The Miracle Morning

How you start your day matters. ?

After all, it is the only time of the day you truly have control over. ?

Consider, once your day gets started, you have obligations to your job, commitments to your family, the various chores that you need to do.? The minutes and hours tick by until, before you know it, you are settling down and getting ready for sleep.? When else in the day do you realistically have time to commit to just yourself?

And, as leaders, we need to invest in ourselves, develop our craft of leadership, and ensure we have the personal resources to support the people in our lives and in our work who depend on us. ?

The morning is yours - why not take control of that time?

This week I happened upon Hal Elrod’s book “The Miracle Morning”.? The basic premise is to start each day by investing in yourself, your health, and your knowledge. ?

There are a million “how to start your day” tips out there - many of them seem to be written by people looking to grind more work into their day.? ??

This is not one of those books. ?

What I like about this model for how to start your day is its flexibility.? While there are a series of recommended practices, which I will describe below, YOU get to decide how you implement this in your life. ?

In fact, Hal recommends starting by picking JUST ONE of the practices and committing to 10 minutes a day for a month.? This is completely doable for anyone.? From there, as you build that routine, that morning ritual, you can add on the other practices until you reach the full 1-hour block.

The Miracle Morning is built from six of the most research-tested habits followed and recommended by high-performing individuals across business and athletic fields.? Many of these should not be surprising to you.? It is the combination, and practical approach, that makes this a successful formula.

Here are the six practices (10 minutes each):

Silence

Some may use this time to meditate.? But the goal is to simply to sit quietly and allow time for your thoughts to flow without requiring you to DO anything. ?

Affirmations

An affirmation is a practical statement regarding impact you want to make in your life, your work, and the world.? Consider the questions:

• What are you committed to doing?
• Why are you committed to those things?
• What actions will you take and by when?

Visualization

The best athletes pre-visualize their movements prior to a game or event so that they can more easily execute the same steps.? The same exercise can be applied to your own life.? Imagine what it is like when you are performing at your best.? What does that feel like?? ?

Exercise

This includes any kind of physical activity. Going for a run (or walk), lifting weights, yoga, swimming, whatever.? The goal is to build your physical health.? Obviously, some workouts will naturally need more time.? But if the choice is between 10 minutes of exercise and no minutes - pick the 10 minutes. ?

Reading

Instead of recreational reading, focus instead on learning something that will change any area of your life.? 10 minutes a day of dedicated learning doesn’t sound like a lot but it will allow you to read multiple books over the course of the year.

Scribbling

Take a few minutes to write down your reflections, track your progress, and recognize things you are grateful for in your life.? By articulating your thoughts on the page you make the ideas clearer to you - and thus more real and achievable.

Each of these practices should take at least 10 minutes.? But don’t feel locked into that timing.? If you want to spend five minutes on visualization and fifteen on exercise, I’m not going to tell on you.? It is the regular practice of investing in yourself that will help you in the long term.

And I am going to give it a try too!?

Over the month of February, I will be committing to the Miracle Morning to see what difference it makes in my life.? I’ll be tracking what worked for me, what didn’t, and what I adjusted to make work. ?If you want to join me, send me a DM or let me know in the comments!

In the meantime, this week, I also published several videos exploring a variety of topics.

Focus on the Right Thing

Not everything works for everyone.? Some people love to run for exercise - but that has never worked for me (I’d rather be cycling).

In this video, I challenge the idea that you should keep doing the thing that is not making you happy or successful in your career - or life.?

Note to Self

This is a reminder that you are able to make a difference and it is okay to say no to the things that are not working for you.

1000 Mile Journey

Your impact is not measured in one-time events.? Your impact is measured in the collection of every step and action you take.

In this video, I remind you that you are not alone on this journey and if you are ready for help, let’s get on a call and talk about what that help might look like.

And if you feel you’ve been waiting for the right answer to come - but it never does - then maybe it is time to get some support.? Send me a message letting me know what is not working in your work (or life) and we can get on a call to talk about it.? My client’s like working with me because I am a calm, steady listener. ?