The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod Book Summary [BOOK SUMMARY & PDF]

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The Miracle Morning is an instructional book all about how to create a morning routine that sets you up for success in every aspect of life. Now practiced by thousands of people worldwide the Miracle Morning is helping transform lives and create greater success for its readers. By using the morning to invest in and develop yourself, you to can live the Miracle Morning and start on your path to success.

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INTRODUCTION

Who is this book for?

The Miracle Morning is an instructional book and is ideal for anyone looking to make a change in their life for the better. Sustaining a morning routine is the most effective way to create the lifestyle you’ve always dreamed of. This book is straight-forward and has easy to follow steps and suggestions making it the perfect guide for anyone ready to start taking action and changing their life.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yuCQHiUIpU]

In this Periscope stream I talk about 5 reasons why you should read the Miracle Morning. Follow me on Periscope @paulminors.

About the author

Hal Elrod set out to change peoples lives with his book The Miracle Morning. Elrod truly believes that having the perfect morning routine will set you up for success in every area of your life. Elrod is involved in personal coaching and excels at public speaking. The Miracle Morning has been a #1 best-selling book and is practiced worldwide.

In this summary

Elrod begins by addressing why you need to start functioning at your full potential before moving on to discuss how he came up with the Miracle Morning routine. Elrod outlines his 5-step snooze-proof strategy and Life S.A.V.E.R.S. – the 6 self-development practices that you should adopt. He explains how in just 6 minutes, you can get results and how you can customise your morning to best benefit you and your goals. Finally, Elrod explains how to start incorporating this into your life, the stages you will go through and how all it will take is 30 days to form and establish your new habits.

BOOK SUMMARY

WHY YOU NEED THIS

Hal Elrod argues that there are three key reasons that everyone, including you, should take on the miracle morning and change your life.

You are worth it. Success and happiness is something that everyone is capable of having, everyone is deserving.
You need to stop settling. Whether it be personally, professionally or financially, you need to set goals and dedicate the time necessary to achieve them. Settling for less is not the answer.
Your morning routine has a significant effect on your success in every area of your life, it’s not just about energy levels.

”Focused, productive, successful mornings generate focused, productive, successful days—which inevitably create a successful life—in the same way that unfocused, unproductive, and mediocre mornings generate unfocused, unproductive, and mediocre days, and ultimately a mediocre quality of life.”

Elrod adds that even if you don’t think that you are a morning person, there is a way and the Miracle Morning will show you how.

”You'll be blown away by how much more energy, motivation, and time you're going to have, with increased productivity, significantly less stress, improved health and way more vitality and joy.”

WHERE IT ALL BEGAN

Hal Elrod technically died at age 20 following a car accident. He was told that he would never run again let alone walk. This was the first time he truly felt he hit rock bottom. Elrod actually recovered completely and not only walks but ran a 52-mile ultramarathon.

Elrod was struck again when he went bankrupt following the global financial crisis. This left him depressed and desperate, once again, hitting rock bottom. In a bad way, Elrod went for a run and listened to a podcast. Something clicked for him and the following phrase was the real motivator behind The Miracle Morning;

”Your level of success, will rarely exceed your level of personal development, because success is something you attract by the person you become”.

Elrod discusses how while he planned how and when he would work on personal development it became clear to him that mornings were a time with the least distractions, a time when you are still motivated and less likely to forget or skip your work. He started on his own personal development journey by spending his mornings practicing, he spent 1 hour doing 6 activities and he believes that these actions are what changed his life, and can change yours too. He spent the first hour of every day in silence, reading books, reciting affirmations, visualising his goals, journaling his thoughts and exercising. And with that, the Miracle Morning was created!

3 steps

Elrod explains that 95% of people settle. They spend their time wishing for more but settling for less. And rather than continuing on in the vicious cycle, there are 3 steps that one can take to turn this around.

Step #1: Acknowledge the 95% Reality Check

It’s time to accept that if you don’t act now, nothing will change and you may never realise your full potential. You don’t want to live a mediocre life so don’t be part of the 95% who settle.

Step #2: Identify the Causes of Mediocrity

Elrod identifies 7 possible reasons that you are living a mediocre life; you are living in the past, you have no purpose, you are isolating your decisions, there is no accountability, you have a circle of influence that promotes mediocrity, you aren’t working on personal development and finally, you lack a sense of urgency.

Step #3: Draw Your Line In the Sand

Elrod’s first step is to make the first move, make a decision and ‘draw your line in the sand. Commit to making a change effective immediately. You have to stop putting it off, today is the day!

WHAT’S YOUR WHY?

