The 5 am club

The 20/20/20 Formula
.”
“Man—are you ever going to teach it to us?” the artist interrupted again.
He wasn’t being rude. If you were in that chamber with those three, you’d
sense that he only spoke that way because he was so interested in The 5 
AM
Method. That’s all.
“
The 20/20/20 Formula
is the subject of tomorrow morning’s coaching
session,” the billionaire offered with the utmost grace. “For now, let’s stay
centered on the third step. You need to set up a reward. That’s what the
eminent researchers on willpower tell us is essential to create behaviors that
stick. Your reward for rising with the sun could be a nice piece of dark
chocolate for dessert at lunch. It could be taking a nap later in the day, another
favored rite of the planet’s greatest creatives. It could be treating yourself to
the book you’ve been wanting to buy for your library. You can figure out what
feels right for you.”
“Got it,” said the entrepreneur. She was now sure that all this information
would significantly elevate her business game and dramatically uplift her
Mindset, Heartset, Healthset and Soulset—leading her into a truly excellent
life.
“Good. That brings us to the final point in the pattern,” said the billionaire
as he touched the piece of chalk to the word “repetition” on the blackboard, in
that room of the Taj Mahal.
“The way to annihilate the weakest impulses of your lower self and to free
yourself of the cravings and temptations that are blocking your best is through
ceaseless repetition of the new behavior you’re working hard to install. The
word that comes to mind here is 
steadfast
. Be steadfast in your commitment
to remaining a lifelong member of The 5 
AM
Club. Be absolutely dedicated
and excuseless in following through on this life-altering self-promise. Each
time you follow through, you’ll deepen the relationship with your sovereign
self. Each time you rise at dawn, you’ll purify your character, fortify your
willpower and magnify the fires of your soul. I guess what I’m trying to help

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you two wonderful people appreciate is that the real measure of your majesty
is shown not in your outer moments before an audience, but in the soft and
early light of lonely practice. You become undefeatable in the world by what
you do when no one’s watching.”
“I’ve read a fair amount about championship sports teams,” said the
entrepreneur. “Really helped me build superb squads at my company. And if
there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that what took the winning team to victory
was less how they played in the last seconds of a close final game and more
how disciplined they were at practice.”
“Exactly,” agreed the billionaire. “The brilliant moves in the last seconds
of the championship match were 
automatic
—the result of tireless hours of
repetition of those splendid moves during training.”
“Cool point,” the artist thought to himself.
“I want to get to one remaining learning model this morning before I let
you cats go, one that will make it incredibly clear how installing a habit
follows a sixty-six-day process. Yet, before I do, I did want to share a few
more fast practical points on self-discipline.”
“Great,” the artist replied. “Today’s lesson has been big for me. I know
it’ll help me beat procrastination, and I’m sure it’ll improve the quality of my
art. And I’ve already been making progress on calibrating my physical
fitness.”
“He has,” agreed the entrepreneur with a wink.
“Well, just remember that willpower weakens once it gets tired. Scientists
call the condition ‘ego depletion.’ See, you wake up each morning with a full
battery of self-control. That’s why I want you to do the activities that are most
important to the rise of your inner empires at the time when your capacity is
strongest—at 5 
AM
. Here’s the thing: as you go through your day, going to
meetings, checking messages and performing tasks, your ability to self-
regulate decreases—and so does your capability to handle temptations and
manage weak impulses. The fact that human discipline muscles get tired from
all the decision fatigue explains why so many massively successful people
end up doing something foolish that destroys their careers. They gave in to
the urge that causes their downfall because all day long they were making
important decisions. By the time it was evening, they had no willpower left in
their battery to manage the craving.”
“Super-fascinating,” remarked the entrepreneur. “This explains a lot.”
“So, the key is rest and recovery of the self-control muscle,” explained the
billionaire. “Never allow it to get too tired. Your willpower really is weakest

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when you are most tired. Key awareness to build on here. We make our worst
decisions and our lowest choices when we’re exhausted. So, don’t allow
yourself to get exhausted. Period. I have a powerful mentoring session on
how the best in the world protect priceless assets like their willpower through
the lost art of personal regeneration planned for you later.”
Mr. Riley began to cough. A concerning, throaty cough. Not an
insignificant one.
“Oh,” he added, regaining his composure. “Please also know the research
also supports the idea that external order increases your discipline. That’s why
Steve Jobs made sure the workplace at NeXT was minimalist and painted all-
white when he was there. Mess lowers your self-control as well as steals your
cognitive bandwidth.”
“Maybe that’s why so many so-called geniuses wear the same uniform
every day,” the artist commented. “They want to keep order and structure in
their lives. And they understand that each morning we wake up with a limited
amount of willpower as well as mental focus. So, rather than wasting these
valuable gifts by spreading them over many trivial choices like what to wear
and what to eat, they automate as many basic things as possible, so they can
concentrate their highest powers on just a few important activities. Now I’m
getting how geniuses become geniuses even more. If all I did every day was
my art and only a handful of other things, I wouldn’t suffer from ‘decision
fatigue,’ as you call it. And that would mean I wouldn’t waste so much time
in the evening—and make so many bad choices as the day ends, like watching
stupid TV shows, eating so much junk food and sipping too much tequila.”
“Okay,” declared the billionaire. “You folks clearly now know ‘all change
is hard at first, messy in the middle and gorgeous at the end.’ That insight
should be well on its way to settling in as a default belief of your Mindset.
Now, let’s deconstruct that powerful brain tattoo of The Spellbinder into a
potent model which explains the three phases every habit installation goes
through so you have even more firepower to lock in the regime of rising at
dawn. You’ll absolutely love what you’re about to learn. Promise me you’ll
turn up the volume of your listening as we go through this? Then we’ll call it
a morning.”
“We promise,” the entrepreneur and the artist expressed together.
“Pinky promise?” asked the billionaire, putting out a little finger.
“Yes,” responded the entrepreneur as she locked pinkies with her mentor.
“Yes,” agreed the artist, as he did the same.
“Terrific,” enthused the magnate.

---

One of the security guards who had led the three companions into the
structure walked in and pulled a chart out of a backpack. He shone his
flashlight onto it so all could see what had been printed on it. The teaching
framework that came into view looked like this:
“On the coding of any new habit, you’ll move through an initial period of
destruction,” said Mr. Riley as he pointed to the first phase on the diagram.
“Keep at it and you’ll definitely move ahead into the second stage of the
process, where new neural pathways are formed and the real installation
begins. This is the messy middle. Finally, as you stick with your practice of
making any fresh routine your normal way of being, you’ll arrive at the final
—and wonderful—stage: integration. The whole exercise takes approximately
sixty-six days, according to the research data of University College London.
The Spellbinder, in his teachings, calls this powerful fact