1KHO 411: Stop Resisting Your Life | Hal Elrod, The Miracle Morning

Summary

Podcast Summary: The 1000 Hours Outside Podcast – Episode 1KHO 411: Stop Resisting Your Life | Hal Elrod, The Miracle Morning

Introduction

In the inaugural episode of The 1000 Hours Outside Podcast, host Ginny Urch welcomes celebrated author and motivational speaker Hal Elrod. Hal is renowned for his transformative work, particularly his bestselling book, The Miracle Morning, which has sold over three million copies worldwide. This episode delves deep into Hal's extraordinary journey, the philosophies underpinning his work, and actionable strategies for listeners to enhance their lives by reimagining their morning routines.

Hal Elrod’s Inspirational Story

Hal begins by sharing the profound adversities that have shaped his life's mission. At just eight years old, he witnessed the tragic death of his baby sister, an event that planted the seeds for his future endeavors in helping others overcome personal tragedies. Fast forward to his twenties, Hal was involved in a severe car accident caused by a drunk driver, which left him with multiple injuries and permanent brain damage. Despite these challenges, Hal emerged resilient, using his experiences to fuel his passion for personal development.

Notable Quote:
“At age 37, I was diagnosed with a rare aggressive form of leukemia, given a 20 to 30% chance of surviving. All of those adversities made me stronger and shaped who I am today.” – Hal Elrod [05:44]

Developing the Miracle Morning

Amidst the 2008 economic crash, Hal faced financial ruin and depression. It was during this tumultuous period that he conceptualized the idea of the Miracle Morning—a structured morning routine designed to set a positive tone for the day. This routine was instrumental in doubling his income within two months, even during a severe recession. Recognizing its efficacy, Hal began teaching this practice to his coaching clients, leading to the creation of his bestselling book.

Notable Quote:
“I created the ultimate morning ritual, and within two months, I doubled my income at the height of the 2008 Great Recession.” – Hal Elrod [02:12]

Overcoming Adversity with the Five Minute Rule

Hal introduces the "Five Minute Rule," a technique he learned during his time as a sales representative at Cutco. This rule involves allowing oneself five minutes to fully experience and express emotions before consciously deciding to move past them with the mantra, “Can’t change it.” This approach has been pivotal in helping him navigate through significant life challenges, including his car accident and cancer diagnosis.

Notable Quote:
“When something happens that you didn’t want to happen, set a timer for five minutes. Fully feel and express every emotion that comes up. Then say, ‘Can’t change it,’ and move forward.” – Hal Elrod [08:29]

The Journey to Publishing and Success

Initially self-published, The Miracle Morning struggled to gain traction, selling only 13,000 copies in its first year. Undeterred, Hal remained committed to his goal of influencing one million lives. Through perseverance and continuous refinement of his message, the book eventually achieved monumental success, selling over three million copies. Hal later partnered with a traditional publisher, Ben Bella Books, to expand the reach of his work further.

Notable Quote:
“My goal was to sell a million copies. It took six years, but I achieved it by steadfastly focusing on my mission to change lives one morning at a time.” – Hal Elrod [15:12]

Key Principles of the Miracle Morning

At the core of the Miracle Morning are the "SAVERS" practices—Silence, Affirmations, Visualization, Exercise, Reading, and Scribing. These six disciplines are designed to cultivate a balanced and productive start to each day. Hal emphasizes that implementing these practices transforms one's mindset, enhances personal growth, and sets a positive trajectory for the rest of the day.

Notable Quote:
“The Miracle Morning includes Silence, Affirmations, Visualization, Exercise, Reading, and Scribing—six practices that set the tone for a peak state every day.” – Hal Elrod [26:43]

Implementing Miracle Morning in Busy Lives

Recognizing the challenges faced by parents, especially mothers with newborns, Hal offers practical advice on integrating the Miracle Morning into hectic schedules. He suggests breaking down the SAVERS into manageable segments throughout the day, aligning them with the child’s nap times. This adaptability ensures that even the busiest individuals can benefit from the routine without feeling overwhelmed.

Notable Quote:
“When you have a newborn, you can break up the SAVERS throughout the day—doing each practice during your child’s naps until the routine can be consolidated into the morning.” – Hal Elrod [40:02]

The Importance of Mindset and Reading

Hal underscores the significance of mindset in achieving personal success. He argues that beliefs shape our reality, and by shifting our mindset, we can overcome limiting beliefs and embrace possibilities. Additionally, Hal highlights reading as a crucial element of the Miracle Morning, providing continuous learning and inspiration that sustains personal growth over time.

Notable Quote:
“Reading books gives you someone holding your hand for weeks, keeping the insights and ideas top of mind, unlike fleeting articles.” – Hal Elrod [42:23]

Setting High Standards and Avoiding Mediocrity

Addressing the concept of settlement, Hal discusses how settling for less than one's potential leads to a life of struggle and mediocrity. He advocates for striving towards excellence in all areas of life—not just for personal fulfillment but as an example for others, particularly his children. By avoiding complacency, individuals can create a meaningful and impactful life.

