Reflections on 'The 5 AM Club' by Robin Sharma

Disclaimer: The following is not an all-encompassing summary of the book, and nor is it a substitute for reading the actual book; these are the points that are the most relevant to me. All credit for the information shared below, although paraphrased by me, goes to Robin Sharma. 

7 things I learned:

1. It takes at least 66 days to automate a habit, split into 3 phases of 22 days each. The first phase is where old habits are destroyed, the second one is where the new habit begins to take root, and the final phase is where the habit is cemented. It is crucial to show up daily without fail at this time, although change can be excruciating. Even if one does have to miss a day, as James Clear says in 'Atomic Habits', never miss twice. 

The above is perhaps the most important lesson I learned from this book. I have, on several occasions, suffered from what I call 'the 3-day curse'. After resolving to start a new habit, for example, going for a run every day, I would show up for 3 days in a row, miss the fourth day and a lot of days after that, and finally, the habit would fall through. After a period ranging between a few days and a few months, I would try again, only to repeat the cycle. Now that I am aware that it takes much longer than I had previously thought for any habit to start feeling natural, I will push myself harder to show up every day. Regarding running, Robin Sharma also wrote that Nelson Mandela spent 45 minutes a day jogging on the spot in his cell during his years of imprisonment, alongside other exercise. I have often been put off running because of rain or snow outside, but this changes things. Even if I can't go outside or to the gym, I always have the ground I am standing on, which means that I have no excuses! 

2. It is important to put oneself into uncomfortable situations for personal growth. 

The book suggests doing things like sleeping on the floor a few days a week, or taking cold showers. These are excellent examples that cover physical discomfort, which I like to believe I try to confront fairly regularly. Unfortunately, I am practically wedded to my comfort zone in the mental and emotional aspects. I have a deep fear of networking, and usually require a lot of mental preparation before I can muster up the courage to talk to a stranger. Perhaps it would be wise for me to jump in before I am ready, and talk to, say, at least two new people each week. 

3. It takes 10,000 hours of practice to show the first signs of mastery of a skill. This amounts to nearly 3 hours daily for 10 years. 

I would like to try to spend 10,000 hours writing! Although it might take me longer than a decade to reach that milestone, I cannot help but wonder how much I will improve throughout the process. 

4. Rest is as important as work. Like muscles need rest to recuperate and grow, so does the mind. 

As someone who feels guilty whenever they take breaks, the muscles analogy gave me a fresh perspective. Rest is not a waste of time. Rather, it will help be more efficient when I get back to work. 

5. Distractions are the enemy of productivity. 

I entirely agree! During my childhood, as a result of there not being a TV at home, I was very diligent in my studies, and spent my spare time reading, writing and crafting. A few days ago, I was going through my old stuff and found over a thousand pages of book drafts and notes that I have written over the past decade. While I was almost always clueless about the trending TV shows at any given time, which sometimes did lead to a feeling of social alienation, if I could go back in time, I wouldn't change anything.   

6. One often reduces their productivity by trying to pursue too many things simultaneously, resulting in the scattering of 'cognitive bandwidth'. 

To add to this, Robin Sharma says that to achieve genius and mastery in something, one has to solely focus on that skill and nothing else. I have mixed feelings about this one. I have multiple interests. To call the idea of dropping all but one painful is an understatement. However, when I find myself trying to do too many things equally well, I eventually descend into burnout and an overall feeling of despair and not getting anywhere. Having an ordered list of priorities is a better midway path. 

7. Last but not least, the tranquility of the early morning is the perfect time to have a routine that allows for movement, reflection, learning, and growth. 

There have been several times in my life where I have been motivated to regularly get up at 4:00 or 5:00 in the morning for months in a row. When I was younger, it was to run, while during a large part of high school, it was to study. Either way, I thoroughly enjoyed the silence that came with that time. When I was running, I had the chance to witness the sunrise, watching the sky change every few minutes. I have never memorised faster or had a deeper understanding of concepts than during those early morning study sessions. In the last few years, I have lost the good habit of getting up early, and my main reason for reading this book was to convince myself to start again. It is working; ever since, I have found myself waking up early, although not at 5:00, even on holidays, to go for a swim or a walk. Going forward, I would like to incorporate both physical and mental exercise into my morning routines, even when my days are packed.

