Habits
by Robin Sharma
Does your first hour set the day?
Robin Sharma tells this one as a fable. A struggling entrepreneur and a frustrated artist meet an eccentric billionaire, who teaches them his morning routine. The claim at its heart is that how you spend the first hour of the day shapes everything after it.
Hear a sample · read by Laura
Sharma splits the hour from 5 to 6am into three blocks. Twenty minutes to Move, hard enough to sweat. Twenty to Reflect, by journalling, planning or meditating. Twenty to Grow, by reading or learning. He calls it the Victory Hour.
Before six the house is quiet and nobody is emailing, so the hour belongs to you. Sharma adds claims about brain chemistry that are looser than he makes them sound, and research on body clocks suggests some people really are built for later hours.
For the next ninety days, spend the first ninety minutes of your working day on the one opportunity that matters most. No email, no calls and no meetings until that block is done.
Sharma wants readers to work on four things at once. Mindset is how you think. Heartset is your emotional life. Healthset is your body. Soulset is your spiritual side. Sharp thinking alone won't carry you, he argues, if the other three are neglected.
Sharma reckons a new routine takes about sixty-six days to install, borrowing an average from one habit study. He warns that the early stretch is the hardest, and that the middle feels chaotic before the routine becomes automatic.
Victory Hour
The hour from 5 to 6 in the morning is quiet and all yours. Sharma calls it the Victory Hour.
Three blocks
Split that hour into three 20-minute blocks, one to move hard, one to reflect and one to learn.
No phone
Keep your phone off in the first hour. Checking it hands your morning to other people.
One big project
For 90 days, give the first 90 minutes of each workday to your single most important project.
Recovery
Hard work needs real rest after it. You grow while you recover as well as while you push.
One thing to try
Go to bed half an hour earlier tonight and set your alarm half an hour earlier. Spend ten minutes moving, ten writing and ten reading, a small version of Sharma's formula. Notice how the rest of the day feels.
Knotd has the key ideas from 250+ non-fiction books, each in a few minutes, in plain words. The 5 AM Club comes with a Name That Idea round to make it stick.
Get the whole book on KnotdOpen in the appDoes your first hour set the day? Robin Sharma tells this one as a fable. A struggling entrepreneur and a frustrated artist meet an eccentric billionaire, who teaches them his morning routine. The claim at its heart is that how you spend the first hour of the day shapes everything after it.
The 20/20/20 Formula; Why so early?; The 90/90/1 Rule; Four interior empires; Change takes a while.
Go to bed half an hour earlier tonight and set your alarm half an hour earlier. Spend ten minutes moving, ten writing and ten reading, a small version of Sharma's formula. Notice how the rest of the day feels.
Yes. Knotd has the key ideas from The 5 AM Club in a few minutes, in plain words, plus a Name That Idea round to test them. It's one of 250+ non-fiction books in the app.
