Morning Miracle by Hal Elrod
Hal talks about his accident where a drunk guy nearly killed him, which led to him laying in hospital for about a year in coma and how he came back and influenced the world while breaking every single of his records in a row.
Miracle Morning consist of 10 minutes each: journaling, visualizing, reading, exercising, meditating and affirmations.
Here are the highlights.
Miracle Morning summary of highlights.
it’s that there is no point in dwelling on or feeling bad about the aspects of our lives that we can’t change. So, I didn’t. I’ve also learned that, by focusing on what we can learn from our challenges and how we use them to add value to the lives of others, we can turn any adversity into an advantage. So, I did.
‘There is always a way… when you’re committed.’
It is important to understand that responsibility is not the same as blame. While blame determines who is at fault for something, responsibility determines who is committed to improving things. Thinking back to
my accident, while the drunk driver was at fault for the crash, I was responsible for improving my life — for making my circumstances what I wanted them to be. It really doesn’t matter who is at fault — all that matters is that you and I are committed to leaving the past in the past and making our lives exactly the way we want them to be, starting today.
You are in the process of writing your life story, and no good story is without a hero or heroine overcoming their fair share of challenges. In fact, the bigger the challenges, the better the story. Since there are no restrictions and no limits to where your story goes from here, what do you want the next page to say? The good news is that you have the ability to change — or create — anything in your life, starting right now. I’m not saying you won’t have to work for it, but you can quickly and easily attract and create anything you want for your life by developing into the person who is capable of doing so. That’s what this book is about — helping you become the person you need to be to create everything you have ever wanted for your life. There are no limits.
‘Life’s too short’ is repeated often enough to be a cliché, but this time it’s true. You don’t have enough time to be both unhappy and mediocre. It’s not just pointless; it’s painful.
In order for you to stop settling for less than you deserve — in any area of your life — and to create the levels of personal, professional, and financial success you desire, you must first dedicate time each day to becoming the person you need to be, one who is qualified and capable of consistently attracting, creating, and sustaining the levels of success you want.
Never forget that who you are becoming is the single most important determining factor in your quality of life, now and for your future.
To make profound changes in your life, you need either inspiration or desperation.
When I heard Jim proclaim with certainty, ‘Your level of success, will rarely exceed your level of personal development, because success is something you attract by the person you become,’ I stopped in my tracks. This one philosophy was going to change my entire life.
I realized this is the problem for all of us. We all want Level 10 success, in every area of our lives — health, happiness, finances, relationships, career, spirituality, you name it — but if our levels of personal development (knowledge, experience, mindset, beliefs, etc.) in any given area are not at a Level 10, then life is always going to be a struggle. Our outer world will always be a reflection of our inner world. Our level of success is always going to parallel our level of personal development. Until we dedicate time each day to developing ourselves into the person we need to be to create the life we want, success is always going to be a struggle to attain.
I knew that the solution to all of my problems was that I had to commit to making
personal development a priority in my daily life. This was the missing link that would enable me to become the person I needed to be able to consistently attract, create, and sustain the levels of success that I wanted. Simple enough.
it. Executing my personal development first thing in the morning was looking to be the most advantageous option, but it was already hard enough to drag myself out of bed every day at 6.00 am — because I had to — so the idea of getting up at 5.00 am seemed almost impossible to me. Feeling frustrated
So the crucial question — the one that we must explore and find the answer to — is this: what can we do now to ensure that we don’t end up struggling, like the 95% majority will?
Once we’ve acknowledged that 95% of our society is settling for far less than they are capable of, struggling in almost every area, and not experiencing the levels of success, happiness, and freedom that they really want, the next crucial step is to understand why. To prevent it from happening to you, you must know what causes the average person to end up living a life of mediocrity.
One of the most crippling causes of mediocrity in life is a condition I call rear-view mirror syndrome (RMS). Our subconscious minds are equipped with a self-limiting rear-view mirror, through which we continuously relive and recreate our past. We mistakenly believe that who we were is who we are, thus limiting our true potential in the present, based on the limitations of our past.
If you are to move beyond your past and transcend your limitations, you must stop living out of your rear-view mirror and start imagining a life of limitless possibilities. Accept the paradigm: my past does not equal my future. Talk to yourself in a way that inspires confidence that not only is anything possible, but that you are capable and committed to making it so. It’s not even necessary to believe it at first. In fact, you probably won’t believe it. You might find it uncomfortable and that you resist doing it. That’s okay. Repeat it to yourself anyway, and your subconscious mind will begin to absorb the positive self-affirmations (more on how to do this in Chapter 6).
Don’t place unnecessary limitations on what you want for your life. Think bigger than you’ve allowed yourself to think up until this point. Get clear on what you truly want, condition yourself to the belief that it’s possible by focusing on and affirming it every day, and then consistently move in the direction of your vision until it becomes your reality. There is nothing to fear, because you cannot fail — only learn, grow, and become better than you’ve ever been before. Always remember that where you are is a result of who you were, but where you go depends entirely on who you choose to be, from this moment on.
