Robert Sharma: The 5 AM Club
EPISODE 172
Legendary leadership and elite performance expert Robin Sharma introduced The 5am Club concept over twenty years ago, based on a revolutionary morning routine that has helped his clients maximize their productivity, activate their best health, and bulletproof their serenity in this age of overwhelming complexity.
Part manifesto for mastery, part playbook for genius-grade productivity and part companion for a life lived beautifully, The 5am Club is a work that will transform your life. Forever.
INTRO
Robin Sharma and Marie Forleo discuss the essential practice within the book
Rise before the sun (2m)
EARLY MORNING ROUTINE
Robin Sharma and Marie Forleo explore the 20/20/20 method
Begin your day correctly (1m57)
Robin Sharma and the three phases of building habits
How To Install Habits That Last (3m15)
STRATEGIES
Upgraded Mentality breaks down Capitalisation, Freedom from Distractions, Personal Mastery Practice and Day Stacking
Four focuses (1m32)
OUTRO
Robin Sharma and Marie Forleo discusses grit, resilience and habits being essential
New habits are hard (2m06)
*If listeners want: Upgraded Mentality and Robin’s guide to lifelong genius
Ten tactics (2m14)
READING:
TRANSCRIPT
Mike Parsons: [00:00:00] Hello and welcome to the moonshots podcast. It's episode 172. I'm your co-host Mike Parsons. And as always, I'm joined by the early riser himself. Mr. Pearson Freeland. Good morning. Good morning,
Mark Pearson Freeland: Mike, but good news to you and the moonshots family and our listeners. I'm not going to be sitting here yawning throughout the entire episode.
I feel as though I'm fully enlivened and ready for this brand new series, how are you feeling?
Mike Parsons: I'm pretty fired up as well. New series. Also we are coming to an author that I don't know for how long mark we've been saying we have to do a show on him and his epic book. And we have finally arrived at that moment.
Mark, what are we going to dive into? What is calling us in the Dawn of the morning,
Mark Pearson Freeland: rising us up in the Dawn of a brand. Habits series is Robert Sharma [00:01:00] and his book, the 5:00 AM club, and my curator we've referenced Robert Sharma on the moonshots weekly show on our master series. And he's an individual that we keep on circling around.
He keeps on helping us wake up with our morning cups of coffee, but we've never actually dug into him until today. So I'm very excited. To dig into that revolutionary book. It's fair to say. We've touched upon him a couple of times because he's got really interesting formulas practices as well as points of view for us to learn from.
So I'm pretty excited to dig into Robert Scharmer actually.
Mike Parsons: Yeah. And I think what we can expect today on show 172 of the moonshots podcast is a complete. Quiet, an integrated system for, cooking up the best version of yourself. It is the recipe. It is the ingredients to improve yourself, to transform yourself.
And this [00:02:00] will be particularly good for anyone who has a big mission, a big project on the go. And if you want to build a series of habits to build an approach on how you want to bring to life, your vision. This show is for you. So it's about getting on top of how you think feel and act. And I think importantly, how you can come out of the box really strong, like a good start.
It's so good for your day and something that's rung true for me all my life is when, the morning, when the day. And if you think that's an interesting idea, then this show is for you. What do you think, mark? I couldn't
Mark Pearson Freeland: agree more. And I think as we dig into today's show, we're going to hear from Robert Sharma, we're going to hear practicalities.
You're probably going to hear listeners from myself and micro flexing on our mornings because you're totally right, Mike. I agree with you. If you start the day. Man, you've got a whole day of [00:03:00] excitement, innovation and good thinking ahead of you. And that's really what the 5:00 AM club is all about. It's revealing some formulas, some practices to feel inspired in the morning to get up and go to feel focused and to be ready to be.
That best version of yourself
Mike Parsons: now for those of you who are not early rises, you may be listening to mark and thinking to yourself, these guys are crazy about this. Get up in the morning. You're probably, if you're a regular listener to the show, you've probably heard us talk about cold showers, journaling, stretching, meditation, breath work.
If you are not sold yet, mark, I think we have the perfect place to start.
Mark Pearson Freeland: Don't you? That's right. So listeners and Mike, we're going to dig into show 172 with Robert as the 5:00 AM club by hearing from Robin Sharma, as well as Marie Forleo, who is a great entrepreneur and philanthropist. And she's got a great show out there as well.
And [00:04:00] we're going to hear from them really discussing those essential practices within the. The father I am club. And what Robin Sharma's going to paint for us straight away is the value of rising before the.
Mike Parsons: Let's talk about the 5:00 AM club specifically. I love the subtitle, which is own your morning, elevate your life.
So is this a practice for you that you had not only experienced for yourself and the transformative nature of it, but clearly you've taught it to other people where you like, goodness. If people could just get this one. Obviously there's so much more in the book than just the 5:00 AM club idea, which I want to do dive into, but there's something, that's the title of your book?
So it was this practice itself. So transformative we're like, this is what the next book has to be
Robin Sharma: about. Absolutely. I have two children, Colby and Bianca. And if there was one morning rich, if there was one habit or if there was one piece of advice, not that they listened to my advice, but if there was one piece of advice, I'd asked them to listen to it's.
Rice before the sun. There is a reason, many of the great women and men of the world, the great history [00:05:00] makers, the great poets, the great philosophers, the great movement makers rose before the sun. There is a magic in the air at 5:00 AM, and that's why the 5:00 AM club is so transformational because it's the time of.