Critical thoughts: 

The approach of using a fable-like format is a unique one. The backstories of the fictional characters, as well as the liberal use of anecdotes, make reading like gliding through the pages, rather than wading through pages of dense language. Unfortunately, this method also detracts from the overall crispness of the subject matter. The book takes its sweet time to get to the point, which I found quite frustrating. 

While the book tries to oversensationalise the results one would get by practicing what is written, I deeply respect the emphasis on habits. After all, one can dream about results, but following the right process is the only way to actually get there. A lot of the information about habits was not new to me, as I have read 'Atomic Habits', but that can be forgiven, because the truth is universal, and one can only paraphrase it.  

Occasionally, the characters were a bit too much for me, especially Mr. Riley and his antics. The slogan 'Own your morning, elevate your life!' was repeated to the point where it began to feel rather cultish. Despite that, and my initial skepticism about mixing fiction and non-fiction, the characters still grew on me. 

As evident from the first part of this review, I learned a lot from this book. At the same time, it was obvious that the author was trying to fluff up his content to have a word count that fit the guidelines for a book. 

While it sounds like I have a lot of criticism for this book, it has a lot of valuable lessons in it, and I have no regrets about reading it. 

Audiobook Review: 'The Wedding People' by Alison Espach, narrated by Helen Laser

As an avid crime novel reader with an overly active imagination, I like to read a rom-com every now and then to keep the nightmares at bay. It is with this intent that I decided to read (or more accurately listen to) 'The Wedding People'. The usage of the word 'wedding' in the title, as well as the beautiful cover art, suggested a lighthearted but chaotic narrative, happy endings, and admiring the beauty of life in general. 

In many ways, this book was exactly what I expected, but not having read the blurb beforehand, I was surprised at the dark beginning. English professor Phoebe wears her most beautiful dress and her golden wedding heels and boards a plane to the fancy Cornwall Inn in Newport, Rhode Island. There, she intends to enjoy some good alcohol, a luxurious last meal, and a handful of cat painkillers. She might as well; she has not been able to write anything for a while now, and her husband decided he was in love with her best friend. Having to watch them together at the college where they all teach is excruciating. She wonders, what does she have to lose? 

When she reaches the inn, it turns out to be full of people attending the week-long wedding celebrations of Lila and Gary. In an elevator encounter with Lila, Phoebe tells her about her intentions. Later that night, Lila barges into Phoebe's hotel room and demands that she not commit suicide, because Lila's wedding must be perfect. Despite Lila's outward beauty, wealth, and entitled behaviour, it turns out all is not perfect in her world either. That night, the two women share their most guarded secrets with each other, and it is the beginning of an unlikely bond. 

Phoebe does not die that night; instead, over the course of a week, she spends time with the 'wedding people', as she refers to them. Initially, perhaps she had despised some of them, but now, they are so much more than a homogeneous herd of shallow, wealthy people. It turns out she needed them, and they needed her. The story follows her as she puts the future aside for a week, only living in the now. 

The book was everything I could have hoped for, joyful but not overly saccharine, optimistic while staying within a realistic frame, and very profound. The most important thing I learned from this book is that if we aren't valued by the people in our life, that doesn't imply that we are worthless. We are simply surrounded by the wrong ones, and that we are yet to meet more wonderful people who will uplift us and bring joy to our lives. For a week, Phoebe put everything aside and truly lived, truly enjoyed all the big and little things, and nothing went wrong. In fact, it changed her life for the better, in a way she could never have imagined. There is perhaps a lesson to be taken from that as well. 

The only critique I have is that sometimes I found some of Phoebe's fantasies over-the-top and slightly redundant, but at the same time, given the overall quality of writing, I trust Espach to have valid reasons for them that may be beyond my comprehension. Perhaps the fantasies represent Phoebe's outlook in her past life, and highlight how drastically it changes by the end of the book. 

The narration was extraordinary. Generally, having read for several years, readers eventually develop their abilities of inference to read the feelings beneath the words. In an audiobook, those feelings are handed to us through the narration, and one must trust the narrator to do them justice. Helen Laser went above and beyond; the contempt in her voice while reading Phoebe's inner monologue was subtle and yet impossible to miss, giving the feeling of being let into an inside joke. Her take on Lila's voice was hilarious; it was precisely annoying enough to suit her character, but not enough so that it deterred me from listening. While I usually have fuzzy images of the characters in my head while reading any book, this time, they were crystal clear, and the narration has a lot to do with it. 

Although 'The Wedding People' is not the kind of book I usually read, it was an absolute treasure, even more so in this audiobook edition.