Create Your Miracle Morning with Hal Elrod

Welcome to Let It Be Easy with Susie Moore.

Susie Moore:

I don't even know where to begin with Hal Elrod, my friend. You'll see in this interview that this is such a special soul. I heard about Hal through various friends before I actually kind of connected with him, and that was actually years ago in my tech career. I had people telling me about this book, The Miracle Morning, and I was like, oh, if I've heard about this from more than one person, I will receive this as a sign. And so I purchased a Miracle Morning. I read it. I loved it. Heath, my husband also read it and loved it. And then I had the opportunity recently to bring Hal on the podcast for you to discuss how you can create systems in your morning that can set you up for beautiful days and a beautiful life. Now, Hal's experience and story is so interesting. He survived multiple near-death experiences. He's been at the top, he's been at the bottom, and he is sincerely authentic and passionate about raising human consciousness, the consciousness of humanity one person at a time. And I think you'll love this conversation. It's absolutely one of my favorite interviews, and I'd love to hear from you. Please leave me a review, a comment, DM me, what's your favorite conversation, favorite takeaway from this conversation with me and Hal? Enjoy Hal El Rod. Oh my, oh my, my welcome,

Hal Elrod:

Susie. So what's amazing is Kathy Heller introduced us and her and I had the same love at first sight. We met and we just connected and we loved each other. And then you and I had the exact same instant connection. So yeah, what a, it's really, really cool.

Susie Moore:

This is already one of my favorite interviews, Hal, let me just, right, yeah.

Hal Elrod:

10 seconds in. I know. Me too. Just because we're both in the anticipation phase of like, we know it's going to be good.

Susie Moore:

Yes, exactly. And I've loved your work. I love your book. True. I mean, people say bestseller a lot, right? But this is a true bestselling book. I know that you are humble, but this is like you sold a, according to your website, I'm sure it's even more now, but two and a half million copies of the Miracle Morning author. Wow. I can tell you that I heard about your book from at least four or five people before I even bought it years ago, like Miracle Morning. And this is when I was actually in the tech world, my background in the tech sector in Silicon Valley. But I heard about your book, heard about it, heard about it, bought it, read it. My husband too. We love it. And my gosh, when I saw you on Kathy, my friend's podcast, I was like, oh, he's going to come on mine. And here you are. And then Hal, you've got a very interesting story. I was spending some time looking at your history because I know that people like you, people who are so optimistic, resilient, they're made. Would you agree with that? And I think we're born this way.

Hal Elrod:

Yeah, I think so. There's the whole nature versus nurture. And I wonder, I mean, I've seen that there is some science that shows certain people can be born with a certain temperament. And I think that epigenetics might be that science that explains it and how literally you can adopt personality traits of your parents that are like, so you can be born if your parents are super negative and always literally that can seep in. I think that, but I also believe that we can change. For me, I was always a pretty upbeat, optimistic, positive guy. But my ability to deal with adversity and the challenges that I've faced, I think those were really learned. And so now my life is really about paying it forward and sharing with other people what I learned along the way that really helped me.

Susie Moore:

Yes, what we say hell in my community is one thing that we believe is that the greater our challenges, the greater our struggles, the greater our destiny. It's almost as if that's why we're

Hal Elrod:

Being, I like that.

Susie Moore:

Yeah. It's why we're being shaped. I mean, what I love that you share so openly is you grew up feeling kind of average, wasn't you weren't an athlete, you weren't topping class at school, you were figuring life out. Then you found a path with DJing and so forth. And then you had this unthinkable car accident where you are pronounced dead, unbelievable. I mean, how few people go through this type of experience. And then with the economic downturn, 2008, you lost a lot of things. You lost your house, financial hardship. I mean, it's just like being hit, being hit. And then in your thirties as a father of two married, you are also contracted this rare form of cancer where the 20 to 30% success rate, that was your likelihood for survival. And here you are, how, and here you are, here you are. I mean, a lot of people would go, life sucks. It's just like when, I don't know if the sun's ever going to come out. You said that you created the Miracle Morning during that phase of depression, when things weren't going well for you financially, career wise, the world was in trouble. Could you tell us how you kind of got to create the practice that's become such a phenomenon?

Hal Elrod:

Yeah, and it is interesting. It was my little morning routine. It wasn't an idea for a book. A lot of books that are out there are book ideas like, Ooh, I'm an author. I'm going to write a book on this thing. Miracle Morning was really organic. It was in 2008 when the economy crashed. I had been on an upward trajectory, so I had finished a career in sales. I hit Hall of Fame within the company that I was working for six years then. But I felt like I'm not meant to sell other people's products. I'm meant to help. And I had already been through my car accident when I was 20 years old, and that was when the seed was planted. Maybe I'm meant to get through this and then help others get through their challenges. And so when I was 20, I spoke at my first high school, and then I started speaking at more high schools and then colleges and then so on and so forth.

So I had this dream of I want to be a motivational, a keynote speaker. I want to be an author. I want to share my story and help others with it. And so in 2008 when the economy crashed, I had launched a coaching business. It was successful. And then almost overnight, like millions of other people, I lost over half of my income. I could not pay my mortgage. My house was foreclosed on by the bank, which was very depressing. It was also a major identity crisis. I was a quote success coach, and I was failing miserably. So now I am like, who in the hell am I to try to recruit new clients and go, I can help be successful when I, I can't pay my bills? I moved back in with my dad, and a series of events led me to hear a single quote from Jim Rohn that was the catalyst to change my entire life faster than I ever thought possible.

And the quote from Jim Rohn was this, your level of success will sell to exceed your level of personal development. I had probably heard it before, but Susie, in that moment, I quantified it and I went, and I would encourage, if you're listening right now to this, I want you to ask yourself this on a scale of one to 10, 10 being as successful and fulfilled as you can be in your life, what level of success do you want in your life? And I say most people, it's a 10, right? I've never met anyone that's like, I don't want to be too happy, or I don't want too much money. No. It's like, no, there's this innate drive and desire inside of us to be as happy and healthy and wealthy and successful as we possibly can be. So my question was, okay, I want level 10 success.

