#206: Hal Elrod—Simple Morning Habits That Can Change Your Life Before Breakfast

Summary

Podcast Summary: Why That Worked – Presented by StoryBrand.ai

Episode #206: Hal Elrod—Simple Morning Habits That Can Change Your Life Before Breakfast
Release Date: December 23, 2024
Host: Bobby Richards and James Sweeting
Guest: Hal Elrod, Author of The Miracle Morning

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1. Introduction and Guest Background

In Episode #206 of Why That Worked, hosts Bobby Richards and James Sweeting welcome Hal Elrod, the renowned author of The Miracle Morning. Hal shares his transformative journey and introduces listeners to his groundbreaking morning routine designed to catalyze personal and professional success.

2. Hal Elrod's Personal Story and Inspiration for Miracle Morning

Hal Elrod opens up about a life-altering car accident at the age of 20, which left him with 11 broken bones and clinically dead for six minutes (03:01). Despite grim medical prognoses, Hal's unwavering mindset, influenced by his parents and a mentor, fueled his miraculous recovery. He emphasizes the profound impact of finding purpose in pain, stating:

"I want to choose to be at peace in the midst of the challenge. How can I choose to be happy, grateful, even though this difficult thing I'm going through?" (11:08)

This resilience led Hal to develop the Miracle Morning during the 2008 financial crash, a period during which he doubled his income by adopting a structured morning routine.

3. The Five Minute Rule

Hal delves into the Five Minute Rule, a strategy he learned from his mentor during his time as a top Cutco sales representative. This rule is pivotal for emotional intelligence, especially when facing rejection and adversity:

"Set your timer for five minutes. For five minutes, bitch, moan, complain, cry, vent, punch a wall. Feel it fully. When the timer goes off, say three very powerful, liberating words: 'I can't change it.' Then choose to move on." (07:18)

This technique allows individuals to process emotions without dwelling, fostering a quick transition from suffering to action.

4. The SAVERS Framework Explained

Central to Hal's philosophy is the SAVERS framework, an acronym representing six daily practices:

1. Silence (Meditation/Prayer/Breathing):
   Hal describes silence as foundational for clarity and focus, helping to center oneself before the day begins.

2. Affirmations:
   He redefines affirmations to be realistic and action-oriented rather than mere positive statements. Hal emphasizes:

   "Affirmations have to be rooted in truth... and based on things that you can actually affect." (17:18)

   He outlines a three-step process for effective affirmations:

   • Commit: Clearly state what you're committed to achieving.
   • Why: Define why it's essential for you.
   • Actions: Specify actionable steps to reach your goal.

3. Visualization:
   Hal differentiates effective visualization as mental rehearsal, akin to athletes preparing for performance. He shares his personal experience of visualizing running a marathon, which significantly contributed to his success in completing an ultra-marathon (24:51).

4. Exercise:
   Physical activity, even as minimal as 60 seconds of jumping jacks, energizes the body and enhances mental clarity.

5. Reading:
   Engaging with personal development literature daily ensures continuous growth and knowledge acquisition.

6. Scribing (Journaling):
   Writing down thoughts, reflections, and insights helps in tracking progress and reinforcing learning.

5. Practical Applications and Success Stories

Hal recounts practical applications of the SAVERS framework, such as overcoming the fear of running by mentally rehearsing his marathon completion. This approach not only facilitated his physical endurance but also strengthened his commitment to personal growth.

He shares testimonials like Robert Kiyosaki's, who read The Miracle Morning three times in three months, attributing significant improvements in his life and business to the framework:

"When you do all six, it does create miracles in your life... In my marriage, in my health, and in my business." (16:26)

6. Strategies for Implementing Miracle Morning

Hal provides actionable steps for listeners to integrate the Miracle Morning into their routines:

• Start Small: Begin by waking up 10-15 minutes earlier and incorporating one SAVERS practice.
• Gradual Incorporation: Add practices incrementally, allowing the routine to evolve naturally.
• Utilize Tools: Hal mentions the Miracle Morning app, which guides users through their routines and helps maintain accountability.

He encourages a 30-Day Miracle Morning Challenge, urging listeners to commit to the process and experience transformative results.

7. Building the Miracle Morning Movement

Hal discusses the expansion of the Miracle Morning mission, aiming to impact 8 billion lives by adapting the framework to various demographics and professions. From creating a documentary to developing specialized editions for teachers and realtors, Hal highlights the versatility and universal applicability of the SAVERS framework.

He emphasizes the importance of alignment with his mission when exploring new opportunities:

"If this helps further the Miracle Morning mission... then it's a yes." (35:02)

8. Conclusion and Takeaways

Hal Elrod concludes by reinforcing the potency of the Miracle Morning in fostering personal and professional excellence. He urges listeners to take the first step by committing to the 30-Day Challenge and leveraging available resources like the Miracle Morning app and documentary.

Key Takeaways:

• Resilience and Mindset: Embracing challenges as opportunities for growth.
• Structured Routine: Implementing the SAVERS framework for daily personal development.
• Incremental Progress: Starting small and gradually building a comprehensive morning routine.
• Mission-Driven Actions: Aligning personal endeavors with a broader mission to maximize impact.

Hal's insights offer a roadmap for listeners to reimagine their mornings, seize control of their days, and ultimately transform their lives.