Notable Quote:
“Settling for mediocrity means settling for less than your best. Strive every day to fulfill your potential and set an example for those around you.” – Hal Elrod [36:15]

Conclusion

Hal Elrod’s narrative is a testament to the power of resilience, mindset, and structured daily practices. The Miracle Morning serves as a guiding framework for individuals seeking to transform their lives by harnessing the most critical part of the day—the morning. Through his own experiences and the principles he advocates, Hal offers listeners a pathway to overcome adversity, achieve personal growth, and live their fullest potential.

Final Thought

"When you start your day in a peak state, everything else falls into place." – Hal Elrod

Listeners are encouraged to embrace the Miracle Morning practices, adapt them to their unique circumstances, and embark on a journey of continuous self-improvement and fulfillment.

Transcript

[Capella University]

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[Ginny Urch]

Edu welcome to the 1000 Hours Outside podcast. My name is Ginny Urch. I'm the founder of 1000 Hours Outside and it is a really, really big deal because Hal Elrod is here. He is the founder of. Well, what do you even call it? The founder of the Miracle Morning. Yeah. Tell us what you. What you.

[Hal Elrod]

Creator and author. I think that's probably the most appropriate. The creator and author of the Miracle Morning. Yeah.

[Ginny Urch]

Yes. On a mission to elevate the consciousness of humanity one person at a time. International keynote speaker, host of the extremely popular achieve your goals podcast, author of one of the highest rated books in the world, the Miracle Morning, which has over 6,000 five star Amazon reviews, sold over 2 million copies. And you have had quite a journey, Hale. Yeah, more so than I think I've ever read about anybody else. Just adversity after adversity. But I just want to tell the listeners is a really big deal that you're here. They should be thrilled.

[Hal Elrod]

And you mean as in alive?

[Ginny Urch]

Well, as alive here, but also here on this show because I don't think you do all that many of these. So I'm just really honored.

[Hal Elrod]

I'm honored, I'm grateful. And I appreciate your. Just the way you. Your enthusiasm and your positive energy says a lot about you. So thank you. I'm excited for our time together today.

[Ginny Urch]

I am too. I'm really, really honored. This book is fantastic and will change your life. And there's also an app, there's also a documentary, and there are other books as well that we're going to talk about as well as your podcast. So obviously the folks listening are already podcast listeners and Yours has over 500 wonderful episodes. But adversity after adversity. Hal, I was like, oh my goodness, this story. So can you tell the listeners? I mean, you've almost died. Cancer. You had your book money stolen from you. A major job loss in 2008. Depression.

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah. I mean, I think that where I used to not share this part of the story, but Where I've been starting, because I've realized that it is, it's so relevant, is When I was 8 years old, my baby sister died in front of me. She was a year and a half and I woke up to my mother screaming from her bedroom on a Saturday morning. And I ran across the hall and she was performing mouth to mouth on my baby sister. And it was a series of events that morning. We tried to revive her, we tried to save her. And, and she, she passed away that morning. And within six months, six to 12 months, my mother was leading a support group for other parents who had lost young children. And so I didn't realize it at the time, but now looking back, like my life's work, which is based on all of the tragedies that I've endured and how I overcame them and then helping other people, I realized, oh, that seed was planted by my mom and dad because they were so proactive with taking my sister's death. And rather than wallowing in self pity, like asking how can we help other people with what we've gone through, we fast forward 12 years later. I was driving home after giving a speech at a Cutco sales conference. I was one of Cutco's sales reps and my car was hit head on by a drunk driver at 70 miles per hour and I was found dead at the scene. I broke 11 bones. My bled to death. My heart stopped for six minutes. I spent six days after I was airlifted to the hospital, six days in a coma and came out of the coma to be told I would never walk again. And I had permanent brain damage. So that was the second major one. And then you fast forward after that. I had the economic crash in 2008. I don't usually spend as much time on that because it's like, who didn't have that happen in 2008? Like, we can all relate to that. But the thing about it is this miracle morning concept, it was born out of my depression and financial ruin, was like, how am I going to turn my life around? And I created the ultimate morning ritual. And within two months, I doubled my income at the height of the 2008 Great Recession. And because I doubled my income so fast, and I directly pointed back to this miracle morning concept, or I'm sorry, it wasn't called the miracle morning yet this morning routine concept, I went to my wife and I said, sweetheart, I've officially we signed on two new coaching clients today. We've doubled our income in the last two months, all because of this morning routine. It feels like a miracle. And without skipping a beat, she goes, it's your miracle morning. I go, I like that miracle morning. But like I didn't know it was going to be a book, right? It was just like I started writing my schedule every day, miracle morning. Then I started teaching it to my clients and then it grew into this worldwide movement book. And then without going too long here, the last part of it is when I was 37 years old, so about seven years ago, I was diagnosed with a very rare aggressive form of leukemia, cancer and given a 20 to 30% chance of surviving. And then it's like I had to put all of my tools, my mindset that I learned from the car accident, my miracle morning. At that point I had more to lose than ever. Because when I had my car accident, I was 20 years old. I didn't have kids, I wouldn't have a family. Now at 37, when I got cancer, I had a seven year old daughter, a four year old son and a wife who I love dearly. And it's like now everything was on the line and the doctors were telling me that I had one to three weeks to live if I didn't start chemotherapy. When I went in the hospital, my heart was failing, my lungs were failing, my kidneys were failing. This particular cancer attacks your organs and it shuts down your organs and people die from it. And so it was a very scary and treacherous time for our family. But I'm grateful to say that all of those adversities made me, you know, stronger and who I am today and, and so we're here.

