Recently a discussion with a few friends about what characters from films have influenced me left me struggling to think of many. On reflection I tend to get inspired by characters that help/inspire me for some period of time before I grow past what they speak to. That's not to say I out grow them, more I have internalised what a should from them and continue on my way.

This led me to thinking about books/essays both fiction and non fiction. It's too wide a topic that I struggled to make coherent progress towards a post. Clarity on this would have taken to long to attain. Time that is in short abundance. I am sure another log style post will cover that.

Instead I decided to start a list of things to blog about and put "Books/films/essays that have inspired me" on it. That way I can nibble at that topic for new next decade or so.

My first small bite leads me to this quote:

Think of your past as a servant that shaped the present you but it may not be the best friend to take with you into the future.

It's from the 5am Club that I talked about a few times in this blog, most notably in this review.

I deliberately have not reread the original post. It was influential as at the time I was very time constrained and finding it very hard to feel like I was making progress on things that were important to me personally, outside of work and family.

I was fortunate to get ill over the Christmas period just after reading the book which cause me to go to bed very early and sleep in. As I recovered, in time for Christmas, I found myself waking up earlier than usual. Being careful not to stay up late my wake up time shifted to the elusive 5am without too much trouble.

Getting up at 5am and then doing the prescribed exercise/mental self care/learning in the first hour really boosted my day. Having 6-7am clear for personal projects before having to think about the day was awesome. Weekends where even better as I add in 45 minutes playing The Witcher 3 and getting a lot of other things done before the family start to wake.

The two youngest kids started to join me in getting up at 5 am at the weekends. Often cooking cookies and then heading of together to do some Roblox development. They once gave the reason for getting up early as they were left alone to do what they want before anyone else gets up. I was careful not to wreck that for them.

Making sure I was in bed by 9:30 most nights was a reasonable trade. At first it was hard to do late social events but eventually that seemed to just work and the occasional 1am bed time didn't seem perturb me.

Eventually though I slipped and it became more a wake up at 6 am. Yes my productivity slipped but it was a deliberate trade and one I chose and still feels like the right choice.

After splitting up with my partner I found myself spending more time with the two children not at university. The climbing gym was their favourite destination (and mine). We would often find ourselves there quite late. Consistently arriving home late enough to mean getting up a 5 would have left me sleep deprived.

My morning ritual stopped after about a year of feeling really productive.

Why would I still consider this influential? I could argue it is something that I want to return to and I suspect I will as the house empties. That's not the reason though.

According to the 5am club the first hour should be yours but structured into 3 twenty minute sections. First some exercise, this can be a run, weights or perhaps some yoga - your choice. The second section is for mental health, think mediation or journalling of some sort. The final 20 minutes should be devoted to learning, perhaps reading or something more active. Within the first hour you achieved a lot and set the momentum for the day. For me it was very effective. Even writing this makes me want to get back into it.

The middle 20 minutes was where I picked up some great mental health habits. Meditation is awesome. Journalling was a way for me to work though problems and identify improvements. Later it has become a motivator, do things so I have something to write or helps me keep track on things I am learning or tinkering with. Increasingly it is also acting as a memory bank for some great experiences. After not bothering with either mediation or journalling for most of my life even though I aware of their benefits it was the 5am Club book that got me into them.

For that I am both grateful to the author for getting me to try some new tools but am also filled with regret that I didn't try them earlier in my life.

A tertiary effect was it really demonstrated that turn up every day really drives progress.