The Miracle Morning: The Not-So-Obvious Secret Guaranteed to Transform Your Life (Before 8AM)

“You’ve got to wake up every morning with determination if you’re going to go to bed with satisfaction.” — George Lorimer

On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your life? Most likely it’s not a level 10. But the better question is, are you satisfied with your rating? As Oprah once said, “The biggest adventure you can ever take is to live the life of your dreams.”

Ok, if you have already made the decision that you want to rate your life a 10, now you just need a method to make it happen. The secret lies in a well designed morning routine that allows you to start your day with elements that will boost your energy and creativity, inspire you, give you confidence, lower your stress, and more.

And don’t worry if you are not a morning person, the Miracle Morning works for everyone’s lifestyle. You may just need to adjust the routine.

“To make profound changes in your life, you need either inspiration or desperation.” — Anthony Robbins

The idea of starting your day by waking up very early and having a full routine to complete was born in a moment of desperation by Hal Elrod. In 2007, the economy crashed, and he did not have many customers. In 2008, he couldn’t pay his bills. He had hit rock bottom. One day, he decided to wake up at 5 a.m. and spend an hour reading, exercising, and the other elements of the Miracle Morning routine. It worked like magic. It transformed his life.

He started the movement and inspired thousands of people to wake up early in the morning and invest their first hour or two into themselves. But, is it a movement or an awakening?

“To make profound changes in your life, you need either inspiration or desperation.” — Anthony Robbins

95% of people don’t have the life that they want. Do you?

If you don’t do anything to change your life, you will simply stay where you currently are. For progress to be made, you must first change your mindset.

There are seven common reasons for a mediocre life:

1. Rearview mirror syndrome - when you look at your past and believe that the future will not be any different.

2. Lack of purpose - you would be surprised at how many people don’t have a purpose in life!

3. Isolating incidents - It’s a common belief that our small actions throughout the day have no effect on the rest of our life. We give ourselves permission to skip the gym, eat unhealthily, and so on.

4. Lack of accountability - We, as humans, need an accountability partner to help us do the things that we planned, even when we don’t feel like it. Without any accountability, it’s easy to lose focus on what’s really important to us.

5. Mediocre circle of influence - You are the average of the five people you spend most of your time with. In other words, if you hang out with mediocre people, you will stay mediocre.

6. Lack of personal development - Success is something that we attract by who we are. And only personal development will change who you are.

7. Lack of urgency - People’s nature is to live with a “someday” mindset. The time will come to change this and that, but it doesn’t have to happen yet.

If you want to break free from mediocrity and be in the top 5% of people, you must do what they do.

“Do you wake up every day because you really want to? Or is it because, for one reason or another, you have to?”

Most people, if they had a choice, would prefer to push the snooze button and sleep longer. This is no surprise. However, by simply changing your approach to how you wake up every morning, you will change your life. This is how self-made millionaires succeed.

How much sleep do we really need? The answer is not clear because it depends on the person. However, there is an idea, that has been tested by the Miracle Morning followers, that you only need as much sleep as you believe you need. This means that if you usually sleep eight hours, you can change it to seven hours if you start believing that seven hours is all the sleep you really need. If you keep telling yourself, before falling asleep, that after seven hours of sleep you will feel energized, guess what’s going to happen?

“I’d like mornings better if they started later.” — Unknown

You might hate mornings and getting out of the bed. This might seem like an impossible challenge. So how do you have a great morning, even if you are not a morning person? Simple! Take one step at a time. Don’t think about all the things you’re going to do in the morning and during the day. Instead, complete the five steps listed in the action below.

“Success is something you attract by the person you become.” — Jim Rohn

Your life is made up of four components:

• Physical - Your body, health, and energy.
• Intellectual - Your mind, intelligence, and thoughts.
• Emotional - Your emotions, feelings, and attitudes.
• Spiritual - Your spirit, soul and unseen higher powers.

By focusing on developing your four components, you craft a better version of yourself. This is because the person you are is not what surrounds you, but what’s inside of you.

So, in order to level-up your life, you must find the time to develop all these components. And guess what? Mornings are the best time to do it.

In order to develop these components, Hal Elrod designed six practices that he calls The Life S.A.V.E.R.S. Let’s take a closer look at each one.

Silence

Silence reduces your stress level, and allows you to begin each day with calmness, clarity, and peace of mind.

Affirmations

Affirmations mostly happen unconsciously. We repeat them until they become part of us and part of our beliefs. Affirmations reprogram our brain. Write your affirmations in such a way that they are aligned with what you really want to accomplish and who you need to be to accomplish your goals. Repeat them daily.

Visualizations

Your brain does not see a big difference between a visualization and an actual experience. Through visualization you can reprogram your brain.

Exercise

Exercising for only a few minutes every morning will boost your energy, enhance your health, and improve your self-confidence and emotional well-being.

Reading

Don’t reinvent the wheel. The fastest way to achieve everything you want is to model yourself after successful people who have already achieved it.

Scribing (Journaling)

Writing things down forces you to consider them and helps you to resolve problems more easily. Also, it’s easy to forget your ideas, so you should capture ideas while you are thinking about them.

How much time should you spend on each part?

Here is a 60 minute sample schedule:

• Silence: 5 min
• Affirmation: 5 min
• Visualization: 5 min
• Exercise: 20 min
• Reading: 20 min
• Scribing: 5 min

However, if you don’t have that much time, any amount of time is okay as long as you stick with it.

“I don’t have time to wake up early.” — Unknown

If you are a very busy person and feel that you don’t have time for a morning ritual, this is a quick way to start. For each portion of The Life S.A.V.E.R.S., spend only one minute. Yes, even one minute on each step will add value, give you a sense of accomplishment, and inspire new ideas.

“The Miracle Morning is 100% customizable.”

Everyone is different, that’s why it’s good to customize the Miracle Morning according to your schedule and needs.

First of all, you don’t have to do it in the morning. Yes, morning is the best time, but any time during the day will work.

When should you eat? Digesting food is a very energy-consuming process, so it’s better not to eat a proper meal just before the ritual. If you must eat, have something very light.

The Miracle Morning is designed to help you achieve your goals. So adjust the process to work for you within your schedule and preferences. This is especially true of the affirmation and visualization components. Both of these components should directly relate to your goals.

Should you do the morning routine on the weekends? Try it. This routine is meant to give you more energy and happiness during the day. If you skip the routine on the weekends, you will not receive the full benefits!

Humans need variety. So keep the morning ritual fresh, exciting, and fun. Change the routine from time to time, and adjust it to your needs.

“Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going.” — Jim Rohn

Your life is mostly created by your habits. So if you don’t control your habits, they control you. Establishing good habits seems to be one of the most important factors to having a great life.

But we are addicted to old habits, and changing them is painful. People don’t like to make new habits, because they don’t know what to expect.

How long does it take to establish a new habit? It is possible to establish a new habit in 30 days. However, this can only be done if you have a good strategy.

What’s a good strategy for establishing new habits? First, you must have an understanding of how habit formation works over time. Habit formation follows these steps:

Days 1-10 - Unbearable - This is the most difficult part of the process. You must force yourself to wake up in the morning and create the habit.

Days 11-20 - Uncomfortable - You will be used to waking up in the morning. However, it will still feel uncomfortable to do so. Keep your motivation high to stick to the habit.

Days 21-30 - Unstoppable - At this point, you have most likely established the habit. However, during this time it is very important to stick to the habit, as it is still easy to break.