And the next part of Jim Rohn's quote was, your level of success will not exceed your level of personal development. So then I asked, okay, what's my level of personal development? So again, if you're listening right now, I encourage you to ask this and let me define it for you. Personal development is who you are becoming as a person. It's the mindset that you're developing, the beliefs that you're developing, the skills that you're developing, the habits that you're developing. And at that time in my life, when the economy had crashed, I had canceled my gym membership. I wasn't exercising, I wasn't reading. I was in desperation mode where I woke up, I stared at my computer all day, maybe called some people to try to recruit 'em to coaching, got rejected over and over and over, and went to bed feeling depressed and woke up and did it again and did it again and did it again.

And I was like, I'm probably not going to take my own life, but I'm thinking about I can't do this. And so my level of personal development was at a two, maybe a three or a four on a good day. I wasn't growing, I wasn't learning, I wasn't evolving, I wasn't getting better, and therefore my life wasn't getting better. And so I believe that's the disconnect for like 99% of our society. Think about that. Everybody wants level 10 success, but how many people have a daily personal development ritual that is ensuring that they're becoming a level 10 person, the level 10 version of themselves to achieve and sustain that level 10 success? And so I went home and I went, okay, I'm going to go online and find out what the world's most successful people do in all walks of life for their personal development.

How do they evolve and grow and what are their daily rituals and routines and habits? And so I was looking for like, what's the number one thing that I should do? And I ended up with a list of six practices. It was meditation, affirmations, visualization, exercise, reading and journaling. Two problems with that that you might be facing right now. Number one, none of these are new. And in our society, we've been conditioned to look for new, and our brain ignores what we already know. Nah, I already know that. Dismiss it, dismiss it, dismiss it. So I'm like, none of these are new. And the second problem was not only which one's the best, but when am I going to find time to fit this in? And the epiphany was this. I went, wait a minute. Number one, I'm not doing any of these consistently. And these are the practices that the world's most successful people have sworn by for centuries.

Maybe I should try them instead of dismissing them because I've heard of them. Just common sense. But then number two, the light bulb was when I was trying to figure out which is the best I went. None of them are head and shoulders better. It just depends on who you ask. Certain successful people swear by their affirmations or their meditation or their visualization. The epiphany was, what if I did all of them? What if I woke up an hour earlier tomorrow and I dedicated 60 minutes to the six most timeless, proven personal development practices in the history of humanity? That would be the ultimate personal development ritual. And according to Jim Rohn, theoretically, if I do that consistently over an extended period of time, it would enable my level of personal development to go from a two to a 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. And according to Jim Rohn, my level of success will parallel my level of personal development.

That was the theory. And I woke up the next morning, and here's the exciting part, Susie, from the very first piece of it, a lot of people listening are probably like, I'm not a morning person. And it's always roughly 30 to 50% say, I know morning routines are good, and starting your day in a peak state is helpful, but it's not for me. I'm not a morning person. And I just want to handle that upfront before somebody tunes out. Because somebody asked me in an interview once, they said, hell, what percentage of, there's millions of miracle Morning practitioners in over a hundred countries. And they said, what percentage of those Miracle morning practitioners were already mourning people when they read your book? So this was easy. This wasn't like they had to wake up earlier just instead of checking email, they did their meditation, their affirmations, they did the practices.

And he said, but what percentage of people had never been a mourning person? So it was like, for them, they didn't think they could do it, and maybe their friend convinced them, just read the book, whatever it was. And I did not know the answer. I thought, that's a question I have to know or an answer I have to know. And so I emailed our community, which at the time was probably a few hundred thousand people. It wasn't as big. And I was pleasantly surprised that 72% of Miracle Morning practitioners said they never thought they could be a morning person. They never believed it was possible for them before they read the book. And so I woke up the next morning like a kid on Christmas, and this is a common experience. You're not a morning person, but did you celebrate Christmas as a kid, Susie?

Oh, yes. Okay, so if somebody didn't celebrate Christmas, they can attribute this question to their first day of school when they were a kid or a holiday or whatever. They were excited to wake up. Okay, but let me ask you a question. Even if you weren't a quote morning person, was it hard to get yourself out of bed on Christmas morning? Never. No. And it didn't matter if you tossed and turned all night and had terrible REM sleeve. You woke up with energy, and I realized we can recreate the experience of waking up on Christmas morning by dissecting reverse engineering. What is it about Christmas morning that gets us excited? And we're excited to wake up. We have a specific purpose in mind that's beneficial to us. So the night, my first Miracle Morning, and it wasn't called the Miracle Morning, it was just personal development at 5:00 AM.

But that night, I went to bed like a kid on Christmas Eve. I went, this is exciting. What if this is the thing that changes my life? What if this turns it around? What if I can get out of debt? And what if this is it? And that next morning I went through all six practices, and I was really poor at them. I didn't know how to meditate. Affirmations, the way I learned them online were super inauthentic and goofy. I was lying to myself. But even doing a poor practice at the end of that hour, I felt so much clarity, so inspired, so energized, so motivated. And I was like, this is it. This is it. I'm doing this every day. If I start every day like this, it's only a matter of time before I become the person that I need to be to turn my life around. And the last thing I'll say on this, Susie, I know

Susie Moore:

I love it. No, I love it. I have so many questions. I'm like, what?

Hal Elrod:

So here's the last piece I gave myself a year. I was thinking about the compound effect, like 1% better every day. I thought one year from now, if I commit to this and I stay with it, I can be a totally different person living a totally different life. And it happened in less than two months. That's why it's called the Miracle Morning. I went to my wife and I literally can picture where we saw each other in the hallway. She was coming out of the bedroom. I was going to find her. And I said, sweetheart, I just signed two more coaching clients. Now, mind you, Susie, this was in the peak of the Great Depression or great recession. This was when the economy was at the worst. But I threw my Miracle Morning practice by developing the mindset, the beliefs. I bought a book on how to get coaching clients.

