Hal Elrod, an American motivational speaker and coach, provides a self-help guide in his 2012 book The Miracle Morning. As he claims, this book can very well change any or every aspect of your life for the better, as his goal has always been to help people reach their potential. Once you implement the routine discussed in The Miracle Morning into your daily life, your aspiration should be attainable.
The Miracle Morning Summary
Here are the 20 lessons to learn from The Miracle Morning:
#1 Establish a Morning Routine
Not only is it important that you wake up early, but how you wake up can also affect you. It is important that you establish a productive and focused routine so that it will result in productive and focused days. Changing how you wake up can determine whether you have a successful or unsuccessful day.
#2 Make Time
Life can be busy and hectic, so finding the time to get your life together or to start a new routine seems almost impossible. Elrod suggests making time. Take a moment to sit down, plan out your day, and make time for your new goals and routine. Making time is the first step.
#3 Sitting in Silence
Okay, so you’ve woken up early, now what? Elrod claims the first step, from a total of six, in the morning is to sit in silence for at least a few minutes. Whether you choose to pray, focus on your breathing, or meditate, sitting in silence can bring a form of peace that will be helpful as you start your miracle morning. It can help you stay focused on what is truly important in your life and bring along self-awareness.
#4 Affirmations Can Lead to Empowerment
Affirmations in the morning are especially powerful because they can lead to a sense of empowerment. Take this portion of your morning to write down what you want in life, why you want it, who you want to become, and what you are actually willing to do to really change your life. This method is designed to allow you to develop the mindset you specifically need to target a specific part of your life. Reading your affirmations should be a daily habit and updating them should also become a practice.
#5 Visualize Your Goals
Visualization, Elrod explains, is the practice of actively trying to create positive results through the use of imagination to create specific scenarios occurring in your life. It is almost like a rehearsal of what you need to do to achieve specific outcomes. Visualization encourages a positive goal in your future that can motivate you and make you look forward to the future while also helping overcome a habit like procrastination.
#6 Exercise in the Morning
Even if your exercise consists of only a few minutes, it will still benefit you for the rest of the day. Exercise is noted to boost energy, improve your self-confidence and well-being, while obviously improving your health. Incorporating exercise into your miracle morning is beneficial in that you get to do it before you have had an entire day to think of excuses of why you should not work out.
#7 Reading is Just as Important
The next step is reading. Although reading only for a few minutes would seem not to have much impact, it is the act of doing that is beneficial. Elrod points out that it only takes one idea to completely change your life, and that idea might become apparent in those minutes of reading each morning. Plus, reading is a method in which you directly gain knowledge that can bring you success in practically any and every area of your life. Use this time to read on ideas that you specifically are interested in and will benefit you.
#8 Scribing, or Journaling Clears Your Head
Incorporating scribing or writing, in the form of journaling, in the morning is a useful method in learning about yourself, reflecting on personal issues, and a method to improve. Elrod claims that journaling helped him gain clarity, capture ideas, and reflect on his progress, and the same could happen to you.
#9 How to Kill Procrastination
Procrastination is a common habit that defers you from getting things done. Elrod recommends that in order to maximize your productivity you must begin your morning with the least enjoyable tasks, which sometimes happen to be the most important. Then after you have finished all the tasks you’ve been dreading, you get to enjoy the rest of your day by doing things you actually enjoy.
#10 95% of Our Society is Part of Mediocrity
Elrod claims that about 95% of society accepts less than they actually want in life, this is known as mediocrity. It is important to acknowledge this percentage because being average is not something to be proud of in this instance. Avoiding Mediocrity – To prevent from becoming part of the 95% that accepts mediocrity it is important to know the causes.
#11 We Are Not Who We Once Were
Hal Elrod discusses the idea of Rearview Mirror Syndrome (RMS) which he describes as “self-limiting” in which we continuously let the past take over as we are concerned with reliving and recreating it. Our potential is limited by our own idea that who we once were in life is still who we are. This belief hinders our own self-confidence as we believe that obstacles that were present in our past may still be obstacles in our present.
