I am starting my week 3 of reading and implenting the habit of waking up at 5AM. By the end of this week, I will have been doing this for 21 days, which is 1/3 of the journey, and the “destruction” part, as Robin S. calls it. This is the part were, in theory, we are destroying our old habits, making space for the new ones to take over.
If you want to read about my experience in my first week (week 1), and in my second week (week 2) in the 5AM Club, you can read my previous posts, however, here goes a summary of week 2, for a faster read:
Summary of week 2
This week I finally managed to wake up at 5AM for the last 3 days. I included cleaning the house in my moving routine, so now I not only am energetic after my move part, but also I have a clean house. This has been quite useful, since the kids were with me, and the house was quite messy in the evenings.
I went to bed every day at 9 pm. This is the right hour for me in order to be able to wake up at 5 AM and not feel like it is a total disaster. I did need to take 20 minutes power naps throughout the days. I feel that 20 minutes naps during the day are more powerful than sleeping one extra hour in the morning.
The homework for this week was to work on my fears. One of them is the fear of failure. I spent the time on analyzing myself and my reactions on different thoughts. I started to to pay more attention on my thoughts. I was more aware of the fact that the thoughts shape our mind, and our self-esteem, self-confidence, and our power of decision. I felt braver in my decisions the week that had just passed. I, however, did not make the most important decision, I am still postponing that one, but I am getting there.
Day 15
Today is the last day of school for my kids for this week. I had to divide a little bit my morning routine, as I was not able to do the moving, reflecting and growing part all together, before waking up the kids. Instead, I do the moving and reflecting part before 6:15AM, wake up the kids, get them ready for school and kindergarten, drive them, and come back home at 8:30AM. Then I spent the next 30 minutes (or more) doing the growing part. The thing is that, even after 2 weeks, I didn’t get to the point of doing the 20/20/20 formula. I need more than 20 minutes for each of the 3 categories. I like it too much. I am thirsty for knowledge, and I feel I have been missing this for so long.
In today’s video, Robin talks a little bit more about the 66 days rules. He mentions a research study done by the University College of London in 2010. The researchers came to the conclusion that one person needs on average 66 days to form a new habit. Being myself a researcher, although in different area, I am always skeptical about these kind of studies. Because I know you cannot take all the conditions and limitations into consideration when you come up with a conclusion for your study. You’ll have to generalize quite a lot.
The UCL study has been done on a limited number of candidates, and from what I know, the volunteers needed anywhere between 18 days and 256 days to develop a habit. Well, now 66 days on average sounds not so accurate, when you know that there were people that actually needed 256 days to develop a habit. People needed on average 59 days to develop the habit of drinking 1 glass of water every morning, and 91 days to do 50 sit ups every morning. But how much do we know about the motivation that was behind for each one of the people involved in the study? Not much …
Now, imagine you are feeling sick, and you go to your doctor. The doctor tells you that you need to take 1 red pill every morning, for the rest of your life, otherwise you are going to die. How long do you think it will take you to develop the new habit of taking a red pill every morning? 5 seconds? More? Less? It will not be comfortable in the beginning, however, you will do it straight away. Based on that, I think that we can actually develop new habits straight away, as long as we think they are important for us. So, back every decision we make or we don’t, is the presence or the lack of motivation.
Days 16 & 17
Victims have big TVs. Leaders own large libraries.
It’s weekend again. That means a “break” from the 5AM routine. Saturday I “overslept” and woke up at 5:30AM. I stayed in bed with my daughter until 6:30AM when I woke her up. I then started to read from my book while my kids watched some cartoons. Then I prepared a nice and cozy breakfast in bed for them. I did my movement part of the day after that.
Sunday was pretty much similar to Saturday. Woke up at 4:45AM first, then went back to sleep until 6:00. Or half asleep. I did not push myself out the bed, so I started to read until 7:00 ish instead, then started my day with a nice breakfast for my kids. They loved it.
My kids were over the moon, and loved so much the idea of having breakfast in bed that they required to wake them up like that every day they are with me. It was a nice feeling for me to be able to do something so nice for my children, especially so early in the morning (it was around 7:30AM). I would not in a million years, had this much energy that early in the morning, if it wasn’t for the 5AM routine.
The focus for this weekend was to spend less time in front of the TV and more outside, reading and painting. We made a fire and had hot dogs and marshmallows on Saturday and read a book on Sunday.
Day 18
Stop managing your time and start managing your focus.
