The Not-So-Obvious Secret Guaranteed to Transform Your Life | Hal Elrod

[00:00:06] You would think that when my own children or good friends have problems and difficulties in life you would think I would recommend to them my book Choose Yourself which describes times when I've had

[00:00:19] hardships and the ways I used to kind of pick myself out of being broke or sick or depressed or whatever But that is not the book I give people. I usually give the book The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod and

[00:00:34] Today the Miracle Morning update an expanded edition The Not-So-Obvious Secret Guaranteed to Transform Your Life Before 8 a.m. by Hal Elrod. It's the 10th year anniversary. It's an expanded edition He now includes the Miracle Evening and the Miracle Life and other stuff. It's coming out today

[00:00:53] I highly recommend people buy it. I mean just think like imagine you Wake up one morning your lungs collapsed you have cancer you're told you're gonna die in two or three weeks and Hal Elrod had been doing The Miracle Morning for years at this point and

[00:01:12] He shows how it applied during a situation like that for himself or when he was going broke and and losing his house or when he Got into a car accident and was declared

[00:01:22] Dead three times on the way to the hospital or the hundreds of thousands of people who are in his community who have benefited from the ideas in This book and his savers acronym So we talk about it all and he's one of my favorite people

[00:01:42] This isn't your average business podcast and he's not your average host this is the James Alters your show So how I can't even remember. How did we first meet? I think we met at a mastermind talks. I think yeah, I wanted Jason Gagnar as mastermind talks

[00:02:07] I believe so. Yeah, I feel like most people I know I met at those mastermind talks He puts on the best conference on the planet and I don't really like I don't I don't want to call this a self-help conference

[00:02:20] But I don't really like those types of conferences and that's not what its conference is But all of it like I met you. I met Lewis house. I met AJ Jacobs So many people at those conferences

[00:02:34] I mean even though I admit them before like Ryan Holiday and Tim Ferriss were at those conferences Ben Greenfield so many so many great and interesting people who have also been podcast guys

[00:02:43] This is like your third or fourth time on the podcast. Yeah, I think I think second or third I think yeah, we're trying to figure out if it was the third or the second

[00:02:50] We couldn't remember it's at least a third if you came on 2018 because I think I had you on Like very early because of the miracle morning just the original miracle morning which came out 10 years ago and is such a

[00:03:04] Great book like I felt like we were thinking along similar lines Like I wrote choose yourself around the same time, but you really turned The miracle morning into this valuable community for hundreds of thousands of people who are

[00:03:18] Accountable for each other and and look I give your book to my kids My spouse my my friends like it's a really like life-saving Book and you've had some some pretty intense

[00:03:32] Stories to go along with it, which I really appreciate and then it seems like when you're going through these intense horrible times You like many read a lot of different like let's say self help self empowerment books But you really distilled the best things into

[00:03:48] The what worked for you and in your successful morning routine and now from this book Which is the tenth year anniversary of the miracle morning the updated expanded edition You have the miracle evening and the miracle life. So it was good to see your evening routine

[00:04:02] I've always wondered about that. Yeah, but We'll talk about your savers concept which is an acronym in a second But I just I want to talk first just real quickly about Affirmations and and visualization because it's not like the secret right now not at all that for me

[00:04:20] I think that was always a big big disconnect is I'm a very results oriented person You know my background is in sales and so when you learn these, you know almost like woo-woo concepts

[00:04:30] Like just just tell yourself that you're a money magnet and money's gonna flow into your life because you make a vision board and put everything Like that never worked for me, you know, and I'm like no no no I want I need these practices to be practical

[00:04:44] Actionable results oriented and I think that's the reason the miracle morning has been such a perennial bestseller is because Just the way my brain works It's like I want to take these esoteric concepts and make them really simple and I want to take these woo-woo

[00:04:59] Practices and make them really practical And so I think that's what the miracle morning did is it you know, it took affirmations and visualization and actually made them really really practical

[00:05:10] Actionable etc. But you know one thing we've we I don't think we've ever talked about it was your bat with cancer so I remember this happening on Facebook and

[00:05:22] And you know every day everybody was so concerned about you like thousands of people but you woke up one day and maybe tell a story Yeah, yeah, so 2016. I had just moved to Texas from California and woke up one morning or one evening in middle of the night

[00:05:39] struggling to breathe and Keep a long story short turned out my mind not only was my lung Collapsed but my heart was on the verge of failing and my kidneys were failing and I was diagnosed with a rare aggressive form of

[00:05:52] Cancer called acute lymphoblastic leukemia. It's a blood cancer that causes your organs to fail And I was already on death's doorway if you will and when I was diagnosed They gave me the diet or the the survival rate which was a grim

[00:06:08] 20 to 30% so only 20 to 30% of the people diagnosed with this cancer make it and that means 70 to 80% die and The day that I was diagnosed and you're given like three or four weeks or something to live Yeah, the doctor literally said if you don't start chemotherapy

[00:06:24] You have between one and three weeks before your organs will completely shut down And I didn't want to do chemo because I knew you know the harmful effects of chemo that it's a poison

[00:06:33] And essentially it's trying to kill the cancer while it kills you and the hope is that it kills The cancer before it kills you and then you can you know survive But I didn't want to do the you know the permanent damage

[00:06:44] I wanted to to beat it holistically and I called some of the best holistic doctors in the country and they said how you know There's nothing we can do for you chemo therapy is the only option that you have to beat this cancer

[00:06:55] And and it's not like the thing about a blood cancer is you kind of need and I don't quite know how this works But you kind of need chemo all over your body