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Notable Quotes:

• "I can't change what happened five minutes ago. So now I got a choice as an intelligent human being. Do I want to keep suffering or do I want to move on?" — Hal Elrod (00:00)

• "Affirmations have to be rooted in truth... and based on things that you can actually affect." — Hal Elrod (17:18)

• "When you do all six, it does create miracles in your life." — Hal Elrod (16:26)

• "It takes 10 years to be an overnight success." — Hal Elrod (35:02)

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Resources Mentioned:

• Book: The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod
• App: Miracle Morning App (miraclemorning.com)

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This episode offers profound insights into the power of morning routines and mindset, providing listeners with the tools to harness their potential and achieve lasting success.

Transcript

[Hal Elrod]

I can't change what happened five minutes ago. So now I got a choice as an intelligent human being. Do I want to keep suffering or do I want to move on?

[Bobby Richards]

Welcome to the Business Made simple podcast, brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network. I'm Bobby Richards.

[James Sweeting]

And I'm James Sweeting. Running a business isn't just about strategy. It's about showing up as your best self every day. But let's be real, that's easier said than done, especially when you're juggling family teams and the never ending list of to dos.

[Bobby Richards]

And that's why today's episode's gonna be fant joined by Hal Elrod. He's the author of the Miracle Morning, which is an international bestseller that has helped millions of people transform their lives through a simple yet powerful morning routine. Two of those people are on the microphone right now. Me and James.

[James Sweeting]

That's right, Bobby. And on this episode, Hal breaks down his Savers framework. These are six practices that help you start your day with clarity, focus, and energy. So whether you're battling burnout, maybe you're struggling to prioritize, or just feeling stuck, this episode is gonna help you reimagine your mornings and take control of your day and your life.

[Bobby Richards]

If you're ready to elevate your mornings, your mindset, your business, get ready. We're going to show you how to do that and more right after this. How do you begin to describe your job as a marketer? Well, you have to generate leads, create content, gather data. You're spread way too thin. But HubSpot has a better way. With the help of Breeze, HubSpot's collection of AI tools and features like content Remix, you can turn one piece of content into a suite of assets. Then pinpoint the best prospects and level up your campaign's KPIs with a new analytics suite. And most importantly, you're gonna have a way easier time describing your job at parties. Visit HubSpot.com marketers to learn more.

[Interview Host]

Hal, thank you so much for being on the show.

[Hal Elrod]

Thank you for having me. It is an honor.

[Interview Host]

I gotta say, man, though, I've been looking forward to this. Even before I knew what a Donald Miller was or what a story brand was. I knew what a Hal Elrod was. I know who you were. And I was practicing the Miracle Morning in, like, maybe 2016 is when I discovered it. And I attribute that whole process to literally, like, the opportunities that came after that and me sitting right here talking to you. So this is a crazy cool honor, dude. So I just want to say that up front, like, thank you so much.

[Hal Elrod]

I'm honored, Bobby. Like that. I didn't know that. So thank you for sharing that. That is really, really cool to hear.

[Interview Host]

Well, man, I want to get right into it, and I'd love to. For our audience that is discovering you like I did back then, you created this framework called the Miracle Morning that it just outlines just how you can really set yourself up for success right at the rise and shine right at the moment that you wake up. This was something you discovered, though, through some pretty intense experiences and your own personal tragedy in your life. I mean, could you lay out that story for our audience to kind of get to know you from that angle too?

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah. So I'll start at age 20. I was in a really horrific car accident. I was head on by a drunk driver at 70 miles per hour on the freeway. And then my. My Ford Mustang, it hit the drunk driver head on, but we were kind of off center. I bounced off the drunk driver and the car behind me. My car spun around and the car behind me crashed into my driver's side door at 70 miles per hour. So, you know, if everybody listening, look over your left shoulder and imagine a car just hits you at 70 miles an hour in the door of your car. And I broke 11 bones instantaneously, and I began bleeding to death. And I actually was clinically dead for six minutes on the freeway. After they cut me out of the car with the Jaws of Life, airlifted me to the hospital, I spent six days in a coma, flatline twice more. It was very, very critical condition. And my mom, now that I'm a parent, you know, my mom and dad had the worst of all of this, you know, on my, you know, watching me go through all this at my bedside, praying for me to wake up from this coma. And when I came out of the coma, I was told I would never walk again and that I had permanent brain damage. So I was this, I wake up, I'm like, why am I in a hospital? Where am I? And I'm facing this, like, unimaginable reality. You know, my arms in a sling, my leg's in a sling. My eye, I broke the eye socket. So it was. They thought I'd be blind in that eye. You know, I'm very fortunate that I had my parents and then I had a mentor that had really taught me about the power of my mindset. And my. My sister died when I was 8 years old. She was 18 months old. My baby sister died one morning When I was home with my mom and her, I woke up to my mom screaming across the hall. And when I went across the hall, she was giving mouth to mouth to my little 18 month year old sister. And she died that morning. And within six months, my mother was leading a support group for parents who had lost their children and my dad was leading a fundraiser to raise money for the hospital that took care of my sister while she was alive. And that seed was planted when I was young that, oh, when you go through tragedy, you find a way to serve other people, you find a way to help others, and then you find purpose in your pain. And so thankfully I came out of the coma and I mean, I'm literally in the hospital being told I'm never going to walk again. And I'm like, hey, this, this is meant to be. I'm supposed to help people with it. The doctor thought I was delusional. They're like, your son, he should be depressed and sad and scared and angry. What's going on? And I'm like, no, I always wanted to be a professional motivational speaker. Maybe that's why this happened. I'm supposed to learn and overcome this and then teach others. So I'm in the hospital, like, this was my mindset. And I think it's from my parents, it's from a mentor, it's from God, it's. I take very little credit for the way that I responded. But you fast forward nine years later and the miracle morning was born in the 2008 financial crash when I lost over half of my income and I needed to turn my life around. And, you know, I went searching for what did the world's most successful people do for their, you know, daily personal optimization, if you will. And I kept coming across meditation, affirmations, visualization, exercise, reading, journaling. And I'm like, well, which one of these should I do? And to put a bow on the story, it was, what if I did all of these? What if I woke up tomorrow a little bit earlier and I started my day with the six most proven personal development practices that the world's most successful people have sworn by for centuries. That would be the ultimate way to start the day and become successful. And within a couple of months of doing that, I doubled my income at the height of the recession. And my wife said it was like a miracle. And we decided it was my miracle morning. And the rest is history, as they say.