Robin Sharma, The 5AM Club
It’s Monday again. The alarm went off at 5AM. I will be honest and say that it was not easy to wake up. I needed 5 minutes of self-encouragement to get off the bed. Here are two possible reasons for being so difficult to wake up today:
- I caught a cold from my daughter since Sunday, so I my body feels tired.
- I did not respond well to the fact that during the weekend days I was not out of the bed at 5AM.
That means, next weekend I will not take a break, but continue with the 5AM routine.
This morning I started to dance, as part of my “move”. I was still sleepy and lazy to do my daily routine when it comes to training. I liked the idea of dancing around in my living room at 5AM in the morning. That was an experienced that I never thought I would encounter. It was eliberating.
This week’s homework will be on concentrating on managing my focus. Trying to let go other’s people’s expectations of me, and focus more on my own needs. Finish reading the 5AM Club book, finish my business seminars, and start reading a new book, because today is the first day of February, and I my goal or this year is to read at least 1 book per month.
Day 19
The alarm went off at 5:00AM. I jumped off bed instantly. I am getting there. I actually look forward to waking up so early each morning. However, my brain is still trying to trick me, but I got a new way of tricking it. That is the reasons I jump off bed the second the alarm goes off. In this way, I am not giving the brain the time to find excuses for me sleeping a little bit more. I am starting to know myself better, to discover who I truly am, and this is part of me: I can find reasons/excuses to do whatever I want to do or don’t.
What you do each day matters for more than what you do once in a while.
Robin Sharma, The 5AM Club
I’ll make this the focus for myself for the next days. Find new habits that will help improve myself, and keep repeating them daily. One thing I am already doing: squats and sit ups. Every day. That is because I want to be in better shape, which I am now, after 3 years of giving birth to my second child. However, I want to keep staying like that. It is what I call “the maintenance mode”.
Yesterday I set my new goals for this summer. I know it is a little bit in advance, and the recommendations are always to make plans for 3 months ahead, but this one requires more planning. I plan to start a master in Business and Entrepreneurship in August, so for that I have few milestones to achieve. First, it is the language test which I will take in March, then the application process in April. Then wait until July for the acceptance email.
I got a new (used) armchair for me to spend my time while reading. I paid only $20 for it (a new one is more than $200). Next, is my library corner, but I take one step at the time. I don’t want to invest too much money on furniture, especially now, when I am trying to set up my new business.
Day 20
Today is an awesome day. I woke up at 5AM, next to my wonderful boyfriend. He is so supportive. I am not sure that I would have managed to go through this change of waking up so early, as easy as I did without his help. He really inspires me. I admire him for that.
My “move” part was quite special today, because I got to wake up a 13 years old girl, and take her out for a walk. What is more impressive, is the fact that there were -20 degrees centigrades (Celsius) outside. My hair, my eyelashes, my nose, everything was frozen when I came back in. But it was an awesome feeling to be awake that early and out. I am picking her up tomorrow at 5AM again, and go for the same walk. Maybe shorter walk tomorrow, so then I can introduce her to Robin Sharma’s meditations. My favorite one is the “Morning Mastery Medication on the Universal Truths of Greatness”.
There is ton of competition at ordinary, but there is almost none at extraordinary.
Robin Sharma, The 5AM Club
Let’s do extraordinary things then. No competition for that. I love it. Just be who you truly are 🙂 Let’s do this. I will use this quote while planning my business plan for my little (for now) company. I’ll make extraordinary things to sell. My service will be extraordinary.
Day 21
I am almost done with the first third of the 66 days challenge. This is the part that R. S calls it the “destruction”. In his book, he tells how difficult it is to break the old you, and install this new habit of waking up that early, however, I found it easier than expected. I guess it helps to have super low expectations, in such a way you feel better about yourself when you exceed them. Yesterday was the first day I felt the “messy” part of the change. I only took a 10 minutes power nap, instead of my usual 20, and I could feel the consequences. I was extremely tired by 8 pm. And that was not the real challenge. I got tired, and in not such a good mood. I felt fear. Fear for all the new changes that are happening around me, fear that I will even lose my new boyfriend (no real reason for that though). My lesson for yesterday was to never get myself that tired again. Even R.S. says in his book that we should avoid getting exhausted, because it is then when your will-power is at it’s lowest point.
The teenage daughter of my friend joined me this morning, again, at 5AM. We did one of Robins meditations together, my favorite one, the one with the universal truths. Then I gave her The 5AM Club book to read. She is still reading as I write now. I’ll soon have to stop her, so she could start her day, and go to school 😀 It is really inspiring and makes me feel humble, when I see a 13 years old, spending time to invest in her own personal growth. Oh, the places she will go, and the things she will achieve when she will be my age 🙂
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