The 4am Billionaire Morning Routine Myth

There's a billion dollar industry telling you that waking up at 4am is the key to wealth, success and productivity. But what if the science says otherwise? In this episode Victoria Katheryn unpacks the morning routine myth, from chronotypes and the invisible infrastructure behind every 4am billionaire, to the single mum at 11pm who's already up at 4am, just not in a Pilates outfit. 

Permission to stay in bed a little longer starts here.

Always use the fancy cups. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to Cup of V. I'm Victoria Catherine. We talk a lot about permission on this podcast. Permission to be who you are, to do things your way. And today I want to give you permission to stay in bed a bit longer. Or something good, this one's for you. The glorious morning routine. Bro. There is a billion-dollar industry surrounding this routine. Discussed by everyone with a voice, and the routine is always the same. Up early, refresh straight out of bed to do their morning routine, then they're pumped up and it's time to make their money. Now let me be honest, I'm a bit biased about this. Because I'm actually not a jump out of bed at 4am person. Truthfully, at 4am you are likely to find me fast asleep. And a recent poll I did with some of my followers confirmed that not a single person is setting their alarm clock to go off at 4am. Now those that profit off a morning routine would be convincing us that if only we'd start waking up at 4 am, we'd be guaranteed to the keys to millions of pounds or dollars depending on where you live. And that by not participating in this daily, we're essentially throwing money away that they are earning with their productivity. And it's a really interesting selling point that doing something as easy as changing the time on our alarm clocks would make us millionaires or even billionaires. What we see in front of us is pretty compelling. But behind the scenes, there's something different going on. Something I'm going to call the 4am billionaire myth. As the name suggests, there's a myth at play here dressed as truth. I would wager that most people are hopeful that they're also asleep at 4 am. And when we wake at whatever time that is in the morning, we will see and hear those people on social media reminding us that they've been up at 4am and look at all the things they've done. And what that means is you're not as productive as me, and you failed. But there is no scientific proof that waking up at 4am equals wealth. Worse, there's science that proves that waking up at 4am doesn't even equal good health. And there's a couple of reasons for this. The first is that some people are neurologically not wired for early rising. Studies show only 13% of people are true early birds, and those people are called lions. About 40% of people are bears whose productivity levels are higher between 11am and 6pm. And a staggering 30% are wolves. These people are classic night owls who hit peak productivity at night. A lot of neurospicy people fall into the wolves camp, and the question could be raised it's all to do with when they are setting the alarm. But research done by the University of Berkeley found that forcing yourself to get up early every day while you're an extreme evening person will not actually make you a morning person, which is at odds with the selling of the 4am productivity hack. And with those night owls, the studies point to this group being the most creative of all, and I do think that has something to do with a lot of them being neurospicy. I can attest to this actually because my mind is really busy and creative at night, and it's often when my best ideas come to life. The morning routine addicts discount this group entirely as it's invisible to a society that only values morning output. But stats show that their productivity is still just as high. It's crazy then to suggest that a group of people going to bed at 2 am who aren't getting up at 4 am are lazy. So does this mean then that if you're not lucky enough to naturally be a lion, you're unlikely to be able to have wealth? Absolutely not. Because here's the thing that is conveniently overlooked. Those that rise at 4 am are often supported by an invisible infrastructure. Like it's really easy to rise out of bed at 4 am when there's someone who's prepped their breakfasts, laid out their supplements, the person that's answered someone emails at midnight so that their inbox is clear for focused morning work. The 4am billionaire runs off staff of people who do not get to have a 4am billionaire morning routine. And that's not discipline, that's infrastructure, that's wealth. The link between early rising causing wealth is a fabrication. What is not a fabrication is the research between wealth and health, with studies showing that wealth reduces stress and improves sleep quality, wealthy people have got more control of their schedules, and that financial security allows for more consistent routines. So it's not a wake up early and get rich. It's almost always rich that provides a cushion to control your morning. And that may or may not involve getting up at 4am. But that asks the question then. Why the focus on morning routines? Why is everyone obsessed with what time everyone else is rising and why is there dedicated literature about it? There must be something in it, right? And there is money. The wake up and become a millionaire is big business. A billion dollar business. The morning routine industry is worth billions. Podcasts, book sales, speaking engagements, all selling the welfare that if you get up early, your path is paved with gold. But the truth behind that? Well, the figures are not stacking up. Whilst those that sell the formula are becoming rich, over 80% of those people who traded sleep for productivity by attending lectures, buying the book, setting their alarm clock early, and attempting to change their life found that ultimately it wasn't helpful. And at the time of going to press, they're not billionaires. Some of them are not even millionaires. And that isn't because they didn't try. That's because the system isn't setting them up for their success. It only exists because somebody else's labour was purchased to make it possible. The morning routine didn't make them wealthy. Selling the morning routine to you made them wealthy. There's the difference. And even worse, scientists that study sleep state that more than half of people report disrupted sleep due to stress, 74% of people. Anxiety is about 60 to 70% of people, and depression over 50% of people. So sadly, the majority of people are being woken up with worry and stress. A contrast to a morning routine industry telling people that the solution is to set an earlier alarm. And waking up at 4 am is actually often linked to a stress response as opposed to discipline. As the biological truth is that in a normal night's sleep, our neurobiology reaches a turning point around 3 or 4 am. Cortisol levels are increasing as the body prepares to launch us into the day. So the body's actually in its most anxious biological state at this time. And that requires continued sleep, not hearing whatever funny tune or beep beep beep that you've got on your alarm clock. Those people are making money, capitalising on your most anxious biological moment and calling it discipline. Picture the single mum at 11pm. Kids are finally asleep, scrolling and watching reel after reel of people talking about discipline, thinking if I didn't have kids, I'd be doing this. Carrying that guilt on top of everything else. And sadly, she's likely up already at 4 am. Just not journaling or putting on her Pilates outfit. Instead, her 4 am is invisible labour, taking care of her children, or waking up worrying about an already stacked plate. This doesn't count in the morning routine framework. So the message is clear. You're not failing with your morning routine. The morning routine was never designed for your morning, and we need to ask ourselves whose morning routine we're actually trying to have, as otherwise we're just in a continuous loop where we keep setting the alarm and then wondering why we still feel less behind. So a couple of questions for you. Whose morning are you trying to have? What does your morning routine actually need? And who told you that wasn't enough? That's all we've got for this week's Cover V. Next week I've got a bit of a bonus episode for you. I'm kind of excited about this because I'm going to be doing a bit of trend forecasting into fashion, tech, lifestyle, etc. So join in for the fun and don't forget, always use the fancy cups.