'The Miracle Morning is about recreating that experience of waking up feeling energized & excited.'Click To Tweet

We’ve all heard the saying; “You snooze, you lose” before, and Elrod emphasises the significance of this phrase. By pressing snooze and essentially delaying getting up and out of bed until the last minute means that you are delaying living your life. Rather than jumping out of bed, ready to embrace the day, you are resisting against it.

Elrod doesn’t believe that we need a standard 8 hours of sleep each night, it’s a myth. After many experiments on himself and others, he emphasises that the key factor in waking up with energy is that you tell yourself before you go to bed, that you would be getting enough sleep that night and would wake up in the morning feeling energised and ready to go. Regardless of whether its 4 hours or 9 hours, if you acknowledge and accept that you’ll be getting a good amount of sleep, then you’ll feel great in the morning.

”The Miracle Morning is largely about recreating that experience of waking up feeling energized and excited, and doing it every-single-day of your life—for the rest of your life! It's about getting out of bed with purpose—not because you have to, but because you genuinely want to—and dedicating time each day to developing yourself into the person you need to be to create the most extraordinary, fulfilling, and abundant life you can imagine.”

THE 5-STEP SNOOZE-PROOF WAKE-UP STRATEGY

Elrod has come up with a 5-step process to stop you hitting snooze and losing your mornings.

Step #1: Set Your Intentions Before Bed

It’s really important to go to bed with a positive frame of mind and outlook for the next day. Elrod points out that the first thing you’re likely to think about when you wake up is whatever you were thinking about the night before. Be conscious of this and think positively about the day ahead.

Step #2: Move Your Alarm Clock Across The Room

This one is key, having your alarm next to your bed is going to do you no favours. Elrod suggests you move it to the other side of the room, this encourages you to physically get out of bed to turn it off, naturally spurring energy and helping to wake you up.

Step #3: Brush Your Teeth

There’s nothing quite like the feeling of freshly cleaned teeth, do this first thing in the morning and you’ll have taken a good step towards waking up and getting ready. No-one likes morning breath!

Step #4: Drink a Full Glass of Water

After a night of sleep, we all wake up with dehydration, and dehydration is a key factor for fatigue. More often than not, those moments during the day when you feel sleepy and fatigued is due to a lack of water. Elrod suggests that you start with a glass of water first thing in the morning to get you going.

Step #5: Get Dressed or Jump In the Shower

Elrod’s 5th step has two options; a. get dressed in your exercise clothes so your dressed and ready to be active. Or b. have a shower, this gives you that ‘fresh’ clean start to the day.

THE LIFE S.A.V.E.R.S.

The Life S.A.V.E.R.S are six practices that Elrod guarantees are going to help you reach your full potential. These are personal development practices with the aim of helping you to find the forces within you that will help you change and transform your life.

S is for Silence

Elrod acknowledges that we lead busy fast-paced lives that are constantly noisy. Being actively silent can be life-changing, it allows you to increase your self-awareness while simultaneously reducing stress. This time spent in silence can be used to set goals and priorities. A few ways to be actively silent are; meditating, praying or breathing.

A is for Affirmations

They may feel odd to begin with, but Elrod emphasises the importance and the power of positive affirmations. They help you build a mindset that allows you to transform your life. It’s too easy to talk down to ourselves and to revert to negative talk. Work on using affirmations to change this limiting habit.

Elrod suggests considering the following points to establish what affirmations are going to work for you;

What do you want?
Why do you want this?
Who do you have to be in order to make this happen?
What are you going to commit to doing to make this happen?
What quotes, phrases, and perspectives inspire you?

V is for Visualisation

Elrod encourages you to use visualisation as a tool to imagine the lifestyle, behaviours and future you want, once you have visualised this, it will be easy to put it into action. As Elrod discusses, this is often a method that top athletes use, with success, to better their performance. He likens it to a ‘mental rehearsal’ – you’re practicing what you are going to put into action.

Elrod mentions that more often than not, your past can hinder your visualisations. You have to let go of what has happened and focus on what you want to make happen.

”Creative Visualization enables you to design the vision that will occupy your mind, ensuring that the greatest pull on you is your future—a compelling, exciting, and limitless future.”

E is for Exercise

Elrod stresses the importance in engaging in exercise daily. Regardless of how long, moving your body encourages blood flow, mental clarity and will boost energy levels, health and will increase your productivity. Despite what some people think, exercising will help you maintain energy levels throughout the entire day.

R is for Reading

A key aspect of Elrod’s personal development process is learning and gaining knowledge. One of the best ways to do this is by reading. You can read about almost any topic from any expert and only be increasing your knowledge and skills. There is nothing to be lost. Elrod suggests aiming to read at least 10 pages a day, set yourself a goal and stick to it.

S is for Scribing

Scribing or writing is Elrod’s final personal development practice. He really emphasises the importance of journaling, even for 5-10 minutes a day as a way to get thoughts out of your head and onto paper. This can help eliminate stress, clear the mind and help you discover breakthroughs and new ideas.

