This week we will be breaking down Chapters 6-8 of The Miracle Morning. If you haven’t read the breakdown for week 2 yet, go do so before continuing on with week 3.

Get To Know the Life S.A.V.E.R.S

This weeks reading starts out with Hal teaching us about the Life S.A.V.E.R.S, which are the six practices he recommends we include in our Miracle Morning.

What are they?

1. Silence. The silence referred to here is a “purposeful” silence. Some of the types of silence he recommends are: meditation, prayer, reflection, deep breathing, and gratitude. Hal says, “Silence is one of the best ways to immediately reduce stress, while increasing your self-awareness and gaining the clarity that will allow you to maintain your focus on your goals, priorities, and what’s most important for your life, each and every day.”
2. Affirmations. When I first heard of affirmations I thought people who used them were crazy. However, after hearing about a ton of ultra successful people who use them, I decided to give them a shot. And guess what…. I now see the power in them! In fact, I believe they may be the single most powerful thing we can do as part of our Miracle Morning. Hal says that we can use affirmations to change our “programming” and ultimately change the way we “think, believe, and act.” Hal recommends we create affirmations by writing down the following things:
   • What we want
   • Why we want it
   • Who we are willing to become to create it
   • What we are committed to doing to obtain it
   • Any additional inspiration for its achievement
3. Visualization. If affirmations seem crazy, visualization might seem down right insane. But just like affirmations, implementing visualization into our Miracle Morning is extremely powerful. As a golfer, I know the power or visualizing the shot I am about to hit. Unfortunately it doesn’t mean I can always hit the shot, but it does give me a better chance than if I had not visualized it. So how does visualization work in areas other than golf? It gives us a mental picture of what we are going after, thereby allowing us to see what it will take to get there. Hal says you should “Visualize your major goals, deepest desires, and most exciting, would-totally-change-my-life-if-I-achieved-them dreams. See, feel, hear, touch, taste, and smell every detail of your vision.”
4. Exercise. I am a huge believer in exercise. I know the benefits it gives me in every area of life. As quoted in the book, Robin Sharma says “If you don’t make time for exercise, you’ll probably have to make time for illness.” No-matter how you feel about exercise, I am sure we can agree that illness is to be avoided at all costs. Which is why Hal recommends we make exercise part of our daily routine. This may mean something as complex as engaging in a weight lifting program (If you are looking for a good one I would recommend you check out Bigger, Leaner, Stronger for Guys and Thinner, Leaner, Stronger for Women from Mike Matthews over at MuscleforLife.com) or as simple as starting the day off with a walk or a run. The import thing is to make sure you are including health and exercise as part of your day.
5. Reading. Mark Twain once said, “A person who won’t read has no advantage over one who can’t read.” There are so many empowering books available – like the ones we read as part of this book club – so why not learn from others and implement the lessons contained in books to help move your life towards your goals faster? Hal recommends that we read at least 10 pages per day. He says, “If you quantify that, reading just 10 pages a day will average 3,650 pages a year, which equates to approximately eighteen 200-page personal development/self-improvement books!” Can you imagine all the great knowledge you would have after reading 18 books?
6. Scribing. What good acronym doesn’t include a stretch to complete the word? Here Hal talks to us about the power of writing, but obviously couldn’t use the “W” to make his point. The most powerful type of writing to include in your Miracle Morning is journaling. As I have mentioned before, I use the Five Minute Journal for my daily journaling, but you can use any journal you want. Journaling is powerful in two ways. First, it allows you to capture your ideas. Second, it allows you to look back over your ideas over time. Hal also says that it helps us to review lessons we have learned, and acknowledge the progress we have made. He says, “Writing in a journal each day, with a structured, strategic process (more on that in a minute) allows you to direct your focus to what you did accomplish, what you’re grateful for, and what you’re committed to doing better tomorrow. Thus, you more deeply enjoy your journey each day, feel good about any forward progress you made, and use a heightened level of clarity to accelerate your results.”

We will go over how to customize your Miracle Morning below – covered in chapter 8 of the book – but these six practices are the foundation of an empowering morning. Read over them, and jump back into the book if you want ever more clarity on any one in particular.

The 6 Minute Miracle Morning

In chapter 7 of the book, the author breaks down how you can enjoy the benefits of the Miracle Morning in as little as six minutes per day.

While he does not recommend this for every day use, Hal says he “developed The 6-minute Miracle Morning for those days when you’re extra busy and pressed for time, as well as for those of you who are so overwhelmed with your life situation right now that just thinking about adding one more thing stresses you out.”

So how does he break the Miracle Morning Down into six minutes?

Like this…

• Minute One: Silence. Spend the first minute in silence or meditation. You can use this time to say a prayer, or focus on gratitude. The goal is to be relaxed, and use this minute to “develop a deeper sense of peace, purpose, and direction.”
• Minute Two: Affirmations. Use this minute to read your daily affirmations out loud. Since it is only a minute, focus on the most empowering affirmations you have written down.
• Minute Three: Visualize. Close your eyes and visualize what it will be like when you achieve your goals. You can also look at a vision board if you have created one.
• Minute Four: Gratitude. Spend this minute writing down things you are grateful for. I recommend you write down three things each morning that you are thankful for.
• Minute Five: Read. A minute may not be a lot of time to read, but it is better than nothing. Shoot for reading a page or two of a great book (hopefully the book we are reading for book club each month)
• Minute Six: Exercise. Ok so you may not develop a six pack in a minute per day – sorry for the bad news – but you can still get your body moving and get your blood flowing in a minute. You can do any form of exercise in this minute. Some of the best options are jumping jacks, push-ups and sit-ups.

