Yes, you can become an early-riser, and here is how.

Oum EK
Oum EK
Aug 23, 2017 · 8 min read

Writing this post was not the easiest thing, because I was SO DARN EXCITED to tell you about my latest self-development discovery : the MIRACLE MORNING ! So, in order to not lose your attention, I tried to be SUPER structured.

A BIT OF CONTEXT.

Before I say anything about this miracle, let me share that I am (actually, WAS) the worst morning person ever. I remember once being asked, when I was in College, what motivated me to wake-up in the morning, and this answer came naturally : “to know that I will go back to bed tonight”.

For me, sleep was the materialization of a self-limiting belief I have been holding for years: I don’t have a lot of energy. Thus, to be able to live and evolve in this world, I need A LOT of sleep.

To wake-up early was also a challenge for me because of another limiting belief inherited from my education: the world is a scary place. So, every time I woke-up, I was waking-up to face this scary place, so I preferred staying in bed a little longer.

You get it, waking-up in the morning was a pain in the a** for me. A torture. A scary moment.

And the later I woke-up, which I did because I was NOT a morning person, the guiltier I felt, because I hated to know that I was unable to be an early-riser.

HOW IT ALL STARTED.

As you may now know, I moved to Morocco 5 months ago, leaving my corporate job to start a new career as an entrepreneur/yoga teacher. BIG.LIFE.CHANGE.

After 4 months, I realized that I couldn’t find my balance in this new life:

  • I worked like hell.
  • I spent way too much time pushing myself out of my comfort zone, and merely no time inside of it to regenerate.
  • I was a mess, doubted myself every day…
  • … and doubted my project, which led me to have a lot of difficulty to stay focused and wake-up motivated in the morning. Instead, I dragged myself out of bed, moved by obligation instead of passion.

So, on this June 14th, seated at Starbucks with my friend Nargisse, a self-development coach and meditation facilitator, I dared to reach-out for help.

I asked: “Nargisse, how can I be more structured and focused, I am lost.”

She replied: “Try the Miracle Morning.”

After she briefly explained what it was, I was dubious. How would a morning routine help me be more structured, focused, motivated, self-confident, happy???!!!

I chose to trust her judgement. I love to experiment, try new self-development techniques, I trusted her recommandation, AND the thousands of positive feedbacks I read on the Internet.

SO, WHAT IS THE MIRACLE MORNING?

The Miracle Morning is a morning routine.

The creator of this routine, Hal Elrod, wrote a book with the same name giving to people a very practical guide to implement this routine. Did I mention that I love practicality?

How practical, you’re asking me?
As practical as to give you steps on how to wake-up early and NEVER EVER hit the snooze button again. Things like placing your phone away from you & brushing your teeth before you do anything else (don’t underestimate the power of these tips!!).

His book is on Amazon, and available is many languages.

WHY ON EARTH WOULD ONE NEED A MORNING ROUTINE?!!

Yep. That is exactly what I asked myself. And also: how will waking-up early solve my problems?

Here’s a short explanation, from the author’s website:

“Based on the premise that how you start your day largely determines the quality of your day, your work, and your life, The Miracle Morning gives you the ultimate morning ritual and teaches night owls how to beat the snooze button, even if you’ve never been a morning person.”

This “premise” made sense for me. The way you spend the first hour following your wakening most likely determines the rest of your day. Try and see for yourself!

Achieving your dream life is not going to happen all of a sudden on a beautiful summer day sometime next year or in 10 years, it happens every single day, with you making the most of every single day you’ve got to live. Because we never know if we’ll still be around on that summer day 10 years from now… and, let’s be honest, dreams don’t happen overnight, we build them day-in, day-out, with discipline and practice.

Being the growth and self-development junkie I am, I totally wanted to try this!! And here’s what happened…

WHY & HOW IS THE MIRACLE MORNING CHANGING MY LIFE?

Why is the MM changing my life?
I firmly believe that the reason why the MM has such an impact on my life is that I had the premise for the change to happen. In other *cliché* words : I was ready to change.

I always suffered from not being a morning person and I admired all these successful people who rose early and had already done so many things when I woke-up with way too many hours of sleep in my body.

I wanted that to change.

And that was the first prerequisite for success.
As would worldwide famous coach and best-selling author Tony Robbins say* : to break a pattern, the first step is awareness. Being aware of the pattern, and then deciding to change it.