[Ginny Urch]

Oh, that's so much adversity. The story about when you're 20, I think that's a huge one because it's someone else's fault.

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah.

[Ginny Urch]

Oh, on your website, which is a fantastic website by the way, it's like it's so easy to navigate and you can find that, you know, the documentary there and all the books, in fact, the books, it's like there's workbooks, like for types of job situations. So you can find all of that there. But you have pictures. You read it, right? You read it in your book, the Miracle morning, the not so obvious secret guarantee to transform your life before 8am you read it and then, man, is it really hit home and become real. When you see those pictures, you put the pictures on the website of the smash car of you, the chemotherapy, you have no hair, you're like, this is a lot. And I can't even imagine you have this. This isn't Actually, your first book, your first book, which you wrote for five years, came out in 2006, which is a brilliant title. Hale taking life head on. How to love the life you have while you create the life of your dreams. It's the number seven Amazon overall bestseller. And the publisher fled the country, stole 100% of the book royalties, and you never heard from that person again. So you have had people in your life who have taken quite a bit from you.

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah, yeah. It's funny, that story. I almost never tell that story. I just don't think. I don't think about. There's so many. I'm like, I can't tell everything right. But, yeah. So, you know, I found this very small publisher, you know, a mom PA publisher, if you will, and they took on the. Or taking life head on. And it was me sharing my car accident story and how I, you know, took life head on after the head on collision. And you never in a million years imagine. So, like, I worked really hard. No one knew who I was, and I got the book as high as number seven on Amazon bestseller list. And then my publisher, we had a few more conversations, and then all of a sudden one day, you know, I called, they didn't answer. I left a message, sent an email. They didn't respond, called again. And I had not gotten paid yet from the royalties. But I guess once they got the money that came in from all the royalties from the book launch, they disappeared. They closed up shop. And all of a sudden I had other authors that were reaching out to me going, hey. And they ended up, like, getting. They hired a private detective. So they. They took the money from my launch and they. They just abandoned their entire business and went on the run and abandoned all of their authors. Like, every author was left with, like, I don't know how to. I'm not getting paid anymore. Like, it was. It was wild.

[Ginny Urch]

How do you handle that? I mean, I think that that would derail either situation. You're hit by a drunk driver and this is not your fault. Right. And your heart stopped beating for six minutes. And there's a photo, not only of the car, but there's a photo of you in the hospital bed just all bandaged up. I was like, how do you move past that stuff?

[Hal Elrod]

You know? I learned something in my Cutco sales training. The answer to this question, and it's. I still teach it in my every speech that I give. This is the first lesson I teach. It's called the five minute rule. There's two parts to it. The Five minute rule. And then the can't change it philosophy I learned in my Cutco sales training. They basically said, hey, sales is a microcosm for life's adversity, but it's amplified. They said the average person occasionally faces rejection, like it's not normal for just the average person. But when you're in sales, you get rejected every day on the phone. In person. They said the average person occasionally faces failure. Like, maybe they don't hit their goal for the year, but as a salesperson, you're going to fail to reach your daily goal and your hourly goal and your weekly goal. So they said you need a strategy to manage your mindset so that when you face difficult circumstances, you can quickly move through it and move forward. And so my manager, my mentor at the time, Jesse Levine, he said, I'm going to teach you what's called the five minute rule. And he said, when you find yourself upset over something, something happens that you didn't want to happen. And now, to be fair, Ginny, this was in the context of selling kitchen knives, right? I never imagined that I would apply it to being hit head on by a drunk driver and losing all my money and getting cancer and having my publisher steal the money, but it was. You set your timer for five minutes and you don't suppress your emotions, you don't bypass them, which a lot of us do, right? We're like, I don't have time to get upset. I just need to move. Like, whatever, move on. You set your time for five minutes and you give yourself five minutes to feel, fully feel, express and experience every emotion that comes up. I am, I'm. I'm upset. I am angry about that. This is not fair. This person is rude, right? Like, five minute timer. You set it and then you have five minutes free reign to just moan, cry, complain, vent, punch a wall, whatever. So that way you express your emotions. But when the timer goes off after five minutes, you say three very powerful words. Can't change it. It's an acknowledgement. I can't change what happened five minutes ago. So right now I have a choice. Either I can continue to dwell on it and be upset over it, but that doesn't change it. That just makes me miserable. Or I can say, can't change it, take a deep breath and acknowledge. I can either wish this didn't happen and be upset about it, or I can accept reality exactly as it is. And it doesn't mean I'm happy about it, but it's way more powerful than that. It means I'M at peace with it. Happiness is an emotion that's fleeting. You can be happy one minute and you get a phone call, bad news. Now you're upset. But when you accept reality exactly as it is, you're at peace. It's this neutral emotional state of like, groundedness, of like, I can't change it. So there's no, there's no intelligent response to be upset over it anymore. The only logical choice is to accept it and move forward. So I had applied that when I had my car accident. So much so that the doctors thought I was in denial because I was so happy. They actually called my parents in one day and they said, we're concerned with Hal. He's always smiling and joking and, you know, we're telling him he's never going to walk again. So we think he's delusional. Like he's checked out a reality because he, you know, this was only one week after the crash or, sorry, one week I was in a coma. One week later, I had been out of the coma for a week, but I was being told I was never going to walk again. But I was like, I had, I'm like, can't change it. I can't change it that I was in a car accident. So I can choose though, to be happy and grateful for the fact that I'm alive. I can choose to focus on what's possible in the future. And when my dad came into my hospital room and he said, hal, the doctors are concerned with your state of, you know, they think you're, you're not being honest with yourself and you're delusional. I said, dad, I can't change it. If I'm in a wheelchair the rest of my life, I might as well be the happiest person you've ever seen in a wheelchair because I'm in a wheelchair. Either way, I could be miserable or happy. It's a real simple choice to me. And this whole can't change it philosophy in this five minute rule, I've applied it in my cutcoat career for a year and a half and now I'm realizing, oh, it applies to even the biggest adversity that we face. And the last thing I said to him is, I said, dad, you know how ever since I've been speaking at these Cutco conferences for the last year and a half, I've told you I've like, I would love to be like a professional speaker someday. And he said, yeah. I said, maybe that's why this happened. Maybe I'm supposed to get through this experience and then I can go share it with other people by going through it in the most positive, proactive way possible. And when the six years later, when the publisher stole my money, the day that I found out, I was like, I can't believe that happened. Okay, set my timer for five minutes. This is bs. What a jerk. What an immoral person. I can't. I trusted you. Timer goes off, can't change it. There's no point in dwelling on it or wishing it didn't happen. What do I do now? And I googled how to self publish a book. And then I put 100% of my energy not on being angry at the publisher, which didn't serve anything. It was, how do I get this book that I know people, you know, like, and it can impact their life. How do I get it back on Amazon? And I self published it. And so it's accept what you can't change and shift all of your emotional energy and all of your focus and attention and time on what you can control moving forward.

