Book SummaryThe 5 AM Club, by Robin Sharma

1-Page Summary1-Page Book Summary of The 5 AM Club

Each of us has something special inside we're meant to discover, develop, and use to shape a better life and world. You may know what your true purpose is, or you may still be searching for it. Either way, when you incorporate the behaviors and tips in Robin Sharma’s The 5 AM Club, you’ll deepen your understanding of your unique genius and true self so you can master your creative and productive potential. When you truly understand your purpose, you’ll reach great heights and become an exceptional achiever in your chosen field.

Sharma is a leadership expert and speaker whose clients include NASA, Microsoft,and General Electric. He’s authored several books about self-mastery and purposeful living, including The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari, Who Will Cry When You Die?, and The Everyday Hero Manifesto. The 5 AM Club was published in 2020.

Sharma wrote The 5 AM Club as part fictional narrative, part instructional guide for creating a quality morning routine and life. The book follows a burned-out entrepreneur whose life changes when she attends a personal growth conference led by a character called the Spellbinder. There, she meets a billionaire devoted to the Spellbinder’s teachings, who goes on to mentor her and another conference participant, a struggling artist, in the principles of the 5 AM Club. The billionaire’s lessons on rising early to cultivate self-mastery, focus, and purpose transform the lives of both her and the artist.

In this guide, we’ve distilled the ideas from the narrative into the following sections:

• In What Is the 5 AM Club?, we explain the principles behind rising early and having a morning routine, and how this sets the foundation for personal growth.
• In Join the 5 AM Club: Create New Habits, we go deeper into habit formation to help you understand what you need to start a new morning routine.
• In Get Started—and Make It Stick, we tell you how to kick-start your new morning routine and give tips for long-term success.

We’ll also go deeper into why some people find it easier to wake up at the crack of dawn, why you can’t stick to habits even when you know they’re good for you, and what other experts say to help you reach your full potential.

What Is the 5 AM Club?

According to Sharma, the 5 AM Club describes people who’ve learned the importance of rising early and starting their day with the intention of getting the most from it. He says that the first hour after you wake up is your most productive hour of the day. Your body and brain are recharged and more capable of focus and creative thought. Plus, when you rise before dawn, the world is quiet and devoid of the distractions that zap your attention and cognitive energy.

(Shortform note: How easily you can wake up and be productive at dawn may depend on your chronotype—your body’s natural sleep and wake patterns. In When, Daniel Pink says there are three common chronotypes: morning types, night types, and intermediate types. Your chronotype is influenced by several variables that are largely out of your control, like genetics. Getting up early might feel natural for morning types, but it’ll likely be a bigger struggle for the other types. If you’re not a morning person, recalibrating your internal body clock might be difficult, but it’s not impossible. To do so, the Sleep Foundation recommends having a consistent sleep schedule and then adjusting to an earlier sleep time in increments over a few days.)

Why a Morning Routine Is Important for Productivity

Sharma says that if you follow the steps to create a successful morning routine, you can begin your day focused, grounded, and ready for the tasks ahead. You’ll then have the ability to master your creative genius and reach your peak performance level to produce exceptional results. However, all too often, distractions—such as technology, social media, and the news—steal your mental energy and deplete the cognitive resources required for optimum productivity.

(Shortform note: Sharma says that distractions like social media and the news prevent you from reaching your peak performance level, but in Indistractable, Nir Eyal argues that distractions don’t only come from external sources. He maintains that the root of distraction is inside you. Humans are motivated to free themselves from discomfort and use distractions as an escape. Eyal says that to get a handle on your distractions, you need to control their root cause: internal triggers. The first step is to identify your triggers—like anxiety or boredom—and reflect on them so you can determine patterns.)

Sharma argues that on top of having too many distractions, you might also have to contend with a lack of motivation. He says that as a society, our willingness to be distracted and seek out easy lives and cheap thrills have made us lazy. We settle for “good enough” because we live in a world where mediocrity is the standard. We’ve lost our childhood wonder about life’s possibilities and what we’re capable of achieving. We’re impulsive and passive rather than creative and productive.

(Shortform note: In Laziness Does Not Exist, psychologist Devon Price takes issue with arguments like Sharma’s that view laziness as a societal ill. Price argues that a negative focus...

