The Habit Society

⚡️ Morning madness

To: Society Members

Good Morning!

We’re going to start our Monday with Hal Elrod’s story…

“A year-and-a-half into my career, I was driving home after I gave a speech at a conference, and my car was hit head-on by a drunk driver at 80 miles per hour, and I was found dead at the scene. I actually bled to death that night. My heart stopped beating for about six minutes. I was in a coma for six days, I flat-lined twice more in that coma. And when I came out of the coma, the doctor said I would never walk again, and I had permanent brain damage. […] I told my dad, ‘Dad, I’ve already decided if I never walk again, I’ll be the happiest, most grateful person that you’ve ever seen in a wheelchair, because I’m in a wheelchair either way, and I will never let my circumstances define my emotional well-being.'”

Elrod might be one of the most influential success coaches, keynote speakers, and authors in the United States, if not the world. After recovering far beyond what doctors could have imagined, he may be a real-life miracle.

S.A.V.E.R.S

Author of The Miracle Morning and The Miracle Equation, founder of The Miracle Morning book series, and host of the super-influential Achieve Your Goal podcast, Elrod is responsible for having a substantial impact on the perspectives of millions of hopeful habit-seekers looking to change their lives for the better.

Morning Madness

The trajectory of our day offers many opportunities for our habits to fall apart. Elrod’s stance is that our morning routine, particularly the hours that fall before 8AM (not that many), has the most powerful ability to make sure the structure of our day remains intact. Let’s put an emphasis on the ‘not that many’ part of those hazy, wakeful hours. It’s a b**** to wake up at 6AM. We’re not going to lie and pretend it’s an easy thing that we all do. The snooze button is far too often our best friend. But, let’s fantasize for a moment or two and envision a future where we begin to create the mornings that will change our days, then weeks, months, years, lives (you get it) for the better. Now back to Hal Elrod. He’s not just a man of great success, but also of acronyms. The Miracle Morning: The Not So Obvious Secret Guaranteed to Transform Your Life Before 8 AM, gives way to a unique acronym, SAVERS. Don’t try and guess what it stands for, we’re about to tell you.

The Breakdown

The night before his first (soon-to-be-called) miracle morning, Elrod asked himself, “What if I woke up an hour earlier tomorrow and I dedicated 10 minutes to each of the six most timeless, proven personal development practices in the history of humanity?” Well, it proved to be quite useful to him. Here’s the breakdown:

S – Silence

Be quiet in your mind and block out the chatter through meditation, prayer or focused breathing.

Elrod enjoys emotional optimization meditation. Every morning, right before you begin, ask yourself, “What emotional state would best serve me?” This could be the emotional state just for that day. Have an important meeting or exam? Get in a state of confidence. Have the day off to enjoy? Get in a state of relaxation. Elrod explains the benefits: “I’m hard-wiring it in my brain, and seeping into my nervous system. I’m acclimating to that emotional state so that it’s becoming who I am, it’s becoming something that I can access throughout the day or at any given time, it’s becoming my default mode of being. And then if I’m having a stressful day, two hours later, four hours later, I’m stressed out, I can close my eyes, I can put my hand on my heart, and I can immediately re-engage that state.”

A – Affirmations

Tell yourself encouraging words to achieve goals, overcome fears, and feel happy.

But, this is usually quite a misunderstood concept. Don’t use fluffy phrases and don’t lie to yourself. Elrod uses these three steps for successful affirmations:

1. Affirm what you’re committed to. This programs your subconscious with the commitment that you’ll need in order to achieve results.

2. Affirm why it is meaningful to you. Why are you so committed to it?

3. Affirm which specific actions you will take and when. This is the key to put your thoughts into action.

V – Visualization

Here are Elrod’s 2 steps:

1. Think about what you’d like to achieve today, or long-term. Imagine yourself successfully performing the activity. This helps the idea become real to you. You can actually see yourself doing whatever you’d like to achieve. Using a marathon example, visualize yourself crossing the finish line.

2. Visualize yourself engaged in the activity necessary to achieve success in an optimal emotional state. This one is the key, because if you stop after Step 1, you may start to believe that your results will come without the necessary work. In other words, visualize yourself waking up in the morning and walking out the door to run.

E – Exercise

Just move for 5-10 minutes in the morning, even if you typically exercise later in the day. Exercise releases endorphins that make you happier, gets the blood and oxygen to your brain, and wakes up your lymphatic system, which all have positive effects on our bodies. We want to reap their benefits throughout the day.

R – Reading

Elrod recommends reading on the topic most important to your life at that moment. He also emphasizes that by reading 10 pages per day, you will have read 18 200-page books by the end of the year and will be in the top 1% of our society, being the people who read every day.

S – Scribing

This is just a fancy way to say writing. Elrod recommends grabbing a journal and writing three things you’re grateful for, and then the three highest priorities for that day.

Why It Matters

Jim Rohn, American entrepreneur, author, and motivational speaker, had a quote that changed Elrod’s life: “Your level of success will seldom exceed your level of personal development because success is something that you attract by the person that you become.”

Safe to say, most of us want 10/10 success in all realms of life: health, happiness, relationships, finances… But, when we think about our level of personal development, it’s not typically that high. And that’s where the disconnect lies.

Elrod explains that contrary to what society tends towards, doing more won’t necessarily lead to achieving more. While doing more provides short-term benefits, becoming more will give you long-lasting results (and you can usually get away with doing less).

What’s All the Morning Hype?

Elrod likes to say, “If you win the morning, you win the day.” The start of your day sets the tone for the rest. Brian Johnson, founder of Optimize, explains that your day is a mini version of your life, so to create a great life, you need to string together many great days, which each starts with the morning.

As Elrod explains, hitting the snooze button doesn’t really make sense. You say that you want a great life but then you choose to lay unconscious for nine more minutes. You’re literally and physically resisting life. Why don’t we try waking up, not because our alarm says we have to, but because we actually want to?

The Best of the Best

Elrod researched what the world’s most successful people, in all different realms of life did for their daily personal development rituals. “And I’m going to combine the best of the best to create the most effective personal development ritual in the history of humanity.” And guys, the rest was history.

To sum it up… “Our daily rituals determine our results, how we feel, what we think, what we focus on, and ultimately our quality of life.”

1. Start by adding in one part of the Miracle Morning.

2. Set your alarm accordingly.

Or, if you’re already incorporating some of them and are ready to go all out,

1. Scale it (10 minutes each? 5 minutes each?). While most people practice a 30 minute or 60 minute Miracle Morning routine, Elrod provides a 6-minute one in the book, so you can really tailor it to your needs.

2. Set your alarm.

We’d love to see how you’re incorporating the Miracle Morning. Snap a pic and tag us & Hal Elrod (or DM us) on Instagram!

Every goal we have is preceded by a process. The secret to success is to be committed to the daily process, without being emotionally attached to your results. You should absolutely be emotionally engaged in your goals, but not emotionally attached. What’s the difference? When you are emotionally engaged, you create excitement & enthusiasm for the possibility of achieving your goals, but when you are emotionally attached you create fear & pain that you might not.

– Hal Elrod

We’re sure you’ve got some friends who need some inspiration right now. Do them (and us) a favor by sharing your unique referral link.

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