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How to Win the Day With the 5 AM Club Morning Routine

Experience the 5 AM club morning routine with the 20/20/20 formula. 20 minutes of exercise, reflection, and growth for a focused and productive day.

Is waking up early one of your biggest struggles? Does the thought of dragging yourself out of bed at dawn fill you with dread rather than excitement? If so, you're not alone. Many of us are accustomed to sleeping late to recover from our busy, stressful lives; early mornings can feel like an unwelcome intrusion. The 5 AM Club Morning Routine is a proven structure for getting the most out of those peaceful morning hours in a way that helps us feel energized and motivated. This blog will offer valuable insights into the 5 AM Club Morning Routine to help you achieve a structured morning routine that will give you a sense of control over your day while maximizing your potential for productivity and personal growth. So, how to become a morning person?

One way to make waking up early easier is by tracking your progress. SunSeek's daily sunlight exposure tracker can help you achieve your goals of waking up early energized, following a morning routine, and using your increased productivity to reach your personal and professional goals.

What’s the 5 Am Club, and Should You Become a Member?

woman on bed - The 5 AM Club Morning Routine

The 5 AM Club is a 2018 international bestseller by Robin Sharma, a Canadian self-help writer and leadership expert.

His Method Is Simple

Wake up at five AM and focus on yourself for the first hour of your day. Waking up early and enjoying some undistracted time helps you set yourself up for success. While getting up before the sun might sound inconceivable, the change in your sleep pattern can carry over into better work routines and higher bandwidth throughout the day. Robin wrote this book based on his morning routine: waking at 5 AM and dedicating the first hour of his day to exercise, self-reflection, and personal growth. According to Robin, your brain is calmer, focused, and productive when you wake. Beginning your day early and with an hour to yourself helps you start on the right foot to enjoy a more energized and productive day.

Harness Your Theta State for Productivity

Neuroscience backs up this theory. Your brain wave activity naturally fluctuates throughout the day. When you first wake, you’re in the theta brainwave state, between daydreaming and active brainwave activity. Think of the theta state as your natural zen mode. It’s a moment of calm, free-flowing ideas, and creative mental activity. At 5 AM, when the world is quiet and distraction-free, you’re more able to hold onto it. And elongating this mental relaxation can set you up for increased productivity as the day progresses.

Start Calm, Stay Productive: The 5 AM Club Effect

Studies show that when you start the day in a positive mental state, this good mood can carry over into the rest of your day. The same is true for the opposite. If you wake up in a rush to get out the door, that shock of stress first thing in the morning can hang over you all day. It might:

Put you on edge with clients or colleagues
Make prioritizing tasks feel overwhelming
Keep you in a constant state of hurry

But if you start your day peacefully, that soothing sense of calm could help you power through your day. It might make you more contemplative, confident in tackling a challenging task, or unphased by an unexpected hiccup. You’ve centered yourself immediately and can keep it together more effectively throughout the day.

Focusing on the 4 Interior Empires

Waking up early and giving yourself space to ease into your day can help you be more productive and efficient. Robin argues that you must develop good habits beyond your morning routine to elevate your life and see long-term personal and professional improvements. To gain a better understanding of the habits you can adopt in every area of your life, Robin outlines four “interior empires” to prioritize within your overall personal development:

1. Mindset

Your thoughts can act as a self-fulfilling prophecy. When you think positively, it has a domino effect. All those positive vibes make you more likely to think creatively, manage stress, and adapt to change. To enjoy these benefits, consider the information you absorb and how it shapes your thinking. The media you consume, the people you engage with, and the words and mannerisms you choose all shape your internal thinking. Note what occupies your mind and cut out information or stimuli that cause negative thoughts.

2. Heartset

Your emotional intelligence is your ability to interpret, communicate, and regulate emotions. It’s also how you comprehend and respond to other people’s feelings. Understanding what you’re feeling and why means you can address any issues. If you notice that you’re feeling overwhelmed, you can search for the source of that feeling and resolve it. Understanding your own emotions means you recognize them in others and can offer them empathy and sympathy. This allows you to build deeper relationships based on a shared emotional understanding.

3. Healthset

Exercise doesn’t just flex your muscles; it also keeps your brain in good shape. A significant benefit of regular exercise is that it helps your brain create new neurons that cause it to become more efficient, flexible, and adaptive, which can spur stronger performance in your professional life. There’s also a positive link between exercise and mental health. Exercise pumps your body with dopamine and serotonin and reduces stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline, which can lower your risk of chronic stress.

4. Soulset

Self-reflection in and out of your 5 AM routine gives you the mental space to acknowledge your interests, hopes, and fears. A daily check-in can guide you to seek out activities that align with your goals and connect with your whole self. Journaling and meditation are great ways to incorporate self-reflection into your day.

5 Benefits of Waking Up at 5 AM

If you need extra motivation to adjust your alarm clock, getting up early has several benefits, like:

1. Better performance

Human beings have a finite amount of self-control and focus. As the day goes on, you naturally put in less effort. Your mood shifts, tasks seem more complex, and you feel fatigued. Kickstarting your day early and riding the productivity wave can ensure you focus on the most important tasks early on and complete more before you tap out.

