The Morning Idea

Hey bro. It was good talking with you last night. It seems like we never see each other now that the whole world is living with COVID. Anyways, we had spoken about my new morning routine and you asked me a few questions about what I was doing and where I had gotten my inspiration. You asked me if I had gotten it from the book I told you about The Miracle Morning. I told you it was a mix of my own routine, which I had already implemented, and some parts from the book. So, like any good family member, I figured I would air our family business all over the internet. However, I’m doing it in the hopes that perhaps it can help some other people find their focus in the morning or glean some good ideas from it. So, here are the thoughts I’ve had since last night.

I started getting up earlier in the morning—at around 6 am—to have time to write. As you very well know, with a family and work, it can be nearly impossible to find quiet working time to yourself in the home. Now we are always home, so there’s no getting a little extra work done before leaving the office. Also, the morning is when I find the most inspiration and I am the most creative. I figured if I could get an hour of writing done every morning, I would have a steady blog in no time. Well guess what? I kinda do.

I also find the best way to wake yourself up in the morning is with some exercise. Having put on the “COVID 15” as I have come to know it, I am working diligently to get back into fighting shape. I incorporated some push-ups, sit-ups, leg exercises, and some dumbbell work into my morning.

Finally, for the last two years, I have been meditating casually, but have wanted to make it a more regular habit. You inspire me with the way you meditate every day, and really, my goal was to get there. I have already spoken about the effects of meditation, and I wanted to achieve that sense of presence, self-awareness, and calm every day. As such, I started adding my meditation to the things I was doing in the morning before the ladies of the house rise.

Along with making my morning coffee (oh yes, there will be coffee in those early days), I started running out of time to get actual writing done, which was my real reason for getting up earlier in the first place. To compensate, I started waking up an extra hour earlier: at 5 am. Now, this was a challenge. Waking up an hour early is one thing, but now I was effectively shifting my entire sleep cycle. The first few days were not easy.

The Book

It just so happened that a month before starting the 6 am experiment I had purchased a copy of The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod. I had been intrigued by the French title Tout se joue avant 8:00, I figured it would be about how the real work gets done before 8 am. I wasn’t completely wrong, but I wasn’t completely right (like most things I have thought/done in my life). I started reading it, hoping it would add something to the journey I was on.

What I found was not completely what I was looking for, but it offered some valuable insights and tips. The book is about Elrod’s journey to waking up earlier in the morning and starting his popular Miracle Morning movement (miraclemorning.com). He had gone on a similar journey as I was going on, but I feel his was a little more profound. The basis of his system is life “S.A.V.E.R.S.” which stands for:

• Silence
• Affirmation
• Visualization
• Exercise
• Reading
• Scribing

The basic premise is that during the span of an hour you should allot 5-20 minutes to each of these aspects. Silence would be something like meditation, prayer, or contemplation. Affirmation means repeating positive messages to yourself aloud. Visualization would be using a vision board or some other visual guide to focus on your goals. Exercise and reading are self-explanatory, though he does recommend running and self-help books respectively (funny how an author in that genre would do that). Lastly, scribing, the word he found for writing that usefully fit in his acronym, is journaling.

I started by trying some of his suggestions. I have finally started using affirmations first thing before bed and first thing in the morning, but I haven’t made a vison board. I’m not quite there. However, there were some really great tips, such as, when you go to bed at night, tell yourself that you are going to wake up with energy, feeling rested, and ready to tackle the day. It’ll actually help you to wake up feeling that way. Also, start by brushing your teeth first thing in the morning, it’s a brainless activity and gives you enough time to wake up as you do it. Plus, fresh breath, right? After that, drink some water, it helps your body wake up and rehydrate. I also appreciate that he recommends putting on gym clothes because since the beginning of the pandemic I have felt bad about how much of my life is spent in sweatpants and shirts, and here was someone actually recommending it!

The greatest contribution the book has made to my life though, has been the motivational aspect. Before reading it, I felt like what I was doing was unique to me, and that maybe it was just some sick form of high-performance junky activity. Now, I know that I am just one of many high achievers and that what I am doing will actually allow me to reach my goals and deliver on my projects. There is also a load of support on his website and through the community that has organized around the Miracle Morning. I will probably not participate right now, but it’s reassuring knowing that there are also other people kicking themselves out of bed in the morning and working to achieve their own goals just as I am mine.

So, Brooke, that’s all I have for you right now. I hope you don’t mind this taking the form of a blog. You know: form, function, and art meeting all in the same place. I will pass you my copy of The Miracle Morning next time I see you, which I hope isn’t in too long from now. Like almost everyone else in Québec, we are under lockdown, which has been very difficult for our family as it has for others. We will just have to make up for lost time when we can. Until then, I hope that you will take my offer of being accountability partners. It’s always a pleasure to speak about topics like these with you and to watch you grow as a person over all these years. I love you, bro. Carpe Diem.