#12 Identifying Your Purpose is Important
The guide notes that many people fail at identifying what they believe their life purpose to be. Without a life purpose, people fail to have a motivating reason to live–essentially if you find yourself without a purpose who are merely surviving. If you identify what that purpose is for you, even if it is small, you are fully committing yourself to your life. Also, your life purpose can change at any point, it does not have to remain stagnant.
#13 Isolating Incidents Still Have and Influence
Despite the common belief that some incidents in your life have no influence on each other, Elrod actually argues against this. He actually argues that every choice we make has an influence and determines who we become, which eventually molds the way of our life.
#14 Take Accountability of Yourself
Accountability is a quality that is supported by people who are successful. Specifically, accountability is taking responsibility for an outcome or action. Just how we were held accountable by our parents and teachers when we were younger, we must now do the same on our own accord. It promotes progress and improvement.
#15 There is No Correct Amount of Sleep
Despite the common belief that there is a magic number of hours that everyone needs to feel well-rested, Elrod argues that it is all about mentality. The power of our mind, in connection to our body, cannot be ignored and so if you tell yourself that you are going to wake up tired and groggy after not getting an x amount of hours of sleep, then that will most likely happen. Strive to change how you see the number of hours of sleep that you get and see how that affects your mentality. Also, avoid hitting the snooze button, as it becomes a way to reject the start of your day which can affect your outlook.
#16 Set Your Goals Before Going to Sleep
These next five lessons in The Miracle Morning Summary will explore methods to avoid hitting the snooze button. We’ve all experienced when the last thought we have at night is our first thought in the morning. Precisely because of this reason, Elrod claims that it is best to have your set before going to bed so that when you wake up your intentions are clear.
#17 Your Alarm Should Not Be Within Reach
Whether it is an alarm clock or your phone, place whatever device you use to wake up, far from your bed. This not only prevents you from hitting snooze and going back to bed but getting up and moving in the morning promotes the energy needed to feel awake.
#18 Brushing Your Teeth Promotes Activity
Brushing your teeth in the morning sounds a little ridiculous to mention because it is already expected. However, brushing your teeth right after waking up is an activity that can help you feel awake and energized, especially if you splash cold water on your face.
#19 Drink Water
Staying hydrated throughout your day is important, and so drinking a full glass of water in the morning is beneficial not just for your miracle morning but for the rest of your day. Drinking a glass of water promotes not just body rehydration but also mind rehydration.
#20 Wear Your Workout Clothes
To fully prepare yourself for your miracle morning, changing into the clothes you wear to do exercise, part of the miracle routine, encourages productivity.
Top 10 Quotes from The Miracle Morning
- “Remember, the moment you accept total responsibility for everything in your life is the moment you claim the power to change anything in your life.”
- “Love the life you have while you create the life of your dreams. Don’t think you have to choose one over the other.”
- “Discipline creates lifestyle.”
- “There is nothing to fear, because you cannot fail—only learn, grow, and become better than you’ve ever been before.”
- “Your entire life changes the day that you decide you will no longer accept mediocrity for yourself.”
- “One of the saddest things in life is to get to the end and look back in regret, knowing that you could have been, done, and had so much more.”
- “We must embrace the fact that if we don’t commit to thinking and living differently than most people now, we are setting ourselves up to endure a life of mediocrity, struggle, failure and regret—just like most people.”
- “Always remember that where you are is a result of who you were, but where you go depends entirely on who you choose to be, from this moment on.”
- “Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body and prayer is to the soul. We become the books we read.”
- “How you do anything is how you do everything.”
Free PDF Download of The Miracle Morning Summary to Save or Print
We created a PDF file with the summary and quotes on this page for easy access: Download The Miracle Morning PDF Summary. If you want to buy the paperback version of the book, check out this page.
Hal Elrod’s Keynote Speech
Animated Summary of The Miracle Morning Book
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