Quietude. And I believe tranquility is the new luxury on our planet. It is that time of intimate creativity because you've just been arrested. Your brain is fresh. There's latest. There's very recent cutting edge science coming out. Now, when you sleep, your brain actually has a mechanism to wash itself.
When you wake up in the morning, your willpower. Is strongest. When you wake up in the morning, you've got a full well of mental focus and we know that focus in our world is even more valuable than intelligence. And I could go on and on, on the benefits. You get up at 5:00 AM. You've got the world to yourself.
There's no crowds. Thank you can plan. You can care for yourself in a world where so many people are so depleted. And so the fi the 5:00 AM club really is a game changer. [00:06:00] And then it's not just get up at 5:00 AM and, scratch your stomach or stare up at the ceiling or look, especially not, I believe you can play with your phone or change the world.
You don't get to do both.
Mike Parsons: You can find you if you're off or change the world, but you can't do both. How perfect is that so true. And what he's really speaking to there, mark is we should cherish the mornings now more than ever, because that quietness that stillness, particularly when it is nice and early is a sanctuary against all of the information.
And metaphorical noise that surrounds us. It's something we speak about a lot on the show, but. I personally can attest mark that one of the greatest ways for me to start the morning is when I'm in my study early in the morning, and I have the window open and I just hear the birds awaken and just the gentle awakening of a morning.[00:07:00]
It's so peaceful. It is such a, it's like an elixir against everything that comes racing around in my inbox. It truly is, there is just like a sanctuary in the morning, isn't it?
Mark Pearson Freeland: Yeah. I do find that this is something we. Discuss a bit on the show. We've recently Mike, we heard from mark Manson and the subtle art of not giving a, and he references this over indulgence almost in a media and distractions that get in the way of our life.
Obviously I'm thinking Cal Newport with digital detox and even Jordan Peterson and antidote to chaos. We learned a lot about these different. Pieces of advice or references to the world being so busy now that we almost wake up and immediately a lot of us, we check our phones. I can't remember the statistic now.
I'll have a look in a minute of individuals who wake up and the first thing they do is look at their phone. And if you think [00:08:00] about what your phone is designed to do, it's got you on social media. It freaks you out with the media or emails, all these things. Don't necessarily allow you to wake up in the best mood.
Does it, it instantly raises your anxiety and stress?
Mike Parsons: Yeah. And the way I think about if I'm making the case for early rising, I think, it is your capacity of self-willed discipline to, if you can get yourself out of bed, At a really productive time. That's already a win.
And we, we saw how popular that Willie muck Ravens, make your bed a mantra has become for our listeners and how they really could see that. Making a bed and getting your ass out of bed early in the morning, these are great winds. They set you up for success. But I think the biggest story here and this is, I think very powerful moonshots thinking is that you are taking [00:09:00] ownership control of your morning and the morning doesn't take control of your.
You get yourself out of bed when you want to, and you don't fall victim to this jumping on your phone because then you're looking at everybody else's priorities, not yours. Like for me, mark, the active thinking about the day before I check my email is such a powerful way of me dictating the terms of the day to the world, rather than me looking at all my emails and then thinking, ah, what am I going to do today?
I'm going to set the agenda, not my inbox. I think this is all tied to this idea of the 5:00 AM club. Get up, have the peacefulness, the stillness, the calmness to say, what do I want today to be, to start living that day before all of those interrupts. Come along. I think this is pretty powerful stuff.
Mark Pearson Freeland: Yeah. And it is totally in line. As you say, with William H [00:10:00] McRaven, no matter what happens in the day, whether you're up to your neck in mud, singing shanties with your colleagues or those in the forces with you, or whether it's just a really nice, they had whatever it is. If you take ownership of that moment, when you first get up, you know that the rest of the day, you're onto a bit of a flow because you've got at least one piece that's gone right for you.
One thing that's ended up going in the right direction. Momentum is actually,
Mike Parsons: well, mark, I tell you who else has got momentum and that's our members. Boy, those members keep coming on strong and fight. And mark, as our members who sign up on moonshots.io they are, we are so grateful for them and their contribution, but it would only be appropriate to do a bit of a roll call.
Let's shout out to all our Patreon members that's right for
Mark Pearson Freeland: our momentous moonshots members. And there you go. My summary alliteration, an alliteration. We are [00:11:00] calling out our favorite moonshots is who give a lunar power. Good calmer and support to us in the moonshots family. We have Bob Niles, John Terry Bridey NILAH Magdelin, Ken DMR, Tom and Mark Marsh and Connor, Rodrigo and Yasmeen spaceman, Daniella Liza, and said Maria, Paul Berg, Kalman, and a net welcome moonshots members.
Mike Parsons: We are so grateful to each and every one of you and the contribution that you make, it's roughly about a one cup of coffee a month that helps us pay all of those bills. Hosting subscription services, transcriptions. Software, all the things that it takes for us to put this show together for you, our listeners, and we really do hope.
It gives you inspiration. It gives you a nudge towards being the best version of yourself. And more than anything, you just really enjoy learning out loud together here on the moonshots podcast. [00:12:00] And with that, it is really time to get into making ourselves just that 1% better. And today with Robert Sharma and his book, the 5:00 AM club.
We're now going to get into his first method that he's discussing with Marie Forleo. He's going to talk about how you can start your day correctly with a model that he calls 2020. 20 methods. The
Robin Sharma: 5:00 AM club method is based on the 20, 20, 20 formula. I'm happy to get into it, but that is the rebel.
