5 a.m. Wakeup Call: 66 Days to Create a Habit

As I laid down in bed, I called out to a recent Christmas gift that’s on the nightstand next to my bed: “Alexa, set a 5 a.m. wakeup call.”

“Your alarm is set for 5 a.m. tomorrow,” Alexa responded.

My head hit the pillow and within a few minutes I was out cold, sleeping like a baby. About 2 a.m. I woke up and made the trek to the bathroom, like most guys over 50. Back to bed, my head hit the pillow once again; out immediately.

At 5 a.m. the next morning, honk, honk, honk … Alexa is doing her duty, sounding the wakeup call. I ask myself, “get up or go back to sleep?” It was a split-second decision — get up, that’s what you promised you would do.

I head toward the bathroom where I brush my teeth, head off to the closet to put on shorts and a t-shirt, then downstairs where I make a cup of bullet-proof coffee, a tablespoon of ghee and 2 tablespoons of brain octane oil. Whip it up in the blender, pour it into my favorite Duke cup and off to the home office, where I open-up my composition notebook to review the 198 pages of handwritten notes I’d previously taken.

Next to my composition notebook is my journal, a highlighter and mechanical pencil.

The 20/20/20 ritual is what Robin Sharma, author of the “5 a.m. Club,” calls it. Spend the first hour of everyday in solitude — 20 minutes of workout, 20 minutes of journaling and 20 minutes working on your craft. I forgo the workout and get right into journaling and reviewing my 198 pages of notes.

Every page is loaded with gold.

It’s obviously not for everyone, and maybe not for you. But it hits me where it hurts, in the heart.

Here was my problem: I felt burned out. I was going through the motions. I’d been traveling hard for 27 years. I have a successful business, but I wasn’t feeling the joy.

In chapter three was this quote: “Do not live life as if you have 10,000 years left. Your fate hangs over you. While you are still living, while you still exist on this Earth, strive to become a great person.”

While you are still living, strive to become a great person. That was a wakeup call way beyond what Alexa, my new bedside companion, is capable of.

You see, I was raised in a family with two brothers. My mom and dad stayed together until they both died. But, they did both die. Not only that, my brother Ken had a major heart attack at age 62. He was dead before they got him to the emergency room. The message resonated with me, “Do not live as if you have 10,000 years.”

On page 24 of the “5 a.m. Club,” Robin wrote: “Wage war against weakness and launch a campaign against fearfulness. You can truly get up early.”

So, when the alarm goes off, I get up. I’ve been doing it since Jan. 16, 2019.

It’s nothing to brag about, so I hope you don’t take it that way. It’s just something that I committed to do, and I am doing it. And, it’s turned out to be the best part of my day.

Sharma laid out another simple, but fascinating, concept in the book that he calls the 90/90/1 ritual.

Like most salespeople, I almost boast about having ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder). It’s difficult for me to concentrate for very long. As a result, it’s difficult for me to get big projects complete; they just linger, as other creative ideas get stacked on top of them.

The 90/90/1 gave me a source of freedom. I now have the time and ability to focus on one project, for 90 minutes a day, for 90 days in a row. Since January, I have been able to knock out two gargantuan projects that have been weighing me down for years. I never could find the time or the focus to get them done.

When Robin suggested I focus on my top five goals for the year, I had to admit, I’d never written them down. For the most part, I didn’t want to. I was too tired, too distracted to attack them and didn’t want the guilt, shame and second-guessing that comes with not doing what you said you would. But I took the time to write them on 3×5 cards and put them in a treasured place on my wall.

I also took pictures of page 110 and sent to my kids when I first read it. Here is what it says:

“Dedication and discipline beats brilliance and giftedness every day of the week. And, A-players don’t get lucky, they make lucky. Every instant you do that which you know to be right over that which you know to be easy, you facilitate your entry into the Hall of Fame of Epic Achievers.”

And then, this paragraph … It’s a killer: “A lot of the latest research emerging on successful people is confirming that our private story about our potential is the key performance indicator on whether we actually exploit that potential. You’ll never rise higher than your personal story.”

Put it all together and here’s what you get: 5 a.m. is my time to get up and work on the most important indicator of my success: Me. Secondly, as I change the way I look at me, I change the work I do. Now I have a method to focus; it’s called 90/90/1. One project, 90 days, 90 minutes a day and make it masterful.

Frankly, this feels much more like writing a personal letter to my best friend than it does an article for the Insurance Journal, but I share it because I want to encourage you to choose your heroes wisely.

Robin Sharma is now one of mine, and I can thank Bob Phelan and his generosity for sending Robin’s book to me. Secondly, I want to encourage you to consider your personal story about who you are and how successful you can be. Most of us don’t even know that our pre-programmed, subconscious mind is controlling us; we think we are. As you become more aware of your pre-programmed patterns, you can make better decisions. And with that, you’ll get better results.

If you get Robin’s book, I hope you’ll write me and tell me your experience. I’ve got more to share, just limited space.

By the way, it takes 66 days to make a new habit, according to a study from the College of London. Getting up a 5 a.m. is now a habit for me. I hope you’ll try it.

I, too, have been considering how I want my personal story to develop. I really want to help you, if you are a producer that knows deep down in your heart that you want to be a million-dollar producer, but not sure exactly how to get there. I want to help you retire from this business as a multi-millionaire, with the freedom to choose how you spend your time after retirement, not constrained by financial choices. It’s not for everyone to have that kind of ambition, but if that’s you, and you want to consider my help, you’ll find a way to get in touch.