How Your Morning Can Guarantee Success 51/84

I'm currently in the middle of listening to the audio version of a great book that I know is going to make a huge difference in my life. Obviously, because I have no yet finished the book, let alone take any action from it, there are going to have to be a few follow-up posts in the future. The book is called "The Miracle Morning" written by Hal Elrod and it's basically about how he used a daily morning routine to bring him back from 1. literally dying and 2. losing everything he had when the economy crashed in 2008. He goes on to detail the things he did each morning and how he used personal development to bring himself back from near-suicide to being even more successful then he was before the recession.

I was first introduced the Hal 3 years ago when he did an audio interview for Success Magazine. In that interview, he not only talked about how he came back from rock bottom, but also how he relearned how to walk, and overcame massive brain damage from an insane car accident. He said that the most important thing that helped him regain his life was his positive outlook, and he proceeded to say one of my all time favorite quotes ever. Although I was already somewhat practicing this, it was amazing to hear someone say what a huge impact on their life. I'm going to paraphrase because it's been years since I've heard the actual quote (and I can't find it anywhere) but it goes something like 'why would you waste your time and energy trying to change things that are impossible to change.' I love this and it really makes sense to me. Yes, you should be trying to change things in your life that you don't like, but there are some things that are out of your control and you should not waste your time, energy, or emotion trying to change them. Instead, accept the fact that you can't and spend you time changing the things you can.

Having a genuinely positive outlook on life can have an amazing effect on your mental and physical health as well as your relationships. I know this can be hard for some people, as often times people are pretty negative, but there are some strategies you can use to help change you mindset (I'm going to keep talking about this a lot) and make you more positive.

One of the biggest ways you can influence your day is by how you start your morning. This is what "The Miracle Morning" details so I'll give you quick synopsis of what you can try, but I encourage you to check out the book for yourself. Hal recommends things like; prayer/meditation in silence, writing in a journal, exercise, reading, using a dream board, and saying affirmations each morning to set yourself up for success for the rest if the day. All you need to do is spend as little 1 and as much as 20 minutes on each one of these each morning to completely change your day and your life. He mentions many times how this gets people excited to wake up each morning and even people who say they're not morning people start to get up even earlier so that they have more time to spend on their morning routines. I know a lot of this can sound kind of far out and other-worldly but it ties in to a lot of concepts that I have come across from other areas of personal development that I have done over the years and it can definitely be worth a try.

Although this book is meant to be more about being successful, you can adjust all of these things to help you reach your physical goals as well. I'll show you how each one of those pieces of the routine can help get you to your goal.

Silent Meditation: This has been used for centuries to help with physical and mental stress. Not only does it help calm your mind but it reduces mental stress and even blood markers of stress like cortisol. Lower cortisol levels help you workout more, recover better, and prevent you from storing so much body fat.

Journaling: Writing in a journal each morning can help you track progress throughout years of your life and help you express things you may have trouble with any other way. Obviously, keeping a journal of your workouts is a must, but a personal journal can tell you a lot about how you're feeling that day and what to focus on the rest of the day.

Exercise: Getting blood flow in the morning can have tremendous health benefits that last all day. It doesn't need to be long. A couple minutes of jumping jacks or yoga is plenty to get blood pumping.

Dream Board: A dream board is a physical board that has pictures of what you dream of in life. It could be a nice car, a house on the beach, or the body that you've always wanted. Use this board with mental imagery to see yourself being in the body you want and living the life you want.

Affirmations: This is repeatedly saying things out loud that you want to think about yourself, because how you feel about yourself is almost always how you're actually going to end up. Pick something that relates to you goals like "I am lean and healthy" or "I am strong and athletic" and repeat it out loud a number of times. You need to make yourself believe these things are possible if you ever want them to be.

I know some or all of these things can make people uncomfortable but you're never going to change if you keep doing the same things you have been. I plan of starting this tomorrow morning when I wake and I'm going to get back to you guys on how it goes. Until then, I would pick up the book for yourself and start working on your own Miracle Morning.