That's the revolutionized her. And it started from my experience with working with many billionaires. I've coached many of the most successful financier's and Titans of industry for over two decades. And one of the things I would run them through is the way you begin your day sets up the way you live your day.
And so the 20, 20 20 formula that the book is based upon is pretty simple. I go into great detail in the book, but essentially it's from five to five 20. The first pocket is move [00:13:00] and I'm a fanatic about neuroscience and. Why do you get up and move? Because you're going to release serotonin, which is going to make you feel better.
You're gonna release dopamine, which is the pleasure and inspirational neurotransmitter you're gonna release nor epinephrin, which will boost your focus. You'll promote neurogenesis Murray. You can actually grow new brain cells and increase your metabolic rate. So the way you begin, the way you feel when you first wake up is not the way you're going to feel at 500.
Second pocket of the 20, 20, 20 formula, 20 minutes from five 20 to five 40 that's on reflection. So a lot of us are busy, but what's the point of being busy. If you're doing the wrong things the billionaires, the great creatives, the people of great impact, the people who live beautiful lives are very intentional.
They're very deliberate. They're very conscious of for 20 minutes. You're right. In a journal, you can visualize, you can pray. You can meditate. You can simply. Contemplate how you're going to live your day, [00:14:00] what you want to stand for during the day, for example, and then the final pocket of the 20 20, 20 formula is all about grow.
And that's where you just read from a biography or a business book or philosophy book. And so that's 20 minutes of growing because I think we're most alive when we are growing. And I believe the leader who learns the most wins.
Mark Pearson Freeland: The leader who learns the most wins, I think is a good summation of those three parts might because fundamentally with the movement or the reflection with the corrosive elements and sections that he breaks down in pretty prescriptive formula, and we can dig into that in a minute, I guess for me, the thing that I'm really taking away from that formula and that model is this idea of setting the intention. Setting the intention taking ownership of that behavior so that you as an individual or me as an individual can go out, follow those steps and try to be closer to that best version of myself by setting up my day [00:15:00] correctly.
Mike Parsons: Yeah. So he's given us a basic three-part model here, move, reflect, and grow. Let's do a little a little shot here of our favorite stuff in each of those buckets. Okay. So it's early in the morning and you hear he's saying let's get moving and tell me about what would be your go-to for movement
Mark Pearson Freeland: in the morning.
I'm a big. I really like walking. Now, I know that where Robin Sharma's going is maybe more intense than that, but there's nothing nicer than us, particularly on the east coast of Australia. Then getting that fresh air a bit of sunshine just before it gets quite a bit too hot. Sometimes I'm an Englishman, Mike, as And getting out in that fresh air, getting your Mo your muscles, moving your blood pumping, obviously a 5:00 AM.
The sunshine might not be up, but it's going to be fresh. And it's bringing awareness to each [00:16:00] of those limbs, to your skin, your eyes, your ears, your mouth. And I think there's something quite mindful.
Mike Parsons: There is absolutely. It's sensory. That's where I think that the mindfulness really kicks in fresh air.
You feel the cold, fresh crispness of the morning on your skin. I really love my mornings, if I have to say what's the perfect movement, I would say, even if it's just a 30 minute run, just a good run to get sweaty. And then I'll usually, the way I'll take up like a glass of water in the morning or run, and then I'll usually do like some electrolytes when I get back to, to replace that app without data is a great way to set the money.
I think another really good way to start the morning. If running's not your cup of tea or. You don't have gym equipment. I think a high intensity interval training and body weight workouts. So to me, the go-to would be pushups, sit up [00:17:00] a lunge and squat, those four things you can do in your hotel room. If you want to expand on that again, I'm thinking without the gym and we want to get Robin Sharma going here.
Another one of my favorites is resistance bands. Made famous In part by Tom Brady and his TB 12 program resistance bands are really good, very little equipment. You get a lot of good resistance, a similar, a better than a whiteboard. That's a great way to move and, market, the funny thing is you only need 20 or 30 minutes.
You don't need a ton, do you?
Mark Pearson Freeland: There, there is a lot of science actually going into this now isn't there a particularly, maybe on the back of Tom Brady and this idea of focus 20 minutes, if you've got a really good efficient 20 minutes or so, it's actually more effective and better at being a building, your fitness and B building muscle.
Than let's say 40 minutes where you're only doing maybe 30, 40, 50% capacity. It's actually better to [00:18:00] do really high intensity work in quite short periods. Isn't it? And I think it's
Mike Parsons: really important. What I've learned is that you don't have to go to a gym and have a gym membership. You can do so much for herself with a good walk, a good run, some body weight workout, none of which requires a membership, which means you can do it when you want on your terms.
Fit it into your day and you're not trying to like, get yourself down to the gym or whatever. So that's a good one. So we've got that one done now reflection. Oh boy. Did he just collide with some of our favorite keywords here? Journaling, meditating, planning, praying, contemplating.
To me, this is something we've celebrated so much. It's very cool to see. And author celebrating not only what we did in the health series with movement, but reflection. I just think about Matthew McConaughey in green lights, there is your case for journaling, the power of his story, that he's ability to resist all these cheesy rom-com roles.[00:19:00]
And what about that story mark? Where McConnell had. Reflected on how he got the script. And then they offered him 8 million to do the role, the 9 million. And it got all the way. If I remember correctly, did it get up to 15 million? And
Mark Pearson Freeland: actually it might've gone to 18, 18. They went from eight to 18 and every time he was saying no to.
