I am absolutely not a morning person. I never have been. I'm pretty much a demon until 11am. I know that the early bird catches the worm and all that and because I start work at 8am I do need to rise early out of necessity. Honestly though, I'd rather not.
I'm just finishing an online course called The Science of Well-Being by Yale University. It sounds obvious, but one of the most essential factors in people's happiness levels, studies have shown time and time again, is sleep. While I may falter in some of the other contributory factors like exercise, meditation and gratitude, sleep is something I can't not prioritise. When people say to me 'I only got 4 hours sleep last night' I'm like 'HUH?! How are you still functioning?!' I'd literally collapse. So, whether its been before exams, stressful times at work or after a night out, I always get the amount of sleep I need. I think that's why, until now, I've classified mornings as time which would be better spent unconscious.
Therefore, even though I've heard The Miracle Morning recommended time and time again over the years alongside books I have loved, I prematurely judged it as 'not my thing'. However, when my cousin dropped her copy at my house in the middle of a pandemic saying it had changed her life, I kind of had to take notice. And I'm super glad I did.
What is The Miracle Morning?
The book begins with testimonies about how The Miracle Morning has transformed people's lives. From losing 25 pounds to quitting smoking to attaining top grades to finding true love to improving relationships to having more energy to accomplishing long term goals to having every day 'feel like Christmas' - this book can purportedly help you do anything.
Hal Elrod tells us about how he has rebuilt his life from rock bottom twice. The first was after a near-fatal car accident, the second was complete financial ruin after the recession.
Firstly, this book definitely has that cheesy self-helpy vibe. You get it even from the cover: 'You're about to discover how to create the most extraordinary life you've ever imagined... right NOW.' It's very 'You can do anything!', 'Live your dreams', 'Believe to achieve'.
But, if you can get past the cheerleader style, Elrod makes some brilliant points. He believes that levels of success, whether that be in terms of career, health, wealth, happiness or relationships, is a direct result of level of personal development. Therefore, to achieve anything, you have to work on your self first.
Elrod says that for a behaviour to be effective, you have to spent time on it regularly. This totally makes sense to me. If I want to become a good reader, I need to spend 10 minutes a day reading. I can't just do a full day readathon once a year and expect to be great. Similarly, if I want to get in shape, I need to spent half an hour a few times a week exercising. I can't just do a few crunches as a one off and expect to have a six pack. Therefore, if you want to reach your full personal development potential, you need to improve yourself a little most days.
We can probably all agree there are aspects of ourselves we want to improve. But how? What are the concrete steps which will get us where we need to be? Well Elrod has an answer for that too, and even sums it up in a nice lil acronym: Life SAVERS
Silence - sit quietly meditating
Affirmation - tell yourself you are the things you want to be and you'll start to believe it
Visualisation - visualise how you want your life to be down to minute detail
Exercise - do anything that raises your heart rate
Reading - fill your mind with new ideas and learning to start the day
Scribe - write something: a journal, a book, anything you can find expression in
The Morning Miracle is also fully customizable. You can spend 6 minutes doing it, or 60. The point it you add a short segment onto your day when you wake up when you focus solely on yourself.
Another great point Elrod makes which really struck a chord with me was, do it NOW. I'm very guilty of thinking 'One day I'll write a book' or 'One day I'll incorporate meditation into my daily routine' without ever actually getting round to it. Elrod says, if you are putting it off today, you'll most likely put it off tomorrow, on Monday and next year too.
Does The Miracle Morning actually work?
What does my Miracle Morning look like?
Suppressing my inner sceptic, I reasoned that I couldn't write the book off or deny all those glowing testimonies until I'd actually given The Miracle Morning a go myself. I decided if I was actually going to give it a go, I had to be realistic about how much time I was going to dedicate to it, otherwise I'd get resentful and give up quickly. Therefore, my miracle morning has consisted of getting up a mere 30 minutes earlier than usual. I do an 11 minute morning Yoga With Adrienne followed by a 7 minute guided meditation then a couple of minutes of reading, journalling, affirmation and visualisation.
Over the last two weeks I've completed 8 miracle mornings. If I stay up later than usual, I do still prioritise the extra half hour of sleep. That's one thing I disagree with Elrod on. He says you only need the amount of sleep you believe you need. While I do understand where he's coming from (i.e. if you go to sleep thinking 'ahhh I'm going to be so tired when I wake up' that's probably the first thing you'll think when you wake up), as mentioned above, the science says we do need at least 7 hours sleep a night to function properly.
The great thing about The Miracle Morning though is you can do it Monday-Friday, 7 days a week or a few days a week and still see benefits.
Benefits of my Miracle Morning
I begin barely able to open my eyes, and end feeling awake, at peace and ready to take on the day. Not only that, the contented feelings last throughout the day.
I absolutely love every element of my miracle morning and I think that's the point. You have to choose stuff you want to do which you are motivated to get out of bed for. I know I am nourishing my body and mind and I feel really happy throughout the whole thing. Quite a feat for before 8am.
Already, and I almost can't believe I'm writing this, I'm beginning to see the long-term goals I've been visualising come to fruition. How this works I have no idea, but it does. If I'm already seeing results after 8 miracle mornings, imagine what I could achieve with 20 or 50 or more! I think when we're bogged down with the everyday of life, it's all too easy to lose sight of the big picture: what we actually want. If you're reminding yourself everyday, you're more likely to make the solid steps to work towards it.
Overall
Surprising, empowering, effective.
Give it a go. As I discovered, you can't knock it til you try it. Get your copy of The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod.
If you like The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod, you will also like:
- The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg - my absolute FAVE self-development book which uncovers the science of why we behave the way we do and how our life is ultimately a result of our habits. Duhigg expounds a similar theory to Elrod that each small action we do every day leads to big things, but is more scientific and less cheesy.
- The Secret by Rhonda Byrne - I think you have to read this (or watch the documentary) to better understand the power of visualisation and affirmation. While I don't think The Secret is the whole story, it's a good place to start.
Have you ever read The Miracle Morning? Did it work for you?
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