I hate exaggeration. Nothing irritates me more than when people make illegitimate claims and expect you to fall for them. Advertising and marketing is out of the career options for me! However, once or twice in a lifetime you will come across a big, bold claim and find out that it is true. The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod was one of those times for me.
Routines are not fun. They are not imaginative, adventurous, or thrilling. They are not exciting, creative, or novel.
But they are grounding, effective, and powerful.
The consistency of a routine is the single most greatest factor that can change your life. The consistency of a habit is what makes it effective.
Mornings are the perfect time for you to create healthy, transformative habits and be able to stick with them. What you do everyday before you start seeing people and going about your life is what determines the quality of your day.
Your morning routine is a time for you to program your mind, body, and spirit. You set yourself up in advance for the kind of person you want to be and what you want to take place throughout the day.
This profound concept was first introduced to me in Hal Elrod’s incredible book, The Miracle Morning.
I read that book from cover to cover in three days. I gulped it up. Hal Elrod really has a way of making you reflect on whether or not you are living up to your full potential. He writes:
Every day you and I wake up, we face the same universal challenge: to overcome mediocrity and live to our full potential. Unfortunately, most people never even come close. Approximately 95% of our society settles for less than they want in life, wishing they had more, living with regret and never understanding that they could be, do, and have all that they want. Arguably the single most signifiant cause of mediocrity and unfulfilled potential is that most people have no sense of urgency to improve themselves so they can improve their lives. Human nature is to live with a ‘someday’ mindset and think life will work itself out. This someday mindset is perpetual, and it leads to a life of procrastination, unfulfilled potential and regret.
The Miracle Morning, Hal Elrod
Adopting a morning routine full of healthy habits is the way to overcome this “universal challenge” of mediocrity.
If you want to be energetic, creative, productive, focused, disciplined, and in control of your day, then you NEED to have a strong foundation (i.e. morning routine).
To be quite honest, everyone has different habits that make them feel great. But, there are a standard set of habits that have been universally effective for eons. These are things like reading, journaling, exercising, meditating, etc. These activities are non-negotiables. We all know that they are healthy for our bodies and brains. It’s just that we don’t do them.
MY MORNING ROUTINE
The morning routine that changed MY life is more or less based on the six activities that Hal Elrod suggested in The Miracle Morning. He used an acronym called SAVERS. Each letter in SAVERS stands for a particular activity that is bound to give you increased focus, productivity, and energy throughout the rest of the day. From personal experience, I would like to tell you that nothing has been truer.
1. S- Silence
Silence is any form of meditation. It is a time for you to be still and quiet and listen to your own heart. For me, I use that as a time of prayer, to connect with God’s spirit within me. This is the first thing I do upon waking. Before I talk to anyone or look at anything, I make sure to seek God first. He takes precedence and priority above all. I am not my best self without God.
2. A- Affirmations
Affirmations are statements you recite that are in alignment with who you want to be and what you want to do. Elrod suggests repeating your affirmations daily, ideally out loud, and explains that “they immediately make an impression on your subconscious mind and transform how you think and feel so you can overcome your limiting beliefs and behaviors and replace them with those you need to succeed.” I recite my affirmations right after my prayer time. They are mostly Bible verses that I have come to memorize about who I am in Christ and what I am put on earth to do for Him and through Him.
3. V- Visualization
Visualization is the “practice of seeking positive results in your outer world by using your imagination to create mental images of specific outcomes in your life.” Through visualization you train your brain to see things as you would like them to be instead of as they are. I use this time to look at my vision board and pray over all of my goals. I do this because faith is the title deed to unlock the blessings of God. When you believe in your heart in something so strongly, God will see to it that you get it. Faith tends to do that.
4. E- Exercise
It should come as no surprise that exercising regularly has positive effects on your health, stress levels, energy, metabolism, and mood. I like to start the day off with a light stretching routine or a slow walk to get my blood circulating properly and send some oxygen to my neurons. I am not a huge “morning workout” person. I do my major workouts after the work day or in the late evenings because then I don’t have to do work while I’m physically tired and I can just sleep right away. Exercising regularly changed my whole outlook on life. I see myself as capable of anything now. I am able to give so much more to the people around me because I know deep in my gut that I am strong and enduring.
5. R- Reading
I usually listen to an audiobook while I do the light stretching routine or go on a walk (about 20-30 minutes). Yes, two birds with one stone. Reading to me is like watching a movie that I direct and produce but that was written by someone else. It satisfies my right cerebral hemisphere on levels I can’t express. However, I don’t always have time to open up a paper book and chill in a corner and just read. I do that on weekends only, to be honest. Audiobooks are the perfect way to indulge in some books while I walk around my school or house and do other things.
6. S- Scribing
Scribing is just a fancy term for writing (gotta keep that acronym lol). This could mean a variety of things: journaling, brainstorming ideas, or making a gratitude list. Personally, I do a combination of all three in one page every morning. I praise God for who He is and thank Him for all the wonderful things He is doing, then I write about anything that I need to vent about to my little diary (spooky), and then I jot down any ideas I have regarding anything that I want to do that day. Writing in the morning is like emptying your brain from all the trash that you don’t want. I am part artist-part scientist. I understand that if I want to do quality thinking throughout the day, then I need to take out the time to scrape the layers of scum that lay atop.
Conclusion:
Doing my SAVERS morning routine essentially forces me to back off from living on the hamster wheel and assess my life, values, passions, and actions. I don’t know about you, but this is necessary for the kind of life I want to live. I am not willing to waste precious life feeling grouchy, tired, lazy, bored, or unhappy. Those emotions certainly won’t allow me to fulfill my purpose, execute my contributions, and do what I’m here to do.
The way I see it is that wasting days being in negative emotional states when you can change your state is the most selfish thing you can do. Because this life is not yours, you didn’t bring yourself here and you certainly don’t have a right to take yourself out willingly. You and I are here for purposes greater than our little “selves” and our little “emotions.” We, therefore, must take heed to do all that will allow us to successfully carry out that purpose. Then, we can go happily.
This whole morning routine, this whole lifestyle of mine, is built around one premise: that I belong to Someone else; I live for Someone else; my body, my mind, my spirit are all talents that I have been given and over which I am a steward. All that I do is an attempt to be a faithful one. I may have a reason to feel lousy and depressed, but I certainly don’t have a right to. That way of thinking is what motivates me each day.
And don’t get me wrong, I do miss a SAVER or two from time to time. But each day is a brand new opportunity, so it doesn’t matter. If I get to wake up, then I will go at it again. I am committed to constantly improving myself and the quality of my life. Period.
If you feel like you are in need of some changes in your life or that you may not be living up to your full potential, I highly encourage you to get yourself a copy of The Miracle Morning. Read it, start implementing some of the suggestions, then read it again. Give yourself the gift of the life you’ve always wanted.