No thank you. And eventually they just gave up. And after that winter of about two years or however many years, it was for him. He finally came back into the world and they had a lot of respect for him because he'd been diligent and focused with his
Mike Parsons: desire. And what gave him that stress.
Reflection. And how did he reflect journaling? Yeah. Boy, here we go. Robert Sharma would be proud, right? Yeah,
absolutely.
Mark Pearson Freeland: What I really like about Robin Sharma already within this formula of 20, 20, 20, and we've only covered the first two there with movement and reflect is this connection [00:20:00] between a physical workout and a mental one.
And I remember when I was. Going through the years of studying. And even more recently, when I've tried to learn new skills, pairing an element of growth or reflection on yourself, paired with something physical is a really good part, but a really good partner. Isn't it. Wake up your body, wake up your mind.
By either exercise and reflection, I think are intrinsically paired. And I really like what Robin's doing here, which I don't think we've really come into. He's almost colliding our series on health, along with our series on stoicism with Ron
Mike Parsons: holiday. Oh, that's an interesting set of connections. Yeah. Yeah.
I like it. So when you want to grow mark. To follow Robert sham, his advisor, he says, move reflecting growth. Or between five and six, what do you do
Mark Pearson Freeland: to grow? I think the easiest time of learning is right now. And what I mean [00:21:00] by that is we have a plethora of. Information at our fingertips. So spoiled.
So spot we've got YouTube, obviously you've got podcasts such as there's this great one that I've heard of Mica the moonshot podcast, and they're all orientated around helping. Learn and make the most of our time be efficient and take ownership of what we almost consume from a, an intellectual perspective.
And for me, that's probably where I go to most because I'll be perhaps combining it a little bit with the movement space. So I might be moving, doing some exercise and also hearing an audio book or a podcast maybe at the same time. And I think. Maybe we're jumping a little bit ahead here, but I think the 20, 20, 20 formula that Robin Sharma's got, you can reflect on it and you can just make it work for you.
Can't you combine them somewhat. If you need to, in order to make the most of your time there, how are [00:22:00] you? Are you seeing them as really sharp 20, 20, 20 breaks, or would you tend to allow them to overlap?
Mike Parsons: Let's see, this is where I'm perhaps a little bit different. And I think, what I would encourage all of our listeners and yourself to do is just find the right mix of these 20, 20, 20 pieces.
I love the idea of. Move reflecting and grow. I think you can like, Robert gives like a template from between five to six, three parts. Give it a go try. See if it works for you. I know for me that because of how I think I'm better off doing my morning rituals, which would be to wake up cold shower, stretch, breathe, meditate, journal, then go for a run.
And then when I returned from that, then I really sink my teeth [00:23:00] into the work. And that first two hours will be pretty intense, deep work. It doesn't really work for me. So what he's suggesting is to do some growth work at the end there, but if I review my goals, read books, consume an audio book or do some study.
The problem is I start up like a freight train mark and 20 minutes. Not enough. Yeah. Some interesting things that I will do. Some more snackable things like he's suggesting is I use a tool called read wise. And what that does is that takes all of the highlights that I make in my Kindle and in my Instapaper account.
So effectively when I'm reading something and I think, oh, that's a really good point when I make that highlight, it all gets sinter read wise. And what read wise does is helps you organize. And remember your highlights and it sets you a daily habit [00:24:00] of going through five highlights and categorizing and practicing them.
And what I mean by that is once you've highlighted something, you're like, oh, that was a really good point. What it has the capacity to do is to bring you back to it. Maybe. Maybe a month later and remind you of it and you put it in a category and you can filter it out or keep it's totally up to you.
But what they're trying to do is by bringing it back in a daily review habit is to cement. The highlight that you made in an article or in a book. And that would be a great little exercise. If you wanted to spend 20 minutes every morning, check out, read wise and just sync up your different bookmarking and book accounts.
And it just brings you back to your highlights and I've become fairly addicted to that. And that's something you can easily do in five or 10 minutes every morning. It's.
Mark Pearson Freeland: What a great [00:25:00] tip. I haven't heard of read wise. I do highlight in my Kindle as well as I use Instapaper, but there's until now I'd never been something that consolidates it.
And I think Mike, thank you for sharing that. We'll put a link in our show notes as well. I think what you're really talking about there with the daily. Reminders is read wise, trying to build that habit. Isn't it. And really fundamentally what Robin Sharma's saying in the 5:00 AM club. And remember, we're starting a brand new series on habits today.
And show number 172 is building those habits in order to. Practices and behaviors and ways of thinking cemented in your daily process. So the next clip Mike, that we've actually got again is from Robin Sharma himself, helping us understand the three different phases of building habits and fundamentally how to install habits that last, the
Robin Sharma: ritual plasticity, what is ritual?
Just like there's, neuro-plasticity your habits, your routines and your [00:26:00] rituals are plastic ritual plasticity. Here's a model that I'll explain. Hopefully habit installation. First of all, every habit goes through three phases. Number one, destruction. Of course, it's going to be hard at first. You're destroying your neural pathway.
If the old habit and the emotional architecture of that old habit, every routine or ritual or habit goes through. Number one, destruction, approximately 20 days. 66 days to install. Look at this from the starting point to anything you've learned today, you want to install as a habit from zero to 66 days.
