The Miracle Equation: The Two Decisions That Turn Your Biggest Goals from Possible, to Probable, to Inevitable

by Hal Elrod

You can always fall back on the universal truism that if another human being has done something that you desire, their accomplishment serves as evidence that it’s also possible for you.

The tool I have always used to keep me focused on my Unwavering Faith in my goal and myself is what I call my Miracle Mantra

Your Miracle Mantra is a single sentence that encapsulates your commitment to your mission and reminds you that maintaining Unwavering Faith and putting forth Extraordinary Effort—over an extended period of time—are what will make your miracle a reality.

Here is the basic template to create your Miracle Mantra: I am committed to maintaining Unwavering Faith that I will ____________ [insert your mission], and I will continue putting forth Extraordinary Effort until I do. No matter what, there is no other option.

So how does a self-proclaimed lazy person transform into a self-disciplined, hardworking individual who is capable of consistently putting forth Extraordinary Effort and creating miracles? By simplifying Extraordinary Effort so that it feels much less…extraordinary.

Extraordinary Effort has three components: ✓ Actions that move you closer to your ideal results ✓ Actions that will most likely take you out of your comfort zone ✓ Consistent effort over an extended period of time (regardless of your results along the way)

If you make the choice to study wealthy individuals, adopt their mindset (faith), and model their behavior (effort) over a sustained period of time, you will experience similar results. Of course, you can replace “becoming wealthy” with any desired result that’s important to you (being happy, being healthy, being a great parent, and so on).

STEP 1: Predetermine your process.

Every goal or result that we wish to achieve is preceded and created by a process—the specific actions necessary to produce the desired results and ultimately the life that those results will create for us. Which tasks will you perform every day, before anything else? If you’re not sure what those tasks should be, do some research. Search on Google for steps to achieve the type of goal you’re working toward, or search Amazon for bestselling books in your category. Reach out to a mentor or another Miracle Maven. It’s okay if the first step in your process is to research and figure out what your process should be.

Once I had interviewed all of them, I realized that they all had one thing in common: consistency. They weren’t doing any specific activities that were different from what I was doing. They didn’t possess any special talents or sales tricks. They were simply committed to the process of making a predetermined number of phone calls and scheduling a predetermined number of appointments to be in line with their sales goals.

“Successful people make a habit of doing what unsuccessful people do only some of the time”

To predetermine your process, simply ask yourself: Which activities, done consistently, will make my success inevitable?

STEP 2: Release any emotional attachment to your results.

STEP 3: Schedule your process.

One way to help ensure that you follow through with your process is to schedule it, ideally as a recurring appointment. You must be proactive with your days and how you spend your time, or nothing will change.

I’ve found that if something isn’t important enough to make it onto your schedule, chances are it’s not going to happen. At least not consistently.

It’s easier to get where you want to go when you’re not only clear about exactly which actions will get you there and when you will do them, but also when they’re written in your schedule.

STEP 4: Safeguard your success with accountability.

It’s important for you to figure out what motivates you most and then put it into action. Oftentimes, asking someone else to hold you accountable is key, and providing mutual accountability is even better.

STEP 5: Assess your results and adjust your process accordingly.

I recommend scheduling weekly or monthly check-ins with yourself to see if your process warrants tweaking based on your results so far.

“The micro done over and over again creates the macro.”

I’m sure you can conjure up all kinds of reasons as to why you believe you procrastinate, but there’s really only one: You associate some level of pain, fear, or discomfort with the activity you’re procrastinating about. That’s it. To overcome procrastination, understand that all of that pain, fear, and discomfort is imagined. It’s all in your head. And all of it becomes irrelevant in the midst of your doing the thing you perceive as painful, fearful, or uncomfortable.

The more you think about it, the more you procrastinate. But actually doing it? Doing the thing you’ve been thinking about—the thing you know you need to do—is liberating. It frees you from your fear, it’s almost never as painful as you told yourself it was going to be, and soon what you imagined would be uncomfortable is nestled gently inside your comfort zone. So in order for you to find the motivation you need to do the things you habitually procrastinate on, you must move. You must take the first step, and that step, that movement, will generate the motivation you need to keep moving forward. But that first step is on you.

Overcoming procrastination is simply a matter of taking the first, seemingly inconsequential, step toward doing what you need to do to achieve your goals. Once you begin to move, you’ve already beat procrastination. Now it’s a matter of continuing to move in the same direction. Do that each day with your predetermined process, and before you know it, your only struggle with procrastination will be trying to remember what it felt like.