Change Your Morning, Change Your Life – Hal Elrod : 1418

Summary

---

Podcast Summary: Change Your Morning, Change Your Life – Hal Elrod | The Human Upgrade with Dave Asprey, Ep. 1418 (Feb 19, 2026)

---

Episode Overview

In this lively and deeply insightful episode, Dave Asprey sits down in person with Hal Elrod, author of the bestselling The Miracle Morning, to discuss the newly expanded edition of his famous book and the transformative power of morning routines. The conversation ranges widely—from the science and psychology of morning practices to resilience in the face of life-threatening adversity, from masculine and feminine roles in personal performance to nutrition, parenting, and even intimacy. As always, the episode is peppered with Asprey’s signature humor and thought-provoking asides.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Evolution of The Miracle Morning (05:11–06:08, 57:41–60:18)

• Hal Elrod launches the updated edition: After self-publishing for over a decade and selling 2 million copies, Hal partners with a major publisher to reach a broader audience and updates the book with 70+ new pages, a new "Miracle Evening" chapter for better sleep, and adds the "Miracle Life" concept for inner freedom.
• Core Philosophy: "There's 8 billion people that I have to spend my life trying to reach and impact with the message." — Hal Elrod (05:01)

The S.A.V.E.R.S. Framework:

• Silence (Meditation/Prayer)
• Affirmations
• Visualization
• Exercise
• Reading
• Scribing (Journaling)

"Any one of these will change your life... but all six will create miracles for you."
— Hal Elrod (58:31)

Flexibility

• Morning practice isn’t about rigid wake-up times; it’s about intention and customizing routines (53:40–54:54).

---

2. Resilience: Overcoming Trauma and Cancer (22:30–26:58, 33:36–36:52)

Hal’s Near-Death Experiences:

• Car Accident at 20: Hit head-on by a drunk driver, pronounced dead at the scene, revived in helicopter, coma for six days, told he’d never walk again (22:49).
• Cancer at 37: Diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, 20–30% survival odds, made tougher by having young children (22:49–24:05).

Approach to Healing:

• Combined aggressive chemotherapy (after researching holistic alternatives that affirmed its necessity for his cancer) with comprehensive alternative therapies—ozone, lymphatic massage, 70+ supplements, coffee enemas, affirmations, etc. (29:58).
• Takeaway: “Do not trust a doctor with your life because you're a number... No one's going to take responsibility for your life other than you.” — Hal Elrod (29:58)

Mindset & Superpowers:

• Feels a deep sense of calling: "If there's any superpower, I think we all have a superpower. For me, it's been being able to get through these adversities in a way where I extract as much value to then share it with others." (34:24)

---

3. The Role of Accountability, Apps & Technology in Change (08:32–11:09, 13:24–14:55)

• Discussion around the value (and pitfalls) of accountability apps, habit trackers, and even negative reinforcement tools like Pavlok (wearable device that shocks users for bad habits).
• The debate on positive (affirmations, accountability partners) versus negative motivation (real-time pain, shame):
  “We will do far more to avoid pain than to gain pleasure… sometimes… the consequence of not doing this and getting really present to that, you're like, I don't want that to come true.” — Hal Elrod (12:32)

---

4. Masculinity, Femininity, and Roles in Performance & Family (46:18–52:46)

• Taking Care of Self vs. Others:
  • “Most guys, including me, have been socialized to put everyone else first... creating that state of high performance... comes from taking care of your own needs first.” — Dave Asprey (46:52)
• What Does It Mean to Be a Man?
  • "The secret to success is do what's right, not what's easy." (47:17)
• Masculine & Feminine Dynamics in Relationships
  • Emphasizes honoring the different attributes (nurturing vs. providing) and valuing both in partnership.
  • “My wife runs our ranch... she is incredible. But if she was out there selling books like me... so the nanny's taking care of the kids... it was the attributes that I valued, not the same outcomes.” — Hal Elrod (48:52)

---

5. Nutrition, Diets, and Health Trends (15:18–21:32)

• Both Dave and Hal share journeys from veganism to omnivorous diets for health reasons.
  • Key insight: “How can this be the proper, correct, ideal diet that nature or God intended if it's missing a vital nutrient?” — Hal Elrod (15:23)
• Discussion of B12 deficiency, animal protein necessity, and personal anecdotes on diet-induced health changes.
• Social and political commentary on food industry disruption, the cost of meat, and resilience via raising personal livestock (20:41).

---

6. Personalized Morning and Evening Routines (54:54–67:18)

• Circular flexibility: Anyone can adapt Miracle Morning practices to their own schedule (night shift, parents, circadian rhythm).
• Dave shares his shift from forcing early wake-ups to optimizing for his natural "wolf" chronotype (55:25).
• Introduction of “Miracle Evening”—biohacks for sleep:
  • Stop eating 3–4 hours before bed
  • Manage blue light exposure (TrueDark glasses, dim lighting)
  • Use natural sleep aids (magnesium, valerian root, CBD/CBN oil, melatonin)
  • Map out the next day to reduce stress (but only if it won’t keep you up worrying)
  • Bedtime affirmations for a blissful state (60:38–66:34)

Notable quote:

“Affirmations... the most misunderstood, mistaught and, in my opinion, the most valuable of all forms of personal development... the whole point... is simply a reminder of something that you deem so important you want to revisit it every single day.”
— Hal Elrod (65:07)

---

7. Intimacy and Energy: Including Sexual Wellness in Routines (67:00–72:15)

• Light, candid discussion on the importance of intimacy—whether morning, evening, or "whenever you can" with young kids.
• Both agree sexual health is foundational for vitality, happiness, and performance but is often overlooked in self-help.

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On user accountability and negative motivation:
  “Isn't an accountability partner just really about shame?... we'll do far more to avoid pain than to gain pleasure.”
  — Dave Asprey & Hal Elrod (12:13–12:32)

• On the real impact of service:
  “The act of helping a person, to your nervous system and your spirit, I think it's the same as helping a million people.”
  — Dave Asprey (44:12)

• On integrating routines with family:
  “The miracle morning helps me be the husband my wife deserves and the dad my kids deserve... you focus on optimizing yourself in the morning, and then you can show up your best.”
  — Hal Elrod (46:18)

• On the universal desire to help:
  “We're built to do that. Humans are built to serve each other, help each other, support each other, connect with each other, love each other. That's it.”
  — Hal Elrod (44:20)

• On the flexibility of Miracle Morning:
  “If you're a shift worker, your miracle morning might actually start at 1pm. If you have a newborn, your miracle morning might be in 10 minute increments during naps...”
  — Hal Elrod (53:40)

---

Recommended Timestamps for Key Segments

• [05:11–06:08] – Introduction to the new Miracle Morning edition and its vision
• [22:30–26:58] – Hal's near-death experiences and lessons from trauma
• [29:58–30:29] – On holistic vs. allopathic cancer treatment and self-advocacy
• [34:24–36:52] – Discussing purpose and the “superpower” that comes from adversity
• [46:18–52:46] – Masculinity, family leadership, and balancing roles
• [54:54–56:45] – Flexibility for chronotypes and debunking early-bird dogma
• [60:18–66:34] – Savers, Miracle Evening, and sleep biohacks
• [67:00–72:15] – Intimacy, wellness, and the importance of sexual energy

---

Episode Wrap-Up

Hal expresses the importance of evolving his approach, sharing the latest thinking on morning and evening routines—including "emotional optimization meditation." Dave and Hal reinforce the transformative power of the Miracle Morning—but only when it’s truly adapted to the unique needs, biology, and values of the individual.

The episode ends with gratitude, fun, and a few laughs about processed chickens, veganisms, masculinity, and creativity—reminding listeners that self-improvement is both a science and an art.

---

For more:
The Miracle Morning – Updated and Expanded Edition by Hal Elrod
Listen to past episodes, and explore the nuances of biohacking at The Human Upgrade with Dave Asprey.

---

Transcript

[Dave Asprey]

Do you know what's in your water? You can eat clean, train hard and take all the right supplements. But if you're drinking water that has pfas, microplastics and heavy metals, your body spends all day fighting invisible toxins. Most filters make water look clean. Aquatru truly purifies it. Their patented four stage ultra reverse osmosis technology removes 84 verified contaminants, the stuff most filters can't touch. That includes forever chemicals, forever fluoride, and other toxins that disrupt your hormones and your mitochondria. Your water quality affects everything. Gut health, hormone balance, hydration, even how your brain functions. If you're drinking water with loads of contaminants, you're adding stress your body doesn't need. Start drinking water that supports your biology. Go to aquatruewater.com daveasprey and upgrade one of the most essential inputs in your life. That's a Q U A t r u water.com daveasprey are you ready to plug into the latest science of longevity and human performance? Come to beyond the Biohacking conference where biology, longevity and consciousness collide in real Life. Join us May 27th through 29th, 2026 in Austin, Texas. Experience breakthrough tech, meet world class experts and connect with people who are also committed to being the best versions of themselves. Because strong community isn't optional. It's how we live longer. Register [e-mail] Live longer, live better. Live beyond.

You're listening to the Human Upgrade with Dave Asprey, formerly Bulletproof Radio. You're listening to the Human Upgrade with Dave Asprey. Today is an in person interview in the studio here in Austin, Texas, which is the home of barbecue made out of real meat. It's not the home of that fake garbage, industrial cricket, soy whatever, pea protein nonsense. And if you're from Austin and you eat that nonsense, you should go back to California. Did I say that? Oh, hold on. Are we rolling?

[Hal Elrod]

Oh, wait, yeah.

[Dave Asprey]

Oh, I guess we are. My, my guest today would probably agree with me, but that's not what we're going to talk about. I'm just getting what I, I read this thing on, on Instagram. It came up, it said if you can be polarizing, you'll get more followers. I'm 20,000 followers away from a million followers on Instagram.

[Hal Elrod]

Nice.

[Dave Asprey]

So I'm polarizing my ass off right now, guys. So if you're, if you're not following, if you just. I'm almost there.

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah. What other topics can we talk about today that, you know, the gun debate, which we were. Yeah, that's one.

[Dave Asprey]

It turns out I have tested this. It's really easy to hunt an impossible burger, right?

[Hal Elrod]

You just.

[Dave Asprey]

You put it up there and then you just take like marshmallows, vegan marshmallows, and you just like kind of throw. Throw them a little bit and. Dude, you're a hunter.

[Hal Elrod]

You're a hunter.

[Dave Asprey]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Was that polarizing enough or do I need to be more judgy?

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah, I think that was weak.

[Dave Asprey]

No, I'm feeling triggered.

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah.

[Dave Asprey]

If you don't recognize his voice. This is Hal Elrod, author of the Miracle Morning, a long time friend, and he's here to announce that he's launching the Miracle Morning Coffee. Isn't that right?

[Hal Elrod]

That's right. I should be, man. I've left only. You know how much money I've left on the table by not launching Miracle Morning Coffee.

