More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
by
Hal Elrod
Read between
May 31 - June 8, 2022
“If you study the world’s most successful people, you’ll find that one of the keys to their success is that they start their day with a structured morning routine. The Miracle Morning will enable you to do the same, even if you’ve never considered yourself to be a morning person.” — Rob Dial, host of The Mindset Mentor podcast and author of Level Up
The most sucessful people stucture their mornings
NLP (neurolinguistic programming).
NLP
As my rich dad often said, “I can always make another dollar, but I cannot make another day.” If you want to maximize every day of your life, read The Miracle Morning.
We can always make more dollars, we can't make more days.
with. To do this, you must be willing to accept responsibility for every aspect of your life from this point forward and refuse to give away your power by blaming anyone else. While blame may be useful in determining who is at fault for something, it is only when we are willing to accept responsibility for everything in our lives that we harness our ability to change or create anything in our lives.
Taking respondsability for our lives gives us the ability to change our lives.
“How do you it? What’s your secret?” The Miracle Morning is my secret. It’s my foundation for my daily routine. I feel like I finally got the memo and figured out the key to living a balanced life. Thanks, Hal.” —Maria
There are two additional resources that can help you as you begin your Miracle Morning journey: The Miracle Morning movie and the Miracle Morning Routine app.
“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” —Albert Einstein “Miracles do not happen in contradiction with nature, but in contradiction with what we know about nature.” —Saint Augustine “Each morning we are born again. What we do today is what matters most.” —Buddha
Buddha Einstien Quote
Our Perspectives Dictate Our Reality
Our perspectives dictate our reality.
everything happens for a reason, but it’s our responsibility to choose the reason.
I once read an alarming statistic: the average American is more than 20 pounds overweight, more than $10,000 in debt, lonely, and disengaged at work, and has less than one close friend.
Weight, debt and friend statistics for the usa
The problem is that when we focus on things that are out of our control, we feel out of control, which can cause us to experience stress, fear, anxiety, and even depression. At the end of the day (and the beginning), the only thing we can control is ourselves—what we do, who we become, and how we choose to show up for others. I would argue that becoming the best version of ourselves and creating the life we want is what we should be focused on each day.
Focus on what we can control.
“To make profound changes in your life, you need either inspiration or desperation.” —Tony Robbins
Inspiration or desperation create major change
“Your level of success will seldom exceed your level of personal development because success is something you attract by the person you become,”
Your level of sucess depends on your level of personal development
I remembered a blog post that I’d read on StevePavlina.com titled “The Rudder of the Day.” Steve compared the morning to the rudder on a ship: “If I’m lazy or haphazard in my actions during the first hour after I wake up, I tend to have a fairly lazy and unfocused day. But if I strive to make that first hour optimally productive, the rest of the day tends to follow suit.”
If your first hour is productive the rest of your day will be productive
“If you want your life to be different, you have to be willing to do something different first!”
If you want your life to be different you have to do something different
I ended up with a list of six practices: meditation, affirmations, visualization, exercise, reading, and journaling.
6 practices to elevate the morning.
According to the Social Security Administration, if you take any one hundred people at the start of their working careers and follow them for the next 40 years until they reach retirement age, you’ll find that only one will be wealthy, four will be financially secure, five will continue working—not because they want to, but because they have to in order to pay their bills—36 will be dead, and 54 will be broke and dependent on their friends, family, and the government to take care of them.
Only 1 out of 100 will be wealthy in retirement years.
Only 5 percent of the population succeed in creating a life of freedom, monetarily speaking. Everyone else, the other 95 percent, will struggle their entire lives. And while of course money is by no means the only—or even the best—measure of success, it can certainly represent safety, comfort, contribution, and freedom. When we’re financially secure, we are free to stop worrying about money and focus on the other areas of our life that matter most.
Only 5 percent of the population will create monteray freedom
When researchers from Cornell University asked thousands of people on their deathbeds to name the biggest regret in their entire life, 76 percent of participants had the same answer: “Not fulfilling my ideal self.” I don’t know about you, but I find it disheartening to think that three-quarters of the population will reach the end of their life and look back with regret, thinking, I wish I’d had the courage to fulfill my potential and live the life I was capable of living.
