The Miracle Morning (10 page)

Since there is such a wide variety of opinions from countless studies and experts, and since the amount of sleep needed varies from person to person, I’m not going to take a scientific approach here. Instead, I’m going to share my own real-world results, from personal experience and experimentation, some of which may be somewhat controversial.

How To Wake UP With More Energy (On Less
Sleep)

Through my own experimentation—as well as that of many other
Miracle Morning
enthusiasts who have tested this theory—I’ve concluded that, for the most part, we need as much sleep as we
believe
that we need. In other words, I’ve found that how we feel in the morning when we wake up—and this is a very important distinction—is not based on how many hours of sleep we got, as much as it’s based on how we told ourselves we were going to feel when we woke up.

For example, if you
believe
that you need 8 hours of sleep to feel rested, but you’re getting into bed at 12:00 midnight and have to wake up at 6:00 a.m., you’re likely to tell yourself, “Geez, I’m only going to get six hours of sleep tonight, but I need eight. I’m going to feel exhausted in the morning.” Then, what happens as soon as your alarm clock goes off and you open your eyes and you realize it’s time to wake up?  What’s the first thought that you think? It’s the same thought you had before bed!  “Geez, I only got six hours of sleep. I feel exhausted.”  It’s a self-fulfilling, self-sabotaging prophecy. If you tell yourself you’re going to feel tired in the morning, then you are absolutely going to feel tired. If you believe that you need 8 hours to feel rested, then you’re not going to feel rested on anything less. But what if you changed your beliefs?

The mind-body connection is a powerful thing, and I believe we must take responsibility for every aspect of our lives, including the power to wake up every day feeling energized, regardless of how many hours of sleep we get.

I’ve experimented with various durations of sleep—from as little as four hours to as many as nine. The other variable in my experimentation was actively telling myself how I was going to feel in the morning, based on the amount of hours I slept. First, I tried each duration of sleep, telling myself before bed that I was
not
getting enough sleep, and that I was going to feel exhausted in the morning.

On four hours of sleep, I woke up feeling exhausted.

On five hours of sleep, I woke up feeling exhausted.

On six hours of sleep, you guessed it—exhausted.

Seven hours…. Eight hours… Nine hours… The hours of sleep I got didn’t change how I felt when the alarm clock went off in the morning. As long as I told myself before bed that I wasn’t getting enough sleep, and that I was going to feel tired in the morning, that’s exactly how I felt.

Then, I again experimented with each duration—from nine hours to four hours—this time reciting a bedtime affirmation and telling myself that I was going to wake up feeling
energized
in the morning:  “Thank you for giving me these
five
hours of sleep tonight.
Five
hours is exactly what I need to feel rested and energized in the morning. My body is capable of miraculous things, the least of which is generating an abundance of energy from five restful hours of sleep. I believe that I create my experience of reality, and I choose to create waking up tomorrow feeling energized and excited to take on my day, and I’m grateful for that.” 

What I found was that whether I got nine, eight, seven, six, five, or even just four hours of sleep, as long as I consciously decided, before bed, that I was getting the perfect amount of sleep—that the hours were going to energize my body to feel wonderful in the morning—I consistently woke feeling better than I ever had before. However, don’t take my word for it. I encourage you to experiment with this yourself.

So, how many hours of sleep do you
really
need?  You tell me.

The Secret To Making Every Morning Feel Like Christmas

Think back to a time in your life when you were genuinely excited to wake up in the morning. Maybe it was to catch an early flight for a vacation that you had been anticipating for months. Maybe it was your first day at a new job, or your first day of school. Maybe it was your wedding day, or your last birthday. Personally, I can’t think of any time in my life when I was more excited to wake up in the morning—regardless of how much sleep I got—than when I was a kid, every year on Christmas morning. Maybe you can relate? 

Whatever the occasions have been that have had you excited to wake up in the morning, how did you feel when those mornings arrived?  Did you have to drag yourself out of bed? Doubtful. On mornings like these, we can’t wait to wake up!  We do so feeling energized and genuinely excited. We quickly heave the covers off and spring to our feet, ready to take on the day!  Imagine if this is what
every day
of your life was like. Shouldn’t it be?  It can.

The Miracle Morning
is largely about recreating that experience of waking up feeling energized and excited, and doing it every-single-day of your life—for the rest of your life! It’s about getting out of bed with purpose—not because you
have
to, but because you genuinely want to—and dedicating time each day to developing yourself into the person you need to be to create the most extraordinary, fulfilling, and abundant life you can imagine.
The Miracle Morning
is already doing just that for thousands of people around the world. People just like you.

— 5 —

The 5-Step Snooze-Proof Wake Up Strategy (For the Snooze-aholics)

If you really think about it, hitting the snooze button in
the morning doesn’t even make sense. It’s like saying,
‘I hate getting up in the morning—so I do it over… and
over… and over again.’
—DEMETRIUS MARTIN

I’d like mornings better if they started later.
—UNKNOWN

F
irst, let me just say that if it wasn’t for this strategy that I’m about to share with you, I would still be sleeping—or snoozing—through my alarm clock every morning, and what’s even more detrimental, I would still adhere to my old limiting belief, claiming that I was
not
a
“morning person.”  

It’s been said that nobody actually
likes
waking up early, but everyone loves the feeling of having woken up early. Kind of like exercising—many of us struggle to get ourselves to the gym, but all of us love the feeling of having gone to the gym. Waking up early, especially when done with
purpose
, always starts you off feeling empowered for your day.