[Dave Asprey]

We could partner with Danger Coffee. I'm just saying if you have a Miracle Morning, you might be dangerous because who knows what you might do. You go, I'm just teasing because Hal is a devout. But what do you call it if, like, if like Christian and like, you know, religious people are one thing, and then you have Satanists on the other side? You'd be like a Satanist for the coffee religion. So what would that be called?

[Hal Elrod]

I'm so confused by that question. I.

[Dave Asprey]

You're hard to trigger. Dude, this is pissing me off. No, so I would say he's a devout anti coffee guy because you don't need a coffee when you have a Miracle Morning. And I'm like, screw that.

[Hal Elrod]

I'm actually not. I drink coffee.

[Dave Asprey]

Do you?

[Hal Elrod]

I drink.

[Dave Asprey]

When did you change your relief?

[Hal Elrod]

My wife loves Danger Coffee, by the way.

[Dave Asprey]

Are you serious?

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah.

[Dave Asprey]

Oh, my God. I was totally. But you always say you don't need coffee. Like, I've read your book.

[Hal Elrod]

So I used. I go through period, so I'll go coffee. Then I was green tea for years. And then I don't know, maybe six months ago, I decided to go coffee again. No way.

[Dave Asprey]

Yeah. This is great news for the human species.

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah.

[Dave Asprey]

I'm really impressed. That's hilarious. I did not know that. And I don't, by the way, guys, if you don't drink coffee, that's okay. It's on you. Just the studies seem to say that for most people it's good for you. But there's also studies supporting green tea.

[Hal Elrod]

Right?

[Dave Asprey]

So pick one.

[Hal Elrod]

Pick one.

[Dave Asprey]

Do something good. But the reason Hal's on is not anything to do with coffee. It's because he has a brand new Miracle morning book and it's updated, expanded and because we've been friends for a long time and I've. You came on for your first Miracle Morning, I think a couple times years ago. Yeah, we're both in Austin. We got to sit down and go to some of the new content that you have shared with the world before. You up for that?

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah, absolutely.

[Dave Asprey]

All right. Some listeners may not know of your stuff. Although, man, 2 million copies sold and you were just like the number two of all books sold. Like, you've really just gotten a huge wave of awareness over the last couple weeks.

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah, that was the goal with the new book is like to. Or one of the goals is to. It was a self published book for 11 years, so you couldn't buy it in stores. And I've met with, you know, probably 15 New York publishers since then and, and looking for like, who's the right, you know, partner publisher to bring this to the, to the masses that buy their books at Target or Walmart or Barnes and Noble. And so yeah, so that was part of doing an updated and expanded edition was let's make the book better. Even better. And, and let's, let's reach, you know, the way I always say it is 2 million copies sold, which means there's 8 billion people that I have to spend my life trying to reach an impact with the message.

[Dave Asprey]

Do you ever wake up in the morning and just say, I've only reached 2 million out of 8 billion. I'm a failure?

[Hal Elrod]

Of course, that's human nature. Right? You always look at the. I call that gap focus in the book. But yeah, it's human nature to look at what you didn't get done.

[Dave Asprey]

I've written eight books. I've really only sold about a million copies. So I'm feeling really inferior right now.

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah, no, I mean, that's a little embarrassing. Yeah.

[Dave Asprey]

So your author flex game is stronger than mine.

[Hal Elrod]

There you go. Well, you've sold way more coffee.

[Dave Asprey]

Fair point. Speaking of flexes, I interviewed Brian Johnson recently, the guy who's kind of running through the I spent $2 million to reverse my age playbook, one that I'm familiar with and that I appreciate. And so we, we kind of compared who could swallow the most pills at one time. And he looked at me, he's like, dude, that's a weird flex, but kind of like respect. And I just laughed.

[Hal Elrod]

Wait, didn't you get my voice text about that?

[Dave Asprey]

You voice texting?

[Hal Elrod]

Me about that, dude. I sent you a voice text like three days ago. And I said, dave, what about when I see you? You and I have a contest to see who can swallow the most pills because I think that I can give you a run for your money. I don't know if I can beat you because that morning I swallowed 22 pills. No problem. One gulp. And I was like. And that's why I literally, right when I did that, I thought of you.

[Dave Asprey]

Let's have a contest, dude. Here's the problem, though. See the number of unread messages from my inbox?

[Hal Elrod]

I only have 380, so you're crushing me by 14.

[Dave Asprey]

32 unread messages in my inbox. And I will say for my friends who send me voice notes, you can't listen to a voice note when you're on a call or a video call.

[Hal Elrod]

The voice notes text are actually better.

[Dave Asprey]

I should listen to that. And then five days later, I still haven't listened to it because, like, when am I going to do that?

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah, it's, it's. The question is, who's lazy? Or the person sending the message that doesn't have the energy to type it, or the person on the receiving end that doesn't have the energy to listen to a voice text. Right.

[Dave Asprey]

So you know what I used to do? I had a couple people who would, like, abuse voice text. It's one thing if you send voice text because it's like, I want you to hear my voice because I really care about you, man. Another thing, when they're just like, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. So I would just go, you know, it wasn't really clear. Could you record that again? And I would send them a voice text and I would do it like five times. And they get frustrated.

[Hal Elrod]

That's great. Well, the thing is, when you say abused voice text, where my mind went was a one minute voice text. Got it. Three minutes, five minutes, Come on. And then especially with details, right? They're like, oh, there's seven things I need to make sure that are really important that I get to. You're like, by the end of the voice text, you're like, I forgot what the last seven were.

[Dave Asprey]

And I might do that when I'm working with my team or something because I'm driving somewhere. But I also pay them to transcribe it and turn them into action items.

[Hal Elrod]

There you go.

[Dave Asprey]

And it's kind of expensive to listen and transcribe unless there's emotional content. So in the miracle morning perspective, when should you start Listening to voice texts after Miracle Morning.

[Hal Elrod]

Okay.

[Dave Asprey]

Incorporate them somehow.

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah. Play on your phone after you've done your Miracle Morning is ideal. Unless you're using the Miracle Morning app, to be fair. So it's funny. So we have a Miracle Morning app that people love, but I don't use it because I don't like apps during my Miracle Morning. So it's this really weird conundrum to be like, hey, other people like it. I actually don't use it. I actually.

[Dave Asprey]

So we can have this, like, big social. Why, hell, Elrod doesn't use his own app. This is going to be great. Got that, Joey?

[Hal Elrod]

Terrible.

[Dave Asprey]

We'll have, like, an affiliate link to that. I don't even have an affiliate thing. I'm just teasing. But, yeah, we'll totally blow it up. Like the app that Hal Elrod won't use.

[Hal Elrod]

Jesus. This is being recorded. This is my app developer head of app development's gonna hate that I said that.

[Dave Asprey]

You know what, though? It's the same thing. I make a lot of tools for people that I don't need to use because I'm the one who made the tools. I already know all this stuff.

[Hal Elrod]

There you go.

[Dave Asprey]

So sometimes it's worth having it because my job is to make it so anyone listening or anyone following myself doesn't have to think. You just know what to do. You don't have to. No mitochondrial biology, Right? Because I spend all this time. You spend all this time honing your techniques. So if someone would wake up, I turn on the app, I'd have to think about it, and I just did what it told me to do and I got the results.

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah.

[Dave Asprey]

Winning, but you don't need it.

[Hal Elrod]

You're the pro and that's it. I think that could be for anybody. Right? So if you're new to the Miracle Morning. Right. The apps, like, oh, this makes it so much easier. It holds me accountable. It. It facilitates Miracle morning. But maybe 15 years later, like me and thousands of miracle mornings, you're like, oh, I don't. I don't need it anymore, you know?

[Dave Asprey]

Do you feel weird with people being accountable to an app?

[Hal Elrod]

That's a good point. Right? Little AI futuristic dystopian question there, right? Or consideration. Yeah, no, no, I. I will say, actually, that is the one thing that I do use apps for is actually. And that was the initial Miracle Money app was tracking the savers, the six practices, just checking them off and every day making sure you're accountable. That is actually one thing that I will use it for. And I use another app called. I can't think of the name, but it's where I've got any habit that I want to either quit or begin. And every day I've got six habits. And so I'll be like, okay, I checked that off. Not drinking alcohol right now. And that way I can track because it's really easy to go. I don't feel like I've been drinking that much. Right. But you don't really know. But now it's like there's a red mark or a green mark if I did or didn't do the thing.

[Dave Asprey]

Oh, I've seen that app. I tried it.

[Hal Elrod]

Way of life.

[Dave Asprey]

I tried it for, like, a day, and I put on there, like, use the app, and the next day I didn't.

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah. So I actually like apps for accountability in that way. Yeah.

[Dave Asprey]

Now, here's a hard question for you. This is totally not what I was trying to talk to you about, but.

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah, where are we? Where are we going?

[Dave Asprey]

You're fun to chat with, stuff about, to see how you think about stuff. So do you know Manish Sethi from Pavlok?

[Hal Elrod]

No. So I know Pavlok. I've heard of Pavlok.

[Dave Asprey]

Okay, this must be like, maybe eight. Eight or so years ago, early days of the show. He reaches out. He's this crazy ADHD guy, and he got to be somewhat famous because he hired someone on Craigslist to come to his house and slap him in the face every time he used Facebook. So I don't know if it was a dominatrix or just some random woman who's like, this is better than bartending. And she'd, like, just sit in his office and smack. Because he found he was, like, unconsciously going to reach for it. And he said, this is amazing. So he ended up starting this watch. And I did invest, like, a very tiny amount of money. So, guys, I'm not trying to sell this. I haven't talked to Manisha in a while. But it's a watch that shocks you every time you don't go to the gym or every time you have a craving for tobacco or whatever. And he found, like, massive results from negative reinforcement, especially for addiction and for breaking habits. And it was one of those things that I wouldn't have thought had efficacy. But we all focus on positive motivations, like affirmations, like, all the good stuff. But what is the role, especially in an accountability partner? Isn't an accountability partner just really about shame?

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah, yeah, there you go.

[Dave Asprey]

I mean, like, oh, you said you didn't do it. Bad boy. Isn't that kind of.

[Hal Elrod]

I think it's both. I mean, like, you know, I know for me. And I think it was Tony Robbins that said. And I'm sure he didn't invent this. Right. But just the idea that we will do far more to avoid pain than to gain pleasure. Right. And so I utilize that a lot in my affirmations. Sometimes I'll be like, you know, not doing. Here's the consequence of not doing this and getting really present to that. You're like, I don't want that to come true. Like, the benefit is this, like, okay, but if that benefit isn't so compelling. Right. That you're like, well, if I don't do it, I'm still okay. Versus if I don't do it, oh, here's how this will compound into negative consequences that are. And I'm not willing to accept that future. So I've got to take action now.

[Dave Asprey]

Well, that seems like a fear based thing because, like, you're forecasting the future. What was interesting about this other approach is that it's real time pain. It's not like, oh, you know, I might lose my house five years from now if I don't show up to work on time today because, like literally.