At 66 days, you will reach what researchers call automaticity. It'll [00:27:00] be easy. You'll get up at 5:00 AM automatically you'll journal go the extra mile. Practice your craft automatically. But you have to stay with her for 66 days. First, 20 days, approximately is phased. Number one, destruction phase number two, confusion.
After you've destroyed it, it's like a renovation. There's a mess. Now you're confused. It's normal. If you're confused. If you're confused, you're still thinking for yourself. If you're confused, it means you're growing. Society says what's wrong with you. You're confused all the time. I'm suggesting to you.
You're confused all the time, because every single day you're disrupting who you used to be yesterday. And of course, society doesn't understand. You have the results. Very few have you've got to live and behave like very few. After confusion, stage number three, [00:28:00] the final 20 days, approximately integration of the new house.
Destruction, of course, it's going to be hard for 20 days. Confusion, phase two, messy in the middle. You're going to feel like giving up. This won't make sense. It's new to you. Finally integration. You get to automaticity. It becomes a part of your new belief, your new way of being, it becomes easy. Here's the fascinating thing.
You only use willpower until you get to automaticity. The secret of the great athletes, they are spending all this energy on willpower just to install the routine. Once the routine becomes automatic, the exciting thing is they free up their willpower for their next routine to be installed.
Mike Parsons: Mark. This is getting into the serious, the [00:29:00] the deep science of building like a habit as James Cree would say that becomes a lifestyle.
I think there's so many ways to go with this, but I think that one thing for sure is if you want to set a new habit, I think that first couple of months. It's become so important. I think the word that comes to my mind is you need to be vigilant. You need to uphold it with the greatest attention possible, don't you?
Mark Pearson Freeland: Yeah. I think that's exactly where Robin Sharma's going. Mike, when he's referring to willpower, these athletes who spend the first couple of months using willpower to build that routine, and then it enters that integration stage, that automaticity point that then it becomes almost. To continue going out and doing, and I think that's a really nice way of thinking about any formation of a habit.
It's going to be tricky to destroy your current behavior. It's then going to be tricky [00:30:00] and almost confusing when you're trying to install a new one. But after that, you're you've reached the top of that hill and then it becomes that little bit easier as you go into the future. Three four and so on.
Mike Parsons: Yeah. And he talks about that old changes hot at the first, as he said, messy in the middle, but gorgeous at the end let's go to the pointy end of this and where it's really hard. And talk about like how we actually get started on a habit. And, I have this really Fanatical thing that I do mark or where if I want to set a new habit, I make it a daily reminder in my, to do application my, to do app of choice.
It is called to do list, which is it's just the most gorgeous design. It just works for me in the way I work. I know there's plenty of to-do lists out there, but if anyone has. Struggling with a habit creation and wants to find a tool that is [00:31:00] multi-platform and just helps you get jobs done. A to do list is the app of choice that I would recommend.
But for example, if I want to take a new vitamin supplement such as Q 10 which is one of my favorite ones. I said it as a daily reminder and I will leave it there for months. Close to a year sometimes before I think it is so cemented as our lifestyle, as a ritual that I know I'm going to take that vitamin supplement in the morning.
And I actually still to this very day, if I look at my daily tasks, that's reside in to do list. I have things like journaling because it's so important to me, mark. The journaling is a daily task, [00:32:00] seven days a week for me working out daily task. What else have I got here? Sleeping? Because it's so important to me, it's actually on my checklist mask because mark, if I sleep well, I can get up at five.
I can make my bed I'm on the way. Breathwork work from a standing desk too for my own personal physical health. I'm doing calls sometimes standing up and that's how I get in my minimum 30 minutes of. Standing work a day. How do you go about what's your hat to, to get the, at the hard bit, when the, when you first introducing the change, what do you do to get your habits cemented?
Mark Pearson Freeland: So I think I have to start by really come to terms with the desire to change. So let's say it's let's choose something that I've done recently. I suppose journaling as well, journaling is a pretty [00:33:00] universal example. I'll have to come to terms or appreciate the, this sort of need or the goal that I have with trying to break an old habit.
So in this case, breaking an old habit would be not doing. Going to bed and playing on your phone or going to bed and just reading a book rather than taking some time to reflect on it. And for me, Mike, oh, I'll write my journal actually in the evenings, as opposed to the mornings. That's as we say, listeners, just figuring out whatever works for you, whatever habit is best in your day.
So for me, Mike, I will also have. Quite regimented tasks within to-do list. I'm looking at mine. I've got exercise 60 minutes. Sorry, Robin. I won't just do 20 minutes. I might deceased. I've got. So that could be journal that could be otherwise as well as call friends, family, and so on. Keep up to date with individuals.
And then I'll also utilize my calendar to almost time block my [00:34:00] day for smaller aspects as well. So if it's a habit like journaling, I might put it into my to-do list. If it's a habit where I've got to hold myself accountable to complete something, maybe every day, I'll put a reminder also in Google. So that I'm getting a hit or reminded from two different avenues, two different aspects.
Yes. And again, same as you, the act of repetitions, seeing it all the time, eventually builds that association where after maybe a few months, maybe it's six, maybe it's 12. I can turn it off because now it's just a behavior that I can. Start a good day without
Mike Parsons: doing. Yeah. And I think the real test of knowing when you've got to that third stage, that Sharma talks about is when you look forward to doing it, it comes so naturally.