I decided in that moment that my life purpose for the next 12 months would be: to become the person I need to be to create the success, freedom, and quality of life that I truly want.
To defeat this cause of mediocrity, you need a life purpose, which can be any purpose you want. It can be anything that resonates with and inspires you to wake up every day and live in alignment with your purpose.
Keep in mind that you’re not supposed to ‘figure out’ what your purpose is, you get to make it up, create it, decide what you want it to be. In his bestselling book The Rhythm of Life, Matthew Kelly enlightens us to a universal life purpose that I believe we should all live by: to become the best version of ourselves. In other words, focus on growing and being the best you can be, pursuing your dreams and inspiring others to do the same. That’s your purpose.
Always remember that when you are committed to a life purpose that is bigger than your problems, your problems become relatively insignificant and you will overcome them with ease.
We must realize that the real impact and consequence of each of our choices and actions — and even our thoughts — is monumental, because every single thought, choice, and action is determining who we are becoming, which will ultimately determine the quality of our lives.
As T. Harv Eker said in his best-selling book Secrets of the Millionaire Mind: ‘How you do anything is how you do everything.’ Every time you choose to do the easy thing, instead of the right thing, you are shaping your identity, becoming the type of person who does what’s easy, rather than what’s right. On the other hand, when you do choose to do the right thing and follow through with your commitments — especially when you don’t feel like it — you are developing the extraordinary discipline (which most people never develop) necessary for creating extraordinary results in your life. As my good friend, Peter Voogd, often teaches his clients: ‘Discipline creates lifestyle.’
One of the saddest things in life is to live with regret, knowing that you could have, be, and do so much more.
To take your personal and professional success to the level they’ve never been before, you have to be willing to commit at a level you’ve never been committed before. Are you ready to make that commitment?
Your entire life changes the day that you decide you will no longer accept mediocrity for yourself. When you realize that today is the most important day of your life. When you decide that now matters more than any other time because it is who you are becoming each day based on the decisions that you are making and the actions that you are taking that is determining who you are going to be for the rest of your life.
The reality is that if we don’t change now, our life won’t change. If we don’t get better, our life won’t get better. And if we don’t consistently invest time into our self-improvement, our life will not improve.
You can decide that mediocrity is no longer acceptable for you. You can claim your greatness. You can choose to become the person you need to be to create the extraordinary life that you truly want. Your life can be filled with an abundance of energy, love, health, happiness, success, financial prosperity, and everything else that you’ve ever imagined having, doing, or being.
On the other hand, when you wake up each day with passion and purpose, you join the small percentage of high achievers who are living their dreams. Most importantly, you will be happy. By simply changing your approach to waking up in the morning, you will literally change everything.
– I’ve found that how our sleep affects our biology is largely affected by our own personal belief about how much sleep we need. In other words, how we feel when we wake up in the morning — and this is a very important distinction — is not solely based on how many hours of sleep we got, but significantly impacted by how we told ourselves we were going to feel when we woke up.
The mind–body connection is a powerful thing, and I believe we must take responsibility for every aspect of our lives, including the power to wake up every day feeling energized, regardless of how many hours of sleep we get.
As long as I told myself before bed that I wasn’t getting enough sleep, and that I was going to feel tired in the morning, that’s exactly how I felt.
I believe that I create my experience of reality, and I choose to create waking up tomorrow feeling energized and excited to take on my day, and I’m grateful for that.’ What I found was that whether I got nine, eight, seven, six, five, or even just four hours of sleep, as long as I consciously decided, before bed, that I was getting the perfect amount of sleep — that the hours were going to energize my body to feel wonderful in the morning — I consistently woke feeling better than I ever had before.
If you really think about it, hitting the snooze button in the morning doesn’t even make
sense. It’s like saying ‘I hate getting up in the morning, so I do it over, and over, and over again.’
The first key to waking up is to remember this: Your first thought in the morning is usually the last thought you had before you went to bed.
So, the key is to consciously decide every night to actively and mindfully create a positive expectation for the next morning.
If you haven’t already, move your alarm clock as far away from your bed as possible. This forces you to rise from bed and engage your body in movement. Motion creates energy, so when you get up and out of bed it naturally helps you wake up.
So, after turning off your alarm clock, go directly to the bathroom sink to brush your teeth and splash some warm (or cold) water on your face.
Drink a full glass of water It’s crucial that you hydrate yourself first thing every morning. After six to eight hours without water, you’ll naturally be mildly dehydrated, and dehydration causes fatigue.
Remember, when you change your inner world — your life — then your outer world — your life situation — will improve in parallel.
You can learn more in an hour of silence than you can in a year from books.
Meditation is a gift you can give to yourself yourself every day. It truly is an incredible gift. My time spent meditating has become one of my favourite parts of my day.
You will be a failure, until you impress the subconscious with the conviction you are a success. This is done by making an affirmation which clicks.