2. Improved sleep

People who wake up early tend to hit the hay earlier and get more sleep. And better sleep usually translates to more energy and an improved mood.

3. Reduced stress

Exercise typically lowers stress levels. If it’s the first thing you do in the morning, you start your day feeling good. Getting up at 5 AM means you can shower, get ready for work, and have a relaxed breakfast. Plus, heading to work before rush hour traffic hits reduces stress and lets you enjoy your morning commute.

4. More proactiveness

Studies show that morning people tend to be more proactive. That bedtime planning and thoughtful morning routine translate into better discipline and more vigorous habits for the rest of your day. Changing your day’s entire routine is no easy feat. But when you see your hard work, you may feel more motivated to tackle other challenging professional and personal development areas.

5. A better morning rhythm

Your brain doesn’t immediately wake up. Sleep inertia is the thirty minutes to two hours after waking when your brain feels groggy. A 5 AM wake-up call ensures that by the time you head into work, you’ve come out of your morning fog and are ready to focus.

How to Optimize The 5 AM Club Morning Routine

person sleeping - The 5 AM Club Morning Routine

I like to read about the routines and habits of fiercely successful people because I think that success is recyclable – meaning that we can recreate success by studying the practices of successful people. A couple of months ago, this obsession led me into a Google search frenzy where I encountered a collection of posts about how some of the most successful people in the world (i.e., Barack Obama, Steve Jobs, Abraham Lincoln, and Elon Musk) habitually wake up at 5 am. This trend spurred the term “5 am Club.” Many high achievers credit their most productive thinking and planning to the hours between 5 am and 8 am.

What is So Significant About Waking Up Before the Sun Rises?

Finding time to unplug and engage in undisrupted thought is exceedingly difficult in our technology-obsessed, distraction-filled society.

Why Early Rising Beats Late Nights

As a potential remedy, Jeff Sanders – in his podcast called ‘The 5 am Miracle’ – states that waking up at 5 am gives people time to awaken themselves “emotionally, spiritually, physically and mentally” without the powerful pull of notifications. This idea intrigued me; is waking up at 5 am a powerful game changer regarding productivity and mental strength? If reduced distractibility is the primary goal of the 5 am club, why does it not include the 1 am club or the 2 am club, as these are also far less distraction-filled versus regular wakeful hours? Why is the club focused on early birds as opposed to night owls? The answer lies in the intricacies of the brain’s waking up process.

Start Strong, Stay Focused All Day

When you first get up in the morning, your cortisol levels (stress hormone levels) are elevated, and you’re transitioning from sleep to wakefulness. Your initial thoughts and actions set the tone for the rest of the day. In brain science terms, you are awakening neural pathways that will fire for the rest of the day. The 5 am club is not just about waking up at 5 am – it’s about starting your day well. This means choosing activities that fire up your metabolism, thoughts that increase your productivity, and tasks that require focused attention. Getting a powerful start to your day gives you momentum throughout the day.

The 5 AM Club 20 20 20 Formula

The concept is simple: You wake up at 5 a.m. and do 20 minutes of exercise, 20 minutes of reflection, and 20 minutes of planning or study (“move/reflect/grow”). Sharma explains it is a “proven neuroscience-based practice” and will help you unlock talents, successes, and personality traits you were unaware of. And it only takes one glance at the book’s 13,700 five-star Amazon reviews to see that an army of fans worldwide have reset their lives by resetting their alarm.

First 20 Minutes: Move!

Move for 20 minutes – perform vigorous exercise for 20 minutes. You must sweat. Sweat removes cortisol (the hormone of fear and stress) and generates the protein BDNF (which repairs brain cells and accelerates the formation of new neural connections). Therefore, by sweating for 20 minutes, you will think faster!

Next 20 Minutes: Reflect

Spend 20 minutes on reflection with a period of deep peace and solitude. Reflect on what is most important to you. You will be amazed how 20 minutes of self-reflection enables you to step back and reflect on what truly matters. You will suddenly gain perspective and inspire visions and a deeper understanding of things than you would have had. Write these thoughts in a journal. Write about your ambitions, what you’re grateful for, your achievements, and disappointments. This will help you gain clarity, better understand your vision, and release toxic negative thoughts and energies. Spend this time on meditation, which lets you stay calm and reduce stress.

Last 20 Minutes: Grow!

The last 20 minutes are spent on growing. Use this time to learn. Read biographies to study the lives of great achievers, learn about different topics that interest you, watch documentaries, or listen to audiobooks. Use this time for self-development and learning. If you wake up at 5 am, the 20:20:20 5 am schedule is as follows:

5:00-5:20: Exercise
5:20-5:40: Reflection (meditation, journaling)
5:40-6:00: Reading and/or learning

How to Join the 5 AM Club

If the snooze button is your best friend, waking up before the birds may feel unimaginable. Here are tips for joining the 5 AM club.

