the lessons I'm applying from a book I hated
hello, and thank you.
Hi , are we connected on Instagram? If we are, you might have recently caught me ranting about the book The 5AM Club, which I had the misfortune of enduring two weekends ago. I've finally calmed down enough to write a coherent review of it, which I'm sharing with you today.
September hasn't actually been a very good month for books. I haven't enjoyed three of the last four books I've read. Luckily, I've been making the most of my extra hour outside (thanks Dan!) with some great podcasts, I share three of my recent favourites below.
Here's what you'll find in this email:
- a review: the 5AM Club by Robin Sharma
- what I'm currently reading
- ear food (aka podcast recommendations)
- ICYMI: over on the bookshelf
Let's get into it.
Yours in books (and occasional book-related-rage),
Steph
review: the 5am club by Robin Sharma
I hated this book.
I hated the weak and unlikeable characters, the forced ‘plot’, the tacky dialogue, the unnecessary length, the attempts at ‘quirky’ that came off as unbearably cringey, the feel-good quotes shoehorned into ridiculous places, the overflow of adverbs, the way it tries to force teaching other concepts (growth mindset, flow, gratitude) within its terrible narrative and the unbelievable story line.
I think that covers everything.
At several points, I wanted to give up, to relegate this book to the DNF pile, never to be touched again. But I was also gripped by the morbid fascination of ‘surely this drivel can’t continue for nearly 300 pages?’
Spoiler alert: it did.
Here’s a short synopsis: in this excruciating fable, a depressed, uptight entrepreneur and a gap-toothed, starving artist end up sitting next to each other at a Tony Robbins-esq motivational guru seminar. A disheveled man approaches them and they unbelievably agree to go with him on his private jet to his beach house in the Maldives. The disheveled man turns out to be a successful billionaire and he takes them around the world teaching them the principles of the 5AM Club.
Oh, and the entrepreneur and artist end up hooking up and getting engaged in the space of approximately three weeks.
I know what you're thinking; what’s not to love?
However, if you pick through the flotsam and jetsam, there is actually some treasure floating around the book.
And the good bit is the very routine that gives the book its title.
The good bits
The author isn’t just throwing out the idea of getting up at 5am for the sake of getting up early. He gives a clear recipe of what to spend that time on, with particular focus on the first hour.
And what the book is about is that great outcomes are a result of great habits performed consistently. And 'successful' people aren't superhuman, they simply focus on the most impactful things and manage their time and energy accordingly.
The 20/20/20 approach of the 5AM Club gives you an hour to dedicate to three things (for 20 mins each) that will set your day up for success.
1. exercise
2. journaling / meditation / gratitude
3. reading / learning
It is essentially how you find the extra time in your day for the things you know you 'should' do (and want to do) but don’t think you have the time for.
my 5am club challenge
Given I'd endured the whole book, I thought I might as well try and take something good from the experience. So I've been trying the method. For the last eight days, my alarm has gone off at 4.50am, I get up, complete 20-25 minutes of Pilates, 15-20 minutes of journalling and 10-15 minutes of reading (and before you say it, yes, I clearly have issues following things exactly but it's the thought that counts).
And I feel great. Really great actually. I've been through various other iterations of getting up early practices and rituals but this one works well for me. Especially starting with some movement. Previously I'd tried journalling first thing but this tended to make me tired again so the order of movement before reflection seems to be the magic mix.
I also like the fact that a) it sets me up well for what I do with the rest of my morning and b) even if other things don't go to plan that day, I've already 'won' by achieving the constructive morning routine.
I'm going to stick with this for at least two months and the intent is to use this daily template six times per week. I actually found I missed it on Saturday when I had my 'day off'.
Note: for anyone worried I'm not getting enough sleep, I was already an early-to-bed person so I'm still getting my 7-8 hours. The book does specifically make the point on getting enough sleep and is not promoting a 'sleep when you're dead' approach, which I appreciated.
the lesson
It's so easy to write off authors / books / articles completely, without spending the time to get under the surface of what it's actually trying to say. And yes, of course there are some that are empty vessels. But when something is as popular as this book, it's interesting to analyse what resonates with people. The method certainly isn't a silver bullet to success, but it's not a bad step in the right direction.
what I'm currently reading
As I mentioned, September hasn't been a good book month. Other than the 5am Club, here's what I've been reading.
Book 1
I'm still working my way through Robert Greene's The Laws of Human Nature.
Verdict so far: I'm now 42% of the way through and starting to enjoy it a little more. I'm still finding the format a little repetitive and some of the laws are better than others (I've just finished the section on envy which was really interesting). It's the sort of book that will make you quite uncomfortable as you see your shadow-self behaviours talked about in painful detail.
Book 2
I also read John Cleese's, Creativity.
Verdict: I read this book in 28 minutes. It made me laugh aloud in a couple of places and I really wanted to love it. But it was essentially high level notes on well-documented creativity practices told through John's experiences (make time for deep work, get into flow, collaborate with others, make sure you rest and recover). It certainly wasn't the worst 28 minutes of my life, but it likely won't level up your creative practice.
PS. don't forget, if you'd like a 15% discount on your copy of the Archley's Book of Books book journal to keep all your book notes and lessons in, click here^.
ear food
How I Work - as someone who gets through a lot of content, I found this episode with Michelle and Zara from the Shameless podcast fascinating. They talk about how they've built their hugely successful podcast and how they curate the right content to put out across multiple mediums they use each week to connect with their audience. (Spotify / Apple)
Noah Kagen Presents - (HT to my friend Leanne Hughes for reminding me that this podcast exists). This episode with Lululemon founder, Chip Wilson is an incredible example of the powerhouse combination of vision + confidence. (Spotify / Apple)
Note: Chip has recently released a book called 'little black stretchy pants' about the Lululemon story. I have downloaded it and look forward to reading it next month.
99% Invisible - the episode about the design of public bathrooms is an eye-opening look at better, and more human centred design of public spaces for the 21st century and more diverse needs. (Spotify / Apple)
meanwhile, on the bookshelf
Recent Steph's Business Bookshelf podcast episodes, in case you missed them...
On Writing by Stephen King
(Spotify / Apple / web)
Smarter, Faster, Better by Charles Duhigg
(Spotify / Apple / web)