Words of Wisdom from The Miracle Morning: The Not-So-Obvious Secret Guaranteed to Transform Your Life: Before 8AM by Hal Elrod
I have been an early riser for the last 20 years. In my early morning hours I have exercised, read countless books, written books, practised piano, created multiple businesses and more. In fact, I even created my own free course on the benefits of waking up early.
It was a joy to discover Hal Elrod’s book, The Miracle Morning: The Not-So-Obvious Secret Guaranteed to Transform Your Life: Before 8AM on this very topic. I loved Hal’s take on what makes a successful morning, but it was the life-transforming event prompting change in Hal’s life that stuck with me the most. Wow! What a story!
The Miracle Morning will show you how one simple habit change: getting up earlier, can transform your entire life.
Here are my favourite learnings from the book…
1. Accept responsibility
“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.”
2. You cannot fail
“There is nothing to fear, because you cannot fail—only learn, grow, and become better than you’ve ever been before.”
3. How you wake up each morning affects your entire day
“How you wake up each day and your morning routine (or lack thereof) dramatically affects your levels of success in every single area of your life. 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. By simply changing the way you wake up in the morning, you can transform any area of your life, faster than you ever thought possible.”
4. Controlling your habits is one of the most important skills you can master
“Considering that our habits create our life, there is arguably no single skill that is more important for you to learn and master than controlling your habits. You must identify, implement, and maintain the habits necessary for creating the results you want in your life, while learning how to let go of any negative habits which are holding you back from achieving your true potential.”
5. You are worthy, deserving, and capable
“You are just as worthy, deserving, and capable of creating and sustaining extraordinary health, wealth, happiness, love, and success in your life, as any other person on earth.”
6. What you do today determines what you become tomorrow
“Remember this truth: now matters more than any other time in your life, because it’s what you are doing today that is determining who you’re becoming, and who you’re becoming will always determine the quality and direction of your life.”
7. Guard your thoughts
“Your first thought in the morning is usually the last thought you had before you went to bed.”
8. Draw a line in the sand today
“If you don’t make the commitment today to start becoming the person you need to be to create the extraordinary life you really want, what makes you think tomorrow—or next week, or next month, or next year—are going to be any different? They won’t. And that’s why you must draw your line in the sand.”
9. Focus on adding value
“Don’t worry about trying to impress people. Just focus on how you can add value to their lives.”
10. Everything starts by being hard or uncomfortable
“Everything is difficult before it’s easy. Everything is uncomfortable before it’s comfortable.”
11. Time is more precious than money
“I can always make another dollar, but I cannot make another day.”
12. Find someone who has achieved what you want to achieve and learn from them.
“learn from the experts—those who have already done what you want to do. Don’t reinvent the wheel. The fastest way to achieve everything you want is to model successful people who have already achieved it.”
13. Dedicate blocks of time to specific projects
“To maximize productivity, schedule 3–5 hour blocks or half-days of singularly focused attention on ONE single activity or project, rather than trying to switch tasks every 60 minutes.”
