In the beginning
How do you wake up and start your day?
If you are an early riser, join us.
If you are not an early riser, join us anyway.
I created this room on Clubhouse starting on February 3, 2021 on a whim.
I was looking for a reason to get out of bed. 5 is one of my favorite numbers. 55 was my call sign when I was on active duty. 5:55am had few scheduled rooms. The 6am time slot was packed full of early risers creating thoughtful rooms.
Without a plan, I opened a room at 5:55 am.
No one came. Alone with no one to join me, I read poetry, read pages from books, rambled aimlessly on my plans for that day. The only constant was I opened the room exactly at 5:55:00 and closed the room at 5:59.
I did this 5 days in row. For these first 5 days I was alone. People did enter, perhaps out of curiosity. Everyone stayed just a few seconds.
The only expectation was I would wake up and not go back to bed. In that sense, the 5:55 am room was a GRAND Success!!!
By speaking for 5 minutes I successfully navigated the gap from deep sleep to being wide awake.
Voice Training
BUT, My voice was terrible! I could not get my voice to work properly this early in the morning. My throat was heavy with phlegm and my voice was gravely and cracked.
I would wash my face with cold water, gargle, and do voice drills to prepare for the 5 minute room.
Through Clubhouse, I met the famous voice coach Roger Love https://instagram.com/theofficialrogerlove.
The voice coach for the Stars. He taught me that I needed to hydrate my vocal chords. Under his guidance, I began drinking more water before bed and as soon as I woke up.
No more gravely voice. No more phlegm. No more need to clear my throat over and over again.
I’ve fallen asleep and I can’t wake up!
For the majority of my life, I convinced myself I was unable to wake up at a regular time everyday. I would stay awake until 3 or 4 or 5 am; or not go to sleep at all. If I did sleep, I might wake up at 10 or 11 am or 2 pm or not at all. No two days looked the same. If I needed to make calls to another part of the planet, I would stay away and make the calls. If I needed to wake up for an 8 am meeting, I was more likely to stay up all night. I could not risk going to sleep as I could not guarantee I would hear my alarm.
I structured my day to have more afternoon and late night meetings.
Sometimes I would stay away for 36, 48, or even 70 hours at a single stretch.
I believed that I was wired differently and fed this belief with late night work binges.
Clubhouse
All that changed on January 29, 2021.
I joined a new social media platform called Clubhouse, the Social Drop in Audio Social Network.
5 days later on February 3rd, I opened my first room at 5:55 am as a way to wake up.
I told myself that if I could stay awake for 5 minutes, I would manage to remain awake for the remainder of the day.
5:55 seemed like a reasonably early time for someone who typically went to sleep around that time. 5 minutes seemed like a short enough period of time to not require a significant investment.
I was able to do this for 5 days in row. I was waking up everyday! In the middle of the Corona Pandemic I was able to develop a new routine. I had no concept of how long this new habit would last.
Time to Commit
I decided to do this for real. On the 6th day of my 5:55 am room. I began numbering the rooms. The 6th day became the official start. Day 1. That was the day that Joe Hindman https://instagram.com/joe_hindman joined the room.
TODAY
The 5:55 am room is now a place for people to gather. Other people who want to wake up at 5:55 and get their day started. People who want to share the broad spectrum of topics.
Monday through Friday is primarily focused on a single overall topic.
Saturday is the day we look for two unrelated topics and cross them looking for new ideas.
Sunday the audience decides the topic and throws it over the fence to Dylan at the start of the show. It’s Improv as Dylan develops a 5 minute presentation on the fly!
Your Part
Join us. Add to the discussions. Get the Clubhouse App https://www.joinclubhouse.com/, join the 5:55 Club, then come chat with us. We are in the Japan time Zone (UTC + 9) and the show is prompt. Want to add your thoughts? Join the after party where the mic is open and the conversation is diverse and diverges from the main topic. アフターパティーと呼ばれる部屋で日本語の解説も行います。場合によって、英語の練習できることもあるかもしれない。私たちは参加をお待ちしております。
Become a regular, and join us everyday! Send us your topic ideas. Join us on stage and share your insights!
See you tomorrow, and have a nice day.
Dylan