5am club - anyone here got any experiences?

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Posting for traffic!

Has anyone joined the 5am club? Official one (Robin Sharma), rather than just waking up at 5am because work / kids / other commitments.

If so: how did you / do you find it? Did it benefit your life?

I'm up at 5.30 every day as I am at work at 7. I can't believe people do it just for the heck of it.

Yep I'm up already and love the peace and quiet and the birds singing, it clears my anxiety and thoughts. I do get weary mid afternoon,but years of working shifts I am use to surviving on no sleep.

I get up by 5am most days.

My DS11 won't sleep without me in his bed, so I take him to bed at 9ish, usually fall asleep there for an few hrs, then into my bed.

Puppy or dog wakeup about 4.30 and I get up about 5. I walk the dogs and feed the chickens and then do a workout l, shower and take DD to the school bus stop at 6.45. Then home, do some housework, take DD to school at 8am and then I go to work.

I get up at the same time daily. In the winter I set my alarm for 5 so I can workout even if I can't walk the dogs in the dark.

If we have a big weekend day with lots on I get up early to get ahead of my jobs.

I almost always have a nap after lunch, or sometimes after the morning school run for 10 mins before I get on with my day.

I don't know how to sleep later, I'd never get everything done.

As a child I woke up at 5 naturally every day until I was 9. My poor parents :(

My natural rhythm has always been early nights early mornings.

I go to bed at 10 and wake up naturally around 5.00-5.30. I use the time to read, have breakfast, do a wash and sort out eh dishwasher before relaxing with some mums’et or youtube.

We do have a large house and so no one hears me which I guess helps too.

Am away on holiday now and have been awake an hour.

Well I’m at at 5am, but that’s because I’m at work (night worker).

Out of interest, what’s the actual routine? Is it just to do housework?

I've never heard of the 5am club.

I am up naturally at this time, but that is from years of early work starts times, and DC who relentlessly would wake up a silly o'clock and were full on from the moment I opened my eyes, those days were never fun or relaxing, just utter exhaustion.

I do enjoy my 5am starts now. but it certainly isn't for everyone.

I find it so stupid that someone finds something that works for them, so decides to preach that it the best and only way to live to everyone else that go for all 'seen the light' life style preachers.

I am a natural early bird and usually up by 5am although I don't have kids or commitments that require me to be.

Today is my 40th birthday and I got up at 445 just to potter about. Might go for a run in a bit. I like early mornings and am at my most productive. I am very shit and anti social after about 9pm though!

@FizzyPink

So what exactly are you supposed to do at 5am?

If I did it I’d probably just end up pissing around on my phone until it was time to get up. I don’t do anything particularly productive with my free time now, I can’t imagine being any more motivated 3 hours before I usually wake up.

Well I make a coffee and sit and take my medication and read the newspapers, catch up on here and Insta, then watch YouTube on the 2 animal accounts I follow. The peace really does help my mental health.

I'm normally awake at 5am anyway because of lifelong insomnia but there's nothing worth doing at 5am. Can't do housework because it will wake the rest of the household. Can't put a wash on because it will annoy the neighbours. Can't go to the gym because I'm a lazy shite. I just watch YouTube and eat walnuts.

Club?
I get up at 5 because thats the time I need to in order to get ready and drive to work. I must admit I enjoy a chance to get ready/breakfast and wake up uninterrupted, and occasionally clean something or sort out washing/recycling on the way out the door if its not too inconvenient. Not sure I would frame it as a lifestyle choice though

5am club sounds interesting!!
I've been up since 9pm, almost home and will go straight to bed. I've been working.

What is so virtuous about getting up early?

The reviews on Amazon are hilarious

I'm guessing it's for those who aspire to be the type who can manage on a lot less sleep than most?

@garlictwist

I am a natural early bird and usually up by 5am although I don't have kids or commitments that require me to be.

Today is my 40th birthday and I got up at 445 just to potter about. Might go for a run in a bit. I like early mornings and am at my most productive. I am very shit and anti social after about 9pm though!

Happy Birthday!

I’ve been up since 4.45 with the baby, who decided he was “up up”, so we came downstairs. He’s fallen asleep and been so since 5.15. I could have gone back to bed, but haven’t - I’ve had tea and toast in peace and quiet before my toddler wakes up and is 100 mph from the get go.

