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Message From the Author + Dedication I’m 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 I’ve been teaching to celebrated entrepreneurs, CEOs of legendary companies, sports superstars, music icons and members of royalty—with extraordinary success—for 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. I’ve 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 them—when you have it in you to become one. Starting today. With love + respect, Epigraph “We will have eternity to celebrate the victories but only a few hours before sunset to win them.” — Amy Carmichael “For what it’s worth, it’s never too late or, in my case, too early to be whoever you want to be . . . I hope you live a life you’re proud of. If you find that you’re 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 Cover Title Page Message From the Author + Dedication Epigraph 1.The Dangerous Deed 2.A Daily Philosophy on Becoming Legendary 3.An Unexpected Encounter with a Surprising Stranger 4.Letting Go of Mediocrity and All That’s Ordinary 5.A Bizarre Adventure into Morning Mastery 6.A Flight to Peak Productivity, Virtuosity and Undefeatability 7.Preparation for a Transformation Begins in Paradise 8.The 5 AM Method: The Morning Routine of World-Builders 9.A Framework for the Expression of Greatness 10.The 4 Focuses of History-Makers 11.Navigating the Tides of Life 12.The 5 AM Club Discovers The Habit Installation Protocol 13.The 5 AM Club Learns The 20/20/20 Formula 14.The 5 AM Club Grasps the Essentialness of Sleep 15.The 5 AM Club Is Mentored on The 10 Tactics of Lifelong Genius 16.The 5 AM Club Embraces The Twin Cycles of Elite Performance 17.The 5 AM Club Members Become Heroes of Their Lives Epilogue: Five Years Later What’s Next on Your Heroic Adventure? Fuel Your Rise by Reading All of Robin Sharma’s Worldwide Bestsellers About the Author Also by Robin Sharma Copyright About the Publisher Chapter 1 The Dangerous Deed 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 everincreasing 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 she’d invested most of her life building, forcing her to find a new job. The