The 5 AM Club Summary Shortform Introduction

Robin Sharma wrote The 5 AM Club as part fictional narrative, part instructional guide for creating a quality morning routine and life. The narrative is used as an entertainment device to develop the principles and practices as behaviors of four fictional characters. In this summary, we’ve focused primarily on the principles and practices required for you to form a more...

The 5 AM Club Summary Introduction: The Narrative of the 5 AM Club

In a dark room, a once strong and successful woman considered taking her life. She was in her 30s and had built a profitable company that was regarded as one of the best in its field. But recent events had taken her will to live. Investors and members of her board were trying to steal her company, and it was too much to bear.

While contemplating the end of her life, she noticed an invitation to a personal optimization conference her mother had given her. These sorts of mystical self-help programs were not the entrepreneur’s usual cup of tea, but she felt drawn toward it. Perhaps she needed a new perspective on her life. Changing her life seemed like a better option than ending it, so she decided to go.

The Intersection of Four Lives

Thousands of people attended the personal optimization conference to hear the wise words of the sage, known as the Spellbinder. This man spoke about developing your true creative spirit and increasing your productivity to extraordinary levels. But as he spoke, he seemed to be losing strength. Without warning, the Spellbinder collapsed to the floor, and the conference hall was cleared out. (He later recovered.)

But three individuals were...

The 5 AM Club Summary Part 1: Become the Legendary Master Living Inside You

Before you learn the beliefs, principles, and instructions that guide the behaviors and habits of the 5 AM Club, you must understand what the 5 AM Club is.

What Is the 5 AM Club?

The 5 AM Club is a group of people who’ve learned the importance of rising early and starting their day with intention to improve their lives. The first hour after you wake up is your most productive hour of the day. Your body and brain are recharged and more capable of focus and creative thought. When you rise before dawn, the world is quiet and devoid of the distractions that zap your attention and cognitive energy. If you follow the steps to create a successful morning routine, you can begin your day focused, grounded, and ready the tasks ahead. People who are part of the 5 AM Club are leaders in their fields, innovators, and social icons. This book will help you learn how to become part of this exceptional group.

You Were Born to Be a Master

You were born to be a titan—to discover your truest talent, live your wildest dreams, climb the ranks of success, and leave a legendary legacy. **You have everything you need inside you to be your best self, but to do it, you must let go of...

Shortform Exercise: Reclaim Your Productivity

In today’s society, it’s hard to shut down all the distractions in your life, but learning to find the balance can help you feel more productive and successful.

What forms of technology do you use the most and for what?

The 5 AM Club Summary Part 2: The Foundations of Integrity, Commitment, and Excellence

There are five maxims underlying the 5 AM Club that can help guide your journey to excellence.

1. One hour of tranquility leads to a lifetime of achievement. Great achievers know how to shut down the distractions in their lives to allow their creative spirit to thrive. When you take an hour each morning to exist in peaceful isolation, you lay the bricks for a productive day, which lays the bricks for a productive life.

2. There is no power in excuses. You can rationalize your way out of any behavior—it’s unfamiliar, uncomfortable, or too extreme. If these excuses keep you from being open to change, then you’re validating them. Waking up early may not be familiar, comfortable, or normal, but that doesn’t mean it won’t be one day. Small adjustments on a daily basis are all that is needed to create real growth and change in your life.

3. Without struggle, there will be no glory. The trajectory of change moves from difficult to chaos to beauty. Everything that now comes naturally to you was awkward and hard in the beginning. Getting up early will challenge you, but persisting through the difficult moments will make it routine, and you will rise shining...

Shortform Exercise: Find Your Unique Gift

You have something you were born to do, but it’s not always easy to know what that is or how to create a life that celebrates it.

What is your main passion in life, and what do you do to engage with it?

Shortform Exercise: Incorporate Better Habits

We all have things we wish we could do more of in life but aren’t sure how to make them happen. The tips for building better habits may help you learn how.

What are two habits you wish you could form for a better life?

The 5 AM Club Summary Part 3: Optimizing the Victory Hour

You’ve committed to joining the 5 AM Club and are ready to start the 66-day journey to forming the habit of getting up early. But waking early is only useful if you use the Victory Hour wisely.

The 20/20/20 Formula for Success

Goals are only as powerful as the efforts made to achieve them. Now that you understand the foundational components of the Victory Hour, you are ready to learn the steps for focusing on those components to create an exceptional life. The 20/20/20 Formula describes the three 20-minute periods that make up the 60-minute Victory Hour. Move through these periods in the designated order to prepare your brain properly and harness the power of the 5 AM Club.