Increasing Your Wake-Up-Motivation-Level (WUML)

For most of us, when the alarm clock sounds each morning, we are woken from a dead sleep. Leaving the comfort of our beds is the least appealing thing to do. If you were to rate your level of motivation as it pertained to waking up—a.k.a. your
Wake Up Motivation Level
(WUML)—at the moment the alarm clock starts incessantly beeping, on a scale of 1-10 (“10” being ready to wake up and embrace the day, and “1” meaning you want nothing more than to go back to sleep), most of us would probably rate our WUML close to a one or a two. It’s perfectly natural, when you’re still half asleep, to want to hit the snooze button and keep on sleeping.

The challenge is, how do you give yourself the motivation you need to wake up early and create an extraordinary day, when your Wake Up Motivation Level is only at a one or two when your alarm clock sounds?

The answer is simple: 
one step at a time
. Here are my five simple, snooze-proof steps to making waking up in the morning—even
early
in the morning—easier than ever before.

Step #1:  Set Your Intentions Before Bed

The first key to waking up is to remember this: 
Your first thought in the morning is usually the last thought you had before you went to bed
. For example, we’ve all had nights where we could hardly fall asleep because we are so excited about waking up the next morning. Whether it was Christmas Eve, or you were going on vacation, or starting a new job—as soon as the alarm clock sounds, you open your eyes with enthusiasm to get out of bed and embrace the day.

On the other hand, if your last thought before bed was something like,
“Oh man, I can’t believe I have to get up in six hours—I’m going to be exhausted in the morning!”
then your first thought when the alarm clock goes off is likely to be something along the lines of,
“Oh my gosh, it’s already been six hours?? Nooo! I just want to keep sleeping!”

So, the key is to consciously decide every night to actively and mindfully create a positive expectation for the next morning. For help on this and to get the precise words to say before bed to create your powerful intentions, download
The Miracle Morning
“Bedtime Affirmation” free at
www.TMMBook.com
.

Step #2:  Move Your Alarm Clock Across The Room

If you haven’t already, move your alarm clock across the room. This forces you to get out of bed and engage your body in movement. Motion creates energy, so when you get up and out of bed it naturally helps you wake up.

If you keep your alarm clock next to your bed, then you are still in a partial sleep-state when the alarm goes off, and it makes it much more difficult to wake yourself up. I’m sure you can probably relate to rolling over—still half-asleep—and turning the alarm clock off without even realizing that it went off. I know that on many occasions I’ve even convinced myself that my alarm clock was merely part of the dream I was having.

Simply forcing yourself to get out of bed to turn off the alarm clock will instantly take your Wake Up Motivation Level from a WUML-1, to a WUML-2 or WUML-3. However, you’ll still likely be feeling more sleepy than not. So...

Step #3:  Brush Your Teeth

As soon as you’ve gotten out of bed and turned off your alarm clock, go directly to the bathroom sink to brush your teeth, and while you’re at it, splash some warm (or cold) water on your face. This simple activity will increase your Wake Up Motivation Level from a WUML-2 or 3 to a WUML-3 or 4. Now that your mouth is fresh, it’s time to…

Step #4:  Drink a Full Glass of Water

It’s crucial that you hydrate yourself first thing every morning. After 6-8 hours without water, you’ll naturally be mildly dehydrated, and dehydration causes fatigue. Often when people feel tired—at any time of the day—what they really need is more water, not more sleep.

Start by getting a glass of water (or you can do what I do, and fill it up the night before so it’s already there for you in the morning), and drink it as fast as is comfortable for you. The objective is to rehydrate your body and mind as fast as possible, to replace the water you were deprived of during the hours you slept.

When you drink a glass of water and hydrate yourself, your
Wake Up Motivation Level
goes from a WUML-3 to a WUML-4 or WUML-5.

Step #5:  Get Dressed or Jump In the Shower

The fourth step has two options: Option #1 is to get dressed in your exercise clothes, so you’re ready to leave your bedroom and immediately engage in your
Miracle Morning
.

Option #2 is to jump in the shower. Personally, I like to just change into my exercise clothes, since I’ll probably need a shower afterwards anyway, but a lot of people prefer the morning shower because it helps wake you up and gives you a “fresh” start to the day. It’s really whichever you prefer.

Regardless of which option you choose, by the time you’ve executed these five Simple Steps, you should be at a WUML-5 or WUML-6, and then it requires very little discipline to stay awake for your
Miracle Morning
. If you were to try and make that commitment at the time your alarm clock went off—while you were at a WUML1—it would be a much more difficult decision to make.

Here’s a quick review of the
5-Step Snooze-Proof Wake Up Strategy
to significantly increase your
Wake Up Motivation Level
(WUML): 

1.
 
Set Your Intentions the Night Before.
This is the
most important
step. Remember:  your first thought in the morning is usually the last thought you had before bed, so take responsibility for creating genuine excitement for the next morning, every night before bed.

2.
 
Keep Your Alarm Clock Across the Room.
Remember:  Movement creates energy!

3.
 
Brush Your Teeth.
Use an antiseptic mouthwash to add extra umph!

4.
 
Drink a Full Glass of Water.
Hydrate yourself, ASAP!

5.
 
Get Dressed.
Or jump in the shower.

Miracle Morning Bonus Wake Up Tips

Keep in mind that although this strategy has proven to be work for thousands of people, these 5-steps are not the
only
way to make waking up in the morning easier. Here are a few other tips I’ve heard from fellow
Miracle Morning
practitioners: 

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TMM Bedtime Affirmations: 
If you haven’t done this yet, be sure to take a moment now to go to
www.TMMbook.com
and download the re-energizing, intention-setting
Miracle Morning
Bedtime Affirmation
s, for free.