[Hal Elrod]

Shocking you in the moment. Yeah.

[Dave Asprey]

And like, let's face it, increasing penalties for crimes has never worked in studies because no one thinks they'll get caught. So future pain, that isn't guaranteed versus the public. It's like, it shocks you if you don't go to the gym. And it's like an immediate thing or if you do whatever.

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah.

[Dave Asprey]

So that had me thinking about the whole accountability thing, which works really well. So you need accountability to your Miracle Morning. And you could, like, have someone you do it with, like a partner.

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah.

[Dave Asprey]

Or you have the app you're accountable to. But what if we wired the app in so if you didn't do Miracle Morning, it shocked you, shocked you. Would it work better?

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah, maybe we partner with Pavlock and yeah, I think there's some opportunity there. The.

[Dave Asprey]

The other Pavlok story, which I'll get off them in a second because it just randomly came up. Manish got on Shark Tank and actually got an offer from Mr. Wonderful and he looks at him and goes, oh, I would take money from any shark except for you.

[Hal Elrod]

No way.

[Dave Asprey]

Totally trash talk Mr.

Wonderful.

[Hal Elrod]

No way.

[Dave Asprey]

And I don't know if this was because of ADHD or just because Tourette syndrome. Yeah. Or maybe he's just really Good at marketing because that clip. Because Mr. Wonders, like, f you get off the stage and like, really? So of course that got tens of millions of views.

[Hal Elrod]

No way.

[Dave Asprey]

So either it was like the most masterful PR move or just like a brain that was like, so, Manisha, if.

[Hal Elrod]

You'Re listening, what's interesting about it, if it was a masterful PR move, the beauty of it is he gave away no equity and sold more of his products like genius.

[Dave Asprey]

It was either genius or crazy.

[Hal Elrod]

So in other words, you need advice from him on how to be more polarizing because yours was a little bit softer in the beginning. And, yeah, he's got. He can give you some tips.

[Dave Asprey]

So, listeners, if you would, when you see this, this on Instagram or TikTok or wherever I put it, if you could tell me what to be more polarizing about, I would appreciate that because, you know, I've really worked on this, and I'm. I'm mostly just so peaceful. I just like to play with vegans because I was one. I'm doing it as an act of service, but it's not, like, mean. I don't want to be, like, negatively polarizing. I just want to be, like, playfully polarizing. Yeah, right.

[Hal Elrod]

I used to be a vegan, too.

[Dave Asprey]

Me too, man.

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah. For many years.

[Dave Asprey]

What happened after you were a vegan?

[Hal Elrod]

Honestly, I read an article. I forgot. I don't know if his buddy sent it to me or what, but about B12 and how it's almost impossible to get vitamin B12 in a vegan diet. It's like nutritional yeast. There's like, two things, right? And that was immediate for me. I looked toward nature for the answers, and I went, oh, how can this be the quote unquote, proper, correct, ideal diet that nature or God intended if it's missing a vital nutrient? And then I'm like, Where'd you be, 12? It's like, oh, animal meat. Okay. And then I went back, wow.

[Dave Asprey]

So you were just very rational about it. Yeah, yeah. I was devout, man. I had, like, juicers and sprouters and all that. And I. I was hungry all the time. I got cold all the time. I. My Hashimoto's got worse. A lot of other aches and pains from oxalate or oxalic acid building up in my tissues. And finally I started cracking teeth from mineral deficiencies. Literally, two of them shatter.

[Hal Elrod]

Wow.

[Dave Asprey]

And like, maybe this isn't working.

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah.

[Dave Asprey]

And. But even then, I think I would have hung on to it, but I went to Tibet. I'm like, I'm not eating like, raw yak meat in the middle of nowhere that's been hanging on a post, blowing in the wind. Like, that's just not. I think I'll cook it first.

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Dave Asprey]

So, yeah, I felt better.

[Hal Elrod]

What's interesting is I'm actually organic vegan by day and paleo by night. Like, that's the best way I could categorize it.

[Dave Asprey]

Interesting meaning.

[Hal Elrod]

So I start the day with a raw vegan smoothie. And it's got organic walnuts, organic Brazil nuts for selenium, you know, organic. What are the little tiny chia. Also hemp seeds. So chia seeds, Hemp seeds. So it's got a lot of, you know, protein and good fats. And then. And then some, you know, a few berries and such. And then. And then for lunch, I have an organic vegan salad.

[Dave Asprey]

Okay.

[Hal Elrod]

And then for dinner I have whatever my wife makes, which last night was like beef tips and, you know, potatoes and.

[Dave Asprey]

Interesting. Okay.

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah. So to me, and to me, I get, I have more energy throughout the day. So that raw vegan, you know, lots of enzymes, lots of, you know, getting the energy from the food. I still subscribe to that. That I learned at a Tony Robbins event in 2000.

[Dave Asprey]

You know, you guys are talking about Tony on the vegan diet.

[Hal Elrod]

I know he, I mean, he's. He went off.

[Dave Asprey]

It made him really sick. So we started eating a lot of fish, but.

[Hal Elrod]

And then that made him sicker.

[Dave Asprey]

I didn't do the research. And like, swordfish is the most polluted mercury.

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Dave Asprey]

I think he's back to eating normal foods now.

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah. So for me, I find I feel the best when I, like the other day, what did I have for lunch? I ate. Cause it was a, it was a holiday. And so I had some solid food, some heavy cooked food for lunch, and I was like, food coma. So I find that when I eat raw vegan, I have more energy, but then I want the nutrients from the meat so that I save for the evening. And then I kind of tire out for the. On the couch. Yeah.

[Dave Asprey]

I tried eating some raw vegans recently, but it turns out beef sashimi is not that nice. So I, I decided to cook my vegans.

[Hal Elrod]

That's. That's smart. Yeah.

[Dave Asprey]

Okay. Except cows eat cow's milk. Right. But we. So here's a question. Is human milk vegan?

[Hal Elrod]

Oh, yeah, that's a good point. I don't know. I will say cow's milk is something that I, that like, I, I often. That's where I could get polarizing which is, I'm like, that's for, that's for baby calves. That's the only animal that that milk was designed for, you know, and I always. Who was it? There was a standup comedian that goes, I bet the first guy that tried cow's milk did a lot of other weird shit before that.

[Dave Asprey]

It's funny because just on a pound for pound basis, it's like one of our most affordable sources of protein. It's just that we've done bad things to cows so that the protein is the wrong form for us. And if you go Back to the A2 raw grass fed stuff, I think there's an argument that if you're not allergic, it's probably, probably good for you just because you need that kind of fat and you need that much protein. But it's such a problem for people because of allergies. So I, I do sheep's milk and I, I don't mind that because I've having run a small farm. I had a 32 acre farm.

[Hal Elrod]

Oh, that's right, I forgot that.

[Dave Asprey]

And we raise cows and pigs and sheep and chickens.

[Hal Elrod]

Nice.

[Dave Asprey]

Right? And I will tell you, pigs are very happy for all the milk they can get.

[Hal Elrod]

Oh yeah, yeah, they love it.

[Dave Asprey]

Anything that's fat. Chicken suit. Oh yeah, they will, they will literally like fight each other for any piece of meat or dairy. And you give them like the corn and all that and they're like, gross vegan. They just want the meat. They just can't get enough of it.

[Hal Elrod]

I remember that I saw a post from you or back when you were doing like Instagram or showing you doing, you're like, hey, I'm feeding the chickens a bunch of meat. This is what they're like. So we have 25 chickens and we have two sheep for milk.

[Dave Asprey]

Love it.

[Hal Elrod]

But we're about to get them pregnant from one of Tucker's sheep. So they haven't produced milk yet. So for the last year or two, they're not old enough.

[Dave Asprey]

Right.

[Hal Elrod]

And so, but I think, I think this spring is when my wife's going to impregnate them and we're going to start having sheep's milk. So I'll bring you.

[Dave Asprey]

What flavor of sheep are they?

[Hal Elrod]

They're an African breed. One looks like a deer, one looks like a goat.

[Dave Asprey]

Wow.

[Hal Elrod]

And so we either, either I've joked, I'm like, either. We were just lied to and told, oh, you know, they're, they're sheep, they're, they're this African breed. You can't Even find them online.

[Dave Asprey]

They're antelopes.

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah, yeah. I'm pretty sure they're goats. But, but we, we, we're told they were sheep. We bought them as sheep, so. Wow.

[Dave Asprey]

We had baby doll sheep. That was our favorite. Or Shropshire. And baby doll, baby dolls think they're dogs. They're just so nice.

[Hal Elrod]

Oh yeah.

[Dave Asprey]

Even the males only occasionally headbutt you so they're just a little bit more manageable. But yeah, man, bring me some sheep's milk. I'm all over that. Oh, I found sheep butter for the first time. Smells like feta, but it's butter and I'm kind of liking that. Nice.

[Hal Elrod]

I haven't even had sheep's milk yet. I don't think, I don't know if I've ever had it.

[Dave Asprey]

But we'll, I've never had just the milk, just the yogurt and the cheese. So it's, it's one of those things where I think in the US we're gonna see a lot more people with sheep and goats. If you look back to like the 1930s when we had the, the Great Depression and the dust bowl and all that largely caused by Rockefeller's interference with our society. Screw Rockefeller. Anyway, when you look back at the history of that like, wow, like one guy did a lot of evil.

[Hal Elrod]

Oh yeah.

[Dave Asprey]

When all that was happening in New York, there's pictures of every balcony has a little goat on it.

[Hal Elrod]

No way.

[Dave Asprey]

Because people are feeding all their scraps to the goat to get the milk from the goat.

[Hal Elrod]

Wow. Right.

[Dave Asprey]

This is one of those things where this is going to be, I think a lean year. We just had a massive freeze. It's going to, there'll be less food for the animals. And some kind people, either big food companies or maybe some other countries intelligence agency has gone through and blown up our dairy, meat and egg production across the country.

[Hal Elrod]

Dude, that's all a coincidence. You conspiracy theorists.

[Dave Asprey]

The thousands and thousands of them that happened in, in order moving across the country. Almost like a small group was moving around doing it.

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Dave Asprey]

There's something I, I, I can't tell you. I know who's doing it. I can just tell you something's wrong. But that's why eggs are expensive. That's why meat's expensive. And they're trying to make meat like, like it was a very focused PR campaign. And I'll just tell you what they haven't figured out is that big food company executives and politicians are made out of meat. And a sizable percentage of Americans will not Eat crickets and soy. So if there's no cows to eat, they're gonna go for the executive.

[Hal Elrod]

Just logic.

[Dave Asprey]

Right. You gotta have some meat to live here. And so you know, I wouldn't personally do that. I'm not advocating for whatever it was you were thinking of there.

[Hal Elrod]

Oh yeah, yeah, that's pretty dark there. Did you implanted that in my mind? That was for sure some subliminal Dave Asprey mind trickery.

