“NOW, in his life-changing book, hand-crafted by the author over a rigorous four year period, you will discover the early-rising habit that has helped so many accomplish epic results while upgrading their happiness and feeling aliveness. Through an eccentric tycoon becomes their secret mentor. The 5AM Club will walk you through: How great genuine business titans and world`s people start their mornings to produce astonishing achievements. “ (Commentary on Robin Sharma`s 2018 book “The 5AM CLUB”).
“The 5AM CLUB” is about a “Little known formula you can use instantly to wake up early, feeling inspired, focused and flooded with a fiery drive to get the most out of each day. A step-by-step method to protect the quiet hours of daybreaks you have time for exercise, self-renewal and personal growth.”
This means precious time for yourself to think. Reflect and plan out how you will spend the day fruitfully, undistracted against noise and being rushed. Many world history-makers had developed this valuable habit.
Modesty aside, yours truly in a way is a member of a much earlier 4AM CLUB. I do my reading and writing this early. Per info, our then President Fidel Ramos is a member of the much earlier 3AM Club.
Its slogan is, “Own Your Morning, Elevate Your Life.” Early risers, however, must also sleep eight hours a day. “Early to bed, early to rise drives the doctor away.”
Sharma`s five Rules on leadership and personal optimization in the book mentioned above are:
“Rule 1. An addiction is a distraction in the use of your creative production. Empire – makers and history-creators take one hour for themselves before dawn, in the serenity that lies beyond the clutches of complexity, to prepare themselves for a world class day.
Rule 2. Excuses breed no genius. Just because you haven’t installed the early rising habit before doesn’t mean you can’t do it now. Release your rationalizations and remember that small daily improvements, when done consistently over time, lead to stunning results.
Rule 3. Change is hard at first, messy in the middle and gorgeous at the end. Everything you now find easy, you first found difficult. With consistent practice, getting up with the sun will become your new normal. And automatic.
Rule 4. To have the results The Top 5% of producers have, you must start doing what 95% of people are unwilling to do. As they start to live like this, the majority will call you crazy. Remember that being labeled a freak is the price of greatness.
Rule 5. When you feel like surrendering, continue. Triumph loves the relentless.”
Below is my summary of these five Rules:
Rise up early every day. Make this a habit. This is the best period of the day to plan your activities for said day. Beware of any form of addiction which destroys life. Ensure small daily improvements in your life. This means that you aim to be better today than yesterday. Determination is the key to success. Ignore criticism. “Ang mabungang puno ang binabato”, as a Filipino adage goes.
Most probably, many of my readers are wondering why many of my articles deal with the topic of life-changing narrative. I fully believe that this is one, if not the most essential needs of peoples especially Filipinos, – more so of our youth. For the information of our readers, my first book (1992) which was co-authored by my beloved wife was titled, “A Letter to our Youth: A message on Success”.
In this book, we presented our 6-Step “Formula of Success” which I humbly think is still very relevant today. Now Sharma presented his own “3-Step Success Formula” which I`m presenting below:
GRADULARITY
Step 1 Step 2 Step 3
Learning Implementation Income
Better Awareness Better Choice Better Results
Growing Execution Impact
SUPERFICIALITY
Granularity connotes deep or inner. Superficiality connotes shallow or surface.
Apply the Power of Self-Education. Sharma`s Formula is about excellence. Our very own Formulas for Success, differs much from Sharma`s 3-Step Success Formula. Our Formula is God – centered meaning with spiritual dimension. It stresses first the importance of connectivity with God in all the steps we take. Second, it emphasizes the imperative of Character – Building to strengthen our personal foundation before climbing the stairs to success. The first step is “Dream it,” Second step is “Pray it”. The third step is “Think it”. The fourth step is “Believe it”. The fifth step is “Work it” and the sixth step is “Success” which requires sharing.
Talking of “History-Makers, per Sharma, they are focused on four things namely: 1) Capitalization, 2) Freedom from Distraction, 3) Personal Mastery Practice, and 4) Hay Stacking. Briefly, these means:
- This is about actualizing one potential or maximizing their strengths.
- This is about winning the war against diversion, addiction and nuisances.
- This is about training the best part of you.
- This is about creating our future today. “Today is our tomorrow” a saying goes.
“The life given us, by nature, is short, but the memory of a well-spent life is eternal”. (Cicero) Other words of wisdom from a terminally ill song writer Warren Zevon:
“Be grateful for every moment. Don’t be timid when it comes to your ambitions. Stop wasting time on insanely trivial things. And make priority to reclaim the creativity, fire the potential that is dormant with you. It’s so important to do so. Why do you think Plato encouraged us to `Know thyself`? He understood intimately that we have vast reservoirs of ability that absolutely must be accessed and then applied in order for us to lead energetic, joyful, peaceful and meaningful lives. To neglect this hidden force inside of us is to create a breeding ground for the pain of potential unused, frustration of fearlessness unembraced, and lethargy of mastery unexplored.”
We call our Filipino youth, parents and teachers to open your minds and hearts on the above awesome reminder. Be history-makers yourselves.
How can Filipino answer after taking his/her oath of office. Below are my humble suggestions to him/her for his/her consideration:
- Be an inspirational, unifier and healing President for our people to recover their lost self-confidence.
- Adopt a People Reform Program. Our new President may consider the “Be a New Filipino” People Reform Program of “Kilos Pederal sa Pagbabago” (KPP) Movement.
- Appoint a Presidential Adviser on People Reform.
- Concomitantly, call for a multi-sectoral “Summit on Solidarity” for the formulation of Shared Vision and Mission for the Philippines. Use KPP`s proposed “Dream Philippines” “Shared Vision and Mission” as their working draft so as not to start from scratch.
- Invite leaders of our various institutions to participate in a nationwide implementation of a “Total Integral Human Development” Program. Let this be a “Whole-of-Institution” Approach.
Let`s be further inspired by Sharma`s succinct commentary hereunder:
“Leadership is for everyone. Each of us, no matter where we live, what we do, what’s happened to us in the past and what we’re experiencing right now. Must release – the shackles of blame, chains of hate, leg iron of apathy and prison of ordinary that keep us in slavery in the dark forces of our lowest nature. Every one of us must rise each morning – yes at 5AM – and do anything we can possibly do to unfold the genius, develop our talents, deepen our character and escalate our spirits. Each of us must do this, across our world.”
This, I think, will suffice for the time being. As a biblical verse goes,” The harvest is great but the workers are few”. Hence, a collaborative effort harnessing the Filipino” bayanihan” spirit is imperative for Filipino to win the future.