[Interview Host]

Oh my gosh, man, what an adventure. And I know too, there's success that you had before the accident. You were working with Cutco, you were one of their top representatives. Like you said, this was in your blood, you know, like you said by your parents. Was it by a higher power, whatever. To if this was gonna happen, to happen to someone like you, who could then be able to turn it into something that could then inspire you to get back to where you wanted to be and then also other people is just incredible. I know out of that too, you call out that five minute roll where you're like, okay, cool, I'm gonna own that. I'm feeling real bad and I'm living in this funk for five minutes and then I'm coming out the other practice. It's something that I'm able to tap into and think into. And that's something I just call that out is something that's incredible as well.

[Hal Elrod]

Well, you know, I've. In like deep meditation and prayer, I've gotten this message from, call from God that I've been put through all these really intense experiences, but I was always given the people, the resources, the mind, whatever I needed to get through them and turn them into, into a way to help other people. And you mentioned the five minute rule. I don't. Yeah, it's worth taking a few minutes to break down what that is. It's the most, one of the most effective strategies I've ever learned for emotional intelligence. And I learned it in my Cutco sales training and my mentor, that's why. And that's what I mentioned between my parents and my mentor and the mentor, he taught me the five minute rule. And he said, when you're in sales, and this is true for anyone in, you know, in business and. But he said, you're going to experience far more rejection and adversity than the average person does. He said, the average person gets rejected every once in a while. The average person fails maybe once a year when they don't reach their goal for the, you know. He said, but as a salesperson, you're gonna get rejected on the phone like five times a day, ten times a day. You're gonna, you're gonna go to, you know, five sales appointments, four of them are gonna tell you to get the heck outta that, you know, never come back. And he said it's a lot. And at 19 years old, I'm going, wait a minute, what did I sign up for? You know. And he said, but here's the most effective strategy I found to move quickly through adversity and moving, keep moving forward. He said, the five minute rule. And it simply states that it's okay to be negative and feel, you know, upset over something that's, that's being a human. But he said, the problem is when we dwell on something that is in the past for an extended period of time, and we blame the thing as to why we're upset. But he said, no. Every emotional, all emotional pain is self created by your resistance to reality. In other words, it's us wishing the thing didn't happen and the resistance of that reality. No, gosh dang it, it wasn't supposed to be that way. I can't believe that happened. As long as we resist reality, we perpetuate emotional pain. And he said, set your timer for five minutes. For five minutes, bitch, moan, complain, cry, vent, punch a wall. Feel it fully. Don't suppress your emotions. Express them. He even teaches. He goes, even express them. Like, more so than is normal. Like, really feel it. And he said, when the timer goes off, you say three very powerful, liberating words. Can't change it. An acknowledgement. I can't change what happened five minutes ago. So now I got a choice as an intelligent human being. Do I want to keep suffering or do I want to move on, accept my life exactly as it is. I can't change what happened five minutes ago, but I can change everything else. But I got to get out of that funk and I got to focus on the things that are in my control. And so to your point, when I had my car accident, it was the five minute rule. And having practiced that for a year and a half, that I'm like, oh, I might need more than five minutes. Like, give me five days on this one. But literally within five days, I'm like, okay, I can't change it. I was in a car accident. I broke 11 bones. I might never walk again. And if I never walk again, I will be the happiest, most grateful person that anyone's ever seen in a wheelchair. Because I will never let my unchangeable circumstances dictate my mental and emotional well being. And I just want to ask this one question before we move on, which. Is anybody listening? What's your wheelchair? What is the experience in your life, past, present, or that you're worried about for the future that's out of your control and that you allow to dictate your mental and emotional well being, when you can instead say, hey, yes, that happened, or yes, this is happening, or yes, this could happen. But how can I choose to be at peace in the midst of the challenge? How can I choose to be happy, grateful, even Though this difficult thing I'm going through, I'd rather go through challenges in my life at peace, joyful and happy and looking to help other people than emotionally distraught over something that I can't change.

[James Sweeting]

Yeah. Wow. So there, there's that. No, yeah, yeah, there's that acceptance is what I'm hearing. That acceptance of reality as it is. And it also sounds like you're, you're, you know, with what you experience, how, like assigning meaning, what does this mean to me? And then what am I gonna do about it? And how can I take action, Emotional state in the moment and what can I do now?

