important when it feels most uncomfortable is how warriors are born.Stone Riley
Robin Sharma: The 5am Club
Become a collector of awesome experiences instead of a consumer of material things.Stone Riley
Robin Sharma: The 5am Club
Courage is an exquisite weapon to defeat the armies of regret that tear away at lives meekly lived.Stone Riley
Robin Sharma: The 5am Club

Get it today on Amazon!