For years we’ve been told by CEOs, influencers and productivity gurus that getting up early equates to success. Recently however a growing number of counterarguments have taken hold creating significant debate online and amongst business professionals.
Books like The 5AM Club by Robin Sharma have helped make the early morning routine an accepted standard in today’s society and many people view the successful as having this trait. Some prominent individuals who have promoted their morning routines publicly are Tim Cook and Michelle Obama; both of whom have suggested that having discipline in life begins before sunrise.
Those who support an early morning routine say that one can have uninterrupted focus, the ability to plan and prepare without distractions and have a psychological edge at having the opportunity to be up early. The early morning is often referred to as high achievers’ secret weapon.
Experts, however, have pushed back against the concept that one’s success is tied to the time on the clock as opposed to one’s sleep quality or productivity level while awake during that period of time. Experts point out studies pertaining to one’s circadian rhythm that clearly support that everyone has their own biologically determined cycle and therefore, it doesn’t make sense to force someone who is naturally an owl to wake up at 5 AM.
For those people who consider themselves night owls, forcing themselves to get up at 5 AM causes them to be sleep deprived which results in decreased cognitive ability to perform daily tasks and ultimately results in burnout. The experts conclude therefore, that if a person consistently gets enough sleep during the 24 hour day cycle, the success of that person has nothing to do with the specific hour that person rises but rather has everything to do with the association of sufficient amount of sleep the day before, and the continued mental clarity that exists as a result.
The War for Social Media Dominance
With platforms such as TikTok and LinkedIn becoming the ultimate battlegrounds of productivity, many users have been inspired by the elaborate sunrise routines shown by “productivity influencers”, while others refer to these influencers as glamorizing “hustle culture.”
In addition to this, users also indicate that far too many success stories do not take into consideration the amount of privilege, flexibility and personal circumstances that people who succeed had compared to others.
Read also: How successful startups grow from Ideas to Empires?
The Real Formula for Success
Business leaders are finally coming to grips with the fact that performance is based more on energy management strategies and cultivating good habits versus some arbitrary idea of an ideal wake up time. Companies are also making changes with their work schedules and creating a more flexible work environment to support different working styles.
The debate continues but one thing is clear, an early wake-up period will benefit some individuals however it does not guarantee any level of success; developing your own rhythm; establishing sustainable habits; and applying consistent effort, appear to be far more critical factors than the actual time indicated on an alarm clock.
