The Miracle Morning (6 page)

The Morning That Transformed My Entire Life

Teeth brushed, face washed, and a glass of water in hand, I sat up straight on my living room couch at 5:05 a.m., feeling genuinely excited about my life for the first time in a long time. It was still dark outside, and something about that felt very empowering. I pulled out my list of life-changing personal development activities I had learned over the years but never implemented. One by one, I implemented each one.

Silence
Sitting in silence, praying, meditating, and focusing on my breath, for 10 minutes. I felt my stress melt away, felt  a sense of calm come over my body and ease my mind. This was different from the typical chaos of my hectic mornings. For the first time in a long time, I felt
peaceful
.

Reading
Having always made excuses why I couldn’t find time to read, I was excited to make time this morning and start what I had always hoped could become a lifelong habit. I grabbed Napoleon Hill’s classic,
Think and Grow Rich,
off the shelf. Like most of my books, it was one that I had started, but never finished. I read for ten minutes, and picked up a few ideas that I was excited to implement that day. I was reminded that it only takes
one
idea to change your life, and I felt
motivated
.

Affirmations
Having never before harnessed the power of affirmations, it felt amazing to finally read the
self-confidence
affirmation
from
Think and Grow Rich
aloud. The affirmation was a powerful reminder of the unlimited potential that was within me—and within each of us. I decided to write my own affirmation. I jotted down what I wanted, who I was committed to being, and what I was committed to doing to change my life. I felt
empowered
.

Visualization
I grabbed the Vision Board off my wall. I had created it after watching the movie
The Secret
. I rarely took time to look at, let alone use it as the visualization tool it was intended to be. For ten minutes, my focus shifted from image to image, pausing at each one to close my eyes and feel, with every fiber of my being, what it would be like to manifest each into my life. I felt
inspired
.

Journaling
Next, I opened one of the many blank journals I had purchased over the years. Like all of the others, I had failed to write in for more than a few days—a week at the most. On this day, I wrote what I was grateful for in my life. Almost immediately, I felt my depression lifting, like a heavy fog which had been weighing me down. It wasn’t gone, but it felt lighter. The simple act of writing down the things I was grateful for lifted my spirits. I felt
grateful
.

Exercise
Finally, I got up off the couch, remembering what I’d heard Tony Robbins say so many times: 
motion creates emotion
. I dropped down and did pushups until I couldn’t do one more. Then I flipped over onto my back and did as many sit ups as my out-of-shape abs would allow. With six minutes left on the clock, I inserted one of my fiancée’s Yoga videos into the DVD player, and enjoyed completing the first six minutes of it. I felt
energized
.

It was incredible!  I had already experienced what was one of the most peaceful, motivating, empowering, inspiring, grateful, and energizing days of my life—and it was only 6:00 a.m.!

Nothing Short of a Miracle

For the next few weeks, I continued to wake up at 5:00 a.m. and follow through with my 60-minute personal development routine. Then, so incredibly happy with the way I was feeling and the progress I was making as a result of my morning routine, I wanted
more
of it!  So, one night while getting ready for bed, I did what was unthinkable at the time; I set my alarm clock for 4:00 a.m. Falling asleep that night, I wondered if I was out of my mind.

Surprisingly, it was just as easy to wake up at 4:00 a.m. as it was 5:00 a.m., and waking up at either time was ten times easier than waking up on
any
day in my past, when I
resisted
waking up.

My stress levels dropped dramatically. I had more energy, clarity, and focus. I felt genuinely happy, motivated, and inspired. Thoughts of depression were a distant memory. You could say I was
back to my old self
again—although I was experiencing so much growth, so rapidly, that I was quickly surpassing any version of myself that I had ever been in the past. And with my newfound levels of energy, motivation, clarity, and focus I was able to easily set goals, create strategies and execute a plan to save my business and increase my income. Less than two months after my first
Miracle Morning
, my income was not only back to the level it had been at before the economy crashed, it was higher than ever before.

I knew this powerful morning personal development routine was something I would eventually start sharing with my private coaching clients, so I needed a name for it. Considering that the transformation I was experiencing was so profound and happening so fast—having gone from broke and depressed to financially secure and excited about life, in less than two months—that it felt like a miracle, the only appropriate name was
The Miracle Morning
.

Hey, If Katie Can Do It…

A few weeks later, I was on a coaching call with Katie when she asked, “Hal, how do you start your mornings?” Although I beamed as I told her about
The Miracle Morning
and the benefits of waking up an hour earlier than normal, she resisted. “I don’t know if I want to wake up any earlier, Hal. Trust me, I am
not
a morning person!”

However, Katie
is
always a good sport. She committed to waking up at 6 a.m.—one hour earlier than normal—and giving
The Miracle Morning
a try. I offered her some encouragement and wished her luck.

On her coaching call one week later, Katie was
on fire
!  When I asked if she actually woke up at 6 a.m. every day to do
The Miracle Morning
, I got an unexpected reply. “Nope. I woke up at 6 a.m. the first day, but you were right—I had such an awesome morning that I wanted to do it even earlier!  So I woke up at 5:00 a.m. the rest of the week!  Hal, it was amazing!” 

Wow. I had to tell my other coaching clients about this.

