Book Title: The 5 AM Club
Book Author: Robin Sharma
ISBN: 978-1-4434-6031-6
Year Published: December 4, 2018
Pages: 315
Reviewed by: Juvaughn Mahabeer
Other Books Published by the Author:
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The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari
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The Everyday Hero Manifesto
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Who Will Cry When You Die
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The Leader Who Had No Title
“An addiction to distraction is the death of your creative production.” (page 119)
—Robin Sharma
1. The Author’s Backstory.
Robin Sharma is of Indian descent. He acquired a master’s degree in law as a young man and worked as a litigation lawyer until the age of 25.
He then changed his career to be a full-time writer after he became successful with his self-published book ‘The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari’.
He later mentioned that he made this career switch as his law practice was not giving him the peace and satisfaction that he was looking for.
He has become very successful as a writer, publishing many international bestselling books. Selling millions of copies in over 92 languages and dialects.
He is also considered one of the top speakers in leadership and personal mastery in the world, his clients include NASA, Microsoft, Nike, Unilever, General Electric, FedEx, HP, Starbucks, Oracle, Yale University, PwC, IBM Watson, and the Young Presidents’ Organization.
2. Why did the Author Write The Book?
He wrote this book as a way to share with the world the morning routine that has helped his clients maximize their productivity and well-being.
The main goal of the book is to help you fuel your mind, body, and soul to make each day the most productive.
3. What is the Author’s Thesis?
Own your morning, and elevate your life.
4. What is the Author’s Purpose?
To help the reader understand the importance of having an early morning routine to have a productive day and to reach peak performance.
The book shared that the habit of waking up early and running your morning routine is the one practice that will change and elevate every other practice in your life.
5. What were two arguments the Author used in defense of his thesis?
ARGUMENT 1
What stood out most to me about what I read in chapter 10, ‘The 4 Focuses of History Makers,’ was the concept that to reach our full potential, we have to work on four aspects of our well-being each day.
They are:
Mindset = Psychology (25%)
Heartset = Emotionality (25%)
Healthset = Physicality (25%)
Soulset = Spirituality (25%)
Mr. Riley thought that by working on these 4 things each day, we are able to access 100% of our potential.
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ARGUMENT 2
The 5 AM Club
6. What was the Author’s Conclusion?
The author concluded by recounting the imprisonment of the late great South African President Nelson Mandela and the hardship he went through on the island prison on Robben Island.
He concluded that we have to go through hard things to grow to our full potential.
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7. What is my Conclusion about the Book?
This book is by far one of my favorites, definitely has made my top 5 list.
The author Robin Sharma did a superb job creating this book, The 5 AM Club is the first self-help book I have read that actually followed a story! and I loved it!
It follows a female business executive on her journey to reclaim her life with the help of an unlikely stranger.
Here are my top 3 takeaways from this awesome read:
1. Like the saying ‘never judge a book by its cover,’ we shouldn’t judge others by external appearances. Judge a person instead of by the strength of their character.
This saying rings true in this book, as it is highlighted as the first test our main protagonist had to overcome on her path back to redemption.
2. On page 4 he talks about personal leadership, He says “It demands that you stop being a cyber-zombie relentlessly attracted to digital devices and restructure your life to model mastery, exemplify decency and relinquish the self-centeredness that keeps good people limited.”
This highlights the personal responsibility we have to ourselves to be great. Greatness cannot be accomplished by being a distracted zombie. We need a level of hyperfocus to accomplish self-mastery in our pursuits.
3. The next takeaway that I absolutely loved is that when we transform our relationship with ourselves everything else changes in our lives.
STRENGTHS
I believe a strength of the comprehensiveness of the information regarding how to make a great morning.
Despite the lackluster storyline (which I believe took away from the book engagement instead of adding to it) the information I found very clear and helpful.
WEAKNESSES
In my opinion, this book’s weakness is the story component to it. The entire story is composed of a continued dialogue between 4 individuals.
The author attempted to create some conflict and resolution among the characters but I found it distracting from the self-help knowledge I was trying to learn.
INTENDED AUDIENCE
I believe the intended audience is anyone looking to build a high-performing 5 AM morning routine.
It book goes over in detail how to structure your morning from 5 AM onwards to be the most productive during your day.
OVERALL EFFECTIVENESS
I believe the book was very effective in sharing the exact routine that one must follow in the morning when one wakes up at 5:00 am. The author shared many diagrams to illustrate timeblocks of activities that cover each of ‘The 4 Focuses of History Makers.’
OVERALL READABILITY
Incredibly descriptive, the author described the events of the story with lots of detail around the setting the story is taking place.
WHAT YOU SHOULD EXPECT TO GET OUT OF THIS BOOK?
I would give this book a rating of 4.2/5.
To purchase this book on Amazon Click here.
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Juvaughn Mahabeer
Founder at Books Galore 2.0
Hi There! My name is Juvaughn Mahabeer. So funny story, I grew up being self-conscious about my reading ability because I thought I was behind everyone else. In my late teens, I decided to make it a habit, and over a few years of reading on and off, I grew a love for it. Now I see the importance of reading, so my current goal is to encourage others to make it a habit.
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