[Hal Elrod]

Well, and here's the way I would say it, you know, the whole, why did this happen to me? Right. When people go through adversity, they ask that question, why? But they do it from a victim mindset. Why did this happen to me? I'm a good person. I don't deserve this. Life wasn't supposed to be this way. Right. I think it's the right question, but it's the wrong tone. Right? Not, why did this happen to me? Woe is me, but wow, why did this happen to me? What am I supposed to learn from this? How am I supposed to grow and evolve? What's on the other side of this that could make my life better and other people's life better? Right. So, yeah. Why did this happen from a perspective of like, I'm looking for the benefit, I'm looking for the silver lining. I'm looking for the purpose in the pain that I'm currently enduring.

[James Sweeting]

Yeah. And then getting curious about what that might be.

[Hal Elrod]

Totally. Yeah. And you might not know on day one. Right. I mean, it might take years to unveil, but if you have that constant curiosity of like, how can I use this experience? Right. I didn't know I was gonna write a book about it. I didn't know that I'd become a professional speaker. I thought maybe that would be cool. But I was 19, I had no idea what would come out of it. I'm 45 now.

[Interview Host]

And it all comes back to in those moments, how can you think about it in the way where you go, what does this make possible? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[James Sweeting]

So, Hal, for our listeners that may not be familiar with the Savers, could you just kind of high level walk through what those are?

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah. So like I said when I had this epiphany, what if I did the six most timeless proven personal development practices, you know, all in one habit, stacked ritual, if you will. And then when I was writing the book. I was frustrated one day going, you know, how do I connect the dot? Like, how do I connect all of these in a cohesive, memorable way that flows nicely? And. And I was. I had, like, writer's block. And I walked out to go for a walk and my wife caught me in the hall and I said, sweetheart. She goes, what's wrong? You look frustrated. I go, yeah, I got these, you know, six practices, but I didn't invent them. And I don't. I go, you know, Robert Kiyosaki's got the cash flow quadrant and Stephen Covey's got the seven habits of highly effective people. I got nothing. She goes, why don't you get a thesaurus and see if you could swap some of the words for synonyms that have the same meaning and then organize an acronym that people could remember. And so meditation became silent. The first S in savers, Journaling became scribing. The final S in savers, and the other letters remain the same. So S for silence. That's your meditation, prayer, breath, work, et cetera. The A is for affirmations. And I will say I teach them very differently than the, you know, the old school self help guru. Like, I'm amazing and I'm a money magnet. And like, I don't. I don't buy into that. The V in Sabers is for visualization. And I always say the greatest athletes in the world mentally rehearsed performing at their best. And we don't need to have a professional athletic career. It could be before we engage with our wife or our spouse, our kids. Mentally rehearsing, showing up at your best for yourself, your family, your colleagues, et cetera. The E in Savage is for exercise. And you don't have to go to the gym in the morning. I'm talking as little as 60 seconds of jumping jacks. It wakes up your nervous system. It gets blood and oxygen to your brain so you think clearer, make better decisions. The R and saverages for reading. And again, the final S is for scribing. And if you go interview the world's most successful people and you say, hey, tell me about one or two practices that have made the biggest impact in your life. Nine times out of 10, it's one or two of those six. It was like, oh, the books I read, man, I read this book. It changed my life. Oh, it was my meditation practice. It was, you know, on and on. It's my exercise every day. That's what helps me lower my stress. And, you know, and so last thing I'll Say is, I'll quote Robert Kiyosaki. When Robert Kiyosaki had me on Rich Dad Radio, first of all, he told me that he had read the Miracle Morning three times in three months. And my head exploded. I was like, what? You're, like, one of my favorite authors. You read my book three times, okay. But he said, hal, at the end of the interview, he goes, hal, you named the book perfectly the Miracle Morning. I said, thank you. But why do you say that? He said, because before the miracle morning, every successful person on the planet swears by at least one of their saviors or one of the savers and attributes that to your success. But he said, I've been in this game for 30 years in personal development. He said, I've never met a single person that did all six of those timeless practices every single day, let alone at the beginning of their day to put themselves in a peak state for the day. And he said, any one of those practices will change your life. But he said, my experience in the last few months has been that when you do all six, it does create miracles in your life. And he said, I'm experiencing miracles in my marriage, in my health, and in my business. I was like, all right, Robert, can I quote you on that? Like that. So, yeah. So those are the savers. That's the miracle Morning. And you can do it in any order. You could do it in six minutes. You could do it in 60 minutes. Right? Like, it's very customizable to fit someone's lifestyle.

[Interview Host]

And that's something, too, that you lay out in the. And I, of course, will call people to action to download it in your app. Where I've got your app, James. You've got the app. And that's how I'll track my savers that way. I know, too, that everyone will have one specific thing. I know that with me, I definitely was journaling. I did Julia Cameron's Artist's Way. And so that was something that was already kind of baked into my routine. But the affirmations and the visualizations were something that I was just like, the way that you break them down. And, James, I don't want to talk for you, but I will. But when you came in and you go, the affirmation is blown.

[James Sweeting]

I was like, this thing already. Like, when I. As I was reading through the book, which I just finished, so Bobby told me about it for the first time. So I just finished the book. But I was like, man, I have never. The way that you structure the affirmations, I Was like, I'm already putting this into place now and connecting it to commitment. But can you talk about that a little bit? How?

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah, that's. You know, I get asked sometimes, like, how do you have a favorite of the Savers? And I always joke, the politically correct answer would be no, they're all equally important.