Like my run today, like it was like my whole very being last night was get your ass to bed. Say you can run before the show. And that's just because of. [00:35:00] The run feels so good. Makes me happy and provides many of the benefits that Robin Sharma toxic. The one thing here is that is most useful is that Robin Sharma talks about how uncomfortable it gets at the beginning.
And I think if you reflect on. Hey, I'm going to have to get comfortable with being uncomfortable, which is something we got from the Joe Rogan show. I think if you can almost be excited about the adoption of something new and that it feels all goofy and weird, rather than oh gosh, rather than being resistant or negative, just choose to perceive it as not.
As new as lighting up new neurons in your mind, getting you excited and activated for something new, rather than being like a version airy it's all feeling a [00:36:00] bit awkward and hot. Just enjoy that destructive process of breaking in new patterns into your very being, I think this is key, right?
Because I think what happens is we all feel. Either uncomfortable or maybe even embarrassed when we try to start something new, I say, turn that on its head. Celebrate it. Love it. Big goofy, be uncomfortable. That's okay. And I think what is Robin Sharma is making a case for why you should do that.
Isn't he? Yeah. I
Mark Pearson Freeland: mean, let's use going for. Maybe doing 5k a day or less. In fact, let's say you're training towards a half marathon. And this is an example, Mike, that I think you've said on moonshots before, which is if you've got a target, let's say it's five K 10, K, just give it a go. Don't beat yourself up.
If you can't get to that total within the first day or within the first week, I think it really speaks. And I think Robin, Sharma's speaking to it [00:37:00] again. Just give yourself the time, the space, as well as the patients to get to that goal. Because if you don't you'll, you're just going to throw it out the window.
You're going to think, oh, you know what? Running? Oh, it hurt my knee. I couldn't even get up that hill. Running's not for me. I'll throw away my running shoes, whereas actually, What I find personally with running is after the first two, three or four, suddenly running becomes a little bit easier, doesn't it?
It does. You're just used to that strain, that stress that your body's going through and suddenly you're then starting to get that what they call the runner's high and you can start to enjoy it. And I think that kind of speaks to. That installation protocol that Robin Sharma's discussing there, which is once you get through that kind of uncomfortable stage, and I guess it's like anything in life.
Once you get through the uncomfortable stage, you can start enjoying the journey before you get to that destination of actually going out and doing that half [00:38:00] marathon, because you're actually enjoying the process of creating a
Mike Parsons: new experience. A new ritual and your lifestyle. And I tell you, what's also very good to create as a habit.
Is I thinking up your apple podcast, apple or Spotify, and give a rating or review to your favorite podcast? Ma what do you think about that idea? Yeah,
Mark Pearson Freeland: I believe that the best way of doing it is exactly as you just described, if you're listening to your favorite podcast, let's do an example.
Moonshots podcast. You're listening to us coming down your headphones today, just pop along into your apple podcast app and leave us a rating or even a review, because that's really the way for listeners around the world to hear about the moonshots podcast. It'll help us with the algorithm. And be shown whenever people are searching for, let's say Robin Sharma the 5:00 AM club, and that's really how we get the moonshots message and the learning out loud message to the masses.
Isn't it, Mike?
Mike Parsons: I think, we want as many people as [00:39:00] possible to be the best version of themselves. And if you has you're listening right now, just open up the up, go in. Whether it's Spotify or apple podcast, give us a star, a thumbs up. It doesn't really matter which app you use, your ratings, your reviews, you spreading the good word about us.
This is how we grow, and this is how we can help as many people as possible. Be the best version of themselves. And that's why we do this. And we know that you are a critical part of the equation. We know that you're sharing your advocacy will help us on this mission. So get in there, just open up. Give us a star rating review tell the world how you feel about being part of the moonshots podcast.
And as we do that, our gift back to you is to delve into four focuses that Robin Sharma. Has identified as really [00:40:00] being at the essence of mastering yourself. So once again, let's get into the work of Robin Sharma this time, we're going to have a listen to YouTube channel, upgraded mentality, breaking down.
He's four focuses. Successful people tend to focus better than the average people. Not only that they tend to focus on key areas. These four focus areas are as follows the first. Capitalization focus. We each have certain gifts that we are born with that will come naturally to us. If we allow them to this doesn't happen automatically though, we must search for them and cultivate these talents before they can really help us succeed.
Focus to eliminating distractions in the world of social media. It is easier than ever to be distracted unless you carefully set your smartphone. It can buzz with notifications almost constantly throughout this. Eliminating distractions and being able to focus on only a few important [00:41:00] tasks is the second focus of the successful focus.
Three personal mastery, hate to break it to you, but you will never be perfect. You will always be a work in progress. Sharma recommends focusing on what he calls the four interior empires. The first mindset is your self-talk to your heart set is your emotion. Three health set is your physical fitness and for your soul set, contemplation and meditation on who you are, the fourth focus day stack.
And this focus is where the victory hour shows up. Focused on creating great days and making each day better than the last one habits and consistency will lead you to success. Not bursts of short-lived
Mark Pearson Freeland: motivation. I think that's a good little takeaway at the very end, Mike, isn't it. If you can build habits, you'll get longterm success.
New behaviors, new ways of thinking. But if [00:42:00] you only do them in a, in maybe a short term burst, or maybe you read up, you learn for a period of time, but you don't install it as a habit. It's just, as they say a flash in the pan, rather than a brand new behavior that you can really cultivate as a lifelong skill.