[Dave Asprey]

I'm triggered right now.

[Hal Elrod]

Good. All right, wait, what are we gonna talk about? Miracle morning.

[Dave Asprey]

I'm here to get you in trouble. All right, so you're kind of a pro at overcoming big stuff. And I mean you and I both face some things, but you faced some near death things both with a car accident when you were younger and then more recently with a pretty serious bout with cancer. So walk me through that just for listeners who haven't really heard the howl story.

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah, so when I was 20 years old, I was driving home from giving a speech at a conference and hit head on by a drunk driver at 80 miles an hour. My car spun off the drunk driver and the car behind me, not tailbone me, T bone me at 70 miles an hour. And the left side of my body was just crushed. I broke 11 bones instantaneously. My femur broke in two pieces, my pelvis broke in three places, my arm broke in half, my elbow shattered, my eye socket shattered and I was found dead at the scene. I was clinically dead for approximately six minutes. Airlifted to a hospital, they revived me on the helicopter, brought back to life, flatlined twice more while I was in a coma for six days and then came out of the coma, was told I would never walk again and I had permanent brain damage. So that was my first bout with death, if you will. And then seven years ago when I was 37 years old, I was diagnosed with a rare aggressive form of cancer, Acute lymphoblastic leukemia. And this was way more difficult because the doctors I was given a 20 to 30% chance of surviving. But the difference was now I had kids. I had a seven year old daughter and a four year old son. And to be told that there was a, you know, a 20 to 30% chance of living means there's a 70 to 80% chance that you're going to die. And when I went to the hospital, I found out a cancer because my heart was failing, my lung was failing and my kidneys were failing.

[Dave Asprey]

We talked like a week or two before you got diagnosed? Yeah, I think we rode to an Airport together.

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah.

[Dave Asprey]

And I just remember thinking, man, like, you were gray. I was like, something's wrong. And I know, like, you could just kind of feel like you were. Yeah. Just barely putting one foot in front of the other.

[Hal Elrod]

Thanks for not saying anything, dude.

[Dave Asprey]

Well, no, I, I just, like, you.

[Hal Elrod]

Could have, you could have saved me.

[Dave Asprey]

I thought you were tired. I was like, man, this guy's like, depleted.

[Hal Elrod]

I mean, it was a Joe Polish event. The odds are we didn't get a lot of sleep.

[Dave Asprey]

Yeah, you always, you always. When you're with Joe Polish, there's so much excite. It's not that you're out drinking, like. No, yeah, you're talking. Right.

[Hal Elrod]

Totally good people.

[Dave Asprey]

I've been a member for like 10 years, so I, I'm just, I, I remember the, the change in your energy because you're a real high energy guy. And I was kind of like, you know, must, must be like life stress. But if you could go back now and kind of look at it with the wisdom. When was the first time that you knew something was wrong with the cancer?

[Hal Elrod]

I did not. Well, so I woke up one morning, like two in the morning, and just struggling to breathe. And, you know, my wife woke up hearing me wheeze and, and she goes, what's wrong? I said, I can't, I can't breathe. And she sits me up, all these pillows behind my back. And the next day I went into the ER and urgent care and they, they, they, they misdiagnosed me. They saw the mass on my lung and they went, it looks like, I mean, literally the doctor's tone was, it looks like you have pneumonia, but if you don't get better in a few days, go get a second opinion. He was very unsure. And they gave me a Z pack of antibiotics, and every day I was breathing less and less and less. And I spent the next week and a half in the er. Every other day my lung was drained of about a liter and a half of fluid and. And then would fill back up, drain it again, fill back up, drain it again. And no one knew it was wrong. So now they send me to this other hospital in Austin, St. David's and they tested me and they said, you have, it looks like you have cancer, but we want you to get a second opinion. Go to MD Anderson Cancer Hospital. And so I went. And then that's when the doctor said, you've got a 20 to 30% survival rate if you don't start. No, sorry, you're going to die in the next week or two. If you don't start chemo, that is.

[Dave Asprey]

The best marketing ever, isn't it?

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah. Well, and that's the thing, is I thought he was so, I, I, I was like, I don't, you know, I'm like, I don't trust what you're saying.

[Dave Asprey]

Good for you.

[Hal Elrod]

So I said, let me go do my own. Because, because imagine this, Dave. So here's, here's what he's telling me. You have two choices. Don't do chemo, and you're gonna die in a week or two. Do chemo, and there's only a 20 to 30% chance that you're going to live. You know, it'd be like going to a financial advisor that's like, hey, give me all your money and trust me with your life savings, and I'm only gonna lose it 80% of the time.

[Dave Asprey]

It's an industry.

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah. And so I went home and I googled best holistic oncologists in the country. And I called a couple of them and they both said, chemo is your best bet. This cancer that you have is so aggressive and fast acting, your organs are already failing. Your doctor was not actually lying to you that you're going to die in a week or two. Nothing we can do. So I'm like, well, if the best holistic oncologist in the country can't help me, damn it, what am I going to do?

[Dave Asprey]

We did the right thing.

Is the air you're breathing making you sick? Just because you don't see mold doesn't mean it isn't there. My friend Jason Earle has been on a mission for over two decades to help people understand the hidden role of indoor air in their health. He's one of the world's leading experts on mold and indoor air quality. And he created the Got Mold Test kit to make professional grade air testing simple and accessible. It uses cutting edge air sampling tech that top inspectors trust, and it's engineered for you at a fraction of the cost. It takes just minutes to get samples using the patented Biovac air sampling pump. Then you send them, prepaid to one of the most prestigious microbiology labs in the world. No guesswork, no paperwork, and no hidden fees. You get fast results, intuitive reports and great support. And since you keep the pump, you can retest anytime for less. It even comes with a lifetime warranty. Mold may be invisible, but its impact isn't. This kit helps you understand your environment so you can take action for your health. Go to gotmold.com and use code DAVE10 to save 10% and see what's in your air. Because the best biohackers don't guess, they test. Your omega 3 index is one of the most reliable markers for your longevity. It measures your EPA and DHA levels in your red blood cells. And you can raise your omega 3.

Index by taking fish oil. Problem is that most fish oil on.

The market is already rancid by the time time you take it. Oxidized fish oil drives inflammation and it accelerates your aging. It's not a good thing. That's why I choose Puree fish oil. Purea delivers 2000mg of long chain omega 3 fatty acids, EPA and DHA in the right forms and the right ratios.

For longevity.

You take EPA because it supports joints, muscles and cardiovascular function. And you take DHA because it builds and maintains brain and nerve tissue.

And here's the best, best part. Puree tests every batch for more than.

2,000 contaminants and for oxidation. They're the only brand that's third party tested for each batch and they publish the results online. You can scan the QR code on each bottle and see results for the.

Exact batch you're taking. So if longevity matters to you and.

Purity matters to you, clean fish oil.

Should be in your sack.

Go to puree.comdave that's p u o r I.comdave to get 32% off puree.

Fish oil when you start a subscription.

That's P-O-R-I.com Dave to get this offer.

And that's something for listeners. Guys, there is no moral judgment on pharmaceutical, chemo, radiation, cancer or even highly processed food. The only thing that matters is where are you now? What's your goal and what are the tools and what are the risks and rewards? And there's a sizable number of cancers where, huh, for that kind of cancer, all the things we have say chemo really works and maybe you should also stack it with acupuncture and affirmations.

[Hal Elrod]

And that's what I did. I did every holistic practice known to man in conjunction. Coffee, enemas, three days a week. I took 70 supplements a day. Lymphatic massage, acupuncture, ozone, sauna, you name it. And I think that's the biggest message, by the way, for anybody listening. Do not trust a doctor with your life because you're a number. They have very little skin in the game. They lose patience. Big deal. No one's going to take responsibility for your life other than you. And that was, that's the mindset man.

[Dave Asprey]

The doctors I know, they. They feel it when they lose someone.

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah.

[Dave Asprey]

It also depends if they're your regular doctor or are you just coming in for a specialist thing.

[Hal Elrod]

Sure.

[Dave Asprey]

But no. No doctor likes to lose people. But they. You're right. They don't have the same skin in the game, and they're trained to tolerate that.

[Hal Elrod]

And on my very. My second visit, when I went back to the doctor, I'm like, okay, I'll do chemo. I asked the oncologist, I said, hey, just. And this was my tests for him. I said, what part does diet play in my recovery? And he said, it doesn't matter as long as you do the chemo. And I'm like, how can I trust?

[Dave Asprey]

That's stupid.

[Hal Elrod]

Right? And so. And I was so angry. Not for me, but when I would go to the cafeteria and see his other patients dragging their IV chemo towel around, eating pizza and ice cream and cake and soda and just so angry with the system that we're about. Right. I'm like, I can't change it. But I'm like, man, you're telling. That person doesn't know any better. And that's where I actually felt a sense of responsibility, that I owe it to the world to beat this cancer so that I can help other people on their healing journey that might not be blessed with the knowledge and the resources that I've been fortunate because I listen to Dave Asprey, read his books to come across.

[Dave Asprey]

There's very good evidence that most cancer is highly sensitive to insulin and glucose.

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah.

[Dave Asprey]

Right. So if you know what kind of cancer you have, then maybe controlling sugar intake would be really useful.

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah.

[Dave Asprey]

Right. And for a doctor to say, we don't know. There's this weird mindset. I once asked a doctor, I don't remember what medical procedures, a while ago go, hey, like, I'm taking whatever vitamin C or zinc or something. Do you think there's any reason that I should, you know, pay attention to that? Yeah. No. Don't take it. I go, why? He goes, well, there's no studies of that. And I looked at him, I said, there's no studies of lotion with that. And you're saying, I could use lotion. Right. And he just stops and looks at me and goes, that's a good point. He goes, I really don't see any reason you couldn't do that. Go, thanks. That's the opinion I wanted. Yeah, but. But to default to never giving an opinion without a study.

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah.

[Dave Asprey]

Is handing your balls to big pharma.

[Hal Elrod]

Yep.

[Dave Asprey]

So I know that there's tens of thousands of functional and. And even non functional doctors, just Western doctors who listen to the show sometimes to hate on me, but quite often just because I think differently, because I'm a computer hacker. Right?

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah.

[Dave Asprey]

And guys, you know, you're medical professionals. I'm not. So I have a lot of respect. Like if, if my bone's broken, I have no, I don't have any idea what. I don't know physiology or. I know mitochondrial biology. So I look at that stuff and. And they're listening to this. Yes. You have to take into that stuff that you're probably not trained in. And if you do it, then you say, well, I'm unaware of any evidence, but given what we know mechanistically, here is what I think is the best bet.

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah.

[Dave Asprey]

And what that leads to is, well, it's okay to move forward, make a decision and be wrong. And partly because of insurance and because of attorneys, it's like the status quo, which is shitty, is the safest alternative for them, but the worst alternative for you and me.

[Hal Elrod]

Sure.