Biggest regret people have on their deathbed
Cause 1: Rearview Mirror Syndrome One of the most crippling causes of unfulfilled potential is a perspective that I call rearview mirror syndrome (RMS). Our subconscious minds are equipped with a self-limiting rearview mirror through which we continuously relive and re-create our past. We mistakenly believe that who we were is who we are, thus limiting our true potential in the present based on limitations we may have accepted for ourselves in the past.
RMS
On any given day, the average person thinks between 50,000 and 60,000 thoughts. The problem is that the majority of our thoughts are the same, or very similar, from one day to the next. This causes us to develop thought patterns. We habitually think the same thoughts and generate the same feelings and moods, day after day. Self-doubt becomes a thought pattern. Fear becomes a thought pattern. Anger becomes a thought pattern. This continues until we make a conscious decision and sustained effort to elevate our thinking. It’s no wonder most people go through life, day after day, month after
...more
We have between 50k - 60k thoughts a day.
Your life purpose can and will likely change or evolve over time. As you continue to grow and evolve, so, too, will your purpose. What you choose today is not set in stone. Knowing that you are not committing to one single defined purpose for the rest of your life may make settling on something now easier. I like to think that choosing a life purpose is like trying on and buying clothing. See how it fits and how it makes you feel, wear it for as long as it serves you, and be open to making changes when appropriate.
Your life purpose is like clothes you wear.
The real impact and consequence of each of our choices and actions—and even our thoughts—is monumental because every single thought, choice, and action is determining who we are becoming, which will ultimately determine the quality of our lives. As T. Harv Eker said in his bestselling book Secrets of the Millionaire Mind, “How you do anything is how you do everything.”
Every thought changes your destiny.
How you do one thing is how you do everything
Take this book, for example. The reality is that most people who read any nonfiction book never implement what they learn because no one is holding them accountable to do so. I’m guessing you might be able to relate to this yourself. Have you ever finished reading a book, one that contained life-changing information, and the only action you took was choosing the next book you were going to read? Yeah, me too. There is a way to change that.
Share what you are learning in books so you can be held accountable
If you don’t have someone in mind, or you’re convinced that no one you know would be up for being your accountability partner, you’re always welcome to request an accountability partner online in the Miracle Morning Community. This is quite common in the community. To quickly and easily reach out for an accountability partner, post something simple and straightforward like: “I just started reading The Miracle Morning, and I’m looking for an accountability partner to support each other in doing the 30-Day Journey. I’m in the central time zone, so please let me know if you’re up for it. Thanks!”
...more
Get accountability partner from miracle morning group
Jim Rohn famously stated, “You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with.” While this principle is sound, I think the number is somewhat arbitrary. For example, if you spend most of your time with only one person, that individual’s way of thinking, their emotional state, and their habits will affect you—influencing the way you think, your emotional state, and your habits.
We are the average of the people we spend the mlost time with.
“You’ve got to get up every morning with determination if you’re going to go to bed with satisfaction.” —George Lorimer
Wake up with determination to sleep with satisfacion
Since age and genetics are out of our control, I find it much more useful to focus on the factors that we can control—namely diet, exercise, and our evening rituals. For example, if your diet consists of processed foods, preservatives, artificial flavors and dyes, pesticides, and excessive sugar and carbohydrates, then your body may require more sleep to deal with the detrimental effects of such foods and to eliminate any toxins that you’ve consumed. Similarly, if you eat too close to bedtime (within an hour or two), you are burdening the body with digesting your food while you’re trying to
...more
Dont eat close to bedtime
Developing a basic understanding of what’s often referred to as the mind-body connection (or what scientists call the “biopsychosocial paradigm”) has become increasingly useful as research continues to prove that our thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and attitudes can positively or negatively affect our biological functioning. The brain and body are connected through neural pathways, and communication occurs via chemical and physical messengers, such as neurotransmitters and hormones. These messengers transmit signals between the body and the brain to control our everyday functions, from breathing,
...more
Thoughts are things.
Biopsychosocial paridigm
I am grateful that I’m getting ___ hours of sleep tonight. My mind and body are capable of extraordinary things, the least of which is generating an abundance of energy from ___ hours of sleep. I know that my mindset influences my biology, so I choose to wake up tomorrow feeling energized and excited to do my Miracle Morning.
