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.
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