[Dave Asprey]

And I think in functional medicine, people think a little bit differently, and then it's always a struggle with insurance companies. But I gotta ask you something, since you've been through this whole process twice now. I was just reflecting with a friend recently, an absurd number of my friends have died and come back or been struck by lightning. Like an absurd number. So maybe you guys don't want to be my friend.

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah, yeah.

[Dave Asprey]

Although it usually happens before I know them. So when you died, do you think you woke up with superpowers or with a different awareness of things? Like, did you get downloaded with alien malware or anything like, I don't know.

[Hal Elrod]

Interesting. Well, I mean, I do. I do feel, you know, I've done. Whether it's through deep meditations or plant medicine sessions where really feeling connected to God, to source, and getting the message that you're on a very specific journey. And I've put you through these things while giving you every resource you needed to be able to overcome them so you can keep paying it forward and helping other people. So I've, like, I've gotten that in every fiber of my being. And so if there's any superpower, I think we all have a superpower. For me, it's been being able to get through these adversities in a way where I extract as much value to then share it with others.

[Dave Asprey]

So you're a highly resilient person. It's interesting. I interviewed Kimbal Musk like in his kitchen, you know, cooking steaks. And I made a joke about DMT sauce. DMT is the active ingredient in ayahuasca. It's a hallucinogen for the steaks. And he started laughing. We kind of talked about it and he said, oh yeah, I've done dmt. He said, but I didn't really need to because he also had a near death experience. He broke his neck and was unconscious for three days. Almost died when he was I think 36. And so he said, during that time I met God. So when he was on dmt he's like, been here, been here, done that.

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah.

[Dave Asprey]

Did you have that kind of experience with either one of these?

[Hal Elrod]

Because of the brain damage I suffered from the head on collision, right? So my frontal orbital lobe was completely smashed in the front of my skull at 70 miles an hour, 80 miles an hour. So I have no memory of the time that I was dead, nor two weeks after. I have very little memory yesterday. I mean the brain damage I suffered from that. So yeah, so I have no recollection. For me it's just more of an internal knowing, which in some ways is more powerful than like I saw a light versus like I have this to me, this inner just conviction that I'm supposed to help as many people as I can.

[Dave Asprey]

This is a question, man. I have all this cool stuff based on your book. We're going to get some of the stuff, but I got to ask you all the hard questions. So I've had a chance at 40 years of Zen, my neurofeedback company. It's in part like a digital mystery school. You could say like a recent person came out like, it's like the best plant medicine ceremony I ever had, but without the plants. Because you kind of trip on things like this. And when I'm working with these high level spiritual guru type of people, a lot of them say what you just said. They say, I want to help everyone. But most of them, when you get right down to it, and they're being vulnerable because when you do the ego work, you become vulnerable. They're exhausted because they'll walk into a room and like, okay, I have to help everyone. And they get caregiver fatigue. But on the scale of millions of people, and as I kind of work on it, I've certainly just, look, I'm going to help everyone who wants help. But there's a difference in helping everyone and everyone who wants help or checking in with your guidance or higher power or masters, whatever lineage you're with and saying, am I supposed to help this person? Maybe that person chose suffering and they.

[Hal Elrod]

Haven'T got their own journey. Sure.

[Dave Asprey]

If I flip the switch for them, they're not going to get the message. So I've kind of modulated my thing. So even when Tony Robbins like, I'm going to feed a billion people. What if the billion people don't want to eat or they don't want to eat what you're feeding them? Yeah, right. And it's like there's. There's some sort of energetic difference between I'm going to do X for a billion people and I'm going to do X for the people who would benefit or the people who want it. Do you have a differentiation in your mind about that?

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah, I think that for me, you know, all I like the way that I go about the miracle morning is I just do podcasts like this. I give speeches. I just am sharing it. And so to me, the people. Yeah, the people that are attracted to it are going to do it, and the people that write. So, yeah, so there's no one that I'm. It's not like I'm like, I'm like, I need to convince this person. No. Yeah, you know, you need to. It's like, look, either you resonate with the message or not. And I'm very aware of, like, you know, so my message. Or like, I'll say that I have 8 billion people to share with the miracle morning. I'm not. I. I'm not delusional to think that I'm going to convince everybody to do the miracle morning. In fact, I probably won't even reach 8 billion people, like, really, realistically, I don't know. But to me, it's just an intention of, like, how are you living your life? How are you showing up? And for me, I'm going to show up every day at my best. I'm at my relative best. I'm going to try to be at my best. Miracle morning is what helps me do that every morning. Right. Start the day in a peak state, and then I'm going to help as many people as I can that day. And I will tell you, this cancer was a mindset shift for me back then. I was much more like, I have to help everyone. And I valued quantity over quality at that time. And what happened is I realized, oh, I'm a workaholic. I say that family's my number one priority. I've got two kids and a wife at home. But, gee, I sure do give up a lot of weekends if they're my highest priority because I got more people to help. And at that time, I really thought, I've got to help all these people. I'm doing this work, God's work. Right. And now it's like I realize I will never impact people at the level that I can help my daughter, my son, and my wife. And so I give up a lot of opportunity now to impact the masses, to spend time with my family.

[Dave Asprey]

You got to put it on the calendar and value it.

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah.

[Dave Asprey]

I'm reminded of a time years ago when I was on a panel at Google at their headquarters, and it was with the guy who made what the health. Like this kind of like dark energy propagandist guy. And someone in the back of the room stood up and says, I want to be a vegan food activist. Do you guys have some advice for me? And I thought about it and I said, shut up and eat. And people started clapping. And he said, what do you mean? So here's the deal. You don't have a right to be an activist because that would just make you a bully. What you do have a right to do is to take action that you believe is right, demonstrate that it works so well that people ask you, people seek you out, then you've earned the right to be a leader. But you can't be an activist because then you're just a bully. And you sound like Greta Grundelberg. Shame on you. I don't have any solutions, but I'm skipping school on Friday. But now I'm 20, so people can pick on me and not say I'm a high school girl. Dude, Greta, build some shit that changes things. Stop whining. Yeah, but that's the vegan activist mindset.

[Hal Elrod]

Got it.

[Dave Asprey]

By the way, in the enneagram, the activist is like my kryptonite. So guys, fix it, don't talk about it. And it. What it all comes down to, though, is this is about removing the judgment and the sense of morality about helping five people versus helping 50 million people. They're exactly the same thing.

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah.

[Dave Asprey]

As long as you're helping the people that you can help, who desire help, that's it. There's zero difference between the two. And any difference that you feel is just ego. You agree with that?

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah. Yes and no. No. Let me push back a little bit. And I might be pushing back. So I don't even know what I'm going to say here. Let me try. So when I wrote the Miracle Morning, it was out of a sense of Responsibility. That this morning routine changed my life in a profound way. And then I started teaching it to people like my coaching clients and people that I knew and, and they're like, I'm not a morning person. And they'd come back a week later to our call and go, my gosh, hell, this works. So that's where I go, okay, wait. If this changed my life and their life and we weren't morning people, like this could help anyone. So I have a responsibility to share this with other people. So I wrote and self published first book, but when I did so I didn't have an audience. So I wasn't thinking. I'm like, yes, this could change the world, but I'm not gonna reach the world. Like I just wanna help. If I help one. If you hold that mentality, one person. But what happened is when the book came out and then I'm getting dozens and then hundreds and then thousands of emails and reviews like this saved my marriage, this got me off my meds, this right then I'm like, oh, I really got a mindset of like, it is selfish of me. That's how I felt. And I don't know if I still feel that way, but I think that I do. It's selfish of me to not do everything in my power to at least introduce this to as many people as possible because it can really help. So thoughts on that?

[Dave Asprey]

I think as many people as possible is the nuance because yeah, as many as possible or as many as are available. And if as are available versus is equal to the same as possible, then you does.

[Hal Elrod]

It's as many as I can get in front of and reach and talk to.

[Dave Asprey]

I know that when I started the blog that became Bulletproof, I already had a full time blog VP job at a big tech company in the computer security industry. I had two young kids. Like I. Starting a company was kind of dumb and I wasn't starting a company. I just said, Look, I've spent 20 years gathering this knowledge. I spent $2 million at the time, $1 million on reversing all this negative stuff that happened to me with my health and like I'm healthier, happier, more successful. Things are better than they ever have been. I'm just, I'm like a leader in longevity and nootropics and it's just my hobby.

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah.

[Dave Asprey]

So I'm going to write this and five people are going to read the blog. That was my goal. And if they avoid the million dollars and just the suffering that I went through when I was A teenager and a young man and someone who's 19 reads it and it changes their life. I'm, I'm all in. Just for like five people.

[Hal Elrod]

That's the goal.

[Dave Asprey]

Yeah. And it grew a lot more than that, you know, and became a hundred million dollar a year company. But it wasn't the goal when I started. It was just five people. And along the way, like some things stood out. Maybe one of the most meaningful was this is maybe just two years after I started it. I came actually, I think it was here in Austin at an event. And this guy walks up and he goes, dave, you know, I just, we have a gift for you. And it was a bag. It had like a couple of frozen ribeyes and a stick of butter and a card. And the card was signed by all of his family. And he said, you know, we found your stuff 90 days ago. And you know, here's a picture of us then, here's a picture of us now. And you couldn't even recognize them. Like they'd all lost huge amounts of weight. But the one that stood out was a 16 year old girl. And she was like really fat.

[Hal Elrod]

Right.

[Dave Asprey]

And I was pretty heavy in high school and certainly at the beginnings of college. So she's just heavy and, you know, bad skin and all that stuff. And then the picture from nine days later is beautiful skin, Healthy, healthy shape, just like vibrant. And I'm like, damn, I wish someone had done that for me. Yeah, right? Yeah. And like I almost cried myself.

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah.

[Dave Asprey]

Like this, this is just so profound. And the act of helping a person to your nervous system, into your spirit, I think it's the same as helping a million people.

[Hal Elrod]

I think we're built to do that. That's what we're built to do. Humans are built to serve each other, help each other, support each other, connect with each other, love each other. That's it.

[Dave Asprey]

How does that incorporate in your miracle morning practice?