[Interview Host]

I love all my children. Yeah, exactly.

[Hal Elrod]

But my honest answer is affirmations to me are the most important and the most effective. And what I've realized, right, the Savers is for affirmations, but it also could be for anchor. And what I mean is that to me, affirmations are the anchor of the Savers, of the miracle morning. And the reason is they are in writing. And to your point, the two problems with affirmations, the way they've been taught for, I don't know, decades, Number one is we're taught to lie to ourself and promise some magical result independent of any effort, right? So you'd go, I am wealthy. I am wealthy. And that's what, like a well meaning self help guru, if you're struggling financially, just affirm I am wealthy over and over, and then you'll believe it and then you'll become it, right? Like maybe. But if you say I am and the blank following that doesn't resonate as true for you now, you create an internal conflict. And that's why I think a lot of people are disillusioned with affirmations because they're like, these are cheesy, these are goofy. Like, I'm not, you know, I'm not a millionaire. Why am I saying that I am? So affirmations have to be rooted in truth. The second problem is, and I mentioned this a second ago, that we promise ourselves this magical result independent of any effort. So the very popular money affirmation is, I am a money magnet. Money flows to me effortlessly and in abundance. Right? And that's not how money works. And I think the reason that affirmation has actually stood the test of time is because it's like taking an antidepressant or a drug where you're like, oh, my God, my reality is stressful. I'm negative in my bank account. Okay, let me do my affirmations. I'm a money magnet. Okay, that feels better. Money's gonna flow to me effortlessly. Oh, thank God. Because I have no motivation right now. Right? You know, like, so you've gotta root your affirmations in truth, and they've gotta be based on things that you can actually, you can affect, right? You can't affect being a magnet, you know. So here are answering your question, James, the three steps to creating miracle morning affirmations. And these to me are results oriented. Number one, affirm what you're committed to. Don't say I'm wealthy. Say I'm committed to earning $100,000 this year. I'm committed to increasing my income by 20%. Like, commit to something very specific. Number two, affirm why it's a must for you. That's where the rubber meets. Like, that's where you fuel that drive, right? If all you do is I want to be, I'm committed to being a millionaire. Oh, that feels good. Great. I'm going to go back to my day to day life. No. Why are you doing that? Who are you doing that for? Why are you doing it? For each person in your life that matters. When I had cancer, that's another story. Seven years ago, I was diagnosed with a rare cancer and given a 20% chance of surviving. I was scared that I was going to die because the doctor said there was an 80% chance I was going to die. And when I went into the hospital, my heart was failing, my lungs were failing, my kidneys were failing. And they gave me one to three weeks to live if I didn't start chemotherapy. And if I did start chemotherapy, I had an 70 to 80% chance of dying. So it's like nothing was looking good.

[Interview Host]

Jesus.

[Hal Elrod]

My daughter's seven at the time, my son's four. You know, it's the scariest thing for a parent, I mean, for a human, let alone a mom, you know, a dad. And I very quickly was like, okay, this fear state is not serving me. And so I pulled out my affirmations in step one. What am I committed to? I'm committed to beating cancer no matter what. There is no other option. And then number two, why is it a must? For me, I had five reasons. I'm committed to being cancer for my wife, Ursula, because I promised her forever. And today for Sophia and Halston, my kids, because they need their daddy's love, guidance, and leadership. And I want to watch them grow up for my mom and dad, because they already lost a child and don't deserve to lose another one for myself, because, damn it, I deserve to live a long, happy, healthy life as much as any other person on earth. And last but not least, I'm committed to cancer for the millions of people who are themselves battling cancer or some other disease and may not have been blessed with the knowledge and resources that I have. And it's My responsibility to overcome this so that I can help them on their healing journey. Those five reasons were so profound for me. They were so meaningful and important that there were days where I wanted to die, where I was so sick, I was so exhausted, I felt horrible. And if I didn't have those five reasons, I would have given up. Like, those were the five reasons. And so whatever those reasons are for you, based on whatever your commitment is, could be a financial commitment, a health commitment, a relational commitment, you name it. But step one, what are you committed to? Step two, why is it a must for you? And then the third step is, which actions will you take and win? So you affirm, I'm committed to this. I'm committed to blank no matter what. Here's why it's a must for me and here's what I'm going to do. The specific actions and when I'm going to, like on these days, at these times, for this duration. And you get very specific. And now what you're affirming every day is exactly what you need to shape your mindset and your behavior to follow through with the things and you know that will get you to that outcome. And so I apply that to every role in my life. In my marriage, I'm committed to blank as a husband, as a father, you know, financially, in my business, every area of my life. I follow those three steps. And the last thing I'll say is that's not where the end, where affirmations end. I do have affirmations that remind me that, like, hey, I am enough. I am just as worthy of love. And you know what I mean? Like, I have all sorts of affirmations. But the most effective affirmations follow that three step formula.

[Interview Host]

What it sounds like is, like you said, you've got something that you can look at and you can distinctively look at and go, okay, I know exactly what I'm aiming for. It's like with the other ones, you're just shooting an arrow out into the sky and going, well, I hope it hits the target. Or like you said, it's masking. It's masking the true, the true source of it all. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Bobby Richards]

The Creators Are Brands Podcast, hosted by Tom Boyd, is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. Creators are Brands explores how storytellers are building brands online. From the mindsets to the tactics, all the way to the business side. The show breaks down what's working so you can apply that to your own mission. In a recent episode titled 3K to 45K on Instagram in one year, selling digital products and quitting his job, Tom talks to Gannon Meyer about his incredible journey to social media success. They unpack actionable strategies for building a loyal audience, how you can monetize digital products, and how to create meaningful brand partnerships. So whether you're looking to grow your presence online or turn your content into a profitable business, this episode and this show offers practical takeaways you can start applying right away. Listen to creators are brands wherever you get your podcasts. And now back to the show.

