The 5am Club - Benefits, Disadvantages and Considerations

Written by Ed Johnson

3 February 2024

The “5am Club” is supposedly one of the secrets to success for a number of entrepreneurs and business minds. It is often talked about by the likes of Tim Cook and Michelle Obama. Does it work, though? Well, for five years, I, admittedly quietly, embraced this club (it’s not actually a club – obviously). In the early days of PushFar, from inception to growth, I would set the alarm at 4.30am or 5am and aim to be on the laptop by 5.30am, at the latest. I would now class myself as a “part-time” member of this club. I’ve realised that the social side of my life and the work-life balance simply mean I cannot always be in bed at 9pm and give myself the 8-hours sleep that I know my body needs. However, I would say I average about 2-3 early nights and 5am starts a week. In this article, I wanted to shine a light on my experiences with this approach to work, the benefits of it, as well as a few words of caution and consideration.

So, the “5am Club” is, as the name suggests, focused on getting up at 5am and in theory it enables one to achieve more, through the additional hours in the day, combined with the clarity and focus that early, usually undisturbed work, can provide. Before I get into the benefits and drawbacks that I found to embracing it, let me first share some context as to the reasons why I, slightly accidentally, started to align my timings to it.

Back in 2017, I was working a full-time job as a Head of Digital for a recently acquired start-up called ValueMyStuff. It was at that time that I had the idea for an app focused on mentoring (the app that would eventually be called PushFar). I didn’t have much free time during the normal working day. I had to find a way to turn my idea into a mapped-out concept and, in time, a fully-fledged business. Most people would suggest evenings and weekends. These were, of course, options for me. However, these were also precious social times for me. I enjoyed, and indeed still do, going out for drinks and dinners with friends in town, seeing family and going running too. It wasn’t a case of not being willing to sacrifice these – I’ll come on to that later on in this article. It was more of a case of knowing that if I planned my time more carefully, I could do everything I wanted to and still have time for my social life, exercise and to unwind. How does one create more time though? Well, enter the 5am starts. I started setting my alarm earlier and earlier, because I was excited about working on PushFar and genuinely wanted to put the hours in, to see it evolve. If I was on my laptop by 5am, I could manage four highly engaged and productive hours of work before I started the day job at 9am.

The Positives and Benefits
For me, the biggest benefit to getting up and starting work at 5am was the ability to feel as though I could achieve so much more. I felt truly productive. I don’t think I believe in people being a “morning person” or “evening person” but I know some people will dispute that. I wasn’t jumping out of bed at 4.30am or 5am. Let me be absolutely clear when I say that my snooze button was still extremely tempting, even after 3 or 4 years of consistently getting up at 5am, it wasn’t easy. I wasn’t naturally waking up at this time. I had to really train my brain to get out of bed. Even when I was excited to be working on PushFar, the battle of 5am starts was just as real.

What I quickly learnt to focus on though was the benefits that forcing myself out of bed at that time would bring. I realised that at 5am, the inbox is quiet, the distractions are far fewer, and I could really knuckle down to ticking things off my to-do list. And I did. Within just a few weeks, I felt I had really got on top of everything I needed to. I went from being reactive to being proactive. I was the one sending the first email, ticking things off my list before I was being chased to and I truly was able to achieve zero inbox, every single day. That clarity, focus and peace of mind would set me up for the day, and had the added benefit of giving me a great sense of achievement, before anybody else was in the office or at their desk. If you feel like you’re always playing “catch-up” with your inbox, task list and the work that you have to do, or that you’re finding there aren’t enough hours in the day, try joining the 5am club.

Waking up at 5am, I also found to be an improvement on my sleep and my stress-levels. Stress was reduced once I was on top of everything and because I was ensuring I was disciplined at getting to sleep earlier, I found that my overall sleep improved. I woke up less during the night, had more energy, and was immediately in a better mood too.

The Drawbacks and Considerations
So, from the last few paragraphs, the 5am club may well seem like a no-brainer, apart from the challenge of getting out of bed so early. In many ways it is. However, it’s important to highlight some of the drawbacks of the 5am club. The biggest one is undoubtedly the fact that for a lot of people they aren’t able to get up at 5am without it affecting or impacting others. For those people in a relationship, or with children, or living in a flat share, it may simply not be practical to get up and start work at 5am. In fact, in many cases, you may already be waking up at 5am but doing so in order to get the packed lunches ready for children, to have a few minutes on your own before family members wake up or a myriad of other tasks to get through.

I was able to start work at 5am because I was living on my own for a significant portion of time whilst founding PushFar. I didn’t have to worry about disturbing anybody, I could be entirely selfish in dictating when I was awake, when I worked and what I was able to focus on. I fully understand that not everybody can. So, this is most likely going to be one of the biggest factors as to whether you can change your routine to accommodate this. I can imagine some partners, wives or husbands not being very happy at the alarm going off at 4.30am or 5am!

Another equally important factor and consideration to this is in ensuring that you are giving yourself enough sleep. I mentioned in the positives that I found my sleep improved from my early starts but that was because I changed the time I went to bed too. They generally recommend 7-8 hours for the average adult, and if you aren’t going to bed until 11pm, or later, then you’re going to become sleep deprived and thoroughly unproductive extremely quickly. Some people think I’m mad when I say that I’m in bed by 9pm. I tuck up in bed and am asleep by 9pm but I know that if I am to get 8-hours sleep then I can’t afford to be out or awake later. As I mentioned in the opening paragraph, I now do this part-time. However, in the early days of founding PushFar, I decided to really commit to it, give it my all and I did, admittedly, sacrifice a fair few social occasions and events in pursuit of this. Do I regret that? No. Would I do it all over again with the next venture? Possibly. Do I think I could burn the candle at both ends? No way!

So, if you’re considering setting your alarm at 5am, be prepared to get to bed early, think of how it may affect those around you and don’t sacrifice your health and wellbeing in pursuit of this. I do, however, believe that the 5am club can really help improve mental health, clarity, productivity and stress-levels. Give it a go and let me know how you find it.