The 5 A.M. Myth Is a Lie.

The internet loves to sell you borrowed discipline. Miracle mornings. 5 a.m. clubs. Colour-coded planners.

But here’s the raw truth: those “successful” routines aren’t magic. They’re just consistent. And most people brag about waking up before dawn? They simply go to bed earlier. That’s it.

You’ve been made to feel broken for not being a morning monk. You’re not broken. You’re just running someone else’s software on your own life. And of course, it keeps crashing; it wasn’t designed for you.

And let’s be honest: you don’t need a monk’s alarm clock or a £40 water bottle to get your life together. You need a rhythm that doesn’t collapse the moment your child wakes up sick at 3 a.m.

Here’s the uncomfortable part: copying other people’s routines isn’t discipline. It’s a delay. It feels safe because you don’t have to face the scarier task, writing your own. But until you stop outsourcing your rhythm, you’ll always feel like a guest in your own day.

When I finally stopped copying other people’s routines, I realised I didn’t need a 20-step system. I needed a few anchors that actually worked for me. Not fancy, not expensive, just things that made my days harder to derail. They weren’t magic, but they proved one thing: your own rhythm will always beat a borrowed script.

Here are three I still use, and they work no matter what time you wake up.

Each week, I’ll share 3 things that have genuinely helped me, small shifts across the three pillars of ConfigurSelf: mindset, habits, and health. The kind of things that have made a real difference in my own life, and that I’d happily recommend to a close friend.

For years, I ate breakfast even when I wasn’t hungry, because I was told it was sacred, “the most important meal of the day.” So I forced down cereal or toast I didn’t even want, just to feel like I was doing health properly.

Now I don’t. If I wake up calm, I skip it. And when I do feel that hollow ache, sometimes it isn’t food I need. I put a pinch of salt on my tongue or sip water with a dash of it. More often than not, the craving fades. My body was asking for minerals, not a meal.

Yes, studies show breakfast can help some people with appetite and energy. But my mornings taught me a different truth: hunger isn’t always hunger for food. Sometimes it’s a signal for something simpler.

The myth was that I needed breakfast. The reality? The most important meal of the day is listening.

For years, I believed the lie that change had to be dramatic. A new diet. A new workout plan. A whole new me… starting Monday. Every attempt was the same: I’d sprint the first mile, then burn out before I reached the second. By Friday, it all collapsed.

What actually stayed with me weren’t the grand gestures. It was the tiny ones I couldn’t wriggle out of. Five minutes of walking when I swore I was too tired. A glass of water before I did anything else. One line scribbled in a notebook before the day swallowed me whole.

No one claps for those moments. They don’t get applause or likes. But they built something the overhauls never did: proof. Proof that I could keep a promise to myself, even on the days I didn’t want to. And that’s the sting no one tells you, it’s not the big moves that fail us, it’s the excuses we build around them.

Big habits made me hopeful. Small ones made me different.

I used to think lying down in the middle of the day meant I was weak. Successful people, I told myself, push through. So I kept going, eyes burning, head heavy, until I was running on fumes.

Then I tried something different. Twenty minutes on the sofa, in daylight, no phone, no guilt. Not sleeping. Just quiet. At first, it felt uncomfortable, like I was breaking some unspoken rule. But the strangest thing happened: I got up sharper, steadier, more myself than before.

Andrew Huberman calls it NSDR, Non-Sleep Deep Rest. There are even guided versions on YouTube. Neuroscience shows it can reset the nervous system, lower stress, and restore energy as effectively as a nap.

The research is there if you want it, but what mattered was this: I gave myself permission to stop, and nothing fell apart. The world didn’t punish me. It waited.

Most of my podcasts start as background noise, dishes, emails, and dinner. But every now and then, something catches me mid-scroll and actually makes me stop. This week, it was this.

If something in this email made you pause, think, or feel seen, send it to a friend who’s been quietly trying to make a change, too.
You never know what might land at the right moment. Link here.

And if you’d like early access to the eBook I’m writing, the real systems, mindset shifts, and habits that helped me lose 50kg and rebuild my health, you can join the waiting list here. “You’re not behind. You’re building, and that takes time.”