I mean, I just filtered my goal of increasing income through all six of the Miracle Morning practices. And I went to my wife and said, sweetheart, I signed two more coaching clients today that officially makes 14 clients. We have doubled our, I had six clients when I started a Miracle Morning. I went from 12 to six, and then from six to 14, I said, we've officially more than doubled our income in the last two months because of this morning ritual. It is a miracle. And she looks at me and she goes, it's your Miracle Morning. And I go, she's my muse, by the way. And I go, I like it. Miracle Morning. So I started writing in my schedule every day, but again, not a book idea. But then I taught it to my coaching clients over the next two weeks. And almost all of them resisted going, oh gosh, I'm not a morning person.

Can I do it later in the day? And I go, you can, but you're going to miss out on the benefits all day long that you get from doing it in the morning. So they all gave it a shot. And 13 out of 14 clients came to our next call. One of them just gave up after three days, but the other 13 were like, hell, I'm having the best week in my sales career. I'm reading again, I'm running again. And that's when the light bulb went off. And I went, if the Miracle Morning worked for me and I wasn't a morning person, and it's working for 13 out of 14 of my clients, and most of them were not morning people, this could work for anybody. And I have a responsibility to share it. And then three years later, self-publish the book and the rest is history. So back to you.

Susie Moore:

Oh my God, how this is divine. I mean, I know we already say miraculous. It just feels like you were meant to teach this. You were meant to have your experiences that led to this. One thing that I love, so many questions came up as you were speaking. One thing that you said, which I think is really important not to skip over, is the fact that there's nothing new because it's human. We're wire for novelty. Hey, this amazing hack with lemons will change your life. It'll make you a million. Totally. It like, oh, I haven't tried that hack with lemons. And you are like, so silence, affirmations, visualizing, exercising, reading, journaling. Yeah, it's interesting that maybe as old as time in some cases, but we're not doing them. And you're like, as a coach, you're like, I wasn't doing, you weren't doing them. Isn't it interesting that out of these practices, the combination, you brought them all together, do you think that the power is in all six? Or do you think that there is room for a four? Because I love them all, but for me, I don't want to exercise. First thing, Hal, it's, it's a hair wash thing. It's like a whole thing.

Hal Elrod:

Yeah. Alright, I love it. So I have two answers to this question, and then make sure, if I forget the exercise piece, remind me of that. I, because that's a third answer, but there's two answers to the question. So I want to address, there's nothing new like I said, and like you said, right? And we're wired for novelty. And then number two, do you have to do all six? So Robert Kiyosaki, are you familiar with Robert? Yes. Kiosaki, right? So he wrote the book, rich Dad, poor Dad, and I got to speak at an event. I got to be his opener. He was the headliner. I was the opener. I don't even know, seven years ago or six years ago. And I got to have dinner with him and the founders of the event afterwards, a little perk. And I had a copy of my little self-published Miracle Morning book under the table on my lap that I had written a note to him. I'm trying to get the courage and find the moment to give it to him, but in my head, I am thinking like, dude, you're going to look like a goober. You're going to look desperate. Robert Kiyosaki's worth $80 million. He doesn't need your little book on morning routines. So I almost didn't give it to him. But then thankfully Wayne Gretzky showed up, not literally, but metaphorically. There's a quote from Wayne Gretzky very famously. He said,

Susie Moore:

Yes, I love you,

Hal Elrod:

Miss all the shots you don't take. You miss all the shots you don't take. And I heard that in my head and I went, I got nothing to lose. I'm going to give it to him. And if he throws it in the trash, whatever, I have nothing to lose. Get over yourself, Al. So I wait until the end of the dinner, I give him the book, and he was polite and Thanks al, blah, blah. I figured he'll probably never read this, whatever, but at least I gave it to him. Whatever. Three weeks later, I get an email from his assistant, her name's Chris. Anyway, I won't want to say her name, but she says, Robert has read The Miracle Morning three times in the last three weeks, and my jaw hits the desk, right? I'm like, what? He read my book three times. He's doing The Miracle Morning with his wife, Kim, almost every single day.

It's changing his life and he wants to have you on Rich Dad Radio. And I was like, oh my gosh, this is unbelievable. And so I do Rich Dad Radio, and if anybody knows who Robert is, he tells you what he feels. And he felt so strongly about the Miracle Mourning. He kept interrupting me and going, Hal, hold on. Everyone listening, pause this and go buy the book. It just kept saying, because he is like, he goes, this is changing my life and it will change your life. You have to read this, you have to do this. Here's what he said. That is the answer to your question. He said, how before the Miracle Morning, every successful person on the planet swears by at least one of the savers and attributes their success to it. He said, you would be hard pressed to meet any successful person that doesn't attribute some part of their success to their affirmations or the books that they've read, or their exercise and routine or their meditation.

He said, but I've never met anyone that did all six practices. And he said, I thank you, named the book correctly, because any one of these six practices will change your life when you do all six, you experience miracles. He said, I'm happier than I've ever been. I'm losing weight. I'm on and on and on. And so it is the miracle Morning, those six. And I do want to let after this make sure we go through the six practices, because really a way to organize them in people's mind. And the other question people say is, can I do them later in the day? And the answer is, absolutely. But you experience benefits from these six practices such as mental clarity, motivation, energy, all of these things that if you don't do it in the morning, you're missing out on those benefits that will impact how you show up for your day. So will these six practices benefit you in the afternoon? Absolutely. But you've missed out on the productivity that you might've had throughout the morning. I forgot if there was another part of your question that I didn't answer, but I'll turn it back over you.

Susie Moore:

I think it was was about exercise

Hal Elrod:

Specifically. Yeah. Alright. This is a perfect opportunity. Oh, I remember the other answer to your question. Hold on. Sorry. I'm a little ADD.

Susie Moore:

I Love it.

Hal Elrod:

So the other reason that I believe the miracle mourning has been so effective for people is that yes, the practices are not new. They're age old wisdom. The way that I teach them is arguably new or very different. And here's what I mean. A lot of these practices, you might fall under the category, woo, right? Like visualization. Isn't that kind of like law of attraction like woo woo? Well, the world's most successful athletes swear by visualization, and they do it in a very practical results oriented way to rehearse performing at their best before they get onto the court. There's nothing woowoo about it. They're programming their subconscious mind and their body to perform at a peak level so that when they step on the court, so in the Miracle Morning, I teach, how do you apply that? How you show up for your family, how you show up at work, how you show up for others.