Period 1: Exercise from 5 a.m. to 5:20 a.m.

The first thing you need to do after jumping out of bed is engage in vigorous physical activity. You can go for a jog, do jumping jacks, take an exercise class, or dance. Do whatever activity suits you, but it must make you sweat.

The reason physical activity first thing in the morning is so important is that it activates positive chemical reactions in your brain that benefit the rest of your day.

• Exercise increases the production of...

Shortform Exercise: Maximize Your Morning

Starting the day before the sun is up is hard to imagine. But a solid morning routine can provide great benefits to your life.

Do you prefer to get up early or sleep in? Why do you have this preference?

Shortform Exercise: Be a Life-Long Student

There is so much knowledge in the world, it can be hard to choose what to learn about. But finding a few topics that interest you can help build a good foundation for continued education.

What are two subjects you wish you knew more about?

The 5 AM Club Summary Part 4: Optimizing the Hours Following the Victory Hour

You have what you need to maximize the power of your genius with a strong morning routine and a supportive evening routine. But what happens in the middle is also significant. Simply starting and ending your day well is not enough to keep your creativity and productivity safe from external distractions and internal doubts. The following are 10 tips to amplify the progress you make each day you follow the 20/20/20 Formula during the Victory Hour.

Tip 1: Surround Your Creative Space With a Force Field

When you occupy your mind with technology or managing the energies of negative people, you diminish your cognitive power, peace of mind, willpower, and inspiration. You need to protect your genius by surrounding it with a shield to ward off distractions. Within this insulated place, you have the power to decide what external elements and the type of people you allow in. If you recognize toxic energy from either of these realms, keep it locked out.

To accomplish this force field of protection, create a space of mastery and leave all technological devices on the outside when you step into it. This should be a private space where you feel happy and comfortable and can...

The 5 AM Club Summary Part 5: The Pendulum of Success—Productivity and Recovery

Reaching a mastery level of creativity and productivity requires sustainability over the long term. Maximum ceaseless effort can lead to burnout. If you put your head down and just go, go, go without ever taking the time to recuperate, you’ll wear down your stamina, motivation, and creative juices. Think of this principle as the 60-minute on, 10-minute off ritual supersized. You must make time to recharge your energy sources, your mental capacity, and your creative spirit. If you don’t, you’ll run straight into a brick wall and collapse.

The Importance of Rest

Talent and desire are not enough to reach the pinnacle of your productive output. Success requires time for your ideas to grow, your work to take shape, and your results to have an impact. The only way you can accomplish these feats is by ensuring your four empires are operating at full capacity and you are able to approach your work with fresh vitality and endurance.

There are two significant ways that taking periods of rest support your capacity for peak performance. These are best understood through the lens of an athlete:

An athlete who overtrains without cool-down moments runs the risk of injury. They...

Shortform Exercise: Bring More Joy to Your Days

In this busy world, it’s hard to remember to stop and enjoy life. But seeking joy in small ways can help create more happiness overall.

What are two ways you practice self-love during the week?

The 5 AM Club Summary Part 6: The Final Lesson—Be Your Own Hero

You will struggle in life. There is no getting around it. But how you approach this struggle is what will separate you from those who will suffer eternally. Everything you must endure in life is part of the grand plan to draw you closer to your true self and your unique gifts and give you the direction you need to move forward as the brilliant hero you are. You will be presented with doorways of opportunity that will swing wide open for you to walk through and discover your deepest power and purest good nature. You just have to be willing to walk through to make it to the other side of tragedy or injustice.

Nelson Mandela said that true freedom is not achieved simply by removing the things that hold you down, but by engaging with the world in a way that honors others’ freedom. The darkness you experience in your life can either bind you to the shadows or lead you to the light. Every legendary producer had to endure great suffering to reach their pinnacle. They were able to achieve great feats because they leveraged the great pains of their lives to reinforce their strength and inspire their souls.

There are seven virtues that live within each hero, and...

Shortform Exercise: Use the Lessons of the 5 AM Club to Change Your Life

There are many ways you can tap into your special talents to improve your life. And waking up early might be a good place to start.

What parts of the lessons in this book resonate with your life?