Mike Parsons: It's almost as you were talking I was thinking about like the sports analogy, a great sports team would train regularly methodically ritualistically to be as good as they can be in the gym on the court. You name it. So why wouldn't we just do this? Y for ourselves, right? Like why don't we see ourselves as a sports team that needs a game plan, a practice we need to recruit in the off season.
Like I could keep going but for me it is like you gotta go to training. And you remember when we did the Michael Jordan show in the end, He's training attitude was what set him apart. He trained harder than everyone [00:43:00] else. He turned up to training before everyone else. He stayed at the end. And so by the time he got out on a court in a real game, he's this is easier than my training.
I work harder in my training than I do in the court. Putting in this continuous habits, lifestyle of improvement of the search for mastery of. Growing. This is at the heart of what Robin Sharma's talking about. And what I think is really interesting here. Is basically saying is in these four key things is capitalization, right?
Focusing on the right things, getting rid of all of distractions, master yourself, and then stack the day for success. There's so much in that. And I can see it takes years and I still continue to work on what a great day looks like. Like I've been working on this [00:44:00] for so long and I'm genuinely excited to work on this until the day I die.
But this is, as you said, and as a theme that for this show that it's not a flash in the pan, you either do it or you don't, it's how you live or how you don't.
Mark Pearson Freeland: Yeah, I totally agree. And you're quite right. That all these elements, we might hear about. These different habits, behaviors being touched on in different shows.
I mentioned coun Newport, digital minimalism earlier, and that's very much in line with Robin's suggestions on not only how you wake up, but also what you focus on. You remove yourself from social media and so on, but you're right. Personal mastery piece is something that we're all working on day in, day out.
It's every single moonshot that we encounter, whether it's keeping your mind active from a growth mindset perspective, whether it's having gratitude, utilizing exercise or nutrition and [00:45:00] sleep, to be the best version of yourself all the way through to reduction of your ego stoicism, Ryan holiday. These elements that all ladder up to Robin Sharma's core lesson within the 5:00 AM club is totally inline with what I think you and I try and do on the moonshot show mic.
Mike Parsons: Absolutely. And I think where we get to is this moment, do you make the very deliberate. Meaningful choice to work on yourself, not just to work in the day. And I think one of the patterns of success that we have seen so strongly is that the people who thrive and the people that succeed are those. Who are continuously working on themselves, challenging themselves to be better like relentless search of [00:46:00] growth, rather than saying, Hey, I've made it or, Hey, I don't need to learn anything new, but they are of such a growth mindset that they are not just stumbling in a sort of like a comatose day, but they're continually.
Working on themselves building habits for a day for a life. And I think that is the biggest choice that I made when I was 20 years of age unknowingly. I said, I want to be better. I don't want to be. Lazy. I don't want a half-assed approach to life. I want to be all in. I had none of the answers that have been revealed in the moonshots podcast, but I think that's the choice that we all need to make.
Do we want to confront the things that we suck at that we're bad at? Do we want to confront our weaknesses, [00:47:00] explore our strengths and build a path to mastery. A path where we actually explore our potential nurture our potential. And I think whilst Robin Sharma is giving us a great recipe, I think what comes through the reading of this book is a really important choice.
Are you going to work on yourself? What do you think as you go through this, all these great learnings that we have from the 5:00 AM club, what do you think is the takeout beyond that, of getting up at 5:00 AM in the morning?
Mark Pearson Freeland: Yeah, exactly. I think you've nailed it there. Yes, he is Robin.
Sharma's putting it in the lens of waking up at 5:00 AM, which arguably is a great idea. You can extra hour of time from a practicality perspective. Really what I think we're learning from the book. The 5:00 AM club is actually taking over. [00:48:00] Of how you utilize your time. So even if 5:00 AM becomes, let's say 6:00 AM or maybe 5:00 AM becomes 4:00 AM, it can work both ways.
I think what's standing out to me within Robin Sharma's work is really focusing on beginning your day correctly, but that doesn't necessarily end with your first cup of coffee. Or your breakfast, it can be something that you work on and cultivate throughout the entire day. And really what it's laddering up towards is developing new habits.
Whether that habit is waking up early or whether that habit is just doing something, changing something in your day to be that a little bit. Efficient or a little bit more focused or even motivated. And I think that's really how I see this show fitting within Mike, the habits series that we've just begun.
It's really cultivating belief in yourself, giving yourself confidence to either a try new [00:49:00] things. Maybe that new thing is going on a diet or exercising or starting your own business. And I think what we've found throughout all of the moonshot is so far is you have to work pretty darn hard. And that, that working hard does not necessarily end when you wake up at 5:00 AM.
It doesn't end when you reach the 6:00 AM mark and you've done 20 minutes of movement reflection and growth. You can't just then say, Hey, I'm done. I'll sit back down again. I think what it's really what, where Robin, Sharma's kind of speaking to me and it's the extension of that habit installation protocol, as well as the four focuses that we just heard about, which is it's got to be a daily.
Almost hourly process that we will go through in order to try and achieve our best version of ourselves. So we're not all, we'll never necessarily maybe be perfect, but we can all work towards being that little [00:50:00] bit more efficient day by day and through compound interest. You're always going to end. In a week's time, better than you were a week ago.
Yes.
Mike Parsons: And if you've made this choice, when you're confronted with the blockers, the bumps in the road, you will know that's a great sign. It's like when you're working out and you're like, oh, this is really hard. Chances are, you're actually doing a lot of good for yourself because you're pushing yourself through those barriers.
