Attempting the Miracle Morning

I am NOT a morning person. That might be the understatement of the century if you know me at all. I seriously hate waking up early and that’s because I can so easily stay up very late. I have a hard time getting myself to go to sleep at a decent hour. Why then am I trying to take on a task of the “Miracle Morning“?

For those of you not familiar with the miracle morning movement it is based on a book written by Hal Elrod. This book talks about how after a life-altering accident he took the initiative to change his daily perspective. He was able to push forward utilizing the top personal development techniques that many people know about but most haven’t actually implemented into their daily routine. He went from a depressed, in dept and out of shape individual to one of the top career coaches, motivational speakers, and high energy individuals of our time.

Back to the miracle morning techniques though and how the heck can a person like me, who my entire life I have had a hate-hate relationship with mornings, can take these techniques and actually enjoy my mornings? There have been countless people before me who have taken the techniques and proven that they can make a difference and it was often described as a kid on Christmas morning. I needed to know if it could work for me. I finished reading the book, I developed my plan and I set my alarm clock for 5:50 AM. I actually ended up having the hardest time getting to sleep that night and it made me question multiple times whether I should push back the alarm to ensure I got my sleep. I ended up overcoming those desires and being able to fall asleep with my original alarm clock wake up time.

My eyes shot open at the sound of the beeping phone and I felt that oh too familiar desire to roll back over and get some more shut-eye but I knew that this was a fleeting moment and one that I had been preparing for. I instead reached for and grabbed my bottle of water that I had set there the night before. I slammed it back. Instantly I felt my body come alive. It awoke from its dehydrated and sluggish form and starting firing on all cylinders. I hadn’t even started the S.A.V.E.R.S. (we will get into that in a little bit) but I was already amazed at how easily I was moving to the next steps. I arose from the bed and immediately brushed my teeth. This was something that I didn’t normally do, I usually would brush my teeth after breakfast but guess what!? turns out that its better for your teeth if you brush before breakfast. Check this out Brushing before or after breakfast?  I’ve hydrated, I’ve got that clean minty breath and I’m ready to move into my S.A.V.E.R.S.

Silence Affirmations Visualization Exercise Reading Scripting

I have been subscribed to Headspace for meditations for a couple of months now. I had done a lot of research about the benefits of and was turned onto meditations by a past relationship but I wasn’t regularly practicing. That’s what the Silence is for though and I wanted to really give it my full effort. I highly recommend headspace as the platform to put together a meditation study, their app is top notch. Check out their research that they put out to see some of the massive benefits of meditation: Benefits of Meditation, Backed by Science Anyways, I started doing my 10 min meditation out on my yoga mat set up in my bedroom.

For the Affirmations, I had gone through a few goal setting exercises that my boss Tyson Queen (@tyson.queen) puts all of our new hires through and I was able to draw upon that to build out my affirmations. I promise to put together another post about that exact goal setting exercise and how you can do it yourself. I looked myself in the mirror and read them aloud. It was awkward but I felt focused and had centered my mind immediately on my goals.  It affected all of my decisions I made during the day. “Does this move me in the direction that I need to go?”

I struggled with figuring out what to visualize so I started with the simplest idea that I could find. For my Visualizations, I visualized the perfect day at work today. I was productive, I was efficient, I was tackling tasks that normally would daunt me. I had set a timer for 10 mins on my watch and before I knew it that bad boy was buzzing at me. It blew my mind how fast that 10 mins went. My biggest take away from that was that I didn’t need to visualize my life I could take 10 minutes and create a blueprint for my day, each day, and slowly that day would add up to an immense amount of progress.

I am very other motivated. What that means is I feed off of other’s energy and motivation. If someone else gets excited, I get excited. I’ll find myself talking with my boss and he gets up and starts pacing as he’s building his point and I can’t stay seated. I hop up and start moving! In order to get the most out of the exercise portion, I knew that I needed to find a group that would support me in my endeavors. I joined Orange Theory because they had the environment that I needed, fast-paced, difficult and coaches to help fine tune. It also didn’t hurt that the gym was across the street from my house. Work smart people. I hopped in my car and drove over to do an hour-long class. It hurt, I hadn’t eaten yet and I was sore all over before I headed home but the blood pump was pretty amazing by the time I got to work I wasn’t having the slow start that I was used to, I immediately got to work.

For my birthday in February, I received a Kindle. It was a great gift and I immediately downloaded the Lord of the Rings series and re-read them. Its now October and I had only read those 3 books on it, plus “The Miracle Morning”. I then added a book that had been recommended to me by a great personal development junkie Dustin Boudreaux (@Dustinboudreaux) called “How to Win Friends and Influence People” written by Dale Carnegie. Dustin said he recommends reading that book once a year so I had to check it out. After I got back from Orange Theory I had to shower but thankfully the Kindle I got was waterproof! For the Reading, I brought it into the shower with me and started reading. I couldn’t put it down! I had to though, as I realized that I was going to be late to work if I didn’t stop. I love how with the earlier steps I was already getting my mind running at full steam ahead. I was already looking at the world a little different than yesterday and I knew that I was going to start moving towards my goals.

Finally comes the writing aspect, or Scribing as Hal artfully puts it to fit into his catchy acronym. I bought a couple moleskin journals a long time ago with the intention of journaling regularly, I lasted about 4 days.  I dusted off the journal and wrote about how great I felt, my goals, what I was thankful for, and why I was going to stick to it this time. I ended the journal entry by adding a title to the next page as “Miracle morning day 2 10/23/18.” I was forcing myself to return. I had completed my first miracle morning and I was ready to tackle the day. I was even early to work which allowed me to get a jump start on some tasks before I was overrun with emails and fires that needed to be put out.

Did you notice the trend throughout the morning though?  I had started most of these initiatives, these personal development tactics, at some point half-heartedly before starting the miracle morning. I had bought into each of these steps a long time ago but I never stuck with it! You can only hear about the benefits of something seemingly so simple before you have to give them a try right? Only problem was I didn’t get that instant gratification or result and I eventually let my excuses get the better of me. How many tools in your toolbox are not being used? Hal gave me the blueprint to utilize all of these tools efficiently and I was so happy to have this platform to share it with you all. He prepared me to push past the insignificant excuse and to not allow myself to breed the doubt that I had built up over time. If you don’t have that plan you will slowly eat away at your own self-desires. Why, because it’s easier to sleep in, it’s easier to finish that late night football game and not go to bed on time. It’s easier to miss the gym and not meditate daily. Your body will search and find the path of least resistance but it will never grow stronger until it is tested beyond it’s perceived limits.

Pick up Hal’s book at miraclemorning.com and start developing your plan today.