[Ginny Urch]

And what a thing, Hal. And then book number two is one of the best selling books that has ever been in existence. I mean, to have sold millions of copies is huge. And in fact, you just came out with an expanded edition of the Miracle Morning. Tell us about that.

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah. So the original Miracle Morning book was written out of a sense of responsibility. I started writing it in 2009 and it was like, wait, this thing changed my life and I wasn't a morning person, Which I think is common for a lot of people. Like, I'm not a morning person. Neither was I. That was a big part of the Miracle Morning was figuring out how to overcome that limiting belief that I'm not a morning person. And then logistically move my alarm clock across the room and do these bedtime affirmations that set my intentions to how I'd feel when I woke up. I kind of pre programmed before bed, there are all these little ninja tricks that I had googled and like put together. And so I started teaching it to my coaching clients. I had 14, 15 or 14, 14 or 15 coaching clients. And they all resisted. I'm not a morning person, Hal. I go, neither was I. And I taught them all the tricks. And then on our next call two weeks later, 14 out of 15 of the clients, all but one said, Hal, it worked. I did this Miracle Morning. I, I'm having the best week in my career. I'm running again, I'm meditating, I'm journaling, I'm reading, I'M you know, like. And that's when the light bulb went off and I went, if this worked for me, and I wasn't a morning person. And it worked for all but one of my coaching clients, who most of them were resistant to the idea. They weren't morning people either. This could work for anyone. I have a responsibility to share this. And so I'm a slow writer. It took me three years, but I self published the Mir. The original Miracle morning edition in 2012.

[Ginny Urch]

Which is cool because you had learned. You'd already learned how to self publish.

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah, exactly. Yeah, I knew how to do it. I had. I had an Amazon Kindle direct publishing account, Right. And got to do that. But I was committed to selling a million copies. I tried to do it year one. I only sold 13,000 copies year one. So I was 987,000 copies short of my grandiose goal. But it took six years to reach a million copies. And just, you know, every. That was my number one focus for my life.

[Ginny Urch]

Wait a minute. I.

[Capella University]

What?

[Ginny Urch]

Okay, this is blowing my mind, Hal, because normally it's like you get a. You know, you get the spike at the beginning, right? This is like when you're hoping to hit the bestsellers list and, you know, the book comes out, you're trying to get people to pre order use it sold 13,000. And then in the next five years, you sold, what did you say? 987,000 more.

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah, well, yeah, so I said I was 987,000 short of my goal. Yeah, right. So my goal was to sell. It was actually change 1 million lives.

[Ginny Urch]

And so you did. You sold a million in six years.

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah, it took six years.

[Ginny Urch]

Normally you would think, well, I sold 13,000 the first year and then dropped down. But no.

[Hal Elrod]

Wow. It's because it became my life's work. Like, my life's work is to. Was to get the Miracle Morning in the hands of a million people and change 1 million lives 1 morning at a time. But once that happened, I had to change the goal and make it bigger. And the way that I look at it now, I think we've sold about 3 million copies of the original, and now we have the new updated and expanded edition. And so I rewrote the Miracle Morning last year, and about nine months ago, I published this new edition with 70 pages of new content, including two new chapters. The Miracle Evening, which is your strategy for blissful bedtime and better sleep. And then the Miracle life, which is. I call that your path to inner freedom. The new edition of the books like I made every page better and then I added 70 pages of new content. So it's just called the Miracle Morning Updated and Expanded Edition.

