How to avoid overwhelm - join The 5am Club

Robin Sharma's book of the same name was published back in 2018 but I had been a member of the 5am Club for many years before that, in fact it started for me back in the 90's when I discovered 05:00 to 06:30 as a time when my 5 small children were not normally awake!

Even after the kids flew the nest, it still made sense to enjoy that 90 minutes of peace and solitude when I could:

• write my journal;

• read;

• write my blog;

• prepare my day;

and then at 06:30 invest an hour in good quality exercise.

I stayed a member of the 5 am Club all the way through lockdown, even though the rest of the world had lost it's "9 to 5" habit.

Then, as you know, last August I came off the bike and many of my successful habits (including this one) crashed to earth along with my body.

During the first three months after the accident, my body, mind and spirit simply needed much more sleep than average whilst I recovered.

During the second three months I had developed a new habit called "getting up later" - on reflection, I wasn't psychologically ready.

In January I spent the whole month feeling like a hamster in a wheel, constantly chasing an overwhelming task list, never quite catching up, working numerous Sundays.

I was becoming exhausted and exasperated at the start of a new calendar year - it's not supposed to be like that.

Eventually, it dawned on me that I need to replace the person I had become, with the person I used to be.

So a month ago, that journey began with a weekday alarm set at 05:00.

I'm almost 4 weeks back in to my morning ritual and the benefits have been immense, not the least of which has been getting back on top of work, getting my Sundays back and ultimately, my self-confidence.

Routine - Stability - Confidence

I have remembered just how much I love those first few hours of the day - me time, before I take the responsibility of everybody else onboard.

Being the beacon of light every day gets a lot easier when you join the 5am Club.