So it's about every single, I'm a really practical result oriented person. So all of the savers are filtered, taken from, okay, there's a woo woo way to do this. That's not for us. How do you apply this in a way where it's practical, it's actionable, and it will actually produce results? I'll give you a quick example. Affirmations are the most, I believe, misunderstood personal development practice because we've been taught one of two faulty approaches. Number one, just lie to yourself and convince yourself that it's true. So for example, if you're struggling financially, there are these affirmations such as, I am wealthy, I am a millionaire. And it's like you're diluting yourself, and the truth will always prevail. So while there may be some merit to saying, I am wealthy, I am wealthy, I am wealthy, and starting to embody that, if you're not wealthy, you're creating an internal conflict that says, every time you say I am wealthy, it's like, no, you're not. It's like, shut up. I'm doing affirmation, right? I'm trying here. I'm trying. And we don't need any more internal conflicts. The second problem with affirmations is we're taught to use this flowery passive language that produces a magical result that makes us feel good in the moment, but it's independent of any effort. Give you an example. I am a money magnet. Money flows to me effortlessly,

Susie Moore:

Abundance. I love the affirmation voice.

Hal Elrod:

That's usually how the voice that. But here's the thing, why do people like that affirmation? It's very popular. Why do they like it? Because it gives them temporary relief from their money woes. If you look at your bank balance on your phone and you're like, oh, shit, I'm negative. Pardon my French. And then you go, okay, I need my affirmations. Okay, I am a money magnet. Oh god, that feels better. Money's flowing to me effortlessly in abundance. Everything's magically going to change in my life. Oh God, that feels really good. I completely gave myself a delusional reality that everything's going to fix itself and I don't have to do anything. So let me give you three steps onto how to create affirmations that are practical, actionable, and produce measurable results. Step one, affirm what you're committed to. Now in template form that would look like I am committed to blank.

No matter what, there is no other option. I am committed to blank. No matter what, there is no other option in life. We get not what we want because we want it. We get what we want only if we are fully committed to it. So when you're affirming every day that you are committed to generating that result, achieving that goal, establishing and maintaining that habit, number one, you're keeping it top of mind. Number two, you are literally recommitting every single day, and it gets easier and easier and easier to maintain that commitment. When I had cancer, here's what that looked like. I am committed to beating cancer and living to be 100 plus years old alongside Ursula and the kids, no matter what, there is no other option. And Susie, when I got cancer and I was given a 20 to 30% chance of surviving, I was scared.

I couldn't help but think, what if I die and I leave my 7-year-old daughter without a dad and my 4-year-old son without a dad? That's like the worst thing I could imagine happening for them. I mean for me, whatever, but for them, they're not going to have a dad. So that was hard. But here's what happened. That fear didn't serve me to dwell on it. Like, yes, I should be aware of it so that I took the right actions to heal myself. But living in fear and letting that affect my cellular health was not what I needed to do. So I used that affirmation and I recited it every day, multiple times in the morning and throughout the day, whenever I felt fear, I said, I am committed to beating cancer and living to be 100 plus years old alongside Ursula and the kids, no matter what. There is no other option. I said, it was such conviction that it became my reality, and there was no room for fear. Fear was replaced in faith in my commitment. And so that is step one, whatever you want to accomplish in your life, and I have affirmations that follow this formula for all of my goals financially, what am I committed to? No matter what, there is no other option in terms of my relationships. What am I committed to? No matter what, there is no other option. Step two,

Susie Moore:

I'm already thinking, Hal, what mine will be. I love it. I am committed to blank.

Hal Elrod:

Do you have one? Can you share? Is there one coming up for you?

Susie Moore:

I mean, I'm not put you on the spot precise. I'm like, I want to be precise with this. I'm expanding in new ways. And I think, oh, it could be here. It could be there, but maybe I just haven't fully committed to the specific

Hal Elrod:

Area one goal. So let's make it simple. So Susie, what's one goal in your life this year that you're already working towards? So pick something that you're already working towards.

Susie Moore:

I would love, I have an incredible life coaching membership. I would love it to be as big as possible. I don't even have a number in mind, but I just want it to grow and expand and continue to serve. And it is.

Hal Elrod:

So pick a number of members. Just pick a random number that stretches you beyond what you believe is probable. So beyond it's possible, but you're not sure if it's probable.

Susie Moore:

Do you mean within a timeframe, a certain timeframe, or

Hal Elrod:

It doesn't matter? Yeah, by the end of this year, is it a thousand members, a hundred members? Is it

Susie Moore:

Say three and a half thousand members?

Hal Elrod:

Okay, I am committed to.

Susie Moore:

I'm Committed.

Hal Elrod:

I don't know what word you'd use, attracting or signing up or whatever.

Susie Moore:

I'm committed to welcoming, say to

Hal Elrod:

Welcoming 3,500 members to my coaching program by December 31st, 2023. No matter what, there is no other option,

Susie Moore:

No matter what. There is no other. Oh, I like how that feels. How about, and

Hal Elrod:

When you read every day with conviction, it becomes your reality. And here's what it does. It becomes your north star that all of your thoughts, words, and actions start lining up with what it is that you're affirming, that you're committed to.

Susie Moore:

Do you have these for multiple products and projects that you have? Or do you just have one?

Hal Elrod:

Every project, every goal. There's these three steps. So I'll look to the other steps. Step two, affirm why it's a must for you. So step one is affirm what you're committed to. Step two is affirm why it's a must for you. This Simon Sinek made it the finding your why famous, right? It's like the why is the fuel that drives us to do whatever's necessary to make that commitment a reality. My why is usually not just one one's enough. If it's a must for you, that's the why. But when I had cancer had, I think it was five bullet points. So I'm committed to beating cancer for Ursula because I promised her forever. And today I'm committed to beating cancer for Sophia and Halston because they need their daddy's love, leadership and guidance, and I want to play with their grandkids. One day I'm committed to beating cancer for my mom and dad because they already lost one child and they don't deserve to lose another.

