My Miracle Mornings
This post was originally published on 3/16/22 and updated on 2/21/24 for my Greatest Hits blog series.
TL;DR;
In my last post, I reviewed the amazing book “The Miracle Morning” by Hal Elrod. In that post, I quickly described how that book completely changed my life, and in this post, I wanted to get into exactly how it has done that and also how I do each of the SAVERS during my morning routine.
Many years ago when I read Hal’s book, I felt like I had uncovered a secret. A secret that no one knew about, and that I had to try.
All my life, I had been getting up at the very last second necessary for whatever I had to do that day. When I was in school, my mom would wake me up and I’d lay in bed until she practically needed to drag me out. On weekends, I slept until at least noon. Things didn’t improve (like my mom thought they would) when I got to college my freshman year. Instead of having to create a new early morning routine to get to my classes, I found my first semester schedule had my earliest class starting at noon on Monday, Wednesday and Fridays, and on Tuesdays and Thursdays, heck, I didn’t start until 2:00pm! Needless to say, I didn’t learn any early-morning skills that semester!
I eventually did some early classes, and of course, my first job out of college started at 8:00 sharp (you had to clock in). Since it was about a 30 minute drive, I would snooze my alarm until I just couldn’t do it any longer, I’d race to get ready, skip breakfast, and jump on the freeway with my fingers crossed hoping there wouldn’t be any accidents or obstacles to slow me down. I always zipped into work at the last possible minute, and I hated it. Every second of it. The rush of actually making it on time did not hide the fact that I was frustrated with myself for not being able to get it together.
After my husband and I had kids, I found myself trying to get in any last minutes of sleep, so that didn’t help my situation either. It wasn’t until we moved and my husband found himself having to get up at 5:00 am for his job that things started to change.
Somehow, I found The Miracle Morning book and I devoured it. It was so exciting to me, the thought of getting up early, knocking things out before anyone else got up, and feeling accomplished before I even headed off to work. Not to mention, the idea of heading off to work not in a crazy rush was very appealing!
At that time, I was getting up for work around 7:00am, getting the kids ready, dropping them at daycare and then heading into work around 8:15am. Luckily my new job didn’t require any “clocking in”, but I still needed to be there around the same time. I decided not to try to slowly move my “awake” time up in small increments but instead, to just set my alarm to 5:00 am and go for it. Luckily, my husband was already getting up at that time and I was being awoken by him for just a minute or two anyways when he got up, so I just decide to…get up!
In the book, Hal talks about how those early mornings started to feel like Christmas mornings to him, and I’m telling you, that is EXACTLY what happened to me. I started journaling, reading (which is something I never seemed to find time for after work), and even jogging on our treadmill. I was hooked! I was so excited to get up in the morning and get that “me” time in. As a working parent with two kids, my evenings were full of catching up on laundry, baths, dinners, shopping, and cleaning. I realized that I needed some actual “me” time, and my Miracle Mornings were it!
It’s been over eight years since I read The Miracle Morning and it has completely changed my life. I continued to get up early every morning and focus on me. I found a workout routine that I love. I started writing down things I’m grateful for and it feels good to think about those things early in the day. I finally found time to read and that’s something my soul needs. I started meditating, which has helped me feel more peaceful and centered during the day. Most importantly, I still go to bed excited about the morning because I know that no matter how INSANE of an evening we had, I will get that moment of peace in the morning.
In those eight years, my Miracle Morning routine has evolved quite a bit, but I will describe what I am currently doing in my morning routine in hopes it will inspire yours. Remember that the SAVERS stand for Silence, Affirmations, Visualization, Exercise, Reading and Scribing.
Silence:
For this one, I like to meditate. Now that I’m working from home, I tend to take a 15 minute break later in the day to meditate and center myself, so this meditation in my Miracle Morning is fairly short. Right now I use the Insight Timer app on my phone (it’s free) and I only meditate for 2 minutes, usually. I used to only do one minute during busier times in my life. Sometimes I will do 5 minutes in the morning if I feel like I want to. There are also guided meditations in the Insight Timer app and sometimes I will use those.
Affirmations:
For this item, I have a list of Affirmations that I recite to myself. This life hasn’t changed much in a few years (it really needs updated) and I even have it memorized. It starts with “I can do hard things” and ends with a “I am 100% committed to…” (it ends with current work goal). Also in the last few year I have added Gary John Bishop’s seven affirmations from his Unf*ck Yourself book. They include:
I’m willing.
I’m wired to win.
I’ve got this.
I embrace the uncertainty.
I’m not my thoughts, I am what I do.
I’m relentless
I expect nothing and accept everything.