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[Ginny Urch]

Those numbers 3 million. This is the self published. It stayed self published the whole time?

[Hal Elrod]

No. So this, this is the new. I'm holding up the new one, right? It's all yellow. This one is traditionally published by Ben Bella Books. So that was part of. I had always wanted a traditional publisher, but I was always hesitant. Had to be like the right publisher. That, that was not just going to have.

[Ginny Urch]

Hesitant because the other one was a crook.

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah. Oh yeah, that's one. Yeah. But it was also because a lot of publishers, right, they, they go through so many books that they don't really care for each one. It's like they put it out, do a little marketing and then onto the next, onto the next. And so I interviewed probably 18 or 19 of the world's top publishers to find one that I really felt was aligned with my vision and my mission and would really, you know, get behind the Miracle morning mission the way that I was.

[Ginny Urch]

Oh, wow. What, what a story. What a story that you self publish. I bet that there's no one else that's ever done that self published a book that sold 3 million copies. That is unbelievably cool.

[Hal Elrod]

There are others. I can't think of what they are, but I think the Celestine Prophecy is one. Like there's definitely a handful or so of other books that started self published and then they did gain traction, but it's definitely not, you know, it's not, not a lot.

[Ginny Urch]

You wrote. I thought this was a huge sentence. This was after the car accident. You said I had to take responsibility for getting my life back. Instead of complaining about how things should be, I embraced how things were. I stopped putting energy into wishing my life were different and.

[Thrive Market]

Wow.

[Ginny Urch]

So you're putting energy into what you, what your life's work is. And that is so powerful. Okay, we're gonna talk about the morning, but before we get there, you did say that your dad is your best friend. And I was curious, how does a dad become his son's best friend?

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah, I mean our relationships, it's, you know, I've always had a good relationship with dad, but as a kid it was normal. He was just, you know, dad and annoying and whatever. Right. Like just normal dad stuff. Which I'm dealing with that right now with a 15 year old daughter and a 12 year old son. Now I'm dorky dad and annoying dad, but I'm trying my best here. But no. So my dad, after my car accident, he rented an apartment next door to the Cutco office for he and I to live In. So he and I became roommates after my car accident, and he drove me to my appointments. He just. He took care. You know, really took care of me. So that was the first tragedy, the car accident. And we've always had a great relationship. And then after. When I was diagnosed with cancer, and I called my dad and I told him, hey, I'm going into the hospital. They're testing me. They. I have cancer. You know, I live in Texas. He lives in California. He got on a plane and flew out here. And then, you know, they said, hal, you've got to start treatment. It's. You know, the survival rate for this cancer is only 20 to 30%. And my dad's an executive for an oil company. And he called and he said, hey, I'm not leaving my son's side till he's healed. You know, till he's better. So, you know, I love my job. I'd love to come back to it, but whatever you got to do. And so they were. They were great that they, you know, they said, hey, you take care of your son. Your job will be here when you. When you're ready. But my dad and I got an apartment now next door to the hospital, MD Anderson Cancer Center. And it was really, you know, it was such a silver lining, because what other time in, like, in what other Circumstance at age 37, do you move back in with your dad? And I'm like, we'd be sitting there. You know, I'd be. Get chemo and go home, and. And me and my dad are watching movies, and really, no responsibility because, like, he doesn't have work. My work's kind of on hold, on autopilot. And I'm like, dad, I'm so grateful to be here hanging out with you. And I. I. You know, I wish it didn't take cancer to get us together like this, but what a cool experience that we get to have. And so we were roommates for, like, six months, I think, and I just. We just grew just that much closer from that. And I talked to him, you know, every. Between. Every day and every other day usually.

[Ginny Urch]

Wow. What a book. What a story. What an incredible thing to read. If you're struggling to look for the silver lining, because this is your outlook on all of these things that have just been so awful, and yet here you are, so unbelievably successful. And more than just success, it's, like, so influential for so many people's lives. Okay? The big premise of this book is, what if you could change? I was like, come on you went for it. What if you could change anything about your life by changing the way you start your day? I mean, wow. It's called the miracle morning and the new edition is out. Here was the thing that I was, like, kind of skeptical of, but then I tried it and I was like, okay, this actually works. So. And especially for moms, you know, you have this whole period of life where you don't sleep much and it's stressful. You're kind of like, oh, my gosh, how am I going to feel tomorrow? Am I going to make it through the day? The baby was up, the baby was throwing up, the toddler, you know, whatever. And I'm going to be exhausted. I think there's that and a lot of anxiety of how am I going to function? And you basically said, have the mindset that you're going to be fine. And I was like, come on. And then I was like, well, it actually works. Tell us about that.