And David Goggins would be proud of you. And I'll tell you what David Goggins will be proud of is this idea from Robin Sharma, as he's talking to Marie Forleo for the last time on this show and talking about how new habits. All right, Robin, this sounds good. Waking up at 5:00 AM, but what about the fact that I have, tiny babies and a dog that just threw up and all of these kind of concerns or constraints that I don't think I can do this?
What do you say to people when they're like, that just sounds too hard.
Robin Sharma: The [00:51:00] pathway to world-class is hard. I think sufferings got a bad rap. I think difficulty, you look at any great athlete. For example, they understand that challenge, difficulty, grit, persistence wiring in new habits.
Morning rituals, evening routines are the price of admission for world-class. And so let's go to the research again. University college London says it takes 66 days. Practice to wire in a new habit. In other words, The gift of genius is not genius. The gift of genius is actually neuroplasticity. In other words, we have a brain that can grow is it's plastic it's malleable.
The good news is that's not just for Kanye and beyond say and Federer and Oprah and. Phil Knight, every one of us has that capability in our brain to build genius. So what I'm suggesting is anyone who wants to get up early, so they get an extra hour and they can [00:52:00] do the things that we're talking about.
Practice it for 66 days until you will reach what researchers call. State of automaticity, where it actually gets easier to get up at 5:00 AM than not to get up at 5:00 AM. And so in the book, one of the brain tattoos is all changes hard at first, and it's messy in the middle and it's gorgeous at the end and everything Murray that we once found that.
One that we now find easy. We once found difficult. We do have the ability to wire in new habits and joining the 5:00 AM club is simply the best habit. Anyone can wire in to lead to an upward spiral of success for greater productivity, better health, more peace of mind, more happiness and living a much more.
High-impact.
Mark Pearson Freeland: I think Mike, that feels as though a perfect synopsis or wrap up for a lot of the lessons that we've been discussing today, particularly. And the thing I really want to come back to is the fact that genius [00:53:00] and this idea of genius, this idea of being a moonshot or. Can be achievable to all of us, but the truth is it does take some damn hard work.
We can even do it if you're willing
Mike Parsons: to put in the practice. Sure. And here's the news. I think most people don't put in the work. I
Mark Pearson Freeland: think that's really what it comes down to. Isn't it?
Mike Parsons: Most people don't get up at five. Most people don't make their bed. So maybe this is a good way to motivate you.
If you simply start doing these things, you're the exception.
Mark Pearson Freeland: Exactly. Exactly. Something as to be honest, unpleasant to begin with as cold showers. I've particularly started redoing it. I gave myself a little bit of a break. Mick. I'll be honest.
Mike Parsons: Hang on. Our listeners have just like falling off their chairs.
Yeah. I thought this was the cost of being a moonshot host that you had to do the culture. W well,
Mark Pearson Freeland: exactly. So here's my pitch list. I took a break [00:54:00] and when I came back to it, it was almost. Like I was learning it again, if that makes sense. So it was such a habit that then when you give yourself a little bit of a break, much like working out and exercising, I suppose it degrades your resilience too.
It degrades quite quickly. But what I will say is when you come back to it after even just a short break, your tolerance is still a lot higher. So there was a residual. The comfort, that came with the gold shafts and wasn't as frightening the first time as perhaps it was a year ago when we did the Wim Hoff show.
So I think my point really there is with that little bit of practice, it does become that little bit easier to put up with things. Cold showers or waking up early or going for that extra long run. I think it's just exposure.
Mike Parsons: I'm mark. I think we need to report you to Moonshot's HR department. I think this is scandal is breaking news here.[00:55:00]
The main shots podcast now you're absolutely right. And also something that's really good that Sharma points out. It's hard, it's uncomfortable. And he talks about suffering has a bad rap. I love that point because we've seen, Joe Rogan and many others talk about get comfortable with uncomfort Jaco, Willink.
This is where you want to be. Cause as soon as you've, you're prepared for that. You've made a deliberate decision to work on yourself. You can go places once, it's going to be hard. Stop expecting it to be easy, stop, expecting to be an overnight success. Cause it just doesn't happen like that.
Mark Pearson Freeland: No, absolutely not. There's no overnight success. I don't think. And anybody who claims that you can get into riches or happiness within six steps is probably saying something that's not quite true, Mike, I think like anything in life, it just takes time. And to be honest, as we've learned from the moonshot show, the journey.
Is often even more [00:56:00] enjoyable than the destination. Of course, you put yourself into that growth mindset, change your perception, and rather than trying to sprint towards the finish line instead, enjoy growing that resilience, that grit that that determination because fundamentally it's actually quite fun.
Mike Parsons: True. True. Said, build a ritual, build a habit, build a lifestyle to be the best version of yes. Mark, thank you to you for sharing this journey into the 5:00 AM club and thank you to you, our listeners it has been fantastic to have you on show 172 with Robin Sharma's. The 5:00 AM club, and it all began with his notion with his idea rise before this.
And in doing that leap into your 20, 20, 20 model to start your day correctly. And don't forget that building habits has three phases and it all starts with that messy, ugly destruction. [00:57:00] But once you've broken through that, you can work on the big four capitalization, freedom from distractions, personal mastery and day stacking, do those things, and you'll be on a great journey, but he also told us you will be on a hard journey.
Okay. Do these things wake at 5:00 AM when the morning, when the day, and you would surely be on the way to being the best version of yourself. And that's what we're all about here on the moonshots podcast. That's a wrap.