THE 6-MINUTE MIRACLE

Elrod acknowledges that not everyone can dedicate an entire hour to their morning routines, but he believes that absolutely anyone has a spare 6 minutes, even on those days you are really pressed for time. 6 minutes is the minimum amount of time you need to start putting Elrod’s Miracle Morning into practice and changing your life. Here’s how he suggests you spend your 6 minutes:

Minute 1 – Spend your first minute in total silence. Don’t rush or stress, just sit in dedicated silence time and make an effort to slow your mind down, relax and release any stress.

Minute 2 – Spend your second minute focusing on your daily affirmations, read these out loud!

Minute 3 – The third minute should be spent visualising, visualise yourself reaching your goals. Elrod also suggests creating a vision board!

Minute 4 – Write for the fourth minute, note down the things that you are grateful for and proud of. Write down your intentions for the day.

Minute 5 – Spend a minute reading a few pages of a self-development book, even if you only read about one little idea it will be a valuable input for your day.

Minute 6 – The final step is to exercise or move, just for one minute. Star jumps, press ups, sit ups, lunges or a stair run. Just do something to get your heart racing!

You can customise your very own Miracle Morning

Although Elrod promotes the Miracle ‘Morning’ he explains that it can be done any time of the day, if the evening is free, then use that time to go through the actions.

Elrod suggests that you don’t eat until after you have performed all of the steps in your miracle morning. He also stresses the importance of eating fresh fruits and vegetables and healthy living foods. Food is fuel for your body and your mind.

You don’t have to do the same exact thing every day, mix it up with different workouts, new vision boards or new meditation practices. Keep it interesting for yourself.

Elrod also notes that this isn’t strictly for the working week, the more you engage in the Miracle Morning the better you are going to feel so why not do it on weekends also?

IT’S GOING TO TAKE 30 DAYS TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE

”It's been said that our quality of life is created by the quality of our habits.'Click To Tweet

Elrod’s seen the evidence, that you can change any habit in 30 days. If you want to give this a real go and change your life for the better, you need to commit to it for 30 days.

”It's been said that our quality of life is created by the quality of our habits. If a person is living a successful life, then that person simply has the habits in place that are creating and sustaining their levels of success.”

Elrod explains what the first 30 days of implementing (or removing) a habit may be like;

Days 1-10 Phase One: Unbearable

It’s inevitable that the first 10 days are going to be tough, once you’ve hit day 2 or 3 you begin to realise that it’s not as much fun as you first thought and time begins to drag. It’s new and different, it’s expected to feel a bit of resistance.

Elrod emphasises that this is only temporary, 10 days isn’t long to struggle through, anyone can do it. And you’ll come out the other side.

Days 11-20 Phase Two: Uncomfortable

Once you hit day 10 you are over the hump, the hard part is over. Your getting used to your new routine, although not totally comfortable with it, you know what to expect and find it easier. This period still requires discipline and commitment.

Days 21-30 Phase Three: Unstoppable

The last few days are the easy part, this is where you establish your habit as part of your daily ritual and work to sustain this for the future. This is often when pride steps in and you can be proud looking back on your successes.

CONCLUSION

Key Takeaways

Don’t believe the myth that you need a minimum of 8 hours sleep to wake refreshed and energised. Elrod emphasises the importance of acknowledging that you can get a lot less and still be productive and energised.
Stop snoozing your alarm. Take 5 simple steps to avoid falling into this trap; one of which is putting your alarm on the other side of the room.
The 6 key practices are; silence, affirmations, visualisation, exercise, reading, and scribing.
If you don’t have much time in the morning, all it takes is 6 minutes to create your Miracle Morning. If you spend 1 minute on each of the key practices you’ll be on the road to transforming your life.
It takes 30 days to make and sustain a new habit.

Action Steps

Establish a few positive affirmations that you can repeat to yourself daily, make sure they are inspiring!
Create a vision board, put all your short term goals and long-term dreams on the board, this will help you envision the future you want for yourself.
Practice meditation, there’s no right or wrong way to do this, just take a moment to yourself and meditate.
Come up with a quick easy to do exercise routine, something you can do at home quickly and do daily.
Are you ready to take Hal Elrod’s Miracle Morning 30 day challenge? Commit to this for 30 days, and see how you feel at the end. Journal the process so you can track your mindset. You can sign up for the Miracle Morning 30-day Life Transformation Challenge here.
If you enjoyed the summary, you can download the book on Amazon.
I’ve written a blog post called The Ultimate Productivity Routine Experiment – check it out and see if you can implement any of these into your new routine. There’s also a post about the Worst Thing you can do in the Morning, it’s worth a read!