The 5AM Club tells the story of entrepreneurial success through an inspiring business fable. In the book, Sharma introduces a tribe of high achievers, The 5AM Club, that meet at dawn each day to exercise and motivate one another to pursue lofty goals.

A lingering thought for most of the book was, what exactly does The 5AM Club do to become successful? In short, its concept is to follow a specific morning and evening routine that grooms self-discipline. As a result, tremendous success in both professional and private lives can be attributed to the power of habit, hard work, and a growth mindset.

Point noted on the benefits of waking up early. I am a morning person, though admittedly, I’ve gotten sloppy with remote work since the pandemic. Nothing quite feels like the sense of control and serenity from waking up before the rest of the world, especially when you rise of your own volition without repeatedly snoozed alarms in a mad rush to get out of the door. But while studies suggest that waking up early can benefit productivity and overall health, no conclusive evidence supports claims on waking up specifically at 5AM. And with no explanation given for this seemingly-arbitrary hour of the day, it comes across as a gimmicky catchphrase at best.

My biggest turn-off, however, was the fluff. You can barely get by one page of reading without an anecdote or saying quoted from a famous person. And being a fictional book, such references were woven in with additional context via dialogue that was often mansplained. Reading through this was a pain, and I wanted to give up so many times.

Unfortunately, the repetition stretches beyond the dialogue into the frameworks taught. Around the halfway point, the models begin bleeding into each other with slight contradictions. Throw in a textbook storyline with cringy romance; it was taxing to sift out nuggets of gold. The concepts could have been condensed into half, standing as individual chapters of a self-help book – I think that would have made for a more enjoyable read.

Taking a step back, this is, after all, a work of fiction. At the heart of it is a story of empowerment, courage, and personal development, with messages that can be easily digested regardless of age, inspiring readers to achieve purpose and growth through fundamental mindset shifts. In fact, Sharma referenced the state of ‘flow’ from one of my favourite books and shared some simple but powerful revelations that stuck with me:

• If you want to become legendary in what you do, stay alive.

• Your life is made up of individual days. Change the course of your life by optimising your days.

• Your attention is precious; protect it at all costs.

And while the concepts introduced are not rocket science, they present a valuable compilation of optimisation techniques. Many of these are hacks I’ve already incorporated into my routines with the aid of useful tools such as:

• Planning out the week in my Productivity Planner

• Journaling positive affirmations in my Gratitude Journal

• Making learning seamless with Blinkist

• Keeping my mind intrigued with Kindle

• Lowering screen time consciously with Opal

• Improving sleep quality with Rise

There’s an inherently capitalist view of success and achievement, where end goals were often linked to business results, and a lack of nuance required to apply lessons meaningfully across different life trajectories. Despite so, there’s no denying that the universal principles translate across domains outside entrepreneurship, allowing the book to resonate with a broader audience. Readers only need to see past the one-size-fits-all approach and selectively apply the advice to their circumstances.

In other words, treat it as a fable, not a strict, literal blueprint.

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