[00:07:04] Like it's really though the worst kind of cancer you can get like it's happening everywhere. Yeah Yeah, it's traveling your entire body. Yeah, like you can't just have surgery and remove a lung or a liver I mean not that that's easy, but yeah, it's all your blood

[00:07:19] Yeah, well and because of yes and because this particular cancer is so aggressive The chemo regimen they hit it with is equally as aggressive. So I ended up doing 650 hours of chemotherapy over seven months Almost 100 hours a month for seven months and and it did almost kill me

[00:07:37] The they actually canceled my last chemo treatment because they determined that they didn't think my body would that I would survive it But but I but I will tell you this that the day I was diagnosed with cancer I decided that there's a 100% chance

[00:07:52] That I will be among the 20 to 30% of those that survived this so rather than allowing that Global statistic to determine my fate if you will I went no no no that that statistic applies to all

[00:08:03] People meaning people with terrible diets people that that have a terrible mindset people that aren't willing to get out of their comfort zone And do whatever it takes to beat their cancer and for me

[00:08:12] I decided I'm not gonna leave my my fate in the hands of the doctors who have no skin in the game if I die That's just a number for them. I'm the only one that I have to take 100% responsibility for my life

[00:08:24] And so I committed that okay if I am gonna do this chemotherapy, which I what I am I did I'm going to also Relentlessly research every holistic practice available and implement all of them

[00:08:36] And so I did as much if not more on the holistic side to build up my immune system and detoxify my liver from the chemo and Strengthen and heal and all of those things in addition to the chemotherapy

[00:08:50] And and so this is the question. This is a really critical question So obviously you survived would you say you're healthier than ever? I mean it's seven years later Yeah, so it's I it's funny I've been asked that a couple times in the last few days

[00:09:02] I am my lifestyle is healthier than ever But the damage the chemo did to my body is it's you know, it's irreversible Well, I don't know if it's your verse what it feels that way like I have you know issues with my bones and issues with my

[00:09:15] Liver and I have it like there's all these health problems that I shouldn't have at 44 years old You know and I had a healthy diet even before the chemo, but no

[00:09:24] I'm definitely the healthiest I've ever been in terms of my lifestyle is pretty much impeccable pretty close to it And yeah, and I still intend on living to be a hundred plus years old alongside my wife and kids Which was part of what I affirm during the cancer

[00:09:37] Well, I think you will given the experiences I read about in this book But so so in the savers acronym a is for affirmations v is for visualization And I imagine like you said like you just said you did some affirmations

[00:09:51] You did some visualization and I want to talk a little bit more about that, but what if you just don't Believe it. What if you what if you know like I know a hundred people who did affirmations while they had cancer And it didn't work for them

[00:10:03] And so I want to believe in these things and I and I do believe like you mentioned in the book There's this connection between the body and the brain and and there's a connection between stress and health and optimism and health

[00:10:14] But I'm I'm so skeptical. I just I feel I feel like They won't work for me and I try and I feel like positive thinking doesn't really work for me Yeah, so let me so I'll share with you

[00:10:28] I think the two biggest problems with the affirmations the way that they've been taught by you know Mini well-meaning self-help gurus if you will Is there's two problems number one is we're taught to lie to our self and tell ourselves something that we wish were true

[00:10:42] But we don't it's not actually true So for example, if you're struggling financially you might be told well just write an affirmation that says I am wealthy You know, I am wealthy

[00:10:53] But the problem is that if you do not believe you are wealthy right to your point. I just don't believe it's working for me I don't know then if you say I am wealthy, but you're actually Struggling financially then you're creating an internal conflict. That's unhealthy, right?

[00:11:05] It's like I am wealthy and then your subconscious goes no, you're not you're broke and you're going no stop it self I'm doing my affirmations right so there's this internal struggle

[00:11:15] The second problem of affirmations the way they've been taught is we've been taught to use this flowery passive Language that produces an almost magical result Independent of any effort and I joked about it earlier. There's a popular affirmation that goes something like this

[00:11:29] I am a money magnet money flows to me effortlessly and in abundance And that's actually a popular affirmation for whatever reason I think my theory as to why people like that is because if you're struggling financially and your finances are a major

[00:11:46] Source of stress for you and you look at your bank balance in the morning. You're like, oh god I'm overdrawn I need to do my affirmations and then you go

[00:11:53] I am a money magnet you go god that feels a lot better than my reality and then you go money's gonna flow into my life Effortlessly and in abundance you go. Oh, that's so much better than my reality

[00:12:03] So we dilute ourselves into this again. It's not reality. It's just but it feels better than the reality So for me Affirmations and visualization which we'll get to in a minute

[00:12:15] They've got to be rooted in truth. They've got to be practical results oriented actionable like I'm a very Like you I think James. I'm a very logical person, right? And so I don't want affirmations that just that sound good or make me feel better in the short term

[00:12:32] I want affirmations that realign my conscious thought and my behavior while reprogramming my subconscious mind To develop and sustain the beliefs that I need that will that will keep me on the right track

[00:12:46] So here are three steps. These are the three steps that I teach in the book to create Practical actionable results oriented affirmations step one affirm what you're committed to Right in life. Don't say I am wealthy if you're not wealthy say I'm committed to becoming wealthy

[00:13:00] I'm committed to exercising 30 minutes a day five days a week I'm committed to losing 10 pounds like whatever you're fully committed to that's the only way you get what you want Your life is based on that unwavering commitment step to affirm why it's a must for you

[00:13:16] So what are the reasons that are so? Meaningful for you that you're willing to do whatever it takes. I'll give you a real-life example during the cancer journey Step one. What are you committed to I wrote down and I read this every day James