Visualization:
This one is also difficult for me. I find what works best for me is to visualize my affirmations as I am saying them. Then, after I do that, I walk through my day in my head and visualize each thing I need to do and how I’m going to handle it. Sometimes I will also visualize my big goals and dreams for this step.
Exercise:
This one is my second favorite of the SAVERS, only to reading. Currently I am doing 80 Day Obsession. I will typically do whatever workout is listed for my workout program I’m currently doing. It’s usually around 30 minutes to 1 hour. I do this item last in my routine so that I can get al the others done and then finish up with a sweaty exercise to raise those endorphins before I face the day.
Reading:
This one I could do all day and oftentimes I get so lost in my reading that I’m finishing up a page while I’m tying my shoes and pressing play on my workout. I only read Personal Development books during my Miracle Morning. I am always reading a book that is going to help me grow in some way, and reading even just a few pages in the morning gives me something to think about during the day and even some actions steps to take.
Scribing:
This one was also hard for me at first since I wasn’t sure what to write about. What I finally settled on is writing down three things that I’m grateful for that day. I try to do three new things that I haven’t listed before, but that doesn’t always happen. It’s also a nice way to “journal” because oftentimes the things I’m grateful for are things that happened the day before and it’s a way to remember them. I will also write down my “Work Highlight of the Day” and my “After Work Highlight of the Day”, which are two things I’m looking forward to that day. Finally, I will quickly write down my top five goals because I have learned that keeps them at the forefront of my mind while I start my day.
There it is. That’s my Miracle Morning. I have done this morning routine for 1024 days in a row. Yes, that’s right, I’ve been counting. Since Day 1, I have kept a small notebook where I write down what I did that day for each of the SAVERS plus all my writing for my Scribing. Every day I added what day of the Miracle Morning it was, and I didn’t stop, so now I’m on Day 1024. This only counts weekdays since I do not do the Miracle Morning on weekends (I do still workout and read, but usually not the other items) but wow, it’s been amazing!
Just this morning, I knew I had an extra long workout so I set my alarm for 5:40am. However, I have a book I’ve been enjoying (Uncommon Accountablity) but haven’t had much time to devote to it, so I set my alarm for 5:30am. What? Who am I? I love getting up earlier and getting my time in, so it was a no brainer to get a few less minutes of sleep and a few more minutes of reading.
That settles it. I’m a Miracle Morning person for life! What about you? Do you get up early? Do you think you could try any of the SAVERS I’ve listed above? I’d love to hear about it in the comments!
Many years ago when I read Hal’s book, I felt like I had uncovered a secret. A secret that no one knew about, and that I had to try.
All my life, I had been getting up at the very last second necessary for whatever I had to do that day. When I was in school, my mom would wake me up and I’d lay in bed until she practically needed to drag me out. On weekends, I slept until at least noon. Things didn’t improve (like my mom thought they would) when I got to college my freshman year. Instead of having to create a new early morning routine to get to my classes, I found my first semester schedule had my earliest class starting at noon on Monday, Wednesday and Fridays, and on Tuesdays and Thursdays, heck, I didn’t start until 2:00pm! Needless to say, I didn’t learn any early-morning skills that semester!
I eventually did some early classes, and of course, my first job out of college started at 8:00 sharp (you had to clock in). Since it was about a 30 minute drive, I would snooze my alarm until I just couldn’t do it any longer, I’d race to get ready, skip breakfast, and jump on the freeway with my fingers crossed hoping there wouldn’t be any accidents or obstacles to slow me down. I always zipped into work at the last possible minute, and I hated it. Every second of it. The rush of actually making it on time did not hide the fact that I was frustrated with myself for not being able to get it together.
After my husband and I had kids, I found myself trying to get in any last minutes of sleep, so that didn’t help my situation either. It wasn’t until we moved and my husband found himself having to get up at 5:00 am for his job that things started to change.
Somehow, I found The Miracle Morning book and I devoured it. It was so exciting to me, the thought of getting up early, knocking things out before anyone else got up, and feeling accomplished before I even headed off to work. Not to mention, the idea of heading off to work not in a crazy rush was very appealing!
At that time, I was getting up for work around 7:00am, getting the kids ready, dropping them at daycare and then heading into work around 8:15am. Luckily my new job didn’t require any “clocking in”, but I still needed to be there around the same time. I decided not to try to slowly move my “awake” time up in small increments but instead, to just set my alarm to 5:00 am and go for it. Luckily, my husband was already getting up at that time and I was being awoken by him for just a minute or two anyways when he got up, so I just decide to…get up!