[Hal Elrod]

Mindset's everything. And, you know, like, the way that I responded to the car accident is a perfect example, right? Like, I could have been like, poor me. This isn't fair. I don't deserve this. How could this happen to me? Woe is me, right? You know, and I did ask, like, God, why did this happen to me? But it wasn't from a place of, like, victimhood. It was a place of, like, empowerment. Like, why did this happen to me? What am I supposed to learn from this? What am I supposed to do with this? How am I supposed to help other people with this experience, Right? So it's fine to ask, why did this happen? But it's from a place, not a victimhood. But again, of empowerment. I always say that, like, the proof about the mindset is that the same exact two different people could be going through the exact same adversity, right? Whether it's being a new mother or being in a car accident or being bankrupt or getting a divorce, right? Two people, exact same circumstances. One person is miserable, and they have that victim mindset, and it's not fair. And they feel like life is over and they're depressed and they, you know, they just. They can't believe it's happening to them. And they live in that mindset, right? Person number two that's going through the exact same adversity is at peace with the adversity because they can't change it. There's no point in wishing that they could, right? There's no point in being a victim. It doesn't change anything. It just makes them Miserable. And they're focusing on what they're grateful for every day, thanking God for all they have in their life. And so their mindset, while they're not happy that this adversity is going on, they're at peace with it. And their focus is on what they're grateful for that does bring them joy. So same adversity, two different mindsets. Determine if it hurts you, destroys you, or helps you and empowers you.

[Ginny Urch]

Okay, so what you can do practically is you can have the mindset that you got the perfect amount of sleep. So you say this, this is something I would struggle with. I'm like, okay, I had extra work or I went to bed late, tomorrow I'm going to feel crummy. I consciously decided before bed that I was getting the perfect amount of sleep.

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah. So what I, here's what I realized. We believe if you believe you need eight hours and you're only getting six hours because you went to bed late or you got to wake up early, right? Then you literally tell yourself, oh my God, I'm going to be so exhausted in the morning. I'm only getting six hours of sleep and I know my body, I need eight to feel rested. It is a self fulfilling prophecy because as soon as the alarm goes off in the morning and you open your eyes, you go, oh, I only got six hours of sleep last night. I knew it. I'm exhausted. So I started experimenting with, I'm going to try telling myself that my body is a miraculous organism capable of regenerating cells so it can definitely feel better in the morning, feel great no matter how many hours of sleep I get. So I still believe. You know, I don't think this is like where you want to. Sleep deprivation is not what I'm advocating for. I'm just advocating for no matter how, no matter how many hours of sleep that you get on any given night. And there's in the book, there's bedtime affirmations that are literally word for word, like how you set your subconscious mind up the night before. But the general idea is tonight I'm going to get 6.4 hours, you know, six and a half hours of sleep. And I'm gonna wake up tomorrow feeling refreshed and rejuvenated and excited and my body is gonna heal and rest and I'm gonna sleep great tonight and the morning's gonna be amazing. And then as soon as you wake up in the morning, you open your eyes, you're like, oh, it's a self fulfilling prophecy. I got six and a half hours of sleep. And I feel great, just like I told myself that I would. And I often give the example of. I say, think of a time. If you're listening right now, watching this, think of a time when you were excited to get out of bed. And for me, it was Christmas morning when I was a kid. And I want to ask you. So think about if you celebrated Christmas. Like, did it matter how many hours of sleep you got or whether you tossed and turned or woke up to go pee four times while, you know, because you're so excited you couldn't get a good night's sleep when you woke up because it was Christmas morning, you're like, it's here. And you jumped out of bed with excitement, enthusiasm. And so I deconstructed that experience of waking up Christmas morning, and I went, wait a minute. I can recreate that experience every single day by thinking about what happens right before I go to bed on Christmas Eve as a kid. What am I thinking about? I'm thinking, I can't wait for the morning. I'm gonna be so excited. And that's what the miracle morning did for me, is it made every day essentially feel like Christmas. Wow.

[Ginny Urch]

What a thing. What a thing. What a thing for moms to hear. Because the nighttime can be really hard and really dark. I mean, it's obviously dark, but, like, you feel like, you know, I'm, like, I'm up with this baby. It's overwhelming.

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah.

[Ginny Urch]

This was really thought provoking because a lot of people would say, I'm not a morning person. And, you know, okay, I could have these different routines. But you're saying what's really happening here is that we are resisting our life.

[Hal Elrod]

Ooh.

[Ginny Urch]

Can you tell us more about that?

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah. When the more, you know, if you. If you say, I'm not a morning person. Right. First of all, that's a limiting belief, and I've kind of proven that over. We've interviewed. Of the millions of miracle morning practitioners, at least once a year, we interview, we or we send out a survey. And one of the questions we always ask is, before you read the miracle morning and implemented the, you know, the strategies, were you a night owl or, you know, were you a morning person? Did you think you could ever become a morning person? 7. Roughly 72% across the board over the last decade plus have said, I was not a morning person before I read the miracle morning. Right. Like, meaning I didn't think that I could be a morning person. And then they shifted that. So that's an important part of it. But if the morning starts like we all say, we want an amazing life. The reason a morning ritual and the miracle morning are so important is that how you start your day sets the tone for the rest of the day. So if you start the day by waking up and going, oh, I don't want to wake up, and you're literally, you're hitting the snooze button, which is literally procrastinating. That's what you said. I'm resisting life. Like, the day is here, life is here. I can wake up and do anything, but I'd rather lay unconscious in bed for nine more minutes. And then nine more minutes and nine minutes. And you're missing out on starting your day in a peak physical, mental, emotional and spiritual state. And when you start your day in a peak physical, mental, emotional and spiritual state, you enter your day and you greet your family and your kids in a peak state. And you are far more effective at home. And if you're in, if you work at work, right, everything that you do is affected by how effectively you start your day.