[00:13:30] 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 when I first got diagnosed with cancer. I was terrified Right, I mean the odds were you know, I was going to die

[00:13:47] And I was already I was already a halfway there right my organs were already shutting down and I figured You know even if what if I do everything right and I still die, you know Wayne Dyer someone who I

[00:13:59] Aspire to be like in many ways he got leukemia I would consider him to be as evolved if not. I mean are far more evolved than I am and He died So I thought oh my god

[00:14:10] What if he did everything that he knew and he still died and what if I die? So but I realized that fear is not serving me and you can apply that to every area of your life

[00:14:20] Your fear of the economy right now and that you know, what's happening and where your business is going Fear does not serve us to live in that state of fear So I realized I need to override that fear with faith and so whenever I felt afraid

[00:14:34] I would pull out my affirmations and this was every day during my miracle morning But then throughout the day before bed you name it and I would pull them out James And here's the point you mentioned like I don't believe they're gonna work for me

[00:14:46] Well, I didn't know for I you know I had a lack of belief that I was going to be able to beat the cancer So I read the affirmations with such conviction

[00:14:54] 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 I would read it again

[00:15:04] And I would read it again, and I would read it again out loud after a f out loud and out and with energy And in like I would embody that affirmation So it became my reality and that's what happened after a few weeks of this the fear

[00:15:18] literally disappeared I replaced it with this wavering commitment and conviction to beat cancer and Literally, I like I forgot that I had been afraid because this became my new reality and that you could that's how you can use

[00:15:34] Affirmations to reprogram your subconscious mind to be in alignment with what you're committed to so let me ask during this period were there any Setbacks like in the sense that they said to you hey it looks like it got a little bit worse

[00:15:47] Like was there anything to make you waver in your belief? Totally um And what it was was well there were multiple times where I Got so sick, you know chemotherapy destroys your immune system. It kills your red blood cells I believe it is Which is your meat?

[00:16:03] Which is what stages an immune response when you have an infection So when you are on chemo you have zero immune system literally and so if you get an infection Your body cannot fight it like it normally would like a normal person so it can only be fought

[00:16:19] Arbitrary synthetically with with antibiotics and So your your body it's like this battleground now where it's like there's an infection You can't fight so then they the doctors throw antibiotics in right which makes you even sicker and hurt you even more

[00:16:34] So there were many nights where I was you know, I had 104 degree fever I was my dad was rushing me to the ER. I was sick as a dog You know and at this point my body went from 167 pounds to 125 pounds I lost 40 pounds in three weeks

[00:16:51] So I looked like I was on death doorway and I was on death doorway And there were so many times where I felt so sick which you know, you know How when you feel sick like even with the flu your mental

[00:17:04] You know it really messed with your mindset so so to be as sick as I was for as long as I was and Looking the way that I did it was a constant

[00:17:15] Struggle to maintain an optimal mindset and I'll tell you this and I think this is really really important That to me is the ultimate benefit of the miracle morning is that whatever your number one or you know

[00:17:28] Number two three and four what but let's just say your top goals The most important outcomes that you have in your life the six practices of the miracle morning Those are the six most timeless proven personal development practices in history

[00:17:42] And when you any one of those can change or save your life But when you focus your goal like for me it was beat cancer at that time. That's all that mattered I had no financial goals. I had no I never marriage going

[00:17:55] I just it didn't matter if I didn't beat cancer nothing else mattered So I focused my savers all six of the miracle morning practices were focused on beating cancer I meditated in a state of healing every day. I followed this affirmations formula to beat cancer every day

[00:18:11] I visualized being healthy every day. I exercised every day I read books on natural ways of beating cancer every day I journaled every right so all six practices and to me it accelerates and it amplifies

[00:18:26] Your ability to achieve whatever it is that your outcome is and so yes, I was scared Yes, I was sick. Yes, there were many setbacks along the way But still even when it felt like you were taking a dip in the wrong direction or you had 104 fever

[00:18:44] Use the word faith like you you there's this one sentence in the book of Job that I really like which is somebody tells him to take his thoughts into captivity and It's sort of like when your things are bad You have to you have to

[00:18:59] Don't let your thoughts run wild make you know take them into captivity so you could Recognize what's what's happening and change them and that's essentially what you did. Yeah

[00:19:09] I'm reading a book right now by John Gordon the one truth and it's a really it was such a really It was a great distinction. I forgot it was I forgot who he said he learned this from but he said it was the best advice

[00:19:18] He ever got and the guy said I don't listen to my thoughts Or I think I said I don't listen to myself. I talked to myself He said when I listened to myself, I listened to fears. I listened to doubts. I listened to insecurities I listened to excuses

[00:19:34] When I talked to myself I tell myself exactly what I need to hear to move forward and achieve everything that I want my life but it but it's like a muscle like you have to Practice it like you have to do the miracle morning every day

[00:19:48] Like when I look at the testimonials and also your story It's people are doing these six practices every day, and then they see results It's like we were talking before the podcast about stand-up comedy Sometimes people do it once and say, oh I've done stand-up comedy

[00:20:03] No, you have to do it every day for years and then you start to get better at it, but it's the same thing with this idea of Taking thoughts into captivity or you know with these

[00:20:15] Belief and affirmations and visualization all that you have to kind of really discipline your mind It's very easy to do the self-talk like oh my god 104 fever. I wish I were dead right now This is it you know it's probably really easy to slip into that

[00:20:29] Well, and that's why affirmations are my favorite of the savers of the six practices of the miracle morning affirmations are my favorite because It's it's you know, it's the whole talking to yourself

[00:20:39] It's I get to design the precise language that serves my highest good and once it's in writing Then all the negative thoughts all the fear all the self doubt I can transcend all of that by pulling my affirmations, you know

[00:20:55] Picking up that piece of paper that I printed out right or looking on my phone wherever the affirmations are I like them printed in my hand But those affirmations they keep me on course They reset and redirect my mindset to be optimal in the midst of

[00:21:12] You know the fears and the insecurities and all those things and so that to me being able to design the precise language And then you know I edit them I evolve over time As you learn grow and evolve your affirmations should also evolve with you

[00:21:25] So I'm always updating my affirmations to be in alignment with what's next So like I've written many times about this concept of how I write ten ideas a day so every day I'll write down ten ideas and when I first was

[00:21:53] 20 over 20 years or about 20 years ago when I was totally Broke and and financially struggling. I would write ten ideas Basically how to make money here's ten books I could write here's ten articles

[00:22:05] I could write here's ten businesses I could start here if I like one of those business ideas Here's ten next steps for those businesses and it reminds me a little of the affirmations in this one way

[00:22:15] It's like the it's like that thing called the the Honda effect like once you buy a Honda You see every other Honda on the road previously you never saw any Hondas But once you buy a Honda it seems like you're seeing 20 Hondas an hour on the road

[00:22:27] And so I'm wondering if like when you make an affirmation You start the notice more the things in your life that could help you and that are benefiting you as Opposite of things that are hurting you like with ideas once I wrote ten ideas down

[00:22:39] I started note everything around me seemed like oh, that's just like this idea I just wrote down there's proof that I could do this or whatever So I started noticing things or that would help me move forward

[00:22:50] Yeah, no that's completely true, and I'll give you an example of how that shows up for me My affirmations right there like an anchor, you know, they're like an anchor You always come back to this precise language that serves your highest good

[00:23:02] So when I'm reading books very very often I'll read a book and I'll read a quote You know like there will be a line in a book or even a even a few sentences and I'll go oh my gosh

[00:23:12] It's that's very much in alignment with what I need to be affirming every day And so I will go to my affirmations on Microsoft Word And I will type in that exact quote from that author into the proper

[00:23:24] You know part of the affirmations where it is definitely an alignment. So yeah, it's a really good point that Honda effective Yeah, once you have your affirmations in place then you start to notice

[00:23:35] What is other what are other ideas or concepts or beliefs that are in alignment with what I'm affirming that even that? improve or Enhance my current affirmations. Yeah, cuz like let's say you make this information and you're very firm

[00:23:50] And you're allowed and you say it out loud by the way There's a lot of research that says when you say things out loud like that It has more of an effect on your mind and body and so on AJ Jacobs actually researched that and

[00:24:02] When you do this, you're know what you're probably noticing throughout the day Oh, yes, this will help me achieve my affirmation But this won't and so you're probably easier for you to have the Honda effect regarding the activities during the day

[00:24:15] They're actually helping you. Yeah, well, that's the thing is you mentioned doing this every day, right? It's very much like like like exercising, you know, if you work out one time It's not go, you know, it you're gonna have very minimal benefit, right? If you read Jacked but

[00:24:35] Yeah No, but but but the but the affirmations when you read them every day It literally you're reprogramming your mindset You're reprogramming your subconscious mind and your conscious thoughts

[00:24:48] And so that's what I mentioned with the cancer example is I was I went from being afraid that I might die that I could die What if what if what if that I? Completely moved like pushed that that fear out because the affirmations became my reality

[00:25:05] Because I read them every single day that became my internal dialogue Well, I'm glad you got through that incident. I'm really sorry you had to go through it

[00:25:15] I mean it was just it was shocking even just reading about it because you were you obviously were posting your story online and So so you know you mentioned with you had a story in the book about Roger Bannister

[00:25:27] Who's the guy who first guy to succeed with the four-minute mile? He ran he ran a mile faster than four minutes He broke a world record and and since then everybody's done it, but like he somehow broke this mental barrier that

[00:25:40] people thought that was like a floor you couldn't break through and And you mentioned how he visualized he would visualize every day the process of Becoming the sort of person who can run a four-minute mile

[00:25:54] And I think I think that's part of it too like you can't just visualize You know a bag of money arriving from UPS. Yeah, you have to sort of visualize It's that you called it rehearsal almost you have to visualize you specifically

[00:26:09] becoming the person who can survive cancer or run a four-minute mile or Make money after going broke like you can't it's not it's not a hope or a wish. It's it's a strategy really Yeah And am I interpreting it correctly? Like that's how I interpret it

[00:26:27] Yeah, you know visualization it's similar to affirmations in the way that the way we've been taught it I think is counterproductive. So we've been taught to you know make a vision board Which really is just a you know visualize the end result and that's important

[00:26:41] But it's only half the equation if you will and to me It's the less important half and what I mean by that is so step one Visualize your ideal outcome right? Yes see it, you know feel it because that does

[00:26:52] Generate emotions that will pull you toward it or push you toward it like when I was training for an ultramarathon I hated running but I would visualize crossing the finish line every day and that compelled me to want to make that experience a reality

[00:27:05] The problem is if you if that's all you do is all you do is you know visualize the end goal You can actually trick yourself into thinking that it's a foregone conclusion Independent of any effort on your part right so for example somebody

[00:27:20] Yeah, that is the problem and And then the vision board is even more passive like that's just like making a board put it on the wall and being like all right Well the secret told me that all those things were gonna come true

[00:27:30] The second step in visualization to me is the most important and it's and you mentioned it earlier mental rehearsal And if you think about the world's greatest athletes Roger Bannister being one of them they swear by visualization

[00:27:44] But this second step is the piece that I think goes untaught in the self-help world and it's the most important part It's mentally rehearsing yourself doing the thing you need to do today Taking the action today that will move you in the direction of your long-term vision

[00:28:00] That word today is the key because he can't just sort of visualize himself Running past the finish line and then looking at his watch. Oh, it's three minutes 56 seconds He has to visualize what is he gonna do today again to become the sort of person who could I?

[00:28:17] Think that's the key. I can't just Visualize oh it feels so good putting this check in the bank. Yep I've got to visualize what am I gonna do today to move myself closer to that and it's it's it's

[00:28:30] Visualizing what you're gonna do today mentally rehearsing it while putting yourself in a peak physical or sorry mental and emotional state so Again worlds greatest athletes they mentally rehearse themselves going through the motions being on the court Performing at their best responding to adversity, etc

[00:28:49] And and then how am I gonna respond if this happens in the game? How am I gonna respond if there's 10 seconds left and we're down by 2? How am I gonna how am I gonna swing the club on this right Tiger Woods would say he would go

[00:28:59] He would mentally rehearse golfing the entire 18 holes or whatever course he was going to and so as If you bring that away from athletics because most of us aren't professional athletes

[00:29:11] And you just imagine visualizing yourself doing the thing that you need to do whether it's you know playing with your kids today Or it's getting on the phone and making cold calls visualize yourself doing the activity and then

[00:29:24] Put yourself in a peak mental and emotional state so that you're excited and you I can use affirmation sometimes to go I'm gonna do this. It's gonna be awesome. I'm gonna go for this run today I don't like running but that doesn't matter because by running today

[00:29:36] I'm becoming stronger and faster and it's great you get yourself really I mean almost pumped up in a positive way. Yeah, all you see yourself doing the thing and that way when it's time to do The thing you're ready to go Yeah, and you know

[00:29:50] The reason I asked about how did you how did you do this when those inevitable days? And I picked obviously do this every day Obviously you've had lots of problems in your life like anybody but you know this cancer was life-threatening and so I

[00:30:04] I'll bring it back to that again for a second, but You know Mike Tyson says everybody's got a plan until they're hits in the face I'm sure the face. So do you rehearse what you're gonna do on?

[00:30:15] The moments when you have that inevitable you're hitting the face like you have in this case You know your fever spikes and it looks dangerous and the doctors are think this is it like do you rehearse in your mind?

[00:30:27] What we're gonna do when things go negative or do you only stick to positive? Yeah, not so much I mean, I think that that depends on the context like again

[00:30:35] If you're you know if you're I'm a fan of mixed martial arts and so I've seen I've heard a lot of mixed martial arts fighters will say That they will Mentally rehearse like if things aren't going well. How are they going to respond for me?

[00:30:49] Typically, I'm mentally rehearsing doing the thing I need to do to take one step closer to my goal So for example when I was training for that ultramarathon I would visualize the alarm on my phone going off at 7 a.m

[00:31:02] So I would literally be sitting there doing my miracle morning on my couch in front of my coffee table where my phone was sitting I would close my eyes and I would imagine the phone right in front of me I'd imagine it beeping at 7 a.m

[00:31:14] I would hear it I would see it and then I would visualize myself picking the phone up turning off the alarm Going into my bedroom and then getting dressed in my running clothes. It was like a little like a little two-minute movie I would see in my mind

[00:31:25] Then I would head out my front walk and I can still see it by the way I visualize this for six months. I can still see the visualization over and over and over

[00:31:33] I then walk through my living room put my hand on the front door open the front door I would see the sidewalk where I was gonna run and then I would bring out my affirmations

[00:31:42] I'm committed to completing a 52 mile ultramarathon because no matter what there is no other option Step two why is it a must for me? I'm committed because it's enabling me to become the person that I need to be to

[00:31:53] Overcome any obstacle and create any result that I want in my life step three which we didn't get to earlier Which specific actions will you take and win in order to do this? I will follow the training plan in the book the non-runners marathon trainer to a tee

[00:32:09] Five days a week no matter what so I would be I would be there Visualizing and affirming as I picture the pavement and I would get myself excited to go for that run While I was sitting on my couch and then here is what happened

[00:32:24] When the alarm went off on my phone at 7 a.m. In real time human nature would be I got a hate running I'll just do it tomorrow right and how often do we do that?

[00:32:32] We put off the thing we know we should do because I can skip a day and but here's the thing James I didn't mentally rehearse Procrastinating I didn't visualize not running so it's almost as if the visualization is programming you

[00:32:47] I became like a robot when the alarm went off I turned it off stood up went into my bedroom got dressed in my running clothes went out my living room open the front door I was flooded with the affirmations and the emotions that I created

[00:33:00] During my visualization that morning again This is real time now and then I was excited to go for that run because I generated Those positive emotions and that excitement when I visualized during the morning

[00:33:13] And you can apply this in your of your life when I'm on the weekends when my kids are gonna be coming out I will visualize my kids walking out of their bedroom. I did this more when they were little

[00:33:22] It's not I don't do it quite as much anymore I probably should but I'll use with my wife as well But I'll visualize them coming out and I'll visualize how I'm going to respond

[00:33:31] How I'm gonna interact and engage because I notice in the past. I'd be like, oh man, they're out here crap I still wanted to keep doing my miracle morning, right? That doesn't serve my kids

[00:33:40] So I'd mentally rehearse as soon as I saw them how was I gonna feel what was I gonna say? How was I gonna interact with them? I had mentally rehearsed that on a Saturday morning and then when they came out I was ready to go and I

[00:33:52] By default like a robot, you know without the negative connotation I was like hey guys like what's out? It's whatever I rehearse that morning And so you can apply this to your business goals to engaging with your spouse to your fitness goals any area of your life

[00:34:07] Whatever you need to do today to achieve that long-term vision Mentally rehearse it and it only takes a few minutes like that's it. It's really simple and and you started doing all this or thinking about this

[00:34:22] Way back you were like 20 years old and you had this car accident where you were essentially dead Were you were you officially dead or like what happened? Yeah, so I would yeah

[00:34:32] I was hit head-on by a drunk driver at 70 miles an hour. I was then broad-sided by a second vehicle an innocent family Behind me I spun in front of them and they hit me in the door My driver's side door at 70 miles an hour and I broke 11 bones

[00:34:46] instantaneously And I started losing a lot of blood and it took the Paramedics and the or the fire department they had to use the jaws of life to tear the roof off of the car And it took them 50 minutes from the time the accident happened

[00:34:59] So almost an hour that I was sitting in that car Trapped in losing blood and I eventually when they pulled me out of the car I lost so much blood that I was dead. I died my heart stopped beating

[00:35:10] I stopped breathing and I was clinically dead for approximately six minutes while they loaded me on to a helicopter and they Revived me and thankfully they were able to get me my heart beating again after six minutes They sent me to the air

[00:35:24] Are you breathing? How do they get breathing in they I mean they just use the difference You know so they hook me up to an IV to get blood back in my body

[00:35:30] And then they you and they put oxygen on my face and they use the defibrillators to shock me back to life I spent six days in a coma. I flatlined twice more So I was very it was very critical condition I technically died three times

[00:35:44] Once was extended for six minutes and then I flatlined twice more in the hospital And then I came out of the coma six days later and the doctor said I had permanent brain damage And that I would never walk again

[00:35:55] And so when I woke up that was the reality I faced is I have 11 broken bones Permanent brain damage and the doctors are saying that I'm probably never going to walk again and and You know

[00:36:07] So obviously when he says this this is a doctor in a professional setting at that moment You couldn't walk at that moment. Maybe you felt a little foggy. I don't know what you felt in your brain very foggy

[00:36:16] Yeah, but you you probably believed him and it probably depressed you No Well interestingly enough I mean I for sure was kind of the cancer diagnosis, you know initially I was like oh my you know It was like my mind

[00:36:30] It was hard to even comprehend that this was not a dream or a nightmare, right? I'm like wait You know 20 years old. I'm never gonna walk again. I'll be in a wheelchair the rest of my life

[00:36:38] But after a few days of processing it I decided I can't change that I was in a car accident I can't change that I broke 11 bones I may or may not be able to walk again that that is un to me

[00:36:51] It was undecided and I decided I'm going to accept the worst-case scenario if I never walk again I've I decided I'll be the happiest most grateful person that you've ever seen in a wheelchair Because I'm in a wheelchair either way

[00:37:03] So I will never let the unchangeable circumstances in my life Determine the changeable Mindset that I get to choose gosh, it's it's so hard to think that way though. You know, it's so hard to practice Well, I'll tell you and I know we've talked about this

[00:37:18] I'm sure at some point in our conversations But the reason I was able to get there is I learned something in my cut-co sales training a year and a half prior Called the five minute rule and the five minute rule simply stated that when something goes wrong

[00:37:31] It's okay to be negative and feel sorry for yourself But not for more than five minutes and I was literally taught by my manager my mentor Jesse He said when you know and now to be fair the context was much milder than this car accident, right?

[00:37:45] It was like, you know customers being rude to your Cancelling in order but still it was things that upset you mentally and emotionally And he taught us set your timer for five minutes and you get five minutes to bitch Mone complain cry vent like feel sorry for yourself

[00:38:01] But when the timer goes off he taught us to say three very powerful words Can't change it and it's a simple acknowledgement This applies to every aspect of life when something happens that upsets you whether it's

[00:38:13] Waking up from a coma and being told you're never gonna walk again Whether it's hitting traffic when you don't want to be late Whether it's going bankrupt losing a lot and I've applied this to cancer I've applied this to every aspect of my life

[00:38:25] It's the idea that when something happens and you can't change it you have two one of two choices Number one you can continue to wish it were different wish it didn't happen resist reality

[00:38:36] But what you understand what you find is that that's actually this the cause of emotional pain is Resisting reality and wishing you could change something that is unchangeable and if it's already happened It's unchangeable. It's five minutes ago Let's say you have an incident where your boss

[00:39:09] Treats you horribly and you start to think like oh, how could He or she do that to me like I did this this that you start to really dwell on it. Yeah, and It's not like he's gonna

[00:39:22] That's that's who this boss is like it's not like they're gonna change their behavior And if you try talking to him or her it still won't change their behavior

[00:39:31] We'll do you know well good and you think well, I should quit if he you know if you can't change it Maybe you should quit the job. Let's say you can't for whatever reason like you need to pay your mortgage

[00:39:40] There's no other jobs in the area. Whatever it is. Yeah, so here's what I would say is that you the five minute rule You know and the time frame is arbitrary right five minutes if you lose if you lose your loved one, right?

[00:39:53] I don't expect you to you know It's healthy to grieve for a lot longer than five minutes But here's the point is this it's the understanding that every painful emotion that we have ever experienced in our lives

[00:40:04] Has been self-created by as I mentioned the resistance to reality and and here's how you know, that's true if Imagine the exact same thing happens to two different people Okay, same exact experience and we can use the boss as the example right the boss

[00:40:20] You know so this two people have this boss and he treats both of them terribly right? Person number one goes they're resisting reality. Oh gosh, this boss is such a jerk. I wish you were different

[00:40:31] I wish he didn't treat me the way that he does it's so unfair the way he treats me right They're resisting reality like look you wishing he didn't treat you doesn't change the way he treats you

[00:40:40] It just causes you to be frustrated and angry and upset now person number two Right, maybe they're totally calm and the person number one's going aren't you mad He's such a jerk to us and they go yeah, but we can't change him

[00:40:52] So what's the point in allowing him to determine how we feel? That seems like a waste of energy. I'm gonna choose to be at peace With what I can't change which is my boss So that I can enjoy this one life that I've been blessed to live

[00:41:07] You know and look until I can find another job. I got a deal with him I'm not gonna it's hard. It's bad enough to listen to him But if I allow listening to him make me feel horrible inside

[00:41:19] That that's giving him all my power and I'm not willing to do that This this is really great how this is I really like this philosophy and I You know this this applies to all six practices in the savers routine

[00:41:32] But I really had these questions about affirmations and visualization But the first s is about silence every morning You wake up and find at least ten minutes to be silent whether it's meditation or prayer or just silence But no phones no nothing and look real quick

[00:41:50] I want to just correct you on one piece there Which is you said at least ten minutes and I want to this is a really important thing that I've learned over the years teaching the miracle morning is I my very first miracle morning was 60 minutes and

[00:42:04] For a long time I would talk about the miracle warning only the way that I did it and I have a good friend Brianna Greenspan She's actually now the director of education for the miracle morning. She's brought it to hundreds of schools

[00:42:16] Mostly in New York City. I feel like I've seen her name Maybe you've met Brianna. You guys are both in the miracle morning movie actually But but Brianna is the one that pointed out to me that um, she's like howl you need to

[00:42:28] Like you need to explain to people that they don't have to be like you They don't have to do your miracle morning So there's a chapter in the new edition of the book

[00:42:35] It's called the six minute miracle morning and it literally teaches you how to do all six of the savers the entire Miracle morning in a total of six minutes

[00:42:45] So you can do one minute of silence and just say a quick prayer or meditate or calm your nervous system One minute affirmations and so on through the rest of the savers You're right, you know

[00:42:56] I read that in the book the one minute idea and I was thinking more of like when you first started doing it You'd set aside ten minutes sixty minutes for a ten minutes for each one. So sorry for their confusion

[00:43:05] No problem, but but so there's the silence. There's the affirmations. There's the visualization exercise reading scribing yeah, and I think I Think this silence makes a lot of sense

[00:43:18] I think the reason I had the questions on the affirmations and the visualizations is that that's what personally I grapple with like Obviously some some moments of just like free time where you don't have your book or you're not immersed in like responding to stuff

[00:43:32] It's great. So that's the silence The exercise is sort of obvious and and it's striking how many people don't do it and even though there's clear benefits to health Reading is a practice I've always done. I could tell you've you read enormously because

[00:43:49] Again, you've probably read every self-help book on the planet to kind of really Take all the ideas into your mental laboratory and distill them down into the miracle morning What's your what who do you think are like the most legit?

[00:44:05] Self-help writers in history really in history that that's a bit Really like the past hundred years. Yeah, yeah, I mean, you know for sure James clear with atomic habits

[00:44:17] I mean that that book has become an anomaly in terms of just the impact that it's made for people and James has such a great Way of communicating actually, I'll tell you I don't know if you know about this book

[00:44:25] It comes out tomorrow, but this is quickly becoming one of my favorite books of all time Arate are you familiar with this? No, you should go pre-order it today James. Um, wow, Brian Johnson It's one thousand and one pages long

[00:44:40] It's 451 mini chapters and he is I love how he calls it volume one. Yeah, this historical context It's brilliant. I mean, it's he's amazing. So that is this is one of my favorite books

[00:44:52] I mean, I'm only a little bit into the 1001 pages, but it is phenomenal and it's 451 chapters long So there's 451 mini chapters and there's actually a miracle morning chapter in here, which is kind of cool

[00:45:05] But but that's one of my favorites on some of my favorite authors Michael Singer who wrote the untethered soul Oh, has he really? Yeah, I've stayed in his compound where you know, I You went out there and meditated with him. Yeah, that is cool

[00:45:21] That's that that's all bucket list item for me a Michael Singer big fan of Michael Singer And you know, of course think and grow rich I mean God, there's so many good authors and I always draw blank when I get asked who are my favorites

[00:45:33] What do you I I asked this to Oliver Berkman who wrote the antidote which is kind of like an anti-self-help book Like he's just critical of the whole industry but I Asked him is because he met Eckhart toll or totally

[00:45:45] How are we and I said is is he the real deal and Oliver Berkman thought he was like the one guy He met who was the real deal Like he really like lives in the now and he's very similar to Michael Singer in terms of philosophy

[00:45:58] Totally totally um the you know, I think that that that for at least for me personally um I I've done the miracle morning Ever I'd say I average more than six days a week because the only time I don't do it

[00:46:11] Is if I'm up late for some reason like for a date night or a concert or something like that But I estimate I've done over 4500 miracle mornings over the last 15 years

[00:46:19] It's something that I do every single day and I do think that that is important as an author or as a teacher You know, it's one thing just to teach something right because you get it or you understand it

[00:46:30] But it's another thing to actually live it so that you I think that's a big reason that I wrote the updated and expanded edition I don't think I know but is that I've been doing the miracle morning for 15 years