*In this amazing video with one of my favourite motivational speaker and life coach, Marie Forleo.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=WuFysBXxMUw

To all people I talk to about the MM, this is the first thing I tell them : you first have to want it enough. If waking-up early, changing your life positively, becoming the best version of yourself is not something that you deeply and truly wish for, chances are you won’t stick to the routine, or not even try it.

And you know what? That is totally fine.
I firmly believe that there is a moment in life for every thing. There will be some amongst you for whom it is still not the right moment for the MM to enter into their life. Accept that, keep the routine in a corner of your head, and try again when you feel it’s the right time.

How is the MM changing my life?
Ok, this is the most difficult part of this article. I am so excited to write about this that I need to stay focus to not fill the page with “!” and unicorn emojis.

So, as you you know now, waking-up (early) is a challenge for me. I have a deeply routed self-limiting belief saying that I am NOT a morning person, that I need lots of sleep to have enough energy to survive in this world, and that waking-up early is always a pain in the a**.

Wait a second…
Take the previous paragraph and turn it at the past tense, because I am now A MORNING PERSON!

And God knows I tried many techniques without success!

But the Miracle Morning worked. And here’s how:
1. A strategy with very practical actions to be able to get out of bed in the morning
2. A program to spend the first hour of your day in the most blissful and fulfilling way

Indeed, the Miracle Morning is not just about waking-up early. It is about spending the first hour of the day doing these 6 activities:
Silence — meditation, coloring, introspection
Affirmations
Visualisation
Exercising
Reading
Scribing — writing

You don’t have to do these activities in this very same order. For me, I start with meditation, then affirmations, visualisation, reading, writing and finally exercise, so I can directly hop under the shower after that.

It is NOT rocket science and you might even be thinking: “how the heck will meditating and exercising make my life happier? And what the heck are affirmations??”

I am not going to enter into the details of each activity because I would like you to discover them by yourself by reading the book.

All I will say is that you can trust me (and the thousands of people who tried and saw their life change): IT WORKS.

I, FOR THE FIRST TIME OF MY LIFE, CAN SAY THAT I AM AN EARLY RISER, AND I DO IT WITH PLEASURE!

After only 2 days, I started feeling the effects of the routine:

  • Higher self-esteem: bye guilt of not being able to wake-up early!
  • An hour, every day, for my self-development
  • I can now say that I exercice daily!
  • Better days: good mood, focus, confidence, clear goals, efficiency and … high energy!
  • Everyday, before I do even start my day, I know who I am, I know what my goals are, and I have enough confidence and energy to do what I need to do.

I start my day with a peaceful mind, a focused brain & a healthy body.

And, no, waking-up early does not make me more tired at night! (just saying because that was of one my biggest fears when I started this routine). Obviously, I go to bed at a reasonable time (before 11:30 PM), and that is it, really. The marvels of the body…

The ultimate goal of this routine is to make us reach our highest potential, so that we can live the life of our dreams. And honestly, I can feel the process at work !

Have a look a this video to know more:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0uRp7BoPVY

The MM is really one of the best thing that happened to me in my entire life. I can feel it changing me, day after day.

Through meditation, I get clarity.
Through affirmations, I unleash my power.
Through visualisation, I connect myself to my dream life everyday, making it more than real !
Through reading, I feed my soul.
Through writing, I keep my inner conversation going, releasing everything that needs to be released, noting everything that is important to be noted.
Through exercice, I take care of my body and energize it for the day.

Follow this with a shower and yummy healthy breakfast and I can assure you that my days are a total BLISS.

Many successful personalities have included a morning routine in their days, such as Oprah, Tony Robbins, Steve Jobs, to cite only a few. I personally believe that if these super busy people still take the time to do the routine, it must be because it bring something to their lives.

Don’t take my word for it. If you feel the desire or need to change your life for the better, get closer every morning to the best version of yourself, try the Miracle Morning. All you need is the book — and you can get started !

N.B. I have not been paid to talk about the Miracle Morning, this is not a sponsored post. I just wanted to share with you guys an amazing and life-changing discovery !

Chance or destiny made me read The Monk who Sold his Ferrari by Robin Sharma while I just started the MM. What a powerful read ! It seemed like the MM was inspired from this book, and it was powerful to be reading this along with my first days into the new routine ! Highly recommended combo!

Do you already have a morning routine? Please share with me in the comments what it consists of !

Interested to discuss more, have any questions? Shoot them in the comments of this post, I’ll be happy to help as much as I can !

)

Oum EK

Written by

Oum EK

I live. I learn. I write about it, people find it inspiring. Spirituality & Growth blogger/novelist. Founder of Madu Retreats. www.instagram.com/oumwonders

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