[Ginny Urch]

Wow. Okay. So people can. In the miracle morning, it will go through the six things that you're supposed to do. You talk about the amount of time to put into it. You talk about the things that you can say, especially this expanded edition. It's going to help you get started the night before. So you want to check that out to get all the six things.

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[Hal Elrod]

I meant those blackout motorized shanks, shades.

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[Hal Elrod]

Hard to install?

[Blinds.com]

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[Hal Elrod]

Blinds.com is the goat shop blinds.com right now.

[Ginny Urch]

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[Ginny Urch]

Because you said this. This was in the documentary you said. I thought this was really interesting. As a result of settling, life becomes a struggle. I don't think anybody would ever think that. Well, life becomes a struggle. What, because you get hit by a drunk driver? Life becomes a struggle because the economy crashed. Life becomes a struggle because some crook stole all of your money. But you're saying no, it's settling.

[Hal Elrod]

Settling for less than you're capable of. Right. That's what I. Or settling for mediocrity and mediocrity. I've heard some people have come to me and go, how that's insulting. How dare you say that people are mediocre. Let me define how, what I mean by that. We all settle for mediocrity and all that means is settling for less than your best. So I'm guilty of it every day. Every day I do. So there's something that I could have done, you know, better, but I was too tired or lazy or made excuses or whatever. So we all settle for mediocrity, but to varying degrees. So for me, I'm Always striving to live to my full potential. And part of it is, especially as a dad, I mean, I was doing it before I was a dad because I was like trying to achieve all these goals. But then when I became a dad, I'm like, oh, I have a responsibility now to strive every day to fulfill my potential, to set the example for my kiddos of what's possible. Right? So my kids, they'll never look back and go, my dad settled for less than he was capable of. Like, he, you know, he stayed in a dead end job that he didn't like. Like, they'll never say that. They'll go, you know, dad was like always striving to, you know, help as many people as he could and he was going for these big goals and trying to change the world and Right. Like, and you don't have to do that. Like, you don't have to try to change the world. But I do think, like, you know, striving to be as healthy and happy and, you know, and pursuing your dreams, your passions, like those are important to set the example for your kids. And so when I say, yeah, when we settle for less than we're capable of, life becomes a struggle. The thing is, most people, and I don't say this at all in a condescending way, but this actually, let me show you where this all came from. There's a chapter in the book that you're referencing, it's called the 95% reality check. And when I was doing the research for the Miracle Morning, I came across this statistic that the Social Security Administration published saying that at retirement age, only 5% of people are financially secure enough to like take care of themselves. The other 95% are dependent on friends, family, the government, welfare, right? Or their. So when I read that, I was like, wait a minute. If you were to ask all of those people, the 95%, which is the majority of society that aren't able to take care of themselves, like comfortably, if you were to ask them when they were, you know, 18 years old or 20 years old, hey, was that your plan? That when you turned 65, you were going to struggle for the rest of your life financially? Well, they, of course not. And so that's why I called it the 95% reality check. Because I'm like, look, if that wasn't their plan and they never thought that would be their future, for most of them, then that means that you and I have to start thinking differently than 95% of our society. We have to start living differently we have to start doing things differently because if we don't, then we will unintentionally end up in that 95% that's struggling financially. And the beauty of it is if you take care of yourself and you focus on your goals and becoming the best version of yourself and you know, and you're able to get to a place where you can take care of yourself not just financially, but physically, mentally, emotionally, you want to thrive in every area, of course, but then you can help other people, right? Like if you're struggling because you settled for less than your best, it makes you self centered because you're like, help other people. I'm just trying to keep my head above water, right? And I know as a mom you can relate to that. You're like, I'm just trying to like take care of my family, keep the head above water. And, and I do want to make sure we circle back on. If you are a mom with a newborn and you're not sleeping, how do you implement a miracle morning? Because I know that is an important question that a lot of moms post in the Miracle Morning Community Facebook group.

[Ginny Urch]

What do you tell them?

[Hal Elrod]

Should we address it now?

[Ginny Urch]

Yeah, they all want to know. Everyone's on the edge of their seat.

[Hal Elrod]

So for those of you that are on Facebook, there's a miracle morning community. It's called the Miracle morning community. It's 370,000 people I think in that group from around the world. It's amazing. It's such an inspiring group. And yeah, that's a question that regularly gets asked. I'm a new mom, I have a newborn. I just read the book or I'm reading it, I want to do this, but like I'm up with my baby all night and then I'm up with her like whenever. Basically I nap when she naps kind of thing. Right? And the answer, not my answer, the answer that comes in from moms under their post. And I've just seen this enough to know this. They say, oh yeah, here's what I did. They said, you know, the six practices of the miracle morning, which for those that don't know, these are organized under the acronym Savers.s A V E R S Silence, affirmations, visualization exercise, reading and scribing. So those are the six practices. And what moms will say in the group is just do your savers when your baby is sleeping and break them up throughout the day. You know, if your child takes their first nap, maybe you do the silence and the affirmations and Then you nap with your baby. Then during the next nap, a few hours later you do the visualization and you do a little exercise. Right. Then you read and you know. So you can break the savers up throughout the day until your baby is sleeping through the night and then you can do all of your savers first thing in the morning.

