When life gives you lemons…
“I would like to have the monthly revenue report on my table by this evening,” said my boss.
It was a regular day at the office until it was not!
I started working on my report and then came lunch-time
I lose myself in a day-dream
“Ughh! What a life!”
The kind of life the teenage Prateek was dying to have, the adult Prateek had started to despise
Reason?
Too many to count
❌No time for fitness
❌Feeling short of time all the time
❌Chasing deadlines and playing catchup
❌No time for creative hobbies
❌No time for developing new skills and up-levelling myself
Wishing if only the day was a little longer all day every day…
But then…
The YouTube video…
This one night while doing some late-night scrolling I stumbled upon a Youtube video titled…
“5 life-changing books you should read next”
And I ended up ordering the first two books from Amazon even before I was done watching the whole thing
Any guesses on what the first book was?
Duh!
“The 5 A.M Club” by Robin Sharma (yes the exact same genius guy who wrote the bestseller “Monk who sold his Ferrari”)
The blurb started like this– “Own your morning & Elevate your life”
“I need this,” I thought to myself
TIME- an ally or an enemy?
The next day I was up and ready to start a fresh day at my desk
But sadly…
Nothing was fresh about it
Same old same old…
I was becoming tired of this never-ending mundaneness that consumed my life with nothing to look forward to in the day
Don’t get me wrong!
It’s not like I didn’t have personal hobbies and passions that I would’ve loved to explore
It was the fact that I didn’t have TIME
“Time flies by,” they say
And I was being the first-hand witness to it sitting in the corner of a top consulting firm in India
I was frustrated!
It’s all about YOU. Isn’t it?
My life was passing me by with each second and I was there– stuck in a 9to5 rut not being able to find time for my own self
Selfcare is not selfish but what about Time?
‘Time’ that we don't have in our busier than ever life?
Whether you are a housewife who does all the household chores and takes care of her loved ones all day with a warm smile on your face…
Or a working mom who’s always juggling between her daily schedule trying to please everyone both your husband and your boss and not to mention the kids…
Whether you are a corporate professional like I was– struggling to maintain that “work-life” balance they speak about…
Or simply a student barely being able to manage friends, teachers, group studies, school/college activities, cultural fests & most importantly your parents' expectations…
One thing that’s COMMON in all of these examples is that you barely find time to work on yourself…
Your passion…
Your hobbies…
YOU
Maybe you’ve been wanting to pick up the guitar?
Read more books in a month?
Start that YouTube channel for months now?
Dance classes? Singing?
Or…
Maybe you just want to keep up with your health and fitness goals? And have more time for it!
The day came to an end and I still couldn’t get the book out of my mind
Maybe because it was about to change my whole life
You’re sleeping on it *LITERALLY*
I reached home and found it in the mail (You know Amazon prime member and all)
And started reading it that same night
One of the quotes in the book said– “The life given to us by nature is short, but the memory of a well-spent life is eternal”
I was hooked! I couldn’t leave the book for the next 7 days
As the pages turned so did my longing to steal those extra early morning hours all to myself
Hours I’ve been literally sleeping on my whole life
Robin made everything look so easy to the point that it started to seem like a no-brainer
In The 5 AM Club, he uses a fictitious story about a billionaire mentor teaching a struggling artist and an entrepreneur about the importance of waking up early to show how revolutionary it is for success
He makes a convincing case that will persuade even the most sleep-loving people that to be truly excellent, we need to start our days intentionally
I started waking up early
It felt like death at first but with each passing day everything started to fall into place
Because of the fatigue that came with starting my day 2-3 hours earlier than others, I started going to bed early…
Which meant no more late-night scrolling
I was being able to find time to meditate, exercise and even read at least 5-10 pages of my current read every morning before work started
And with this things improved at the office…
Selfless (& Selfish)
I was no more a bundle of nerves about to combust at any given minute
Anxiety and Stress slowly started to make their way out of my life
I started “enjoying” life more
WHY?
Because no matter what gets thrown at me throughout the day I had already prepared my mind and body to be in control and set me up for success– by starting my day “RIGHT”
Because now, I could easily be as selfish as I wanted in my ‘me’ time and as selfless as needed outside that
Not just this…
I made daily morning coffee for my wife and even managed to serve her ‘breakfast in bed’ more often on the condition that we wouldn’t discuss the taste ;)
Ever since I read this book, I have woken up at 5 AM on the dot every morning without missing a beat
Picking up this book 2 years ago was truly a life-changing decision that helped me with the knowledge and tools to get my life back
Here are the 3 biggest lessons I’ve learned from this book:
- Waking up at 5 a.m. will provide you with the solitude and improved brain state to perform like the pros.
- Balance your four “interior empires” to achieve self-mastery.
- Don’t waste time when you wake up early, use the 20/20/20 formula.
So,
I really hope that by now you’re a proud member of the 5 AM Club
No? What are you waiting for?
No like seriously! PICK IT UP!
And thank me later ;)
