You must wake up at 4:00 am each day, or you will never be successful!!

Just kidding, of course.

But, how many times have you heard that from your friends, from the media, or in the motivational videos that you watch?

How many times have you found online articles or videos speaking about the success rituals of super successful people like Elon Musk, opera Winfrey, Tim Cook, and others, and when you check these articles, you find all the claims there that convince you that you have to wake up early, meditate, check emails, do some sports…etc.?

But before we move further, let me tell you this. Of course, a lot of these habits and rituals are very useful and good. But what will happen if you can’t wake up early, for example? Are you going to be a failure? Are you going to doubt yourself and your self-image will shake? Before we answer this question, let us first answer another very important question: Are these rituals and habits what made these people successful? Or these rituals and habits went viral because the people who use them are famous and successful?

To answer this question correctly, I want to share with you a brain trick called ‘’the swimmer’s body illusion’’. The “swimmer's body illusion” occurs when we confuse selection factors with results. For example, people are usually impressed by the swimmer’s body, and they think that they can get a similar body just by training hard. But in reality, professional swimmers don't have their kind of body because they train hard; rather, they are good swimmers because they have that kind of body.

After understanding this brain trick, we have to ask ourselves again: Are these rituals and habits really what made these people successful? Or these rituals and habits gained recognition because the people who followed them are successful?

To be successful, you do not have to follow the rituals of other people if these rituals are against your nature.

Speaking about waking up early for example, while most successful people are advising you to wake up early, and even I can advise you to do so, it is not that crucial.  Yes, waking up early can add some extra hours to the day when no one else is up, and this may allow you to get a head-start and be super productive. But if this is against your chronotype, you do not have to fight to wake up early or blame yourself if you woke up at 07:00 am instead of 5.

To prove my words, some of the most successful people in different industries such as Winston Churchill, Trevor Noah, and Pharrell Williams did not and are not waking up early, and they are successful.

Because simply, the idea is not about your rituals only, it is about your focus and efficiency. Waking up early is cool, but how are you going to use these extra hours that you gained by waking up early is what really matters.

When I work with my clients, we customize their rituals according to their lifestyles. If someone can’t wake up early, it's okay. We will find another solution. If someone can’t read in the morning, then he can read in the evening. The idea is to check their normal lifestyle and to implant healthy habits within. This can be more efficient and better for them. Because it can make it easier for them to start a new habit or ritual.

So here is my advice to you. The pieces of advice on the internet or from self-help authors are general advice, and they should be general. Because they are speaking to the masses. These pieces of advice can fit some people, but not all people. Because each person has different habits, comes from a different background, and has a different lifestyle.

Your role is to be a researcher and to take any useful tip and try it and keep modifying it until it fits with your lifestyle and gives you the maximum benefit.

And if you can’t wake up early at 4:00 am, do not worry, you can still be productive and successful.

Let me know your opinion in the comments section below.