In the book, Hal talks about how those early mornings started to feel like Christmas mornings to him, and I’m telling you, that is EXACTLY what happened to me. I started journaling, reading (which is something I never seemed to find time for after work), and even jogging on our treadmill. I was hooked! I was so excited to get up in the morning and get that “me” time in. As a working parent with two kids, my evenings were full of catching up on laundry, baths, dinners, shopping, and cleaning. I realized that I needed some actual “me” time, and my Miracle Mornings were it!
It’s been over eight years since I read The Miracle Morning and it has completely changed my life. I continued to get up early every morning and focus on me. I found a workout routine that I love. I started writing down things I’m grateful for and it feels good to think about those things early in the day. I finally found time to read and that’s something my soul needs. I started meditating, which has helped me feel more peaceful and centered during the day. Most importantly, I still go to bed excited about the morning because I know that no matter how INSANE of an evening we had, I will get that moment of peace in the morning.
In those eight years, my Miracle Morning routine has evolved quite a bit, but I will describe what I am currently doing in my morning routine in hopes it will inspire yours. Remember that the SAVERS stand for Silence, Affirmations, Visualization, Exercise, Reading and Scribing.
Silence:
For this one, I like to meditate. Now that I’m working from home, I tend to take a 15 minute break later in the day to meditate and center myself, so this meditation in my Miracle Morning is fairly short. Right now I use the Insight Timer app on my phone (it’s free) and I only meditate for 2 minutes, usually. I used to only do one minute during busier times in my life. Sometimes I will do 5 minutes in the morning if I feel like I want to. There are also guided meditations in the Insight Timer app and sometimes I will use those.
Affirmations:
For this item, I have a list of Affirmations that I recite to myself. This life hasn’t changed much in a few years (it really needs updated) and I even have it memorized. It starts with “I can do hard things” and ends with a “I am 100% committed to…” (it ends with current work goal). Also in the last few year I have added Gary John Bishop’s seven affirmations from his Unf*ck Yourself book. They include:
I’m willing.
I’m wired to win.
I’ve got this.
I embrace the uncertainty.
I’m not my thoughts, I am what I do.
I’m relentless
I expect nothing and accept everything.
Visualization:
This one is also difficult for me. I find what works best for me is to visualize my affirmations as I am saying them. Then, after I do that, I walk through my day in my head and visualize each thing I need to do and how I’m going to handle it. Sometimes I will also visualize my big goals and dreams for this step.
Exercise:
This one is my second favorite of the SAVERS, only to reading. Currently I am doing 80 Day Obsession. I will typically do whatever workout is listed for my workout program I’m currently doing. It’s usually around 30 minutes to 1 hour. I do this item last in my routine so that I can get al the others done and then finish up with a sweaty exercise to raise those endorphins before I face the day.
Reading:
This one I could do all day and oftentimes I get so lost in my reading that I’m finishing up a page while I’m tying my shoes and pressing play on my workout. I only read Personal Development books during my Miracle Morning. I am always reading a book that is going to help me grow in some way, and reading even just a few pages in the morning gives me something to think about during the day and even some actions steps to take.
Scribing:
This one was also hard for me at first since I wasn’t sure what to write about. What I finally settled on is writing down three things that I’m grateful for that day. I try to do three new things that I haven’t listed before, but that doesn’t always happen. It’s also a nice way to “journal” because oftentimes the things I’m grateful for are things that happened the day before and it’s a way to remember them. I will also write down my “Work Highlight of the Day” and my “After Work Highlight of the Day”, which are two things I’m looking forward to that day. Finally, I will quickly write down my top five goals because I have learned that keeps them at the forefront of my mind while I start my day.
There it is. That’s my Miracle Morning. I have done this morning routine for 1024 days in a row. Yes, that’s right, I’ve been counting. Since Day 1, I have kept a small notebook where I write down what I did that day for each of the SAVERS plus all my writing for my Scribing. Every day I added what day of the Miracle Morning it was, and I didn’t stop, so now I’m on Day 1024. This only counts weekdays since I do not do the Miracle Morning on weekends (I do still workout and read, but usually not the other items) but wow, it’s been amazing!
Just this morning, I knew I had an extra long workout so I set my alarm for 5:40am. However, I have a book I’ve been enjoying (Uncommon Accountablity) but haven’t had much time to devote to it, so I set my alarm for 5:30am. What? Who am I? I love getting up earlier and getting my time in, so it was a no brainer to get a few less minutes of sleep and a few more minutes of reading.
That settles it. I’m a Miracle Morning person for life! What about you? Do you get up early? Do you think you could try any of the SAVERS I’ve listed above? I’d love to hear about it in the comments!