I'm committed to beating cancer for myself because I deserve to live a long, happy, healthy life. And last but not least, I'm committed to beating 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 I have the ability to help them on their journey. Those five whys were so meaningful to me that Susie, it's like, yes, yes. There's no option other than me figuring out how to beat this cancer. And then step three was, is which specific actions will you take and win? Which specific actions will you take and win? So once you've affirmed what you're committed to, you've affirmed why it is a must for you. There is no other option. So what are you going to do about it? What are you going to do to ensure that it happens?

And for me, it was, I will combine the best of western medicine and follow through with my chemotherapy treatments. That was hard for me. I didn't want to do chemo. I wanted to cure this naturally, but my cancer was so rare that the best holistic doctors in the country, I called them and they said, we can't help you. Your best bet is chemo. So I didn't leave it at that. I said, I'm going to combine the best of Western medicine, and I'm going to relentlessly research and pursue the best holistic practices available and combine the two to heal myself. And I take 100% responsibility for my healing. I'm not delegating it to the doctors. I'm not counting on the chemo. I'm taking my health and my healing and my life into my own hands. That's the power of using affirmations in this way is you are literally, if you follow this formula, the only way you can fail is to not live in integrity with your affirmations. But that's an example, Susie, of how all of the savers, so the miracle morning is silence. The six practices, it's an acronym that is savers it, silence, affirmations, visualization, exercise, reading, and scribing. Scribing was initially journaling, but the J did not fit at the end of the acronym. It made it very awkward. So thank you. The sous, it became scribing. But those are the six practices, and that's an example of how I've tried to make them really practical and not woo woo and out there and airy fairy.

Susie Moore:

I mean, I'm obsessed with this way of crafting affirmation. So your commitment, which is in your control, right? Because it's not like I'm a money magnet, which is, I mean, very abstract. So I'm committed to your why is clear. I loved your five whys. I got emotional hearing. Then when it came to your healing, and then the action piece, which is something that again, is easy to skip over. It's like, well, I'm visualizing and I'm affirming. I'm visualizing my red Ferrari, right? Where I'm visualizing, I'm affirming I'm a money magnet, and then there's no action. Or the missing piece is, well, I don't know. Aren't I doing all the work just by it being in the state of reception, the state of, so, okay, a couple of things. You said, this is reassuring, Hal, I know someone's thinking this. I'm going to do it badly. I'm probably going to mess up my affirmations. Whenever I meditate, I just start thinking about, I don't know my ex-husband or something like that. If I even want to attempt this, is it okay to get better? Because how did it in two months and his life, his life was incredible, but I don't know. I don't like silence and I never exercise and reading. I don't really do that, and I don't know. But it's okay to be bad at the beginning.

Hal Elrod:

Totally. Let's answer that. But first to your specific question about exercise.

Susie Moore:

Oh, yes, yes.

Hal Elrod:

This will answer a lot of other questions because they're wrapped into this. The Miracle Morning, the savers, doing those six practices in the morning, you can do them in any order. So some people like to start with silence. I actually like silence to start because I like to just kind of wake up and my mind is still, it's in between that waking and dreaming state. And a lot of ideas are coming to me. And so I'll pray, I'll meditate. I'll kind of combine it all in the morning. First thing I've heard quite a few people say, I fall back asleep if I meditate first thing in the morning. So they say, I like to exercise first to wake myself up. Here's the point, Susie. So you mentioned washing the hair and all that. That's not the level of exercise that I prescribe in the Miracle Morning.

It's literally anywhere from 60 seconds of jumping jacks, which by the way, if you haven't done 60 seconds of jumping jacks in a while, that will get your heart rate up. That will increase the blood and oxygen flow to your brain, which helps you with not only be more awake, more alert, more focused, but it improves your mental clarity and it improves your energy. So literally 60 seconds of exercise will improve your energy and your mental clarity, and actually your emotional state. You'll feel better. You can also do five minutes of stretch. So this is literally, I do a full blown workout after my kids go to school. My Miracle Morning exercise is just a few minutes to get myself awake and get that blood and oxygen flowing. And then what was your other, I'll turn it back over to you to articulate your question about if not being perfect,

Susie Moore:

I feel like I know that there'll be listeners going, oh, I've never really meditated effectively. It's never worked for me or added these six things. I tried journaling three years ago and I lost that journal. So I think people would be worried about being bad at it and failing at it.

Hal Elrod:

So my first miracle mourning, which again, it wasn't called the Miracle Morning, it was personal development at 5:00 AM because Jim Rowan said, my level of success wouldn't exceed my level of personal development. So the night before, I had never meditated. So the night before, and I had never done affirmations, I had never done visualization. Of course, I had exercise, of course, I had read and I journaling, same thing. I probably had seven journals on my shelf that all had one to three pages filled out. I was never consistent with it. And so the night before, I opened six tabs on my internet browser, how to meditate, how to do affirmations, how to visualize. I literally added these tabs open, just how do I do these things? And I read 'em the night before, and then I like, okay, and then I reread 'em in the morning.

So meditation, I'm like, how do I meditate? Okay, so clear your mind and just focus on your breath. And so I'm closing my eyes and I'm like, my mind's still racing. I suck at this. And then affirmations, again, the ones I found, this was before I had this formula, I just found these ones online that are like, I'm a money magnet and blah, blah, blah. And I'm like, this is kind of cheesy. I kind of feel better reading 'em, but I don't know in visualization, I'm trying to rehearse my day. Then I exercise. That was easy. I go through, here's the point. I did them poorly. I was very subpar. On a scale of one to 10 in terms of how good I was at these things, I was probably like a three. But even being a three versus not doing them at all, at the end of that hour, I felt incredible. And anyone that has any kind of self-doubt around this, I really point to the millions of people that are doing the Miracle Morning. And a great place to start is if you go to miracle morning.com, that's like the hub. You can watch The Miracle Morning movie is there. Have you seen the movie, by the way, Susie?

