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First published in Canada by HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2018
First published in the UK by Thorsons 2018
FIRST EDITION
Robin Sharma 2018
Cover layout design HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2018
Cover illustrations Alexander Row
Characters, incidents and dialogue are drawn from the authors imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
The original models, performance tools and learning tactics in this work are the intellectual property of Sharma Leadership International Inc. and cannot be used, in any form, without express written approval.
A catalogue record of this book is available from the British Library
Robin Sharma asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work
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Source ISBN: 9780008312831
Ebook Edition December 2018 ISBN: 9780008312855
Version 2018-11-15
Im immensely grateful that this book is in your hands. My deep hope is that it serves the full expression of your gifts and talents beautifully. And causes revolutions of heroic transformation within your creativity, productivity, prosperity and service to the world.
The 5 AM Club is based on a concept and method that Ive been teaching to celebrated entrepreneurs, CEOs of legendary companies, sports superstars, music icons and members of royaltywith extraordinary successfor over twenty years.
I wrote this book over a four-year period, in Italy, South Africa, Canada, Switzerland, Russia, Brazil and Mauritius. Sometimes the words flowed effortlessly as if a gentle summer breeze was at my back and at other times, I struggled to move ahead. Sometimes I felt like waving the white flag of creative depletion and during other periods of this intensely spiritual process, a responsibility higher than my own needs encouraged me to continue.
Ive given all I have to give in the writing of this book for you. And I greatly thank all the very good people from around the planet who have stood with me to the completion of The 5 AM Club.
And so, with a full heart, I humbly dedicate this work to you, the reader. The world needs more heroes and why wait for themwhen you have it in you to become one. Starting today.
With love + respect,
We will have eternity to celebrate the victories but only a few hours before sunset to win them. Amy Carmichael
For what its worth, its never too late or, in my case, too early to be whoever you want to be I hope you live a life youre proud of. If you find that youre not, I hope you have the strength to start all over again. F. Scott Fitzgerald
And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music. Friedrich Nietzsche
CONTENTS
A gun would be too violent. A noose would be too ancient. And a knife blade to the wrist would be too silent. So, the question became, How could a once-glorious life be ended swiftly and precisely, with minimum mess yet maximum impact?
Only a year ago, circumstances had been dramatically more hopeful. The entrepreneur had been widely celebrated as a titan of her industry, a leader of society and a philanthropist. She was in her late thirties, steering the technology company she founded in her dorm room in college to ever-increasing levels of marketplace dominance while producing products that her customers revered.
Yet now she was being blindsided, facing a mean-spirited and jealousy-fueled coup that would significantly dilute her ownership stake in the business shed invested most of her life building, forcing her to find a new job.
The cruelty of this remarkable turn of events was proving to be unbearable for the entrepreneur. Beneath her regularly icy exterior beat a caring, compassionate and deeply loving heart. She felt life itself had betrayed her. And that she deserved so much better.
She considered swallowing a gigantic bottle of sleeping pills. The dangerous deed would be cleaner this way. Just take them all and get the job done fast, she thought. I need to escape this pain.
Then, she spotted something on the stylish oak dresser in her all-white bedrooma ticket to a personal optimization conference that her mother had given her. The entrepreneur usually laughed at people who attended such events, calling them broken winged and saying they were seeking the answers of a pseudo guru when everything they needed to live a prolific and successful life was already within them.
Maybe it was time to rethink her opinion. She couldnt see many options. Either shed go to the seminarand experience some breakthrough that would save her life. Or shed find her peace. Via a quick death.
Do not allow your fire to go out, spark by irreplaceable spark in the hopeless swamps of the not-quite, the not-yet, and the not at all. Do not let the hero in your soul perish in lonely frustration for the life you deserved and have never been able to reach. The world you desire can be won. It exists. It is real. It is possible. It is yours. Ayn Rand
He was a speaker of the finest kind. A genuine Spellbinder.
Nearing the end of a fabled career and now in his eighties, he had become revered throughout the world as a grandmaster of inspiration, a legend of leadership and a sincere statesman helping everyday people realize their greatest gifts.
In a culture filled with volatility, uncertainty and insecurity, The Spellbinders events drew stadium-sized numbers of human beings who longed not only to lead masterful lives filled with creativity, productivity and prosperity but also to exist in a way that passionately elevated humanity. So that, at the end, they would feel confident they had left a wonderful legacy and made their mark on the generations that would follow.
This mans work was unique. It blended insights that fortified the warrior within our characters with ideas that honored the soulful poet who resides inside the heart. His messaging showed ordinary individuals how to succeed at the highest levels of the business realm yet reclaim the magic of a life richly lived. So, we return to the sense of awe we once knew before a hard and cold world placed our natural genius into bondage by an orgy of complexity, superficiality and technological distraction.
Though The Spellbinder was tall, his advanced years left him slightly bent over. As he walked the platform, he stepped carefully yet gracefully. A precisely fitted charcoal gray suit with soft white pinstripes gave him an elegant look. And a pair of blue-tinted eyeglasses added just the right amount of cool.