[Hal Elrod]

So when I started the miracle morning, it was a. I'd say it was a selfish pursuit. And I don't put any negativity toward that word. Right. But meaning, it was 2008. The US economy had crashed. I crashed with it. I lost my house, foreclosed on by the bank. I'm in physically terrible shape, living on credit cards. Really low point. Yeah. And so I was just looking for a solution to get out of debt and turn my life around. And the miracle morning. It wasn't called the miracle morning, it was my morning practice. And after two months, I doubled my income at the height of The Great Recession. And I remember the moment I ran to tell my wife I signed on a second coaching client for the day, said, sweetie, I signed on two more coaching clients today. She goes, congratulations. I go, no, no, no, you don't understand. Tipping point. We just doubled our income in the last two months from this. It's all because this morning routine, it's the practice I'm doing in the morning. I go, it feels like a miracle. And without skipping a beat, she goes, it's your miracle morning. And I go, I like that. Miracle morning. But again, not a book idea. I just wrote down miracle morning every day. That was like. That was my thing, my miracle morning. I started teaching it to coaching clients. Right? So the point is, it started out with me, like, I need to change my life, but now I do the miracle morning in service of others. So for me, the miracle morning helps me be the husband that my wife deserves and the dad that my kids deserve, because I focus on optimizing myself in the morning, and then I can show up my best. And, of course, yes, selfishly, I want to be happy and I want to be healthy, and I want to be financially secure and all of those things. That doesn't go away. But also, it's like anything, once your needs are taken care of, right, then you feel like, oh, I'm liberated. Who do I want to help today? Because like you said, that's where I actually feel the most lit up and fulfilled, is when I'm helping someone else. And so that, for me, is. It is. How do I take care of myself first in the morning, now that I can go out and be the husband and the father and the leader that the people that I serve need.

[Dave Asprey]

So now you're talking about some kind of masculine and feminine roles even here. Like, Shai was the husband, the father that I need to be. Most guys, including me, have been socialized and put everyone else first. Like, you don't take care of yourself first. You take care of your family first. And a big part of my belief is creating that state of high performance and resilience. It comes from taking care of your own needs, because then you have 10 times more energy to take care of your community, your family and all those things.

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah.

[Dave Asprey]

And I've been doing a lot of work. It might end up being a book one of these days. A lot of work just with local. Local friends here in Austin, especially some, like, younger guys, you know, 20s and 30s, who are stepping into, like, the phase of building a family and building a career and all that. And it's interesting to see the shifts and the differences over time. And what does it mean to be a quote man? What's your take on that?

[Hal Elrod]

What's to be a quote man? Yeah, it's a great question. And I don't know that I have a top of the mind answer, but if I give it a little bit of thought, to me it's doing what's right. If I were to simplify it, I think one of the most valuable things I learned when I was. Thank God, when I was 20, my mentor, I was in sales, and our division manager, he said the secret to success is do what's right, not what's easy. And to me, what's right is whatever's in alignment with your values, your commitments, and the highest version of yourself that you know intuitively what that is for you. And then what's easy is anything that's not in alignment with your values, your commitments, and the highest version of yourself. And so to me, that's being a man, but it could also be just being a woman, being the best version of yourself.

[Dave Asprey]

I was going to ask about that. So the difference between the masculine side of taking care of the family versus the feminine side of taking care of the family. Is there a difference between men and women? In the miracle morning practices, men and.

[Hal Elrod]

Women are identically the same, Dave, don't you know?

[Dave Asprey]

Oh, women are small men. I forgot about that. With those pesky boobs.

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah, yeah, no, yeah. I mean, I think that that is. It's to each their own, so to speak. But, you know, like, in my household, we're. We have some, you know, my wife takes care of the kids. And actually, I will say this. When I was coming up, when I was in, you know, my 20s, I was attracted to people like me. Right. Like we all are. And so I thought, I wanted. I thought in a wife, I want a wife that's just like me. She's hard charging and she works a lot and she's really charismatic and productive and a top performer.

[Dave Asprey]

It's such a young person thing. I was like, I want a computer hacker wife.

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah, yeah, right.

[Dave Asprey]

Maybe not.

[Hal Elrod]

Once my wife and I started dating, what I realized is I want the same attribute. Someone that is disciplined and that is focused and that is willing to go above and beyond to perform at a high level. But I realized, oh, I want her to do that with our family and take care of our kids and our household. But my wife's the most productive. I mean, she processed 25 chickens the other day. Like my Wife, she runs our ranch, dude. She wrapped all of our pipes for this winter freeze. She is incredible. But if she was out there selling books like me, right. And doing interviews, it's like, well, wait, but who's taking. Oh, so the nanny's taking care of the kids. Right. And no judgment if that's the case. But, like, so I. I came to realize that it was the attributes that I valued, not the same, you know, outcomes. Right. So, yeah. So for me, in our household, my wife's. And she's just. Just. It's just naturally. Like, last night, my daughter had a little heartbreak, and I'm like, my poor baby. I don't know what to do, and I don't know what to say. And my wife knew what to do, and she knew what to say. And she laid with my daughter in bed. And, you know, my daughter went from crying to. I'm listening through the door, and they're laughing, cracking up. And that's a feminine energy that, you know, that just that my wife. That nurturing that I don't quite have.

[Dave Asprey]

I love that you're willing to talk about that. And, you know, I'm all in on the fact that men and women can do most of the same things, other than pick up heavy stuff like. Sorry, sorry, guys.

[Hal Elrod]

My wife, by the way, actually can almost. Almost out. Dude, she is strong.

[Dave Asprey]

There are definitely women who can kick my ass. I'm not saying there aren't. I'm just saying on average.

[Hal Elrod]

On average. Yeah. Well, you just look at the world record in lifting for men and the world record in lifting for women. There's a difference.

[Dave Asprey]

Well, there is now, but there's a couple of those Canadian power that just switch. They switch teams. Maybe the women's scores are going up.

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah.

[Dave Asprey]

But we won't say whether that's valid or not. But I think everyone knows, so. So there's.

[Hal Elrod]

Careful with that common sense over there, Dave.

[Dave Asprey]

I, you know, I'm. I live in Texas. You're allowed to have common sense over here. But, you know, I. I'm also. Because I'm a biohacker, and people are like, you know, they'll always tell you, like, in the same post, they'll accuse me being radical liberal and a radical conservative, and I'm like, guys, I support your right to have four balls if you want to.

[Hal Elrod]

Right.

[Dave Asprey]

And you want to put a vagina on your forehead like it's your body. You do anything you want to do, and you have my full, unreserved support.

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah, Right.

[Dave Asprey]

Just don't make other People do it. Yeah.

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah. That.

[Dave Asprey]

That's all I'm saying.

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah. Right.

[Dave Asprey]

So I don't think there's a party for that other than one of this independent candidate who seems to support our individual freedoms this year.

[Hal Elrod]

Yes.

[Dave Asprey]

Rfk.

[Hal Elrod]

Yes.

[Dave Asprey]

So he's. He's said he's spoken more sense than I've heard from anyone in politics in my entire life.

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah. And. And the. The sense that it comes from authentic place, a heartfelt place. Yeah.

[Dave Asprey]

Following his principles.

[Hal Elrod]

Yep.

[Dave Asprey]

So I'm. I'm hopeful there. But. But the. The idea there, you know, that. That people can take offense or whatever. Dude. Take offense. Like Joe Rogan tried to cancel me for two years straight.

[Hal Elrod]

Right.

[Dave Asprey]

Do you know about that?

[Hal Elrod]

No. Oh, I vaguely remember. Yeah.

[Dave Asprey]

It was like 10 years ago.

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Dave Asprey]

It was like he was selling a competing coffee and MCT oil. And the second he started doing that, he's like, dave's a con artist. Despite, like, I don't know, a hundred shows where he's just praising all my stuff.

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah.

[Dave Asprey]

And he deleted my episodes when I went Spotify.

[Hal Elrod]

So crazy, dude.

[Dave Asprey]

So, like, I. But I, like, I went through all that stuff. So you're gonna yell at me? Cause I say something you don't like? Well, okay, here's the deal. The vegan diet doesn't work. Okay. You can yell at me for that.

[Hal Elrod]

Right.

[Dave Asprey]

You know, men and women are different. Yell at me for that. Right. And that said, I'd also say men have the ability to turn on full feminine energy and still be men and women have the ability to turn on full masculine energy. And like, there's women who'll pick a car up off their babies.

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah.

[Dave Asprey]

Like, there's women who will kill you if you fuck with their family.

[Hal Elrod]

Right.

[Dave Asprey]

So we all. We can both do all that. Oh, that's cool. And I support your right to do whatever the heck you wanna do.

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah.

[Dave Asprey]

But I'm also going to talk about it because in the context of Miracle Morning, I've been doing a lot of work on differences of fasting for men and women. There's a whole chapter in. Let's see, in Fast this Way, in my fasting book, it's all about the psychology of fasting, which is similar for men and women, but the fasting window for women is different. And women oftentimes need more sleep or they need varying amounts of sleep based on where they are in their cycle. So there's times when they have a bigger biological burden when they're in their fertile years. So leading up to Their period. Like, okay, so if you're gonna need an extra hour of sleep for a week, right? Just because your body's working extra hard. Just like if I lifted really heavy for a week, right? So what does that do for Miracle Morning? Like wake up at 5am like, do you get to wake up at 6am if you're a woman or if you're under more biological stress? Do you go to bed earlier? Do you wake up later?

[Hal Elrod]

It's a great point. I've never heard that question before. So the, I mean, I think about the miracle morning. So I watched an interview today and I want to make sure. Or not an interview, sorry. I watched a woman did a video book review of the 5am Club by Robin Sharma. And I love Robin. I learned a lot. In fact, when I was writing the Miracle Morning and I'm researching morning routines, Robin was like, I learned a ton from him, right? And then she had the miracle morning, like comparing the two books and I was like, really curious. But one of the things she liked about Miracle Morning is how flexible it is. It's not at a set time. If you're a shift worker, your miracle morning might actually start at 1pm, right? If you have a newborn baby, your miracle morning might be in 10 minute increments during the first 10 minutes of your baby's nap. And then you go to bed with the baby. So you do one or two of the savers, the six practices of the miracle morning, right? And then you go take a nap with your baby and then you wake and then the next set nap, right? So it's totally customizable. And so for me, it's like, you know, it's not waking up super early, it's just waking up maybe 30 minutes before you have to be up to get somewhere. So that rather than start your day in a reactive state, you're starting your day with intention, self care, and proactively putting yourself in a peak state so you can show up better for the people you love, the people that you lead at work, et cetera.

[Dave Asprey]

I really like that. And that's one thing I like about your work too. So before I started the biohacking movement, before bulletproof was a thing, I guess, I had gone to Nepal and to bed. I had yak butter tea and I was like perfecting the recipe that became bulletproof coffee. And that I've since evolved even post bulletproof. And I'm sitting there going, I know that people wake up early are morally superior to people who sleep in because the early bird always Gets the worm. So I woke up at 5am every day, no matter what. And for me, my bedtime since 10 years old has been 2:00am it's actually 2:04am or 2:02am somewhere in that window very, very consistently. That exact time is when I'm tired and I just gotta go to sleep. And I've written so many of my books and all in that window between 11 and 2, where everything's quiet and the energies are quieter. You can just channel stuff then. So I thought, I'm just gonna wake up no matter what. And I did. I would wake up and I'd spend an hour. I would do chanting, like Korea. I would do breath work. I'd do art of living. I'd have my green tea before I had my coffee and, you know, burn crystals. Okay, didn't really do that. That was burning crystal meth. Different time.

[Hal Elrod]

Kidding.