Susie Moore:

I've seen the trailer. I actually said to my husband, we're going to watch it this weekend together.

Hal Elrod:

Awesome. Yeah, let me know what you think. I'm excited. It turned out really good, and it was halfway through my cancer journey. I got cancer halfway through filming it. And so the movie takes a dramatic turn. I am fighting for my life for the last 30 minutes of the movie. It's kind of crazy. But anyway, so Miracle morning.com, the movie's there, there's a free app that is like a companion there. But the reason I was pointing people there is if you scroll down, you can click on Join the Miracle Morning Community. It is a Facebook group with 340,000 members from over a hundred countries. And the only way they join, I don't advertise it. They read the book, and in the beginning of the book it says, join the Miracle Morning community so you can connect with people that are doing it. And so I always encourage people, in fact, it's in the beginning of the book.

I go, before you even read the book, take five minutes and go read 10 posts in the community, and you're going to see normal people just like you. Some of who are just starting their Miracle Morning journey. They're on day one or day five or day 12, but some people are on day 789. I mean, literally, there's a guy that's on day 2,500 that posts all the time. And so you're going to see ordinary people just like you that were just as nervous that this would work for them. 72% of them thought they couldn't be morning people. You know what I mean? So it really is one of those, if it works for me and it works for them, you can totally do this and just take baby steps and just lean into it.

Susie Moore:

Oh my gosh. Do you ever miss a day, Hal? Are you

Hal Elrod:

I average seven. Well, so I strive. I do it every day unless I have to stay up late for some reason. So like a date night or I go to a concert or whatever, I value my sleep, and I used to not, before I had cancer, I would do it every day, and I would do it at the same time. No matter what time I went to sleep, I'd force myself up. It was that whole like, oh, I could do it mind over matter. That might be why I got cancer. I don't know. But no. But literally when I looked at all the what have I done in my life? What have I put into my body? What have I done to my body? What have I done that could have contributed to cancer? One of them was I wasn't valuing sleep enough. So now I get seven hours no matter what.

If I don't go to bed till one in the morning, I'm not allowed to get up till eight and start with Miracle Morning then. And I will answer this too. A lot of people in the community that are new will comment in that Miracle Morning Facebook group, and they'll say, Hey, I'm curious. I'm new to the Miracle Morning. How many days a week do you do it? Is it just Monday through Friday? Do you do it on the weekends? The most popular answer, and we will get dozens if not hundreds of answers. And it's my answer too, I started at five days a week because we're just conditioned to take the weekends off. But here's what happens. You wake up, and it doesn't have to be an hour. You can do 30 minutes earlier. I mean, there's even a six minute Miracle Morning. There's a chapter called the Six Minute Miracle Morning where you just do one focused minute of silence, one focused minute of affirmations, and in six minutes you're feeling calm and peaceful and focused, et cetera.

So the Miracle Morning's very customizable. But the point is, when you wake up and do your Miracle Morning, you're putting yourself in a peak physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual state. You feel phenomenal. And then you go into your day feeling like on fire. And so what people will say in the comments is, I started at five days a week, but then when I would sleep in on the weekend, I'd wake up and I'd be missing the benefits that I got Monday through Friday. They go, so then I decided to try it on Monday through Saturday, and then on Saturday I'd feel amazing, and then I'd go out and have a great day with my family or whatever. But they said, and then I was like, why don't I do it seven days a week? So most people start with five days a week, and then they go to six, and then they end up at seven. I personally think six days a week is probably ideal, and taking a day off to just kind of rest, it's like having that one day where you just rest. But for me, I probably average 6.2 days a week or something. It's almost every day.

Susie Moore:

And if you've got something on that evening, you'll sleep in. Or if you went to bed late the night before, you'll

Hal Elrod:

If I went to bed the night before, oh, no, that's a good question. Sometimes. No, it's funny. I joke that if I do have something coming up where I'm going to be up late, I have to train for it. I will adjust my bedtime leading up to it pretty extreme. I go to bed at nine 30, wake up at four 30, and then when I'm writing a book, I go to bed at eight 30 and wake up at three 30.

Susie Moore:

So your wife is like, you go to bed with the kids, right? Eight 30?

Hal Elrod:

Yeah, basically. I love it. Yeah. So if I know I need to stay up until midnight, we got a concert coming up or something, I'll stay up until 10:00 PM and then 10 30 and then 11 the three days before, and I'll adjust so I can more easily stay up. Otherwise, I'm crashing at nine 30 when the concert's happening.

Susie Moore:

I love how you're so consistent, but there isn't a rigidity. There's also flexibility here. It's not like do or die. It's like, dude, this is for you. And one other thing that I think is probably coming up at least in the minds of somebody, because if you've ever felt depressed or if you've just felt disconnected, you haven't even got the, or don't feel like you've got the resources to even begin something, right? It's like sometimes I joke if I'm in a low mood, even for two or three days, I'm like, I can't even be bothered to open one of my self-help books. Totally. And I live them, but I'm like, I'm too, I can't even walk to the bookshelf and open it. I can't even put on a YouTube something. It's not. So if someone feels, oh, just, yeah, and the six minute version, and yeah, I get the sounds good, but I don't know if I can begin. You started this in a low place in your life. Totally. You weren't bounding with energy coming off. A big win was no, from that place.

Hal Elrod:

Yeah. I think it's Tony Robbins that says, we either change from a place of inspiration or desperation, and I was for sure the latter. But here's what I would encourage someone to do. If they're in that state and they're listening and they're feeling hopeless, the thing is, I was feeling hopeless because it was a six month downward financial spiral. Not to mention my body fat percentage had tripled in those six months. I wasn't exercising, and I was really depressed for the first time in my life because I think that one of the major causes of hopelessness, and I'm not a psychiatrist or psychologist or anything, but it's hopelessness. One of the major causes of depression is hopelessness. When you lose hope, that's as depressing as it is. And so when you're trying to change your life and nothing is working, nothing is working, nothing is working, you start to give up hope.

And that's where I was. But then when I heard that Jim Roh quote, and then I went home and did the research, I started to see a glimmer of hope that maybe this could be it. And I can tell you, I cannot tell you how many people, I mean, go to Amazon, there's 21,000 reviews on the book, and you can just read or go to the Miracle Morning community and read other people's stories. That said, the Miracle Morning cured my depression. The Miracle Morning got me off my meds, the Miracle Morning. I mean, these are all real testimonials. The Miracle Morning saved my Marriage, the Miracle Morning, lost Weight Loss is a huge thing that people do in the Miracle Morning Group. I had tried in the Miracle Morning movie, there's a young man featured, he was obese his entire life, his entire life. There's a video of him, a cell phone video of him in high school weighing 320 pounds and doing a belly flop off an 80 foot cliff to try to get attention from his friends.

It puts you in tears. He lost 80 pounds after he started The Miracle Morning, and he reached out to me. That's why I got him in the movie. I was like, this is amazing. He goes, Hal, I've tried diets. I've tried pills. I've tried everything, but The Miracle Morning changed me from the inside out. It changed my mindset. I had never felt worthy of losing the weight. And he said, the Miracle Morning gave me self-Worth, and I woke up every day. So I've seen so many people go from the depths of despair to turning their entire life around faster than they ever thought possible. And here's what I would suggest. Watch the movie first. That's the most passive, easiest way you could write. If you want to order the book, of course you can order the book, but while you're waiting, you

Susie Moore:

Must order the book. The book is a must have in every single home, for sure.

Hal Elrod:

Yeah, I was trying. I don't like to be too promotional, but no, of course. Get the book and I think@miraclemorning.com quote, I'm not sure, but I think, you know, you can order the book there, but you can definitely watch the movie there. And again, that's 90 minutes of your life. You just hit play and sit back, right? Why and Day. And it's also on Amazon Prime. You have to rent it for $4 on Amazon Prime. It's free on miracle morning.com. But a lot of people tell me, I'd rather just pay the four bucks and watch it on Amazon. But that's the best way to start, because here's what that does. A lot of people have emailed me and said, Hal, I've never read a self-help book before Miracle Morning. And I never thought I would, but I watched the movie and I was like, look at all these people that are changing their life of this book.

So the movie's a great way to just lean into it and be like, after the movie, after the movie, if you're not convinced that you want to try this, then nothing will probably convince you. But that's a great place to start. And the reason we made the movie is because in order for the Miracle Morning, my mission is to elevate human consciousness, the consciousness of humanity, and to reach billions of people. And it's something like 3% of humanity that reads self-help books, but way more people, probably 50% or 80%, especially in developed countries, they watch movies. So I thought this is the way where we can really introduce people to this practice so they can change their life. So yeah, movie's a great, great gateway to The Miracle Morning,

Susie Moore:

And you can watch it. There's lying down Feeling Bad with a Hangover, whatever. It's your mission and what you've created is, I mean, to me, it just feels like it's so divinely guided, and I think that there's so much more to go. I mean, I know that this book's already been around for a while, but I feel like you're just getting started with this message. I mean, is that how you feel?

Hal Elrod:

I do, for a few reasons. One is one of my dreams was to get the Miracle Morning Practice, not just the book, but the practice into schools. I thought if we could get elementary school students starting their day with the savers, meditating, affirming all of these practices, I didn't know how I was going to do it, but it was on, it's on my 10 year vision that I wrote in 2016. Well, Brianna Greenspan, who is one of my close friends, she was my coaching client when I created The Miracle Morning. She's like the third person I told it to, right? Wow.

She leads the Miracle Morning Clubhouse room on the Clubhouse app. And she, long story short, she had a principal say, we rolled out the Miracle Morning in our school in New York City. We were one of the worst schools for detention in our entire district. We are now the best thanks to The Miracle Morning. And it happened almost immediately. And so on that call, on that Clubhouse call was another principal, and she goes, tell me I want to do this. What happened was, now Brianna Greenspan is the director of Education for the Miracle Morning. She has gotten the Miracle Morning. She's rolled it out in 1,300 schools in New York City. She actually, I can't, anyway, what can I say? What can't I say? She's meeting with some public officials like this week that I can't talk about to roll this out statewide. And so New York is, that's the test. And I mean, it's unbelievable the results they're getting. Not only their students, but their teachers that are reporting, overcoming depression and so on and so forth. So yes, the Miracle Morning, it's been 10 years, but it's just getting started, and I'm working on an updated and expanded edition of the book. That'll be out in the next year or so. Yeah.

Susie Moore:

Oh my gosh, Hal. And for clarification purposes, with the Savers, if someone wants to eliminate one or spend more time on say one in place of a second, is that okay?

Hal Elrod:

Yeah, great question. And the answer is yes. There's a chapter in the book called Customizing the Savers to Fit Your Lifestyle. And what I always encourage people, and you'll see this in the book, the book ends with a 30 day challenge, and it teaches you how to overcome the obstacles to trying something new and on and on and on. It really sets people up for success, and I usually tell people, for the first 30 days, just do all six, because you won't really know how beneficial it is if you discount it after a few days because hard or it's uncomfortable, or it's like meditation. Your mind's racing. You've got to give it 30 days, and then after the 30 days, completely adjust the savers. I don't do visualization every day. It's actually the only saver that I only do every once in a while. I only do, I probably do it once a week.

I'll visualize engaging with my wife in a really loving, playful way, or my kids on the weekend if I have a speech coming up. I'll visualize myself being really present and excited. So I'll use visualization as needed. I don't do it every day. But yeah, so for the first 30 days, I encourage people to do all the savers, and then you can completely customize the timeframe. So I spend 20 minutes on reading, and I spend 10 minutes on affirmations, and I only spend five minutes on exercise. When I do my morning exercise, I only spend zero minutes on visualization. So I've customized my savers to fit what works for me. So the answer is I encourage you to start with all six and start with 10 minutes each or five minutes each. If you do a 30 minute miracle morning, that'd average out to five minutes each, and then play with it as you become more experienced.

