Morning routine – adding two more hours to a 24-hour day.

Introducing a morning routine.

My workday morning routine used to look roughly like the following – wake up to an alarm clock, brush my teeth, dress up, have a bite to eat, run! Day in and day out, month in and month out. Weekends were different, as there was constant struggle between staying in bed for another ten mins or starting a day. Until I stumbled upon “The Miracle Morning”, by Hal Elrod.

“The Miracle Morning: The Not-So-Obvious Secret Guaranteed to Transform Your Life (Before 8AM)” is an amazing book that has literally transformed my entire day (each and every day), or rather my every morning.

What is a Miracle Morning?

In short, The Miracle Morning is a down to earth practical reading on how to build your morning routine, step by step and minute by minute. How to wake up early yourself – not to an alarm clock – every day, including weekends. And how to enjoy it, no matter whether you consider yourself an early riser or a night owl.

If you are like me in the past (at least, to some extent), you might be struggling to find extra time in your already very packed day. No time to do sports, or to meditate, or to read a new book, or to write a journal, or to plan your life. They say there are only 24 hours in a day and all days look more or less the same, right?

I was surprised to discover for myself that the best time of the day to add all those new and highly desired activities to your schedule is early morning. And early morning is before everybody else in your family is awake. Why? No destructions, no multi-tasking, no phone calls, to meetings, no traffic jams, no stress, etc., etc. No nothing, just you and your ideas, your dreams and your actions.

Your brain is fresh, rested and ready for a new day. Early morning is also the best time to give your brain some exercise and fresh puzzles to work on! Early morning is that time of the day, which is entirely yours and you are at full liberty to plan it the way you want.

Build it for 30 days – enjoy for the rest of your life.

Yes, as is every practice, you first have to commit to creating and then following your new morning routine (your new habit) for, at least, the first 30 days. You need your first 10 days just to push through. You need your next 10 days to start seeing the changes take place and start already enjoying them. And you need final 10 days to make this new habit irreversible.

It takes on average 20 days to change a habit or acquire a new one. Your new habit will be there, but will still be fragile. It makes sense to add 10 extra days to polish a new skill.

If you are dedicated and can push yourself through changes, these first 30 days will truly transform the rest of your life. Is it worth doing? Entirely your choice. Have they transformed my life? Yes, they definitely have.

My Miracle Morning experience.

Personally, I am much past these initial 30-days now (at the time of writing was counting 100+). Each of my days has literally extended by two additional hours. One hour morning routine and, at least, one additional hour gained in efficiency. I feel significantly more energized going through my days.

My one-hour Miracle Morning routine consists of roughly of the following blocks: waking up (often before an alarm clock), brushing teeth, cold shower, etc. – 15 mins, exercise – 10 mins, meditation – 10 mins, reading a book – 10 mins, writing a journal – 10 mins, preparing and eating breakfast (with no screens in front of me) – 15 mins.

As your Miracle Morning is your time, you can compile your own routine, add, for example, a yoga class, or a guitar practice, or a breathing exercise, or learning a new language that you wanted to start learning for a long time. Sky’s the limit! This is your time, so make the best of it!

I found that creating The Miracle Morning routine is great for personal development and introducing changes in life. It is that mechanism, which allows finding precious time when every minute is already counted for. Imagine, how many books you can read or meditation practices to go through if you sum up these 10 minutes per day practices?

These 10 minutes per day, add to 300 minutes per month (5 hours) or 3600 minutes per year (60 hours). We have just found 1.5 weeks of “new” time. If you make time to practice for 20 minutes a day, you have just found three “new” weeks in a year!

What’s next?

The Miracle Morning book has multiple variations, including one for parents and families. The book takes about five hours of listening time. I bought an audio version of it, as part of my monthly Amazon Audible subscription.

Have you read this book? Are you practicing? I would love to hear your comments.

Here is Amazon.com link to The Miracle Morning, if you are curious to discover for yourself.

Originally published on my personal blog @First Day Of The Rest Of My Life