However, when you actively design and write out your affirmations to be in alignment with what you want to accomplish and who you need to be to accomplish it — and commit to repeating them daily (ideally out loud) — they immediately make an impression on your subconscious mind.
Unfortunately, it took me a few more years to realize that affirmations were one of the most powerful tools for transforming your life.
I began using affirmations to improve my health, finances, relationships, overall happiness, confidence, as well as any and all beliefs, mindsets and habits that needed an upgrade. Nothing was off limits. There are no limits!
The good news is that our programming can be changed or improved at any time. We can reprogram ourselves to overcome all of our fears, insecurities, bad habits, and any self-limiting, potential-destroying beliefs and behaviours we currently have, so we can become as successful as we want to be, in any area of our lives we choose. You can use affirmations to start programming yourself to be confident and successful in everything you do, simply by repeatedly telling yourself who you want to be, what you want to accomplish, and how you are going to accomplish it. With enough repetition, your subconscious mind will begin to believe what you tell it, act upon it, and eventually manifest it in your reality.
Step 2: Why you want it As my good friend Adam Stock, President of Rising Stock, Inc. once told me, ‘The wise begin with whys’. Everyone wants to be happy, healthy, and successful, but wanting is rarely an effective strategy for getting. Those who overcome the temptations of mediocrity and achieve everything they want in life have an extraordinarily compelling why that drives them. They have defined a clear life purpose that is more powerful than the collective sum of their petty problems and the countless obstacles they will inevitably face, and they wake up each day and work towards their purpose.
As my first coach, Jeff Sooey used to say, ‘This is where the rubber meets the road’. In other words, your life gets better only after you get better. Your outer world improves only after you’ve invested countless hours improving yourself. Being (who you need to be) and doing (what you need to do) are prerequisites for having what you want to have. Get clear on who you need to be, are committed to being, in order to take your life, business, health, marriage, etc. to next level and beyond.
‘The #1 skill of influencers is the sincere effort to make a person feel that he or she is the most important person in the world. It’s one of the skills that Bill Clinton, Oprah Winfrey, and Bruce Goodman used to become the best in their fields. I will do this for every person I connect with!’
In order for your affirmations to be effective, it is important that you tap into your emotions while reading them. Mindlessly repeating a phrase over and over again, without feeling its truth, will have a minimal impact on you. You must take responsibility for generating authentic emotions and powerfully infusing those emotions into every affirmation you repeat to yourself. Have fun with it.
Ordinary people believe only in the possible. Extraordinary people visualize not what is possible or probable, but rather what is impossible. And by visualizing the impossible, they begin to see it as possible.
Directly after reading your affirmations — where you took the time to articulate and focus on your goals and who you need to be to take your life to the next level — is the prime time to visualize yourself living in alignment with your affirmations.
We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.’ The greatest gift we can give to the people we love is to live to our full potential. What does that look like for you? What do you really want? Forget about logic, limits, and being practical. If you could have anything you wanted, do anything you wanted, and be anything you wanted — what would you have? What would you do? What would you be?
In addition to reading your affirmations every morning, doing this simple visualization process every day will turbo-charge the programming of your subconscious mind for success. You will begin to live in alignment with your ideal vision and make it a reality.
Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body and prayer is to the soul. We become the books we read.
Human beings are conditioned to have what I call gap focus. We tend to focus on the gaps between where we are in life and where we want to be, between what we’ve accomplished and what we could have or want to accomplish, and the gap between who we are and our idealistic vision of the person we believe we should be.
The irony is that ‘gap focus’ is a big part of the reason that high achievers are high achievers. Their insatiable desire to close the gap is what fuels their pursuit of excellence and constantly drives them to achieve. ‘Gap focus’ can be healthy and productive if it comes from a positive, proactive, I’m committed to and excited about fulfilling my potential perspective, without any feelings of lack. Unfortunately, it rarely does.
The irony is that ‘gap focus’ is a big part of the reason that high achievers are high achievers. Their insatiable desire to close the gap is what fuels their pursuit of excellence and constantly drives them to achieve. ‘Gap focus’ can be healthy and productive if it comes from a positive, proactive, I’m committed to and excited about fulfilling my potential perspective, without any feelings of lack. Unfortunately, it rarely does.
When you are doing your morning visualization, visualize yourself effortlessly enjoying the process of achieving your goals (like I did while writing this book) and keep a clear picture of what it will look like once achieved. Remember to involve all of your senses — see, feel, taste, touch, and even smell every detail of your vision and your ideal outcomes. The more vivid your vision is, the more effective it will be in increasing your desire and motivation to take the necessary steps towards your goals each day.
Humans need variety. It’s important that you keep your Miracle Morning feeling fresh and new. As one of my first mentors once told me whenever I complained about my
work as a sales rep getting boring, ‘Whose fault is it that it’s boring? And whose responsibility is it to make it fun again?’
Remember, the moment you accept total responsibility for everything in your life is the moment you claim the power to change anything in your life.