[Dave Asprey]

But like, I did it really intensely for two years. And at the end of two years, I'm like, okay, I've taught myself that I can wake up at 5am, but I'm less creative and I just don't like it. And later, as I learned circadian biology, I'm like, you know what? I am more of a wolf with the stuff. And by the way, guys, sleepwithdave.com, best URL of my life. Totally free.

[Hal Elrod]

That's a great URL.

[Dave Asprey]

I'll teach you how to sleep. It's every tool. But I can go to bed at 10, 10:30 now. For really, in the last five, six years, I learned how to do this because of all the biohacking. And it feels natural and normal. But until then, man, I needed my miracle morning to be at 7am because otherwise I was gonna be sleep deprived.

[Hal Elrod]

Sure.

[Dave Asprey]

So I sleep deprived myself for a couple years trying to prove that this was possible. And it was possible, but it wasn't optimal. And with Miracle Morning, even in our first interview, you're like, yeah, start it when you need to start it. And the flexibility there's versus that early bird thing that I think is a game changer because there are people listening right now who aren't even shift workers. They're just like, you know what? I don't feel good if I wake up early.

[Hal Elrod]

Totally.

[Dave Asprey]

Right?

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah.

[Dave Asprey]

Now here's my question for you, Hal. Is it true that the early bird works for the late bird?

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah. That's interesting. The. No, I don't know. I think that. Yeah, No, I don't know.

[Dave Asprey]

I was just trying to think.

[Hal Elrod]

Now I'm triggered That you finally. You finally got me triggered.

[Dave Asprey]

That's right. Yeah.

[Hal Elrod]

How dare you ask me such a question.

[Dave Asprey]

Walk listeners through Savers. This is your acronym for what you do during a miracle morning. And when you guys read the Miracle Morning book, the new expanded edition, you get all the notes for this, obviously. But just walk me through real quick.

[Hal Elrod]

And I will say, just for anybody that's like, I have the original Miracle Morning. The new edition has 70 pages of new content, including 25 new pages in the Savers section alone. And then it has a new chapter, the Miracle Evening, which is your strategy for blissful bedtime and better sleep. And then the last chapter of the new chapter, the Miracle life, which is your path to inner freedom. So I just wanted to give a quick, high, high level of what's new? And I rewrote almost every page of the book, because if you go back and read your work from 10 years ago, it's embarrassing. You're like, oh, my God, I can't believe I was a terrible writer. So I. I updated everything. But the Savers are. So these are six of the most timeless, proven personal development practices in the history of the world. Like, I didn't invent any of them, But I'll quote Robert Kiyosaki, or I'll paraphrase what he said when Robert had me on his show. He said, how I've read the Miracle Morning three times. Which. That right there. My jaw kind of dropped. You know, one of my favorite authors read my book three times. Pretty cool.

[Dave Asprey]

That's amazing.

[Hal Elrod]

But he said, hal, before you wrote the Miracle Morning and you created the Savers acronym, he said, every successful person on the planet attributes their success to at least one, if not two or three of the Savers. He said, but I've never met anyone or heard of anyone that did all six of these ancient best practices. He said, I think you named the book correctly, the Miracle Morning, because he said, any one of these will change your. Any one of the Savers will change your life. But he goes, my experience has been in the last few months since I've been doing all six will create miracles for you. And he's lost a ton of weight. It helps his marriage. I mean, you name it. And anyway, so that's the kind of beginning with the end in mind, like the holistic look of the Savers. It stands for silence, Affirmations, visualization, exercise, reading, and scribing. So those are the six practices. And by the way, before my wife had the idea for the acronym, the S. Silence was meditation. And the S for scribing at the end was journaling. So it would have been maverja. Would have been the acronym. My wife said, why don't you get a thesaurus and see if you can swap some of those words? But here's the point.

[Dave Asprey]

So you're saying that one of the feminine powers is being. Right.

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah. Every time. Almost every time. Yeah. Yeah. No, she's my muse, man. She always. She gets it right. But. So, yeah, those are the six practices. And you can do them in any order. It can be. There's a chapter in the book called the Six Minute Savers. So literally, you can scale this. It could be a 60 minute practice, it could be a 6 minute practice, it could be a 30 minute practice, anywhere in between. And yeah, like, to Robert Kiyosaki's point, any one of these will change your life. When you stack all six of the most effective practices, you put yourself in a peak physical, mental, emotional and spiritual state. You program your subconscious mind with the beliefs that you need to achieve whatever you want. Your life. I mean, there's so many benefits. You improve your energy level through that morning exercise, et cetera, et cetera. We can dive in, in any, any aspect that you want.

[Dave Asprey]

So that. That's kind of your updated routine. What I thought was, what's kind of cool is you also have a slumbers routine, which is the evening one, and it's got some biohacks in there. You've got, you know, stop eating three to four hours before bed. Circadian biology. Boom. Love it. Let go of stressful thoughts of kind of stress relief, natural sleep aids. What's your favorite natural sleep aid?

[Hal Elrod]

So I don't have a favorite. I stacked four of them. I take magnesium, I take valerian root.

[Dave Asprey]

That stuff smells so bad. But it works.

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah, in a capsule form, it's fine. And then I take a combination of CBD and CBN oil. It's a product by Cured nutrition. It's called nighttime oil. And then I take the melatonin that. It's a grass. Yes, it's a natural melatonin.

[Dave Asprey]

Okay, cool. How much melatonin?

[Hal Elrod]

Three milligrams.

[Dave Asprey]

Okay, cool. So relatively well, high based on biological creation, but low based on what some people are doing. So, yeah. Cool. And you talk about mapping out your next day. Now I'm kind of torn about that because if you focus on all the stuff you're gonna be doing the next day, like when you go to sleep, you might kind of be stressed about that. But I've also talked with A Navy SEAL or a combat might have been a special Forces guy. And he was working on Sleep with People. And he found that for people with stress around going to sleep and recurring thoughts, writing it down works really well. But if you don't have recurring thoughts, is planning out the day ahead still a best practice for you?

[Hal Elrod]

So. Yes and no. Here's the way that I look at it. So yeah, if you've got, like, if your mind is racing, oh, I gotta do that tomorrow. Oh wait, I gotta remember that right Then, then that's where you, you can't relax.

[Dave Asprey]

Right.

[Hal Elrod]

But if you go, if you write down everything you got to do tomorrow, get it out, then you're like, I don't have to even think about it because I know it's written down. Now here's my solution. I think I mentioned this in the book. I don't actually map out my next day every night. I map out my next day with a recurring calendar. So I never have. If it's not in my calendar, I have brain damage still from the car accident, the cancer. I don't remember it. I don't even. It has to. My calendar. So for me, mapping out my next day is actually just done throughout the day. I don't actually do it at night. But the idea is that if you don't have that, if you don't have everything in a digital calendar already figured out, you don't have to think about it at night. Then actually getting this stuff out of your head and putting it on paper gives your subconscious permission to just relax.

[Dave Asprey]

There are studies showing that we way over represent our ability to remember things.

[Hal Elrod]

Oh yeah, totally.

[Dave Asprey]

So how many times? Especially you know, when I was younger, before I figured this out about myself, like all humans do is, oh, I'll just remember that.

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah.

[Dave Asprey]

Like, and it just goes away.

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah.

[Dave Asprey]

And you don't even know that it went away because it went away.

[Hal Elrod]

You don't remember that you forgot. Right.

[Dave Asprey]

It's, it's so frustrating. So I'm that way too. And maybe I also have brain damage I did from toxic mold, but apparently it grew back on my Daniel Amen spec scans. But it's a fool's errand to hold your calendar in your head full of the rest of them because it's going to change totally. And or to have a to do list because if it's not on the calendar, you're not going to do it if you're at all busy or if you have kids. So for me I'm like, if it's not on the calendar. I don't do it. So why don't. We need to think about tomorrow. I have an assistant who I work with all the time, and she's playing Tetris on my calendar. So I know whatever I have tomorrow is the most effective thing I could do.

[Hal Elrod]

Totally.

[Dave Asprey]

And yeah, I have an assistant. That helps. But even if I don't, anyone here can have a digital calendar. And you don't have a to do list. You have a when am I going to do it?

[Hal Elrod]

That's it. I don't have a to do list. I have a to do list just with a bunch of stuff that I eventually want to get done. But yeah, what I do is I schedule blocks of time. So I'm like, okay, what's my to do list tomorrow? And I schedule. I literally put it in at 8:00am I'm doing this from 8 to 8:38, 30 to 9. This 9 to 9:15. 9:15 to 9:45. Right. Like, that's how my, my, my map it out.

[Dave Asprey]

And people who do that are more effective. So. But you get done before bed. And boycotting blue light. So we are both so lined. That's a massive biohack. People thought I was crazy when I started True Dark. And yeah, we have a study coming out soon in a neuroscience journal showing the specific tint and gradient lens that I created that it changes your brain waves in 15 minutes as if you were doing advanced meditation.

[Hal Elrod]

Wow.

[Dave Asprey]

Which is super cool. So it's not just blocking blue, it's blocking four spectrums and angle and intensity. So the truedark glasses that are there for blocking blue, that was a big part of how I managed to move my circadian window. And it's how we block.

[Hal Elrod]

You wear those 15 minutes for bed.

[Dave Asprey]

An hour is better if you're really trying to shift things. But basically you just don't want to have even five seconds of bright light when you're brushing your teeth. It'll jack you up.

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah.

[Dave Asprey]

So you wear those or you get better lighting indoors.

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah.

[Dave Asprey]

People come for dinner at my house and like, why are the lights all dim? I'm like, because the sun's starting to go down and we're eating and then they're going to stay dim.

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah.

[Dave Asprey]

Yeah. Like you feel better? Yeah. Okay. So blue light is the thing there. Enter a blissful state with bedtime affirmations. How long are these affirmations?

[Hal Elrod]

I mean, they're relatively short. It probably takes 60 seconds to read them. And then, like, I give them in the book. I give you my bedtime affirmations. And you can print them out or you can just read the book, whatever, but the for me affirmations are, you know, that's the A in savers, right? They're the most misunderstood mistaught and in my opinion, the most valuable of all forms of personal development. That's like a bold statement, but. And the reason is, with an affirmation to me, you get to craft and articulate the perfect language, right? Which evolves. Like my affirmations are always changing as I'm changing and learning and growing and evolving. And I read something that I'm like, oh, that quote belongs in my affirmation around my wife. Because that reminds me of what I need to do to show it better for her. And so for me, affirmations, the reason there's a problem is we've been taught to either lie to ourselves or, you know, if you're struggling financially, just say, I am wealthy. I am wealthy, right? Or we're taught to use flowery, passive language that produces a magical result. I'm a money magnet. Money flows to me effortlessly and in abundance, right? So for me, the way I teach affirmations in the book affirm, number one, what you're committed to, number two, why it's a must for you, and number three, which actions you're gonna take and win. That's like my general affirmations formula, but that's only one of infinite formulas. The whole point of an affirmation is simply a reminder of something that you deem so important you want to revisit it every single day until it becomes a part of your consciousness, a permanent fixture in your consciousness.