[Interview Host]

The affirmations, the way that you break them down in the book, like you just did, completely game changing with visualizations, too. The way that you break that down in the book, it's also game changing because just like affirmations for me and visualizations for me were the two weak points. Those were the things where I was like, before I read Miracle Morning, I was like, yeah, I don't think these are going to work for me.

[Hal Elrod]

It's so like, woo. Like, woo, woo.

[Interview Host]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. But just. But the concept and the way that you approach it is it, again, it was able to make it more specific and more impactful. Could you break down the visualization aspect of it?

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah, and I think that visualization, similar to affirmations, it's been taught ineffectively and that's why people. People kind of like they've given up on it. Yeah, visualization, you know, it became very popular in like 2000, I think 8 or 7 when the secret came out.

[Interview Host]

Oh, I remember that. Yeah.

[Hal Elrod]

The Secret. The movie, the Secret, it was on Oprah. Like, when, you know, it was like worldwide success and they taught you to create a vision board. Right. It's like, you know, that's how visualization works. You cut out pictures of things that you want and then you put them on a cork board and then they happen, they come true. Like, okay, I do straddle the line between hyperlogical and woo woo. Right. So I'm open. Okay, maybe, maybe that works. But I'd like to have a little more agency over the things in my life rather than hoping the pictures on my wall manifest. Right. I don't know. So visualization, the way it's effective is it's as mental rehearsal. To me, that's the most effective part of visualization and that's how athletes use it. Right. They visualize performing at their best, dealing with adversity on the court or the field. Right. And that way when it happens in real life, they're like, oh, yeah, I've already, I've been here, I've done. I already rehearsed this. I already know what to do, right? And my, my personal example, I've always hated running. I've never been a runner. And in 2009, one of my best friends, John Vroman, who is the founder of Front Row Dads, I encourage both of you guys, if you're not familiar, check out Front Row Dads. It's the greatest group I've been a part of. But I heard you guys say that you talk about being dads.

[Interview Host]

Oh, yeah.

[Hal Elrod]

But John Roman back then was the founder of Front Row Foundation. So before Front Row Dads, he started a charity that sent people braving life threatening illnesses to the front row of their favorite event. And they were doing a marathon, a run for the Front Row Foundation. And he reached out and he said, hal, hey, you know, do this. I go, dude, I'm not a runner. I have like, no, thank you. And I had just started my miracle morning, though. And like the next day, during the miracle morning, during meditation, I got this message like, hey, you're not a runner. You can't run. Are you really willing to accept that as a limiting belief? I'm like, oh, damn. Okay, okay, all right. You know, I hear you. And so I called him back. I'm like, hey, dude. And this is like, before I even thought it through. I'm like, I will run a marathon. I've never run more than a mile in high school PE class, but I will run a marathon. He's like, do what? You know? And I'm like, yeah. Because I'm like, I'm going to use my miracle morning to cultivate the beliefs that I can do it. I'm going to start training. I ordered a book called the Non Runners Marathon Trainer, which is for people that hate running but want to run a marathon to overcome that limitation. And great book. So here's how visualization. If it wasn't for visualization, I don't think I would have done it. And here's what I did. Every day I spent 30 to 60 seconds visualizing the end result, right? The vision board style where I imagine crossing the finish line of the Atlantic City Marathon. How good that was gonna feel? Cause it's important you wanna generate those feelings of like, wow, what's that gonna feel like? That, by the way, is what you're doing with visualization is you're mentally rehearsing while generating a peak emotional state that will compel you to do the thing that will get you across the finish line, whatever that finish line is for you. So I would then spend two or three minutes visualizing, mentally rehearsing the phone on the coffee table that was literally sitting in front of me, my cell phone beeping at 7am when it was time to go for a run. Then I would visualize picking it up. It was a little movie, shutting it off, going into my bedroom, getting dressed in my running clothes. I would see this movie. Then I would see myself going out the front door. And I would see through my own eyes, reaching, grabbing the front door handle, turning it, pulling it open, seeing the sidewalk. And keep in mind, I had just done my affirmations for the marathon five minutes prior. I'm committed to running 52 miles. I did the ultra marathon 52 miles on October 29, 2009. No matter what, there's no other option. This is a must for me because this is a limiting belief that by overcoming this, I will then be able to overcome any challenge and establish any belief I need to achieve any goal for the rest of my life. In order to follow through with this, I will read the non runner's marathon trainer and follow it and follow my training whether I feel like it or not. So as I'm looking, as I'm visualizing looking at the sidewalk, I run through those affirmations one more time. And guys, that was 15 years ago. And I still know them almost by heart because I said them for six months every single day, right? And then what happened was through the visualization, I got myself compelled, emotionally excited to go for the run. And so here's what happened when the alarm went off on my phone at 7am in real time, which was like 30 minutes later, right? I didn't do what human nature would have had me do, which is like, I don't want to run, I'll do it tomorrow. And anybody listening or watching you can apply this to any of your goals. You mentally rehearse doing the thing that you probably want to not do because it's out of your comfort zone, it's scary, whatever, but you mentally rehearse doing it in an optimal state so that when the phone went off at 7am I was like a robot. I didn't even think. I just like, time to get up, walk into bedroom, get dressed in running clothes, head out front door, open front door, repeat affirmations, go for a run. And then six months later, I had run 500 miles in training. And then I completed the ultramarathon. And I truly believe that the affirmations and the Visualization together are the two to and the book and the reading. Right. If I hadn't read the book and done the affirmations, like all the savers support each other toward turbocharging your ability to achieve your goals.