Next time you feel like you don’t have time to do your Miracle Morning, try this 6 minute version to still get some of the benefits in a fraction of the time!

Customize The Miracle Morning

When I first read this book I was pretty opposed to the idea of getting up at 5am to do my Miracle Morning. However, since then I have become much more open to the idea, and in fact have really developed a love of getting up early.

However, the great news is that if you are like I was, you don’t have to get up at 5am to do the Miracle Morning. You can customize it to fit into your day.

What does Hal say you can customize with the Miracle Morning?

• Time: Just because it is called the Miracle Morning, does not mean it has to be done early in the morning. Hal says, “The essence of The Miracle Morning remains that you simply wake up earlier than you normally would (typically by 30-60 minutes), so that you can dedicate time every day to improving yourself, so you can transform your life.” So no matter what time of day you wake up, just make it a habit to get up a little earlier and spend the first 30-60 minutes of your day on the Miracle Morning.
• Eating: You may have noticed that up to this point in the book it doesn’t mention much about including breakfast in your Miracle Morning. That’s because there is no right or wrong time to include it. Some people eat before they begin their Miracle Morning, and others after. Just do what works best for you. As for what to eat, Hal recommends that you first think about why you are eating. Unlike most people who eat strictly for the enjoyment and taste of foods, he recommends that you begin your day with foods that serve a higher purpose. Choose foods that are nutritious, and that provide your body with the energy you need for your upcoming day.
• Alignment: Above we reviewed the six “Life S.A.V.E.R.S” Hal recommends including as part of your Miracle Morning. While these are all important, it is up to you to decide the order, and what you focus on within each. For example, it is up to you to design affirmations that support your goals. Choose to include the things that create an empowering morning, and exclude any you don’t feel give you the value you are looking for.

Over time you will be able to develop a Miracle Morning that is customized to you. It will be one you love, and one that gives you the perfect start to your day. But remember, doing the same thing over and over can get a bit boring. As Hal says in the book, “Humans need variety.” Remember this when you begin to feel a bit burnt out of your Miracle Morning routine, and take that as an opportunity to change things up to keep your morning fresh!

My Favorite Quotes

• Success is something you attract by the person you become. —Jim Rohn
• An extraordinary life is all about daily, continuous improvements in the areas that matter most. —Robin Sharma
• Most of us live our lives on the wrong side of a huge gap in our potential, a gap which separates who we are from who we can become.
• We all know what we need to do; we just don’t consistently do what we know.
• For too many people, the extraordinary, fulfilling abundant life that they really want—our Level 10 life—eludes them because they’re so overwhelmed and overrun with their day-to-day life situation.
• You can learn more in an hour of silence than you can in a year from books. —Matthew Kelly
• Silence is one of the best ways to immediately reduce stress, while increasing your self-awareness and gaining the clarity that will allow you to maintain your focus on your goals, priorities, and what’s most important for your life, each and every day.
• It’s the repetition of affirmations that leads to belief. Once that belief becomes a deep conviction, things begin to happen. —Muhammad Ali
• Your self-talk has dramatic influence on your level of success in every aspect of your life—confidence, health, happiness, wealth, relationships, etc.
• The good news is that our programming can be changed or improved at any time. We can reprogram ourselves to overcome all of our fears, insecurities, bad habits, and any self-limiting, potential-destroying beliefs and behaviors we currently have, so we can become as successful as we want to be, in any area of our lives we choose.
• In other words, your life gets better only after you get better.
• Ordinary people believe only in the possible. Extraordinary people visualize not what is possible or probable, but rather what is impossible. And by visualizing the impossible, they begin to see it as possible. —Cherie Carter-Scott
• I never hit a shot, not even in practice, without having a very sharp in-focus picture of it in my head. – Jack Nicklaus
• Creative Visualization enables you to design the vision that will occupy your mind, ensuring that the greatest pull on you is your future—a compelling, exciting, and limitless future.
• If you don’t make time for exercise, you’ll probably have to make time for illness. —Robin Sharma
• Morning exercise should be a staple in your daily rituals. When you exercise for even a few minutes every morning it significantly boosts your energy, enhances your health, improves self-confidence and emotional well-being, and enables you to think better and concentrate longer.
• A person who won’t read has no advantage over one who can’t read. – Mark Twain
• Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body and prayer is to the soul. We become the books we read. – Matthew Kelly
• The highest achievers—those who are balanced and focused on achieving Level 10 success in nearly every area of their lives—are exceedingly grateful for what they have, regularly acknowledge themselves for what they’ve accomplished, and are always at peace with where they are in their lives.
• On the one hand, we all want to be happy. On the other hand, we all know the things that make us happy. But we don’t do those things. Why? Simple. We are too busy. Too busy doing what? Too busy trying to be happy. —Matthew Kelly
• Whether it’s our routines or our relationships, it’s our responsibility to actively and continuously make them the way we want them to be.
• 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.

It’s Action Time

• Create Your Miracle Morning. Hopefully you have been waking up in the morning and doing some form of Miracle Morning for the past two weeks, but now it’s time to fully create the Miracle Morning that you truly want. Set aside 30 minutes this week to create an outline for what to include in your Miracle Morning. I would also recommend you write out your affirmations, and potentially create a visualization board. The key to having a successful Miracle Morning is to have everything in place before you begin your morning.

Coming Up Next…

Next week we will be coving the final chapters of the Miracle Morning, Chapters 9-10 and the Conclusion. See you next week!