My Experience With The Miracle Morning
I wanted to introduce you to a movement called The Miracle Morning. After reading this you will probably want to check out the book – The Miracle Morning
I came across the concept as I heard the writer, Hal Elrod, being interviewed on a couple of podcasts that I love – #Merrybiz, Smart Passive Income and Foundr. As you can see this guy is very good at promoting himself. It took until the 3rd interview to stick but boy am I glad it did.
Hal has an incredible story. He was in a car accident and actually died (his heart stopped) at the age of 20, he broke 11 bones and spent 6 days in a coma. Hal was pretty much told that he would never walk again but defied all the odds and decided that he just wasn’t going to accept that. He went on to not only walk but he has run ultra-marathons, is one of the world’s leading success coaches and he is a huge inspiration to millions of people.
How did he do it?
Well you have to buy the book to get the whole story but I wanted to give you a taster.
Hal came across hard times having lost all of his clients during the global financial crisis and he became depressed. It’s a very familiar story as I think of lot of people went through similar. Hal was putting on a lot of weight and was in a bit of a downward spiral. One of his friends had a bit of an intervention with him and told him to just start running. His reaction was that he had never been a runner and never would. Long story short….he decided that he had nothing to lose and started running. This seems to be the spark that completely turned his life around.
What is the concept?
I’ve taken his basic concept and adapted it to my own needs as a tarot reader. You can do the same. The system is quite flexible but the important thing is that you commit.
There are 6 stages to his programme and they are called SAVERS
Silence
Affirmation
Visualisation
Exercise
Reading
Scribe
The concept is that you start habit stacking and no matter how small you start you will start to build good habits on top of good habits.
I’m seriously not a morning person at all and never have been . However, I have always felt that there was a need for me to be more productive in the morning.
The beauty of the system is that you can totally adapt it to your schedule, so there are no excuses! You could spend 30 minutes on each of these steps or you could do as little as one minute. The important part is that you do them.
My Experience With The Miracle Morning
I decided to throw myself into it. The biggest challenge for me was getting up in the morning. I’ve always been one to hit the snooze button, hit the snooze button, hit the snooze button……you get the idea! When I read the book I all of a sudden realized how much of my life I was wasting snoozing and the problem with that is that you feel just as tired whether you have snoozed for 40 minutes or not!
I decided to get up 30 minutes earlier each day. Sounds like a breeze right? Well for me it’s actually quite a big deal.
Cold turkey was the only way I was going to do this. I made the commitment and really wanted to see it through. If I were to give you a tip I would say that there are 2 things that made this much easier for me….
When you go to bed at night make a pact with yourself that you won’t check your phone. Just go straight to sleep or you might want to read a book. No electronics! This pretty much saved me the 30 minutes of sleep that I was missing out on in the morning.
Put your alarm or phone on the other side of the room. It’s an oldie but definitely a goodie.
I’ve created a PDF template that you can use if you want to start your very own Miracle Morning. Just enter your details here to get the download:
How I use the tools
I decided to do them in this order:
Reading – 10 minutes
I get up and open the windows and blinds. Let the light and fresh air in. I sometimes go back to bed and read for 10 minutes but will usually get up and sit where it is light.
When it comes to the reading part it has to be something that is going to help you grow. Anything non-fiction is good. I’ve been reading marketing books and tarot education books, which has been really interesting
Exercise – 5 minutes (set timer on phone)
I’ve started to expand the exercise portion but I started with 5 minutes. The idea here is that you get your blood pumping. I started with this mini workout:
3 yoga sun salutations
20 push ups
30 sit ups
50 jumping jacks
I have since built on my exercise (doctor’s orders!) and have been using the Nike + app which is great. It sets a plan for you depending on your level or experience.
Affirmation – 2 minutes
I have written a really simple affirmation that I repeat 3 times in the mirror.
This is my affirmation but you can completely tailor this to your needs:
Today, I am brimming with energy and overflowing with joy.
I am healthy; my mind is brilliant; my soul is tranquil.
I possess the qualities needed to be extremely successful.
