I Wrote a Viral Article and It Motivated Me

Summary

The author wrote a viral article on waking up at 5 a.m. that motivated them to maintain the habit due to public recognition and internal motivation, despite initial uncertainties.

Abstract

The author penned a highly popular article on Medium about the benefits and methods of waking up at 5 a.m., which garnered over a million views. Although the author was still experimenting with the early wake-up routine at the time of writing, the article's success and the subsequent public attention solidified their commitment to the habit. The social pressure to uphold the image of an early riser, coupled with the personal benefits of increased writing productivity and life stability, reinforced the author's determination. Over time, the internal drive to write and the external expectation from readers fused, making the 5 a.m. wake-up call a deeply ingrained routine that the author continues to follow, with occasional slight variations in timing.

Opinions

The author admits to feeling a sense of responsibility to continue waking up at 5 a.m. due to the article's success and the public identity it created.
There is an acknowledgment of the potential unhealthiness of maintaining a habit purely because of social expectations.
The author expresses gratitude for the positive outcome of the situation, recognizing that the pressure to meet expectations can sometimes lead to beneficial changes.
The author reflects on the dichotomy of internal versus external motivation and how, in their case, it led to a positive reinforcement of a disciplined lifestyle.
The author questions the healthiness of their actions and invites readers to consider what they would have done in a similar situation.

But not in the way you might think

This is my most popular article on Medium:

It has over a million views. No other article I’ve ever written has even come close to that. But I’ll be honest: When I wrote it, I was still toying with the idea of waking up at 5 a.m. I didn’t lie in my article; I never lie in my articles (or at least, I try my damn best not to). I did every step I recommended to others. But I had only woken up at 5 a.m. for a few months, and I was still wondering if I should continue. Waking up at 5 a.m. was still tricky for me. I don’t know how long it takes for a circadian rhythm to adjust, but mine hadn’t wholly adjusted yet.

The article blew up. Everyone around me would talk to me about it. Friends, colleagues, acquaintances who I never really talked to but have mutual friends with. I became known as the guy who wakes up at 5 a.m. People who meet me for the first time who find my Medium still talk to me about it.

I had a public identity now. And because of it, I felt a social pressure to continue waking up at 5 a.m. Sounds unhealthy, right? At the time, I was terrified. I remember thinking to myself, Shit, now I have to wake up at 5 a.m. for the rest of my life.

Now, I don’t know if I would’ve given up on waking up at 5 a.m. if my article didn’t go viral. I can’t go back in time and check. But I can tell you that I felt a responsibility. It was easier to continue my habit than to fail and tell everyone around me that I’m a failure. And besides, I didn’t have a good reason to stop. Becoming an early bird had been good to me. It turned me from a blocked writer into an unblocked one and had brought a stability to my life I didn’t have before. No matter what happens, I wake up and write. Stable and repetitive.

The result was that my internal motivation to continue writing in the morning and the external motivation of not wanting to look like a loser fused into a deadly cocktail that drove me to take waking up at 5 a.m. even more seriously. I wrote that article in October. It’s February now, and I’ve barely missed a day since. Okay, sometimes I wake up at 5:30 or the latest, 6:00. But never later than that. Waking up at 5 a.m. is so ingrained in me now that I’m confident I can’t stop. Going back to the undisciplined way I lived before is not an option anymore.

Looking back now, I’m incredibly grateful that I wrote the article, people created expectations of me, and I delivered. In another context, that cycle could be catastrophic: it could create mental health issues in someone who wasn’t able to handle the pressure of someone else’s expectations. In some way, we all feel that way, maybe even every day. There are people in our lives we disappoint, and when we see the look on their faces, it kills us inside.

What happened to me was the opposite. An unhealthy desire to mold me into others’ opinions led to a positive outcome. So I have a question for you all:

What would you have done in my situation? And do you think what I did was healthy?

I Wrote a Viral Article and It Motivated Me

But not in the way you might think

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