The 5 am club

calibration
. Dialing
in the finest of attitudes and refining the littlest of details is what granularity
and ascension into the orbit of your inherent genius—and a life magically
lived—is all about.”
The eccentric magnate then placed the piece of silk from the bottle into a
pocket of his shorts. And vanished.

---

Chapter 10
The 4 Focuses of History-Makers
“The life given us, by nature is short, but the memory of a well-spent life is eternal.” 
—Cicero
The sunrise was dazzling as the entrepreneur and the artist walked hand-in-
hand along the seashore to meet the billionaire at the designated meeting spot
for the next morning’s mentoring class.
Mr. Riley was already there when they arrived, sitting on the sand, eyes
closed in a deep meditation.
He was shirtless, wearing camouflage-patterned shorts similar to the ones
The Spellbinder styled the day he appeared on the beach and a pair of rubber
diving booties with smiley face emojis scattered over them. You would have
been more than amused if you saw him in them.
An assistant rushed out of the billionaire’s home the instant he raised a
hand toward the heavens, displaying the universal victory sign. Three crisp
pages of paper were efficiently extracted from a shiny black leather satchel
and handed to the titan of industry without a word being exchanged. Stone
Riley simply offered a slight bow of appreciation. In turn, he gave a sheet to
each of his two students.
It was exactly 5 
AM
.
The billionaire then picked up a seashell and skipped it across the water. It
appeared as if he had something profound on his mind this morning. Gone
were the usual lightheartedness, festivity and awkward antics.
“You okay?” inquired the entrepreneur as she touched a bracelet engraved
with the words “Straight on hustle. Rise and grind. I’ll sleep when I’m dead.”
The tycoon read the words on the bangle. He placed a finger onto his lips.
“Who will cry when you die?” he asked.
“What?” exclaimed the artist.
“What will those who know you whisper about how you lived once you’re
no longer here?” The billionaire articulated the question in the manner of a

---

skilled actor. “You live as if you were destined to live forever, no thought of
your frailty ever enters your head, of how much time has already gone by you
take no heed. You squander time as if you drew from a full and abundant
supply, though all the while that day which you bestow on some person or
thing is perhaps your last.”
“Those are your thoughts? Brilliant,” stated the artist.
The billionaire looked mildly embarrassed. “I wish! No, they belong to
the stoic philosopher Seneca. They came from his treatise 
On the Shortness of
Life
.”
“So why are we talking about death on this beautiful morning exactly?”
queried the entrepreneur, appearing a little uncomfortable.
“Because most of us alive today wish we had more time. Yet we waste the
time we have. Thinking about dying brings what matters most into much
sharper focus. You’ll stop allowing digital distraction, cyber diversions and
online nuisances to steal the irreplaceable hours of the blessing called your
life. You never get your days back, you know?” said the billionaire in a
friendly but firm fashion. “I reread 
Chasing Daylight
yesterday after my
meeting in town. It’s the true story of high-powered CEO Eugene O’Kelly,
who was informed he had only a few months left to live when his doctor
discovered he had three brain tumors.”
“So, what did he do?” asked the artist softly.
“He organized his last days with the same commitment to orderliness he
ran his business life by. O’Kelly tried to make up for the school concerts he’d
missed, the family outings he’d passed up and the friendships he’d forgotten.
In one part of the book he shared how he’d ask a friend out for a walk in
nature and that this ‘was sometimes not only the final time we would take
such a leisurely walk together but also the first time.’”
“Sad,” was the contribution of the entrepreneur as she nervously played
with her bracelet. The worry lines on her forehead reappeared in full blazing
glory.
“Then last night I watched 
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
, one of my
favorite movies,” the billionaire continued. “It’s also a true story, about a man
who was also atop the world, an editor-in-chief of French 
Elle
magazine.
Jean-Dominique Bauby had it all and then suffered a stroke that left him
unable to move any muscle in his body—except for his left eyelid. The
condition’s called ‘locked-in syndrome.’ His mind still worked perfectly. But
it was as if his body was encased in a diving bell, totally paralyzed.”
“Sad,” said the artist, echoing his companion.

---

“Get this,” added Mr. Riley. “His rehabilitation therapists taught him a
communication method called ‘silent alphabet’ which allowed him to form
letters of words by blinking. And with their help, he wrote a book about his
experience—and the essential meaning of life. It took him two hundred
thousand blinks, but he completed the book.”
“I have nothing to complain about,” the entrepreneur said quietly.
“He passed away shortly after the book was published,” the billionaire
kept on. “But the point I’m trying to offer with all this is that life is very, very
fragile. There are people who will wake up today, take a shower, put on their
clothes, drink their coffee, eat their oatmeal—and then be killed in a motor
vehicle collision on their way to the office. That’s just life happening. So, my
advice to you two special human beings is not to put off doing whatever it
takes to express your natural genius. Live in a way that feels true to you and
pay attention to the small miracles every day brings.”
“I hear you,” commented the artist as he tugged a dreadlock and fidgeted
with the Panama hat he’d chosen to wear for this morning’s coaching session.
“I do, too,” stated the entrepreneur somberly.
“Enjoy every sandwich,” added the artist.
“Very wise insight,” said Mr. Riley.
“It’s not mine,” the artist replied sheepishly. “They are the words of
songwriter Warren Zevon. He spoke them after he discovered he was
terminally ill.”
“Be grateful for every moment. Don’t be timid when it comes to your
ambitions. Stop wasting time on insanely trivial things. And make it a priority
to reclaim the creativity, fire and potential that is dormant within you. It’s so
important to do so. Why do you think Plato encouraged us to ‘know thyself’?
He understood intimately that we have vast reservoirs of ability that
absolutely must be accessed and then 
applied
in order for us to lead energetic,
joyful, peaceful and meaningful lives. To neglect this hidden force inside of
us is to create a breeding ground for the pain of potential unused, the
frustration of fearlessness unembraced and the lethargy of mastery
unexplored.”
A kite surfer whizzed by. And a school of crown squirrelfish sailed
through the water that was as clear as Abe Lincoln’s conscience.
“This brings us beautifully to what I wanted to walk you through this
morning. Please look carefully at your sheet of paper,” the billionaire
instructed.

---

Here is the learning model that the two students saw: