Quote from Lucio Buffalmano on September 6, 2020, 4:29 am

The Miracle Morning empowers readers to start the day in the best possible way: with an effective morning routine.

Bullet Summary

• Stop snoozing your alarm
• Go to bed with a positive mindset about the next morning
• Develop a morning routine of exercises, silence and positive affirmation

Full Summary

About The Author: Hal Elrod is an American writer, speaker and author, most famous for this best-selling book, "The Miracle Morning".

Introduction: Mornings Set The Tone

What you do early in your day sets the tone for the rest of it. It can make everything fall into a vicious circle or it can give you the momentum to succeed.
The Miracle Morning is about building a routine to give you the positive momentum to get the most out of the day.

The 5 Steps of Miraculous Mornings

Elrod proposes five steps to start an empowered day:

#1: Set Your Intentions Before Bed

This is the most important step. You are likely to wake up with the thoughts with which you went to bed. So go to bed with a positive frame of mind.

#2: Move Your Alarm Clock Across The Room

Having the alarm far away will not give you the time to even think "I'll hit snooze now".
You are forced to get out of bed quickly and start the day with positive physical movement.

My Note: I fully disagree with this one.

#3: Brush Your Teeth

Fresh sensation in your mouth.

#4: Drink a Full Glass of Water

After hours of sleep we often wake up dehydrated, which leads to fatigue. When we feel sleepy and tired during the day is often because of dehydration. Drink a glass first thing in the morning and you'll feel better.

#5: Get Dressed or Jump In the Shower

Exercise or jump in the shower. The shower will wake you up and give you a freshness feel.

You snooze, you lose

Life S.A.V.E.R.S.

Life SAVERS are six morning practices that will help you reach your full potential.

• Silence

Silence allows you to decrease stress and increase your self-awareness. You can meditate, pray or breath. And you can use silent time to set goals and priorities.

• Affirmations

Use positive affirmations to give you confidence. This is something Tony Robbins also recommends and Brian Tracey recommends repeating "I'm the best".
My Note: affirmations can be counterproductive sometimes, check out "self-help myths"

• Visualisation

Visualize the compelling, exciting future you want to create. And let that image drive you forward.
My Note: same as above, visualizations are pop-psychology advice which can be counterproductive.

• Exercise

Exercising will help you maintain your energy levels during the day. And of course, it will keep you healthier.

• Reading

Elrod recommends 10 pages a day as a minimum goal.

• Scribing

Write down your ideas for 5-10 minutes a day.

The 6 Minutes Morning

Ideally your morning routines should be around one hour, but the author also gives a shorter Miracle Morning routine.

Minute 1 – Total silence, breath and slow your mind.

Minute 2 – Daily affirmations

Minute 3 – Visualizing

Minute 4 – Write what you're grateful for and what you want to accomplish for the day

Minute 5 – Reading

Minute 6 – Exercise. Anything that will get your heart racing

Elrod recommends you do all of that before you eat, and recommends you eat plenty of fruits and vegetables (unless you want to lose weight: check the 4 hour body).

The 30 Days Habit

The author says that The Miracle Morning needs to become a habit so that you will implement it naturally (also read The Power of Habit).
Here's how the progress of making it an habit will look like:

Days 1-10: Unbearable

You might want to snooze your alarm, you will hate it it's far away and you won't want to exercise. Stick through it anyway.

Days 11-20: Uncomfortable

You're not yet used but it's not as hard anymore. You will require discipline but you're over the hump.

Days 21-30: Unstoppable

You start getting proud of what you've done and of your new routine. Now you really solidify your habit into your identity and they're here to stay.

Real Life Applications

Personally, I have my own morning routines I like. And they're not routines at all, I like freedom.

But there were a few gold nuggets I took away. Most of all, this was useful for me:

• Tell yourself you got enough sleep

I loved the idea that the amount of sleep we need to get is often a myth. The author says that the key differentiator instead is your mindset. Tell yourself you will get enough sleep before going to bed and wake up telling yourself you're energized.

CONS

• Infomercial

There's a lot of promotional messages spread across the book. It was a bit off putting.

• Longish

The content is good, but it could have possibly been delivered in a shorter space.

• Alarm-clock based

The Miracle Morning gives for granted you'll be using an alarm. I believe waking up with an alarm is the best way to start your morning wrong. If you can avoid an alarm, avoid it.

PROS

Actionable
The book is very action oriented and has lots of practical tips.

Review

I think "The Miracle Morning" is a good book, but it doesn't work for me.

Mornings are important and often set the tone for the rest of the day.
True.

And that's why I don't buy into the idea of putting the alarm far away: why would I want to start my morning with an object that tells me what to do? And why should I give that object power over me by removing it from my control?

In my system of values and philosophy, that's idiotic.

The book was a bit too "strict" for me, too.
I prefer freedom. And I believe morning rituals should be more personalized to what you need to do on that specifc day.

And I don't think you should follow some else's guidelines to decide how your morning should look like.

That being said, even if you're more similar to my personality type, you can still take some good ideas and nuggets of wisdom from "The Miracle Morning".

But if you approach the book with the idea of how you can implement your own morning routine, then The Miracle Morning can indeed change your life for the better.