“The Miracle Morning” - how I transformed my life in 365 days
One Saturday, just over a year ago I was having a little mooch around Waterstones seeing if anything jumped out at me and then, with a halo surrounding it, there was “The Miracle Morning”.
This was at a time where I was seeking answers to the things that were going on in my life that I wasn't 100% happy with and I guess I was looking for a quick fix.
This wasn't the first time I had felt like this throughout my life, I've had periods of low moments and times when I wanted someone to present me with all the answers I was looking for.
Back to the halo... there, with “The Miracle Morning” glowing in my face I picked it up and bought the book (an unusually quick decision for me)!
In brief, “The Miracle Morning” is about getting up an hour earlier every day and completing six activities that are called SAVERS. Silence (or meditation), Affirmations, Visualisation, Exercise, Reading and Scribing (or writing a journal). In theory this should take an hour a day and can be broken up into any time duration that works best for you.
To summarise I've been doing this for a year and it's transformed my life!
In essence the changes I've experienced are:
No.1 - I now take complete responsibility for everything in my life and I understand it is only me that can make any changes.
No.2 - I can't change anybody in my life. I can only change the way that I respond and react to these people and situations.
No.3- I'm now really good at making decisions! There's no right or wrong choice. Just two paths to choose from. Both will provide me with a different experience that I will learn from.
No.4 - I'm a lot bloody stronger than I thought!
And in numbers this means:
S (silence)- 68 hours of meditation using the Headspace App
A (affirmations)- 1,460 read out loud or in the shower!
V (visualisation)- 365
E (exercise)- 1,825 kettlebell swings and 1,825 press ups
R (reading)- 17 business/personal development books
S (scribing)- a book of journaling - the crazy stuff in my head!
And an extra - G! - 365 things I'm Grateful for.
In terms of business what does this mean?
It means I can now make quick decisions and embrace the path I have chosen. In turn I can move on and deal with the next thing on my to do list.
When things in my day don't go to plan or perhaps I don't win business I was expecting to win, I now learn from that and take responsibility for what did or didn't happen but most importantly what I can do different next time.
Nothing last forever. So sometimes there are days that I don’t feel very positive or I’m affectionately called a “mood hoover”. I now know that a), my mood won't stay with me for long and b), I need to take control of my emotions to change how I feel.
These are just a few of the changes that I've noticed in myself that have either naturally happened or I have made a conscious decision to change.
Is “The Miracle Morning” for you? I don't know, maybe. All I can say is buy it, give it a go. One thing I have learnt is that I'm not very good at early mornings and I need sleep! After reading Tim Ferriss's " The Four-Hour Week", I'm now incorporating some of the things I've learnt from that with “The Miracle Morning”. This means I'm working less hours, allowing me to get more sleep, therefore allowing me to do “The Miracle Morning” later. I can still get the same results as when I was getting up at 4:30 in the morning and working a 14-hour day.
Like with anything I think all of these things you have to try and see what works for you, it's a constantly evolving process.
If you’d like to know more then buy the book and give it a go! Your future self will thank you.
And if you have done/ are doing “The Miracle Morning” I'd love to hear how it's working out for you!