The Email That Will Change Your Life
The morning. Worshiped by some, and damned to hell by others. I started to implement a morning routine for myself this year, with the idea to have more time to do useful stuff before I leave for work. One of the routines I included in my morning was meditation, but currently I'm experimenting with leaving that out. It's quite a challenge to find the elements that fit in your personal morning routine, because it's different for everyone. Elements that work for some have no positive impact for others. I'm always looking for ways to update my morning routines with new or modified elements to see if they work for me.
In that respect, I guess it's only natural that I decided to read a book that's called "The Miracle Morning". OK, fair enough, the subtitle "6 habits that will transform your life" is a bit cheesy, but there are probably elements in the morning routine that are described in the book that I could benefit from.
In "The Miracle Morning", Elrod starts telling a story of how he almost died in a car accident, and how that made him think of how he lived his life. It's not like everything went smoothly from then on, by the way, because he suffered from another breakdown a few years later. But in the end, he's successful in his current occupation, which is "waking people up to their full potential" (as can be read on his website). The main thing that brought him to were he is today, is his self-designed Miracle Morning. This morning consists of six habits, abbreviated to "Life S.A.V.E.R.S.":
- Silence
- Affirmations
- Visualizations
- Excercise
- Reading
- Scribe
Elrod describes each element of these S.A.V.E.R.S. in detail and tells you how to incorporate them in your own morning routine. Some of these elements I already used in one way or another. For example, Silence is just meditating, and Visualization is something I indirectly do while meditating. Furthermore, I always try to end my morning routine by either Reading a book or by Scribing in my morning journal. Fun fact: Elrod just used the word Scribing instead of the simpler "writing" for practical reasons: it was a better ending to finish the S.A.V.E.R.S. abbreviation. Everything for successful marketing ideas, right?
Next to these elements of a successful morning routine, the book features a couple more highlights that are worth remembering. Here are my four takeaways from Hal Elrod's book "The Miracle Morning":
Escaping the rear-view mirror syndrome
It really doesn’t matter who is at fault — all that matters is that you and I are committed to leaving the past in the past and making our lives exactly the way we want them to be, starting today.
Next to being a programmer, I'm also an athletics trainer for kids a few evenings every week. During the training sessions, the main goal is to learn new stuff and become better in what you do. And while trying out new things, it's OK to fail. No big deal. In the end, that's how you learn. But you won't believe how often I hear the kids saying that they "can't do it". When I ask them why they think that way, they just shrug their shoulders and say: "I don't know, I just can't".
It's not only kids who feel uncomfortable trying out new stuff. The exact same thing happens in the "adult world" with anything new. People think they can't do stuff they've never done before, but they don't have a good answer to the "why"-question. Strange, right? Because how did you end up in the place you are in right now? High chances that it wasn't sheer luck — there must be something you did to become what you are. You learned new things — things you couldn't do before. People can do way more than they think they can, they just don't have the courage to go out and try it, making mistakes along the way. Their rear-view mirror is so big that they can't escape it.
Ignore that rear-view mirror. While the past brought you to where you are today, don't look back into it too much when you start learning new things. Go out and fail. Then fail again. Then learn from your mistakes and become a little bit better every day.
30-day habit mastery strategy
Unbearable, Uncomfortable, Unstoppable.
Now, I just encouraged you to go out into the wide, wide world and learn new things. But I also told you that it isn't easy to do so, and that you will make many mistakes along the way. Furthermore, it's hard to start learning something new. Actually, it's very hard to incorporate any kind of new habit in your life.
Elrod faces this same fact in his book, and came up with his idea of the "30-day habit mastery strategy". According to him, it takes (at least) 30 days before any new habit is formed and becomes a standard part of your life. During these first 30 days, you'll go through roughly three phases. The first ten days are just Unbearable. You might think that you're mad, starting with this new habit. I mean, come on! Waking up at 5:00 AM every day? What crazy person have I become? But the thing you need during these first days is perseverance. You just need to go through, whether you like it or not. It will be the hardest ten days of your life, but you have to keep in mind that there will be a bright light at the end of the tunnel, which will shine for the rest of your life (if you're lucky, of course, because not every new habit will eventually make it into your default routine, which I’ll discuss a little later).
After the first ten days, the next ten will be a little bit better. It might still feel Uncomfortable from time to time, but you'll probably get more used to the new habit.
Finally, during the last set of ten days and beyond, you will become Unstoppable. The habit has become a daily routine which you just do and don't really think about anymore. And if the habit works out for you, great! If it doesn't, just start over with a new habit and see if you benefit from that one. Remember, creating a morning routine that fits your lifestyle takes time (but, also don’t be scared to change your lifestyle a bit if you think it will do you good). Don't rush it and be prepared to fail and fall flat on your face from time to time. It's part of the process.
The email that will change your life
Everybody needs feedback, and it’s a heck of a lot cheaper than paying a trainer.
One of the ideas from "The Miracle Morning" that I found most interesting was described as a "bonus" at the end of the book. The main idea is simple: make a list of the people who are closest to you (family and friends, for example), and write them an email. In the email, you ask them to give you feedback on yourself as a person. Honest feedback. Constructive feedback that might be hard to swallow, but that will make you a better person. It's a great idea, because the people you put on your list are probably the people who know you best. And if they give you the honest feedback you asked for, it might indeed transform your life. No matter how cliché that sounds.
It may seem daunting to write and send such an email. It certainly sounds that way to me. But try to think of it the other way around. What if you did receive such an email from someone who is close to you? I would personally feel honored and do everything I can to come up with feedback that is constructive and helps this person on his way. I've yet to try this out, but I know I can count on the people I would put on my list. It's like Dionne Warwick and others sang a long time ago:
That's what friends are for
No excuses
If I could go from being found dead, told I would never walk again, going broke and feeling so depressed that I didn’t want to get out of bed in the morning to creating the life I’ve always wanted, then there are no legitimate excuses for you not to overcome any limitations that have held you back from achieving everything you want for your life. None. Zip. Nada.
Whatever you try that could improve your life, there's one main theme that returns in many different forms in "The Miracle Morning": there are no excuses to being held back by achieving everything you want for your life. Elrod refers back to his car accident and his breakdown. If he was able to literary come back from the dead, then indeed, what does hold you back to become the person you want to be?
The best piece of advice that I can give and that many others have given time and time again: just start. Just do it. Just go an try out new things. It doesn't matter how long it takes and how many times you feel like you can't do it. Go step by step, learn a little bit more every day and rise to your full potential!
What about you? Do you have morning habits and routines that you swear by? I'd like to hear about them, because I'm also still trying to find my perfect morning routine. It's worth more to me to hear your thoughts than getting claps for this article (although the latter certainly doesn't hurt). Let's build our perfect morning together!