[James Sweeting]

Yeah. And yeah, I think that, I'm so glad you mentioned that. Cause that was going to be a question I asked too, is I, I, I noticed just how all the savers, they interplay, they integrate together, they strengthen each other in such a way. And even what you mentioned with the reading, like, yes, you know, and I'm sure so many of our listeners will resonate with this, that yeah, yeah, I've got like 10 books on my nightstand or whatever. But what's the one that is connected to the goal, to the affirmation, to what I'm visualizing? And it's so powerful when you all put it together as a system like that.

[Interview Host]

And even too, just thinking of the reading is going and it's just bite size. It's like at least do 10 pages.

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah. Or even five pages. Yeah, yeah. To your point, I say in the book, right? 10 pages a day is 3650 pages a year. That's 18200 page self help books. That's game changing. But cut that in half. Five pages per day, that's nine books a year. Right. Like how many human beings on the planet are reading nine books a year that are helping them become the person they need to be to create the life that they want? You can read a parenting book one month, then a marriage book, then a financial book. I mean, in every domain of your life, every year you could get better. And then you take what you're reading in the book and you take the most important key points and you draft them into your affirmations. Right. And now you're actually recalling the thing you read. And how often do we do that? We never do that. We read a book and then we forget 90% of it and go on to another book. Right. For me, they go into my affirmations and you know, and I keep building.

[Interview Host]

Them out, so it's amazing. And I don't want to blow past the other ones, but you know, we got silence up front, just talking about, you know, how that centers you. We got affirmations, visualizations, exercise. Of course, we all know this is teeing us up to actually exercise. You know what I mean? Like, I feel like the only reason I started moving at all was because of my miracle morning. And then with the reading and then at the end with the scribing or journaling, knowing the importance of all that, I do want to get into, especially for our audience of small business owners, solopreneurs, people with small teams. Hal, you've used the Miracle Morning to build this Miracle Morning. All of the titles of the different versions and iterations and editions of the Miracle Morning that are for authors and realtors. And I mean, you have so many versions of the Miracle Morning that you've worked with. You've built this whole company up. How have you utilized and used the Miracle Morning to do that? What was sort of your whole adventure and process and story doing that?

[Hal Elrod]

Yeah. And I want to answer this in a way that I think that every person listening should be able to utilize this, this singular lesson. Well, there's a few lessons, but I'll make sure the singular lesson is that my purpose in life or I have more than I believe you can have more than one purpose in life. But I should say my purpose in my work is to share the miracle morning with 8 billion people. It started out with 1 million. My first year the book came out, my goal was just change 1 million lives one morning. In a time, I was a self published author. No one knew who I was. And this is the first lesson. I gave it everything that I had that year. I didn't have kids yet. I was like, full blown, share the miracle morning with every human being that I can. And I truly was like thinking big, like, I'm going to reach a million people and sell a million books. I fell short of my goal the first year by 987,000 copies. Right, y'all, I want you like, if you've ever missed a goal or you're not on track for your goal, I want you to imagine failing your goal. That's 98.7% failure rate for me the first year. But I kept, I'm like, it doesn't matter. I have a responsibility to share this practice that changed my life and it's changed everyone's life that I've shared with my coaching clients. I have to share it with the world no matter how long it takes me. And so I tried to sell a million books. In year two, I sold 23,000 copies. And then I tried in year three, I tried in year four. It took six years to reach the goal. But I think it's an important lesson that whatever you're working towards in your life right now, it will probably take longer than you planned on. But when you finally get there, you'll look back and you won't wish it would have happened any sooner. Like, in the moment, you're frustrated, you're stressed. Wow, why isn't this happening sooner? I'm not making enough money. I wasn't making enough money. I wasn't. You know what I mean? Like, I was struggling financially trying to share this message. But when you finally get to the point you've been working so hard for, for so long, you look back and you're like, oh, it was supposed to take six years. I had to meet person number that person. In year one, that led to that opportunity. In year two, that led to the relationship I had in year three, that led to this, right? Like, now I can go back. Steve Jobs says, you can only connect the dots looking backwards. Like, that's what this is. I. Oh, it was supposed to take six years. You know, and the other. I love that phrase. It takes 10 years to be an overnight success. Because I think that that's true.

[Interview Host]

Oh, yeah.

