The 5 am club

The 66 Day
Minimum
. Sixty-six days of training to make a new habit yours. So, don’t quit
after a few days, or a few weeks, or even after two months. 
As it relates to
becoming a member of The 5 
AM
Club, stick with your self-promise for at least
sixty-six days. No matter what.
Do this one thing and the remainder of your
life will be exponentially better. This I promise you from my heart,” said the
billionaire.
“See, all change is hard at first. That’s why The Spellbinder named stage
one ‘Destruction.’ If it wasn’t difficult at the start, it wouldn’t be real change.
It’s supposed to be hard because you’re rewriting the past patterns of your

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mind and destroying old ways of operating. And rewiring past programs of
your heart and emotions. Do you know why the Space Shuttle uses more fuel
in the sixty seconds after liftoff than it uses over the entire orbit around the
Earth?”
“It needs to overcome the powerful forces of gravity after it takes off,” the
artist answered confidently.
“Exactly,” the billionaire affirmed. “It requires a large amount of fuel to
overcome those initial forces and reach escape velocity. But once it does,
momentum kicks in and the craft just goes. The first phase of creating any
new habit—The Destruction Stage—is precisely like this. You need to
overcome your deeply ingrained habits, dominant rituals and traditional states
of performance. You need to rise above your own forces of gravity—until
your escape velocity kicks in. It’s so challenging at the beginning. I’m not
going to lie to you—you both have done very well getting up at 5 
AM
over the
mornings you’ve been with me. But you will hit a wall over these first
twenty-two days while you’re in phase one. Nothing wrong—just part of the
habit installation process anyone seeking peak productivity and a richer life
must go through. For most people ready to get up before daybreak, each day
of this first phase is a hardship. They feel like giving up. They complain that
rising early just isn’t for them. That they’re not built for this routine and that
it’s just not worth the pain. My advice is simple: 
Continue at all costs.
Persistency sits at the threshold of mastery.
The things that feel hardest are
also the ones that are most valuable. Keep remembering that doing difficult
things that are very important was how the highest achievers and greatest
heroes of our civilization embraced their power. Please also remember this
rule: 
when faced with a choice, always choose the one that pushes you the
most, increases your growth and promotes the unfoldment of your gifts,
talents and personal prowess
. So, when you feel like quitting, persevere.
You’ll get to the next stage soon. And understand the negative thoughts,
cranky emotions and strong desires to surrender are a normal part of the
process of hardwiring any new regime. The first twenty-two days are
supposed to feel like a mild form of torture.”
“Because stage one is all about the destruction of old ways of being so
that new ones can be set up, right?” the entrepreneur asked.
“Precisely,” the billionaire confirmed. “And just because you couldn’t do
something before doesn’t mean you can’t do it now,” he added while nodding
in an encouraging way. “I need to repeat what I said so you absolutely lock it
in: if it wasn’t hard initially, it wouldn’t be real—and valuable—change.
Society has programmed us to think that because it’s difficult at first,
something bad is happening. That we should stop what we’re doing. And

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return to the safe house of our former normal. Zero growth and evolution
toward legendary in that mode of operating. Zero.”
“So true,” agreed the entrepreneur. “Everyone I know repeats the familiar
every day. Okay. Maybe not everyone, but definitely most people. Same
thoughts, same behaviors and the same moves.”
“The truth is not that they can’t change,” said Mr. Riley. “It’s just that they
didn’t make the commitment to improve and then stay with the process long
enough for their neurobiology as well as their psychology, physiology,
emotionality and spirituality to work its natural wonders.