Affirmation for good sleep
And if you’d like to delve even deeper into learning how to optimize your sleep, I recommend reading Sleep Smarter: 21 Proven Tips to Sleep Your Way to a Better Body, Better Health, and Bigger Success by Shawn Stevenson. It’s a favorite of mine, and one of the most well-researched books on the topic of sleep.
Sleep smarter 21
Book
I’ve heard it said that nobody really likes having to wake up early, but everyone loves the feeling of having woken up early. The same is often said about exercising—that nobody really likes working out, but everyone loves the feeling of having gotten in a workout.
No one likes___yet everyone wants.
Your first thought in the morning is typically whatever the last thought was that you had before you fell asleep.
Your first thought in the morning is linkedin with your last thought from night
Use a vibrating alarm clock. If you sleep next to someone who is adversely affected by the sound of an alarm clock going off in the morning, such as a spouse or a baby, you may need to get creative to keep in that person’s good graces. Luckily, there are dozens of options for vibrating alarm clocks. There are two primary designs: wearable technology, such as a wristwatch, and a vibrating pod that goes under your pillow. Just go to Google or Amazon and search “vibrating alarm clock” to see your options.
Vibrating alarm clock
Set a timer for your bedroom heater. If you struggle to get out of bed in the morning because it’s uncomfortably cold where you live, this tip may be useful. One member of the Miracle Morning Community said that in the winter, she keeps a portable heater next to her bed, plugged into an appliance timer that is set to turn on 15 minutes before her alarm clock sounds. That way when she wakes up, the room is warm, and she isn’t as tempted to crawl back under her covers to avoid the cold. She said it makes a huge difference!
Timer for bedroom heater
Keep caffeine next to the bed. I hesitated to include this tip in the updated and expanded edition of this book because it runs somewhat counter to what I wrote earlier about starting your day with coffee, but hear me out. Something I’ve been doing recently is making a packet of Pique organic jasmine green tea (it’s finely ground powder that easily mixes with room-temperature water) and keeping it on my bedside table. It only requires a minimal six to eight ounces of water and provides 45 to 55 grams of caffeine. Green tea is loaded with polyphenols that have remarkable health benefits, as
...more
Drink green tea as soon as you wake up.
Affirmations •Visualization •Exercise •Reading •Scribing I wrote down “Life S.A.V.E.R.S.” and got excited because the acronym felt very authentic and appropriate—these six practices had literally saved me from missing out on being able to create the life I aspired to live. While none of the items on this list were new to me and are likely not new to you, these are six of the most timeless, proven personal development practices, which many of the world’s most successful people, across all walks of life, have sworn by for centuries. Consistently practicing any one of these can elevate your
...more
S.A.V.E.R.S
A comprehensive research study conducted by the International Data Corporation (IDC) found that roughly 80 percent of smartphone users check their mobile phones within 15 minutes of waking up, and many within seconds. According to Dr. Nikole Benders-Hadi, a psychiatrist who specializes in neurology, “immediately turning to your phone when you wake up can start your day off in a way that is more likely to increase stress and leave you feeling overwhelmed.”
80 percent of cellphone users use their phones within 15 minutes of waking up.
Here are some of the most common practices to choose from and incorporate into your period of purposeful silence (in no particular order): •Meditation •Prayer •Gratitude •Breathwork •Contemplation Each of these practices will help you to quiet your mind, create space for you to receive wisdom from within (or above), and allow you to be more present and open to experiencing the benefits that will come from the remaining S.A.V.E.R.S.
Common practices to incorporate more silence
Beginning with Meditation While meditation is often thought of as a spiritual practice, as of this writing, there are over 1,400 scientific studies that demonstrate its profound mental, emotional, and physiological benefits. Many of these studies link a consistent meditation practice to sustained improvements in brain function, metabolism, blood pressure, and other bodily functions. Meditation has been shown to lower stress and anxiety, alleviate physical pain, promote better sleep, improve mood, focus, and concentration, and even increase lifespan. In fact, it was an article about Fortune 500
...more
Meditation
Henry Ford famously said, “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t, you’re right.”
Weather you think you can or can't, you're right.
would hear Matt shouting from the shower in his bedroom. Thinking he was yelling for me, I would approach his bedroom door only to find that he was shouting things like, “I am in control of my destiny! I deserve to be a success! I am committed to doing everything I must do today to reach my goals and create the life of my dreams!” What a weirdo, I thought.
Scream affirmations in the shower