[Ginny Urch]

Yeah. So you're in the habit of it. You have those things as a part of your day. I just want to tell people so they know what to expect. I love that this book includes the different phases. If you call the first 10 days unbearable and the second 10 days uncomfortable. So this is good. I mean it's good. You've got the reality check in there. You wrote most of us wake up every day and life is pretty much staying the same. So what a charge to get out of this settling spot. Because you wrote the greatest gift we can give to the people we love is to live to our full potential. Which kind of feels self centered. But what you're saying is actually it's the exact opposite. It's not. When you shared that stat about the 5%, 95%, living to our full potential actually is a gift to those who are around us. I want to hit one of the savers because I thought it was so interesting that it's part of it. Why is it important to read?

[Hal Elrod]

Why is reading important? Yeah, reading. And I've seen statistics from like USA Today that it's like less than 1% of people read anything. Any books after. I think it's any personal development books after formal education. Right. And if you think about it, any area of life that we want to improve, right. If you want to be happier, there are hundreds of books written by people that have spent their entire lives studying happiness. Right. And then they spent maybe an entire year like me, three years when I wrote the Miracle morning, articulating and researching and writing a book that's designed to tell you how to achieve the results you want in that area, whether it's improving your marriage or beating cancer. I read a lot of cancer books when I had cancer or making more money or waking up early. Right. There's the bottom line. Is anything in your life, any problem that you want to solve or any area of your life you want to improve, there are countless books for that. And I'll say this, when it comes to reading, you could start with a Google search, right? How to save my marriage. Right. How to lose £20. You can start with a Google search and you're going to get articles on that and That's a great place to start. They're free. It can spark your mind, get you going. But here's why books are so important. Because the amount of time you spend with the book and learning about the content and then it's top of mind. Let's say it takes you a month to read a book, right? You're thinking about it all. It's like, you know, you're having insights and ideas all the time because of that book. Compare that to reading an article for five minutes going, that's interesting. And then forgetting about it. Right? So reading books gives you. It's someone holding your hand for, you know, one, two, three, four weeks, however long it takes you to read that book, to get that result. And when I wrote the Miracle Morning, I wrote it as much. Handling the, like, holding someone's hand, like from. I'm not a morning person and I don't even think I would ever want to be one. Like, that's the starting place, right? And I'm depressed and I'm broke. Like, that's where I was when I started the miracle Morning. I'm broke, I'm depressed, I'm a mess. Right. I don't have a good mindset. I'm not a morning person. So starting where I was. And then I thought, how do I hold someone's hand through the objections and the concerns and the self doubt and. Right. And the limiting beliefs, how do I hold them all the way to. Okay, this makes sense. Okay, I'll give it a try tomorrow. Okay. I'll commit to the 30 day journey. Okay. I've been doing the Miracle Morning for three years and it's the, like, my life is totally different. Like, so it was like, how do I hold someone's hand all the way through that journey?

[Ginny Urch]

Wow, Hal, what an incredible thing that you have put out into the world. There's a third book, the Miracle Equation. The two decisions that move your biggest goals from possible to probable to inevitable. That came out in 2021. So three books, the app, there is the documentary, there is your podcast and the website and the Facebook group. So much here because you could change anything about your life just by changing the way you start your day. Hal, this has been the hugest honor. I was so thrilled to get a chance to talk with you. Can you tell us? We always end our show with the same question. What's a favorite memory from your childhood? That was outside.

[Hal Elrod]

Oh, favorite memory from my childhood that was outside. We grew up, I lived in a grocery store and in the back of the grocery store. We had. I had a basketball hoop, and it was just going out there every day. And I was. That was when Michael Jordan was the best player in the world and the Chicago Bulls were the champions. So I'd go out there and I would, in my mind, I would be dribbling and I'd go, michael Jordan's got the ball. He drew top of the key. He sees Scotty pivot. He passes to Scotty. Then I would run down and I would be Scotty. And then. And I would play the whole Bulls team and, and, and we won the championship every time.

[Ginny Urch]

Now, what an absolute honor. I'm so, so thankful that you chose to spend this time with us today, and I know the listeners will be as well.

[Hal Elrod]

Thank you, Ginny.

[Voices of Your Village]

When it comes to raising kids, there's so much to consider. Things like, what do we feed them? When do we feed them? How do they sleep? What does it look like to raise kind kids? How does their nervous system work? How do I keep myself calm? What are my triggers? There's so much that comes into play, and we are distilling all of that information for you at Voices of your Village podcast, where we bring experts in the field of early childhood and education and psychology and across the board so that you don't have to comb the Internet for information. You get to show up and hang out and have shame free judgment, free conversations and insights into what it looks like to raise kind, empathetic, emotionally intelligent humans. I'm Alyssa Blask Campbell. I have a master's degree in early childhood education. I'm a mom of two, and I am walking this journey right alongside you doing this work. Come hang out with me at Voices of your Village and we can dive into real conversations with actionable tips.