Within a few short weeks, dozens of my clients were sharing with me that they were experiencing the same types of life changing benefits during their own
Miracle Mornings
. Some of my clients told their friends and co-workers about how
The Miracle Morning
was changing their life. It spread through the online world like wildfire. People start posting about
The Miracle Morning
on Facebook, tweeting about it on Twitter, and even proudly posting videos of themselves on YouTube, up early and doing
The Miracle Morning
.

Crazy, right?

Who In the Hell Is Joe?

I started to realize there was something to this whole
Miracle Morning
thing. I was on YouTube
^TM
one day looking for one of my videos, and I put my name in the search. (Don’t judge—you know you’ve Googled yourself before.)

A video popped up that was titled “Miracle Morning at Joe’s.” It’s of some guy that I’ve never seen before in my life. My first reaction was not very positive:  “
Who in the hell is Joe and who does he think he is copying my Miracle Morning?”
  I got a little defensive—not one of my finer moments. I just didn’t know what to think. Boy, was I about to be pleasantly surprised.

I hit play on the video and this is what I saw: 
“Hello, it’s your friend, Joe Diosana. Let’s look at the time…”
(Joe shows his alarm clock, which reads 5:41 a.m.)
“It is 5:41 in the morning, on Sunday, and you must be wondering, ‘Dude, Joe, what in the world are you doing up at five-forty-one in the morning on a Sunday?’ Well, check out
miraclemorning.com
. That’s
miraclemorning.com
. Look at the information and download (the free audio). It feels like Christmas to me, honestly, and I’ve got a lot of energy. It’s like Christmas every day now. Check it out, and I hope your life will be blessed.”
(You can see Joe’s infamous 43-second video now at
TheMiracleMorning.com
—just click on “Success Stories.”)

As I sat staring at my computer screen, mouth open, I was in awe, almost in tears. This is the moment I realized that
The Miracle Morning
is truly life-changing and I had to share it with the world. It became clear to me that, while I never intended for it to be anything more than my little morning routine, I had a responsibility to share
The Miracle Morning
with as many people as possible, so it can transform their lives the way it did for me. Although, at this point, I still have no idea just how
big
it’s going to be.

A Movement?  Or is it an
Awakening
?

It’s been nearly five years since I told Katie about
The Miracle Morning
and since I watched Joe’s video on YouTube. I continue to receive hundreds of emails from people, all over the world, expressing their gratitude and enthusiasm for what
The Miracle Morning
has done for their lives.
The Miracle Morning
has become a worldwide movement—a global
awakening
—made up of individuals ranging from corporate executives to stay-at-home moms, all dedicated to waking up every day and giving themselves the gift of personal development. I now see the bigger picture, how
The Miracle Morning
can impact the world by enabling each of us become who we need to be to create the lives that we want; to positively influence the lives of others, and change the world around us.

I’m passionate about this mission: to empower people to transform their lives, their families, their communities, and the world by waking up every day and transforming themselves with
The Miracle Morning
. Every day, more and more people are joining the awakening. Whether it’s by simply sharing the
MiracleMorning.com
website with their friends and family so they can get two free chapters of
The Miracle Morning
book (plus the free video and audio programs) or by inviting them to join
The Miracle Morning
Community at
www.MyTMMCommunity.com
. I am still amazed at how many lives are being so deeply affected.

Many are even following Joe’s lead and recording videos of themselves up early, living
The Miracle Morning
(which usually includes a proud shot of their alarm clock—proving that they are up early). I was inspired by Joe’s video to start recording my own
Miracle Morning
video blogs, which, to my pleasant surprise, have become very popular and are being viewed by thousands of people on
The Miracle Morning
channel at
YouTube.com/TheMiracleMorning
.

I am honored and extremely grateful to have the opportunity to share
The Miracle Morning
with so many people, in so many different capacities. In fact,
The Miracle Morning
has even become one of my signature keynote messages and workshops, helping corporations, non-profits, salespeople, teachers, and high school and college students to increase their productivity, motivation, and performance. The workshop is a fresh approach that helps employees increase their productivity while improving their happiness and attitude in the workplace. As you might guess,
The Miracle Morning
  workshop is appropriately done in the morning, usually
before
the actual conference begins.

This book is an invitation and an opportunity to become the person you need to be to create everything you want for your life. It will give you purposeful time to work towards your most important goals. By starting now, and making consistent, daily progress towards the life you truly want and deserve, your success—and the life of your dreams—is inevitable.

— 3 —

The 95% Reality Check

One of the saddest things in life is to get to the end
and look back in regret, knowing that you could
have been, done, and had so much more.
—ROBIN SHARMA

The story of the human race is the story of men and
women selling themselves short.
—ABRAHAM MASLOW

E
very day you and I wake up, we face the same universal challenge: to overcome mediocrity and live to our full potential. It’s the greatest challenge in human history—to rise above our excuses, do what’s right, give our best and create the
Level 10
life we truly want—the one with no limits, the one so few people ever get to live.

Most people never even come close. Approximately 95% of our society settles for far less than they want in life, wishing they had more, living with regret and never understanding that they could be, do, and have all that they want.

According to the Social Security Administration, if you take any 100 people at the start of their working careers and follow them for the next 40 years until they reach retirement age, here’s what you’ll find:  only 1 will be wealthy; 4 will be financially secure; 5 will continue working, not because they want to but because they have to; 36 will be dead; and 54 will be broke and dependent on friends, family, relatives, and the government to take care of them.

Monetarily speaking, that’s only 5% of us who will be successful in creating a life of freedom, and 95% who will continue to struggle their entire lives.