Why The 5AM Hustle is Bullshit

Sir Richard Branson wakes up at 5 am every day. Jack Dorsey of Twitter, Square and CashApp fame is up at 5.30 am before walking eight kilometres to the office. About 90 per cent of executives identify as being early risers (some of them might just be signalling).

In reality though, people get into ‘the zone’ at different times.

Science suggests that our preferred sleeping patterns — our chronotypes — are programmed at birth.

People are either night owls or early birds. Astrophysicist Sabrina Stierwalt wrote for Scientific American that ‘our preferences for one or the other are encoded in genes called “clock” or “period” genes that regulate our circadian rhythms, and are linked to our blood pressure, metabolism, body temperature and hormone levels’.

Why The Early Bird Gets the Worm

Sayings like ‘the early bird gets the worm’ and beliefs that successful people are early risers — glorified by the likes of ex-Navy SEAL Jocko Willink (who posts a photo of his wristwatch to Instagram at 4.30 each morning) — might…