Susie Moore:

How I can't thank you enough. Truly, the passion with which you bring to the work that you do. And coupled with just the practicality, the steps, how tangible this is, I'm thrilled. This is getting into the hands of young people, think about what that will do think, and then them teaching their kids what, oh my God. The legacy of all of this. One final question I love to end on, which I love to ask my guests, is because for the Let It Be Easy podcast, I care so much about ease. I really believe that we overcomplicate our lives. We have so much resistance, it's very natural for us to think too much, take less action. Maybe your answer has been this entire episode, but I'd love to ask you, Hal, what's one thing that you do consistently that allows your life to be easier?

Hal Elrod:

Yeah, it's a great question. I mean, the first answer that does come to me is The Miracle Morning

Susie Moore:

Because, oh God, that's what I thought.

Hal Elrod:

Because without it, you wake up and you're just reacting, right? The Miracle Morning helps you be intentional and proactive versus reactive because you start your day in this peaceful state with just freedom and space. You look at your goals, you look at your schedule, your to-do list, you recite your affirmations, and you enter the day in a peak mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual state. So yeah, I mean, if I'm being really just honest and not trying to not say The Miracle Morning and call it something different, right? I mean, it is the Miracle Morning. It does make everything, and there's a book called The One Thing by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan. And the one question, and I'll probably butcher it, but it's something along the lines of, what's the one thing you can do that by doing it, it will make everything else easier or unnecessary. And when I read that book, I was like, it's my Miracle Morning. That is the one thing I do that makes everything else easier, in some ways unnecessary, because a lot of times I get it done in the morning and I don't have to work on it or think about it the rest of the day. I figured it out before the day even essentially got started.

Susie Moore:

And what's next for you, Hal? I know that there are secret cool things going on behind the scenes. Is there anything that we can look forward to from you? So everyone's going to head to Miracle Morning, get the book, watch the movie for sure. Check out all of Hal's work, and you've got a suite of books for real estate agents, miracle Morning for Network Market. You've created so much from this and made it really customized for different types of people. But yeah, what's next? Anything? Anything you can tease for us, Hal, that's coming up?

Hal Elrod:

Yeah, I mean, I kind of did. It's the updated and expanded edition that's actually, I'm working on it right now. And so, okay, well, I'll give you a little bit. So what's going to be in that? And it probably won't be out for, I don't know, at least six months or so, maybe by the end of this year, but we're looking, that's probably eight months away. But here's the changes. So this is actually a peek behind the curtain. This is actually a great approach. So number one, I'm rewriting the entire book, meaning it's the same book, it's the same chapter titles, it's the same structure, but if you've ever gone back and listened, watched a video of you a long time ago, 10 years ago, or read something you wrote 10 years ago, I dunno about you, but for me it's cringeworthy. As I'm reading, I'm like, oh my God, how could I sound terrible?

This is embarrassing, right? So I'm dealing with that. And so I'm essentially writing the miracle. I'm rewriting every sentence from the place of consciousness that I'm at now versus where I was when I started writing it 13 years ago. So the entire book is getting a major facelift, but beyond that, I'm adding two chapters that are mega chapters. They're over 6,000 words each. And one is The Miracle Evening, how to set yourself up for an Optimal Sleep. That's something that for I find so many people struggle with sleep and winding down. And so I feel like I cracked the code on that. So the Miracle Evening is one chapter, and then the last chapter is The Miracle Life, which is the next book I plan on writing. So it's the content that I've been developing over the last really three years since the pandemic hit.

And I thought, I don't want to wait another year or two for people to get that content. So I'm putting it into the Miracle Morning. And the Miracle Life is about how you take complete control of your inner world so that you can choose how you experience every moment of your life, regardless of your circumstances. And it's based on that being my superpower that when I was in my car accident and told I would never walk again, I was totally at peace and I said, I'll be the happiest, most grateful person you've ever seen in a wheelchair, because I will never let my unchangeable circumstances determine my mental and emotional wellbeing. And when I had cancer, it was the same decision. And so I'm trying to teach people how to do that, how to be able to consciously choose how you feel in every moment, regardless of what's going on around you, because it's how do you take control of what's going on inside of you. So that's essentially the miracle life. So that's my big project for this year.

Susie Moore:

Wow. I can't wait to get my hands on that. And we dunno the timing yet, but hopefully by the end of the year, Christmas presents for everybody.

Hal Elrod:

Yes. Yeah, that's the goal is to get it in time for Christmas presents. Yeah.

Susie Moore:

Hal, I think that you are a miracle.

Hal Elrod:

Ditto. Thank you, Susie.

Susie Moore:

Truly, I mean, of course the work you do, the transformation you give people, it's so generous and it's just so sincere. You can feel it, but I think it had to come through you. This couldn't pass through anyone else. And so your experiences, your wisdom, truly. Thank you so, so much, Hal, for being here. I could keep you. I think I'm back.

Hal Elrod:

I know. I feel the same. And I appreciate what you just said because, and you said earlier that it's divine. I really believe that I actually take as little credit as possible for The Miracle Morning because it was an idea that came through me that was inspired by Jim Rohn. Jim Rohn should get credit. I mean, but it's like where do ideas come from? I don't know. I do believe it is divine. And for me, I feel like I'm channeling it and I'm committed to like, Hey, I was blessed with this message and I'm going to do everything in my power to share it with as many people as I can until the day that I die. I feel like I owe that to whoever gave this to me and to the people that are out there that can benefit from it. So thank you, Susie, for having me. I feel like you are divine and you are so authentic and so sincere and so genuine, and you exude so much love. And I felt that from the first second that you and I connected. And so thank you. It's been awesome.

Susie Moore:

Oh hell. Okay. Until next time, hope you come back with a new edition. We'll have more to talk about.

Hal Elrod:

I'll come back when a new edition comes out for sure.

Susie Moore:

Please, please, please. Okay my friend. So until next time, get the book, miracle morning.com. Consume all things Hal Elrod. Your life will be so much better for it. And until next time, love so much love and ease. If you like this episode, you'll love my free workshop called Become Your Own Life Coach. Head on over to become your own life coach.com now, and I'll teach you how to coach yourself through any of life's problems. I'll see you there.