[Dave Asprey]

I love that. And when it gets in your consciousness, I think it percolates through into your cells totally. Like your body becomes an antenna finding that. So you've got those in there. You've got read a book and then sleep like a baby to get quality sleep. There's something missing, and it seems like it's something that's important for nourishing people, you know, keeping the species alive. Start with an S. It starts with an F. The way I do it, David.

[Hal Elrod]

It triggers somebody. Dude, come on.

[Dave Asprey]

You were thinking about the other F. How fertility.

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah. Oh, I'm sorry, man.

[Dave Asprey]

This is a PG13 show. I know, so. So talk to me about miracle mornings, miracle evenings and getting laid.

[Hal Elrod]

Getting laid. Oh, what is funny? Who was it? Oh, no, it's actually, I won't say who could, but it's somebody on my team. Her mother in law says. Yeah, she Read the Miracle Morning before my team member met her son and they got married. Right. So she's already. Wait, you work for the Miracle Morning guy? I love Miracle Morning. I do Miracle Morning. She goes, and she told her the very first time they met and they were talking about it. She goes, my husband and I do the miracle Morning. But the S in savers, the final S is for sexual. That's how we start every morning, how we end our miracle morning. So, yeah, so that's. If you want to swap out S's, that's fine.

[Dave Asprey]

So you could do scribing. So maybe you could scribe some sort of, like, soft core, you know, that you just wrote out a little erotic story.

[Hal Elrod]

Well, silence. You could just be silent. Just do it in silence.

[Dave Asprey]

It usually doesn't work unless you have little kids next door. Then it has to be silent. But it's kind of a humorous thing. But it's also like, best time. Is it a morning or an evening thing? Because there's camps about that.

[Hal Elrod]

Dude, if you have. You don't have small kids at home anymore, Dave, it's whenever you can. That's the time. Whenever you can. Yeah.

[Dave Asprey]

So I guess that even if you're tired, this is advice for people with young kids. And I have several friends who have really young kids now. You used to be like, let's wait for date night. It's like, no, you don't wait. Because I promise you, kids have radar. Look, we'll wake up at 5am they're like, oh, they're awake. Let's wake up too. It doesn't matter. They chase your schedule around. So. Yep, you have 20 minutes. You go for it.

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah.

[Dave Asprey]

That keeps marriages a lot stronger, that's for sure. Okay, so there is the best time in the miracle morning thing, as long as you get it done. Okay, I like that. And for listeners, I. I'm working on this. This idea of biohacking is changing the environment around you and inside of you so you have full control of your own biology. And the. The so you can. Is open, but so you can show up the way you want to show up in your life. Which is totally in alignment with what you're talking about here.

[Podcast Disclaimer Narrator]

Yeah.

[Dave Asprey]

And I also believe I have this F word framework that our bodies follow. Fear, food, and then fertility, and then, friends, we kind of prioritize our time automatically in our cells. All animals do that. So given these things, we've got a schedule when we get our rest. Because if you're exhausted, you're going to actually be in a State of fear and anxiety. How do we nourish ourselves properly? Which, you know, we talk about that, but then how do we nourish ourselves in our love life as a form of nourishment and spiritual practice, not as just, you know, getting laid. And it feels like society doesn't talk about that very much, but it's. It's make or break for how you show up in the world as a man or as a woman or as a family or as, you know, whatever your arrangement is that if, if that's lacking, it's almost like you have a diet that's not working.

Right.

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah, Right.

[Dave Asprey]

And you can choose fasting, you can choose cell. That's fine. But it needs to be conscious. Right. And. And I'm working on helping followers use those energetics, which are more like Qigong or tantra or more eastern thinking, even some of the ayurvedic practices where you. You bring those into balance and that lets you show up just 10 times more than you would have. But this is kind of missing from a lot of practices because it's, you know, titillating or embarrassing or whatever. And that's why if you go to the biohacking conference, but, you know, it's in Dallas this year. You should come end of May, like May 30th or 31st through June 1st.

[Hal Elrod]

I should, like, talk on morning routines or something.

[Dave Asprey]

You know, I, I, you know, let's. If you're up for that. Let me, Let me. God, Rebecca's gonna kill me. I know our main stage is full, but let me see what I can do. But I'd love to have you there, but it's just come, you know, be my guest. If you're interested. Bring the family.

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah. All right.

[Dave Asprey]

You have to leave the chickens for a day. You'll have to figure that one out. It's three days. But anyway, you know, last year I brought in every year I brought in at least one or two speakers about intimacy. So I always look in a spiritual practice or a daily routine, like, how do we bring intimacy in as another way of amplifying our energy throughout the day? And, like, you're like, anytime. If you got young kids. If you don't have kids, morning or evening is better, or you just don't have data on that.

[Hal Elrod]

I don't date on that.

[Dave Asprey]

Yeah.

[Hal Elrod]

I'd be speaking out of my. Out of my lane.

[Dave Asprey]

So. Miracle morning, Bedroom edition. Just a suggestion.

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah, there you go. Miracle morning for lovers. There you go. Miracle morning for love. Well, there's the miracle Morning for Couples is a book, Miracle Morning for Lovers.

[Dave Asprey]

Yeah. And your acronym is fu. It'll. I actually highly recommend that if. If that's in your scope of practice and knowledge, because my experience has been that. That working those energies into your affirmation practice, into your meditation practice, and just into your connection with the world, it really does deepen and enhance your ability to make stuff happen in the world. And this is kind of like you're saying you have a partner, your wife, who does things that you don't do, like you. You kind of match and fulfill each other in that way. People do that whether they're in, you know, dedicated partnership or not. And I just feel like we haven't done enough work as a society on figuring out that part of human biology, psychology, and spirituality. So, yeah, I'm down for hacking that.

[Hal Elrod]

All right.

[Dave Asprey]

All right. I feel like we've gone pretty deep on the new Miracle Morning. Is there anything else that's new in the new edition of Miracle Morning that you really think is top of mind?

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah, I mean, well, just. I'll quickly, people, you know, why did you write the new book? And it was. Well, it's 11 years since the book came out, 15 years since I started the practice. I would hope that by doing the Miracle Morning six plus days a week, every week, that I've evolved a ton in what I do and how I do it. And so in the new book, it was like it was making sure that it didn't lose the essence of the original, but also that it answered all the questions I've gotten over the last 11 years and what people have asked for and requested. And so, for example, meditation. I've developed what I, you know, I don't know if I made it up, but I don't know where I would have learned it. But I call it emotional optimization meditation. And so as opposed to just clearing your mind and following your breath and sitting in silence, it's actually a very proactive meditation where you start the day and ask, what would be the optimal mental and emotional state for me to be in that would best serve me today? And it might be confidence if you've got some big presentation coming up, it might be playfulness. If you're hanging out with your kids on Saturday morning, it might be love if you got in a fight with your spouse the night before. And you need empathy in the morning. Right. Whatever it is, though, I teach you in the book, how do you identify your optimal state? How do you then trigger that state? Get into the state, then you Set your timer for five or ten minutes and you meditate in that state and you're hardwiring it in your nervous system so that it becomes a permanent fixture in how you feel. And so for me, bliss is my general default. Every day I want to be just totally at peace, totally happy for no reason, as Marcy Schaimoff would say. Right. And so that's my default state. And by reinforcing that every single day for just five minutes in the morning. And then some days it's a specific state, but that's been a game changer for me, you know, and so that's an example of how every one of the savers, I was like, okay, here's the, the basic. If you're brand new to meditation, but here's how you can take it to the next level when you're ready to.

[Dave Asprey]

I, I really appreciate that because you, you've got to be able to, to talk about in, in the book and to feel, talk about this really tiny, nuanced thing that you do. And I don't really know, like a ABC structure for it, but when you read the book, you kind of get a sense of it. It's almost like, like one of the things, you can only see it out of the corner of your eye. Yeah, right. And, and when you hone in on a practice like that, it becomes easier and easier to see and like, oh, I'm doing it right today and it works well and I didn't do it right the other day. So it is a, a miracle morning practice, which is, which is solid.

[Hal Elrod]

Awesome.

[Dave Asprey]

Hal, thanks for making the, the long half hour drive to, to the studios here. And it's, it's always a great pleasure to see you. I can't wait to hang out socially. We'll go to dinner or something. Maybe we'll see you at the well again.

[Hal Elrod]

The well, baby. Yeah.

[Dave Asprey]

Nice. And by the way, guys, the well is a restaurant here in Austin where we just ran into each other that has no bad oils and all grass fed and no gluten, so pasture raised.

[Hal Elrod]

Chicken, mostly organic veggies. It is the best restaurant in Austin in my opinion.

[Dave Asprey]

I go there a lot.

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah, me too.

[Dave Asprey]

Awesome. Thanks, brother.

[Hal Elrod]

All right, brother. Appreciate you.

[Dave Asprey]

You're listening to the Human Upgrade with Dave Asprey.

[Podcast Disclaimer Narrator]

The Human Upgrade, formerly Bulletproof radio, was created and is hosted by Dave Asprey. The information contained in this podcast is provided for informational purposes only and is not intended for the purposes of diagnosing, treating, curing, or preventing any disease. Before using any products referenced on the podcast, consult with your healthcare provider carefully, read all labels and heed all directions and cautions that accompany the products. Information found or received through the podcast should not be used in place of a consultation or advice from a healthcare provider. If you suspect you have a medical problem or should you have any healthcare questions, please promptly call or see your healthcare provider. This podcast, including Dave Asprey and the producers, disclaim responsibility for any possible adverse effects from the use of information contained herein. Opinions of guests are their own and this podcast does not endorse or accept responsibility for statements made by guests. This podcast does not make any representations or warranties about guest qualifications or credibility. This podcast may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products or services. Individuals on this podcast may have a direct or indirect financial interest in products or services referred to herein. This podcast is owned by Bulletproof Media, A Human Upgrade, formerly Bulletproof Radio, was created and is hosted by Dave Asprey. The information contained in this podcast is provided for informational purposes only and is not intended for the purposes of diagnosing, treating, curing, or preventing any disease. Before using any products referenced on the podcast, consult with your healthcare provider carefully, read all labels, and heed all directions and cautions that accompany the products. Information found or received through the podcast should not be used in place of a consultation or advice from a healthcare provider. If you suspect you have a medical problem or should you have any healthcare questions, please promptly call or see your healthcare provider. This podcast, including Dave Asprey and the producers, disclaim responsibility for any possible adverse effects from the use of information contained herein. Opinions of guests are their own and the same. This podcast does not endorse or accept responsibility for statements made by guests. This podcast does not make any representations or warranties about guest qualifications or credibility. This podcast may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products or services. Individuals on this podcast may have a direct or indirect financial interest in products or services referred to herein. This podcast is owned by Bulletproof Media.