Get Moving

Do something active (i.e., anything from a simple walk to a complete gym session). This raises your heart rate, wakes up your senses, and fires up your metabolism.

Schedule Your Day

Without a schedule, it’s easy to veer off course and lose productivity. Taking a couple of minutes to create a realistic schedule for the day guides your time and increases your focus. The structure is entirely up to you. Maybe you prefer to work with to-do lists, or perhaps you like to plan your day hour-by-hour.

Have a Glass of Water With Lemon

Squeeze lemon juice into a 16-ounce glass of water (the amount of lemon you add should suit your tastes – don’t shock your senses with too much lemon). This habit allows you to freshen your breath, wake up faster, reduce hunger/cravings, and aid your digestive system.

Let the Natural Light In

Exposing your body to natural light in the morning controls the body’s circadian system, helping you experience wakefulness, mood stabilization, and perception enhancement. There’s no better way to wake your mind and body up than to expose your senses to natural light. This may mean investing in a great natural light alarm clock.

Have a Nutritious Breakfast

The age-old importance of eating a nutritious breakfast is especially true for heightened daily productivity and focus. What constitutes a healthy breakfast?

Protein (i.e, eggs and nuts)
Healthy fats (i.e, olive oil and avocado)
High-fibre foods (i.e, oatmeal and whole wheat toast)
Fruits/vegetables (i.e. berries and bananas)

Having a nutritious breakfast sustains your daily appetite and increases your concentration levels.

Focus the Mind

This is the most critical aspect of a fantastic morning routine. Focusing the mind means clearing your head, hitting the mental refresh button. I like to meditate or engage in an act of mindfulness. This could include:

Doing a body scan
Running through a yoga session
Focusing on my breath for a specified period
Taking a mindful shower

Keep Your Eye on the Prize

A 2009 study found that forming a new habit takes about 66 days. This study also found that automating habits and the habits vary from person to person. Some people can create a life-changing routine in 18 days, while others may take up to 254. There’s no timetable for incorporating a new routine into your life. Consider checking in often to celebrate your progress and find ways to personalize your routine to improve daily. With time and consistency, you’ll look forward to getting up in the morning.

Adjust Your Sleep Routine

The average adult needs at least seven hours of quality sleep a night, although this fluctuates slightly from person to person. You must be asleep by 10 p.m. to hit your 5 AM goal. Assuming it takes 30 minutes to fall asleep, crawl into bed by 9–9:30 p.m. to ensure you’re snoozing by 10 p.m. Good sleep isn’t just about quantity. Seven hours of uninterrupted quality sleep is more beneficial than 10 hours of irregular rest. Here are a few ways to improve your sleep hygiene and get to sleep earlier:

During the day: Limit caffeine, stay hydrated, exercise regularly, and avoid napping.
At bedtime: Set an alarm that notifies you it’s bedtime. Replace screen time and social media with reading, meditating, or listening to a relaxing podcast or audiobook.
While sleeping: Reduce bright lights and noise and leave your cell phone in another room.

5 Proven Tips for Waking Up at 5 am Every Day

1. Establish a Consistent Sleep Schedule

Establishing a consistent sleep schedule is crucial to waking up at 5 AM feeling refreshed and energized. Aim to go to bed at a reasonable time that allows you to get a full 7–8 hours of sleep. Create a relaxing bedtime routine that signals your body that it’s time to wind down. Avoid electronic devices before bed and create a sleep-friendly environment by keeping your bedroom cool, dark, and quiet.

2. Use an Alarm Clock Across the Room

One effective strategy for waking up at 5 AM is to place your alarm clock across the room from your bed. This forces you to physically get out of bed to turn off the alarm, making it harder to hit the snooze button and go back to sleep. Once you’re out of bed, resist the temptation to crawl back under the covers. Instead, engage in an invigorating activity, such as stretching or drinking a glass of water, to jumpstart your day.

3. Find Your “Why”

A strong motivation for waking up at 5 AM is crucial for staying committed to your early morning routine. Reflect on your goals and aspirations, and identify the reasons why waking up early is essential to you, whether it’s:

To have more time for personal growth
To work on your passion projects
To achieve a specific milestone

Reminding yourself of your “why” will help you stay motivated and overcome resistance to getting out of bed.

4. Create a Morning Ritual

Designing a morning ritual that you look forward to can make waking up at 5 AM a more enjoyable experience. Incorporate activities that nourish your mind, body, and soul. This could include:

Reading a book
Practicing gratitude
Doing a quick workout
Enjoying a healthy breakfast

By creating a routine that aligns with your values and brings you joy, you’ll be more inclined to wake up early and start your day with enthusiasm.

5. Stay Consistent and Be Patient

Waking up at 5 AM is a habit that takes time to develop. Staying consistent and patient with yourself as you adjust to the new routine is essential. Remember that it’s normal to experience some resistance and fatigue initially. As you prioritize your sleep and establish a consistent wake-up time, your body will adapt, and waking up early will become easier and more natural.

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