The peace is really nice, and I do enjoy being up early and enjoying the quiet house. I wouldn’t make a habit of it though!

Last weekend I was on nights, this weekend I am off but when I wake that's it, I do not ever plan to get up at 5 or set the alarm, it just happens!

I'm always up around 5am!
I've put a wash on, made a nice coffee, had a quick scan of the papers online, and I'm just about to do my prayers / meditation.
Love having time to myself before the rest of the family are up! It's such a luxury.

Depends whether you are a morning person or not!

I am, I’m up around 5am. Get tired around 10/11 pm. Partly because I like to get an hour exercise in before work (helps me concentrate) but mainly because that’s the time I’d be awake anyway. I’ve never needed an alarm clock.

DH is a night owl though. Rarely is even slightly tired before 12am. And really, really hates his alarm clock, which he needs to use on work days or he would never be up. But he does some of his best work in the late afternoon/evening.

If DH tried to get up at 5 every morning it would be terrible for his physical/mental health.

If you are a morning person you already know it, don’t try to force something you aren’t just because someone has told you it’s great.

I have to get up at 3 to start work at 4am. Days off I think about getting up early to keep in routine but frankly I need the sleep.

I go to bed about 9pm which works fine as my husband works nights and leaves then anyway. Kids are old enough to sort themselves out 😊

In a couple of weeks we are going back to 5am starts and I’m really looking forward to it!

I wake up at 5am no matter what. Have done my whole life it’s like I have a built in alarm clock.

I do it, but wake up at 6am, instead of 5am for a few reasons - one, I am not a natural early bird, two, I can do the 20:20:20 between 6-7am (ie my normal life doesn’t need to start, or get interrupted, until 7am) and three - to be sustainable, this means I have to be in bed at 10pm or I get tired and cranky and stop. And I’m not prepared to have a regular earlier bedtime than 10pm, unless it’s by choice.

I started by following the 20:20:20, but now I am more lose with it. Wed and Fri I go to Beach yoga for the full hour (so I don’t do Reflect and Grow on those days), I hate Mondays with a passion, so I only do Reflect on those days - journal, have hot tea on the balcony and watch the sunrise, etc. the other days I may do the 20:20:20, or focus on a particular area to balance it out.

The main benefit I have found is that by the time the clock ticks over to 7am and the house and the rest of my life wake up and needs me, I have already feed my soul abit. Before I used to feel like I would start solving the worlds problems from the moment my feet hit the floor from bed. Now, I have a buffer in.

I also like that it is done first thing - like I am important. Before, after the day was done and everyone else - work, friends, family had all had their pound of flesh from me, I would have some time before bed for me. As I was exhausted, it was usually spent scrolling on my phone or watching Netflix etc. I don’t have a problem with these (and still do them at night!) but the difference is I’m not sitting there thinking, I should go to the gym, I should read an improving book etc, as I already have. I also find it harder to make choices like that at the end of a long day, whereas it’s easier at the start of the day (decision making fatigue hasn’t set in yet!)

So that’s my experience. Strong boundaries are key, also is working out what you are doing just doing for the sake of it, as opposed to what is actually helping you. As above, getting up at 5am (as opposed to 6am for me) would not have been successful.

I think being able to wake up at your natural time is best. I naturally wake up at about 7am my time, 8am uk time.

I was getting up at 5/5.30 a few weeks ago to walk my dogs and it was wiping me out because I couldn't siesta (don't like napping in the day) and I'd still end up going to sleep at around 11.30-12.00-1.00.

I'm up at 5 naturally and yes, I'm useless after 2pm and tend to go to bed at 9. I've tried to change this but my body's not having it.

I’m usually up by 5am. I just had a run and did some weeding before my 10 week old woke up. If you’re a ‘morning person’ (which I am!) it’s great!! I’ve not heard of the book though.

My husband does it, he gets up at 4 30am every day to have breakfast and work out before work. He doesn't wake anyone else up, I barely even notice him getting out the bed. He loves it, loves the routine and the peace and quiet and getting his workout done and out the way, it gives him more time with the kids when they are awake. I get up at 6am and have an hour to myself before the kids wake. We both go to bed 'early', about 9pm, but we like to prioritize sleep and the mornings over the evenings. It works for us.