[Hal Elrod]

But my point is this. It became my filter for saying yes or no to opportunities. And it took a little while to get to this point, but it was like, oh, if this helps further the Miracle Morning mission, which at that, in the beginning was to change 1 million lives 1 morning at a time. That evolved to elevate the consciousness of humanity one morning at a time. And if it's not aligned with the Miracle Morning mission, then it's a no for me. And so that's it. And so. But when my friend Nick Connadera, who's a filmmaker, came and said, hey, Hal, we need to make a documentary, like, this book is changing millions of lives. It's translated in 42 languages. This is wild. Robert Kiyosaki is doing it, you know, But. But the point is, when Nick asked me to make the movie, I'm like, does this align with the Miracle Morning Mission to reach millions of people, especially those that don't read books, but they might watch a documentary on Amazon prime or online, right? Like, so it's a yes. My. My good friend Josh Itenberg, who builds apps, was like, hey, we should make a Miracle Morning app. And I'm like, would that further the mission of changing millions of lives? Yes, it would. Okay, let's do it. Right? And I did not know the app would, you know, kind of like the book. I didn't. Some of these things, I did not know they would impact people the way they have and grow as much as they have. But, yeah. So everything that I do is just, will this help further the mission? And then it's same thing with the book. Series. Will this help further the mission? Yeah. This will turn the Miracle Morning onto real estate agents and onto teachers. And right now we have the Miracle Morning in Schools program, where we started in New York City as the pilot city. And this is run by my friend Brianna Greenspan, who also co authored the Miracle Morning Art of Affirmations coloring book. And now she's the head of our schools program. The Miracle Morning is changing the lives of students, teachers, principals, and we started in New York City and now it's going nationwide. But it all goes back to. I got this one. My one thing is the miracle Morning and whatever will help me share it with more people, because it's the one thing that I have realized there's nothing I've ever created that's helped people as deeply and as universally. Like kids are doing Miracle Morning, seniors are doing Miracle morning, elderly folks, CEOs are doing miracle Morning. You know, teacher, I mean, it doesn't matter. The country doesn't matter. The demographic. And so, yeah, so that's it. It's just really looking at how can I find ways to impact more people and also monetize as a business person so that I can continue to reinvest that money and help even more people. Yep, yep.

[James Sweeting]

And I love how you're, you're, you have that clear mission, then you're using it as a decision making filter to know what to say yes to, what to say no to, and then just so many of the wonderful things. Oh my gosh. Everybody listening. I watched the documentary last night. It's fantastic. So definitely check that out.

[Interview Host]

Hal, at the end of every episode, we have a plan of action that we pull out. That's sort of that one main takeaway that our listener can immediately implement after our conversation today. Hal, what would you say would be your plan of action? Just kind of that first step, that one takeaway that they can immediately jump into.

[Hal Elrod]

I would commit to a 30 day miracle morning challenge and I'm gonna make it very easy for everybody listening. You do not have to wake up an hour earlier and do all six of the savers. I encourage you to wake up at least 10 or 15 minutes earlier than you normally would and pick one of the savers to do for your 30 day challenge. And it could be one that you've been putting off or that you're curious about, or maybe you heard the way we described affirmations and you're like, dude, I want to, I want to try that. Right? But commit for 30 days and here's what will happen. Is Like a lot of people, if they haven't read the miracle morning book, I will say, like, start with the R. And if you're reading the book, then you get to the chapter on silence and you add silence into your miracle morning. So now you're doing the R and the S. And then, you know, a couple days later you get to the chapter on affirmations. And now you incorporate that. So it's like you're not jumping, you know, off the cliff and going, I'm not a morning person. I'm supposed to get up an hour earlier. There's no way. No, you're getting up 10 minutes earlier. You're spending five minutes on one of the savers, and then you're stacking your miracle morning gradually over time. And after, you know, one, two weeks, maybe even by the end of the month, you're like, dude, I'm doing a full on miracle morning. Like I'm doing. And it could be a 30 minute or a 60 minute. What you find is that once you, it's addictive, right? I mean, you can speak to this. You guys, like, you're like, dude, I want more of this. Like, I started out with like a six minute miracle morning, but like, it's too rushed. Like I want to, I want it like on the, on the weekends I'll do like a two, three hour miracle morning when my kids are sleeping in and my wife like, you know, so. And one of the easiest ways to do a miracle morning is the app. I mean, you literally, like, you press play and then it can guide you through an entire miracle morning. And you can try it free, you know, app store, Google Play Store, miraclemorning.com app, you can try it free for seven days. It guides you through your miracle morning. It helps you be accountable. It makes it easy to do. So whether it's the book, watch the movie, that's totally free, you can watch it [e-mail] you know, there's a lot of different ways to engage and start with your first miracle morning. But it starts by moving your alarm clock up, you know, 10, 15 minutes earlier and commit to do one of the savers and do it for 30 days. And it will change your life.

[Interview Host]

And it will. And I can attest. And James, I know you're doing it. I mean, that's how miracle morning, like you said, it's addictive. But when I don't do it, if for some reason I'm like, ah, I can't or whatever, you feel it, man. You feel it and there's a funk on you and it's like, I gotta get back into it, man. Hal, you've been absolutely fantastic. The value you offer today, just everything you're doing in the world, you're helping more than a million, you're hitting that billion and like you said, elevating the consciousness, just, you're doing amazing work and this has been an absolute honor and.

[Bobby Richards]

For everybody out there. If you want to go deeper, go out and grab the Miracle Morning and stream the Miracle Morning documentary. You can order the book and stream that doc for [e-mail] and don't forget.

[James Sweeting]

To download the Miracle Morning app. This is a fantastic app. It's. It's so simple to use and it guides you through your savers practice and helps keep you accountable. You can find that on the App Store, Google play [e-mail] app. Well, that is all for today's episode. Thank you so much as always for listening to the Business Made simple podcast where we are obsessed with helping you become a better business owner and a better you. We'll see you next week.