I am supported by the universe; my dreams manifest into reality before my eyes.
The love that I feel gives me the confidence to know that today will be a great day.
Silence (meditation) – 5-10 minutes
I vary the length of this depending how much time I have. I’ve been using my Muse meditation headband (post about that coming soon).
You can do whatever type of meditation works for you. Maybe you just want to sit in your favourite chair and let your mind wander. That’s absolutely fine. It’s about taking a break from all the mental clutter.
If you are struggling to still your mind just focus on your breath entering and leaving your body.
Visualisation
I tag this on to the end of my meditation. I start to visualise my day ahead and mentally play how the day is going to go. It’s great to see yourself achieving your goals. This really helps me focus in on what’s important and kind of brings up a positive to do list. It’s all about prioritising what is going to make you the most productive.
Scribe (writing/journaling)
This is where I put my little tarot twist in. Hal recommends that you free write. Just put pen to paper and write, write, write. Don’t judge what you are writing, just let it all flow and don’t even think about it.
I do things a little bit differently and this has been working for me. I have created a little system that incorporates gratitude – you can read about 10 ways to practise gratitude here.
In my journal I write 3 things that I am grateful for at that time. This can be anything from having a shirt on my back to being grateful for being able to connect with tarot. Mix it up but be sure that it’s authentic.
Sometimes I let the tarot inspire me. I ask what I should be grateful for and draw 3 cards. I always get a message. Maybe it’s family, love, career etc. Every card has something to be grateful for – even The Devil and The Tower.
I then do a bit of free writing with a tarot card. I draw one card each day and put pen to paper and let it flow. It’s actually very cool to see what comes up and helps build a relationship with the cards. Try not to overthink it. Just describe the card. I’ve been amazed at some of the things I have noticed in the cards that I have never seen before. It has totally changed the meaning of some of the cards for me.
Interesting story about that: I was looking at the 6 of cups and all of a sudden I was drawn to the shield in the wall. It really reminded me of the Scottish flag (I am Scottish). Later that week I was doing a reading over Facebook within my Facebook community (www.facebook.com/tarotavenue). I was reading for somebody, who I didn’t know, and the 6 of Cups came up. I brought up that I was recently drawn to the shield and Scotland. Although based in Australia, guess what?…..The person is Scottish! I was obviously drawn to that for a reason.
The Results
As you can see, none of these are challenging. It’s about developing good habits. It’s very achievable if you make the commitment to start.
For me the results, even in the first 2 weeks, were amazing. I was only doing 30 minutes per day and during my reading time the first book I read was by Dan Norris called Create or Hate. It’s a very simple book to read and was actually free at the time as he had just launched. This book is all about overcoming the negative voices in your head and just start making things.
I was very much inspired by the book and decided to switch off all the “you can’t do that”, “you are not good enough”, “you don’t have the time” voices in my head and start making something. I had thought about creating a course for a long time but have struggled to find the time and get it started. Guess what….The Miracle Morning made me far more productive and I managed to get my course created and launched within the first 2 weeks of starting the programme. The course I created was a FREE 7 Day Intuition Challenge. It is probably my best work to date, was very well received and I’m very proud of it.
I honestly think if I hadn’t started The Miracle Morning, and therefore read Dan’s book, I would probably still be sitting here writing blog posts thinking about how I really must create a course!
I’ve been doing this for about 2 months now and things are going great. I still wouldn’t describe myself as a morning person but I am definitely getting better. I did have a blip when I was on holiday but I did some of the steps. It took a bit of effort to get back into it but I am back on track. I think the key is consistency.
The biggest difference I have noticed is that I am heading into work feeling that I have already achieved something. There is definitely a sense of calm and I have been able to handle stress more easily.
My productivity has absolutely improved. When you hit the snooze button, rush to get ready then rush into work you find that you are kind of still sleep walking by the time you get to work. This puts a little buffer between sleep and work.
I’m confident that I can continue to grow these habits and become a healthier version of myself and I hope that this post inspires you to do the same.
I would love to hear about your experiences. Does anybody else have a morning ritual? Please comment below.