[00:46:40] Well when I first wrote the miracle morning, I've been doing the miracle morning for like six months So I was still pretty new to each of the savers and I was writing from a place of like

[00:46:49] You know, hey, here's a really simple way to do meditation even if you've never meditated before I think that's why the book one of the reasons it stuck is because I was really bringing people in That weren't we're only a step behind me, right? Like hey, you know

[00:47:01] I wasn't some advanced practitioner because I once you've been doing something for so long You often lose sight of the beginner's mindset and so now 15 years later It was like I have evolved my practices have evolved

[00:47:12] So much over the last 15 years that the update and expanded edition was I wanted to you know Hey, if you're brand new here's where you start But I want to show you what this looks like how you can evolve to more advanced, you know

[00:47:24] I teach this thing called emotional optimization Meditation it's my favorite form of meditation and it's rather than just following your breath You're actually identifying. What is the optimal mental and emotional state that would serve my highest good today?

[00:47:37] And then I walk you through how to get into that state and then meditate in that state so whether it's joy and happiness or confidence or Playfulness or forgiveness or focus whatever it is you are hardwiring your optimal mental and emotional state every single morning

[00:47:55] So that you know you talked about who you become. It's you're literally becoming The person that can maintain those optimal states throughout the day Yeah, that's great And that's so important to do during the ebbs and cycles of a day where we you know crash and

[00:48:10] Lift ourselves up and then crash again and it's so good to practice that in the morning to start the day going and You know you talk about the 2008 to 2010 period where obviously it was the financial crisis your your Business was having problems. You were having problems

[00:48:31] Making your bills. You were losing your house I've I've certainly had scenarios like this and it was affecting your relationship to with with your wife Ursula who stood by you through so many things like Yeah, and

[00:48:44] How did you how did you use techniques to kind of lift yourself up during that time again? I'm focusing on these moments when you know You're hitting the face when it's really hard to you could you could preach all you want

[00:48:57] But it not used specifically but yeah, you know It's just hard to follow these ideas that are so uplifting when you just don't feel uplifted at all You don't have the energy at that moment. Yeah. Yeah when I think that's when they are the most important, right?

[00:49:11] I mean that's what we need them the most well, so 2008 the financial cry crash That's that is why I created the miracle morning. I was like, you know millions of Americans

[00:49:21] I was I lost over half of my income right? My business was failing. I was deep in debt My house my first house that I had ever purchased a year and a half prior was now being foreclosed on and taken back by the bank

[00:49:34] And as you mentioned I was so I was a mess. I was I was depressed I was scared and I didn't know what to do and I felt out of control and

[00:49:41] Can I ask can I ask? Yeah, were you afraid Ursula was gonna leave you because you were losing the house? Mmm? I honestly I do not remember I don't remember if I was afraid. Yeah, I honestly don't remember if I was afraid

[00:49:55] I mean she I do know I mean she was there for me You know so I think that I think that loyalty is her one of her top values And so I think that I did know you know

[00:50:03] I'm sure I'm sure it crossed my mind and I was nervous about it, but overall I mean she was very You know she would assure me and in this and that I'm not going anywhere and

[00:50:13] But but our art but I here's the thing she married this happy fun loving You know, I'm one of the most energetic positive people you never meet and then I was like this scared depressed Shell of a man if you will

[00:50:26] And she was like I don't know what to do. I don't know I don't know how to help you I can't help you and she actually encouraged me to talk to one of my good friends John Berghoff because he's very smart

[00:50:36] And she said why don't you call John and ask him for advice? And I called John and he ended up recommending this Jim Rohn audio and I listened to the Jim Rohn audio And I heard a quote and the quote I'll share it right now

[00:50:47] This quote literally was the catalyst for me to create the miracle morning Jim Rohn said your level of success will seldom exceed your level of personal development Because success is something you attract by the person you become I

[00:51:02] Love that and when I heard that I quantified it immediately. It's how my brain works I'm you know my numbers guy quantified it and I went okay Wait a minute if if art my level of success is not gonna exceed my level of personal development

[00:51:13] Then there's two questions there number one What level of success do I want on a scale of 1 to 10 level 10? I don't know anyone that wants a lesser level, you know I don't want to be too happy or too successful or have no

[00:51:25] We all have an innate drive and desire to achieve this level 10 success in our lives But then the second question and this is the gut check I went okay Well if my level of success is not gonna exceed my level of personal development

[00:51:36] what's my level of personal development and At that time in my life. I was like it's a two Like maybe a three or four on a good day and let me define that to me personal development

[00:51:47] Is what is your daily personal development ritual that's enabling you to become a better version of yourself? Moving toward that level 10 version of you where you are you have the the best mindset

[00:51:59] You could possibly have and the skills and the habits and the knowledge that enable you to achieve everything You want for your life and so to me that's the disconnect for most of us

[00:52:08] I want level 10 success, but my level of personal development my routine every day is like a two or three and So the epiphany for me James was I need to go I need to figure out what the world's most successful people do for personal development

[00:52:21] And I need to create the ultimate level 10 personal development ritual So that I can become the level 10 version of myself who's capable of creating and sustaining the success that I want and

[00:52:31] That's where I went online. I researched these six practices when I came up with I woke up the next morning I did all six pretty poorly. I didn't know how to meditate They were all new to me, but even doing them poorly after one hour I went wow

[00:52:44] This is it if I start every day like this with this much clarity and energy and motivation and gaining knowledge It's only a matter of time before I become the person that I need to be that can turn my life around

[00:52:58] And to be honest, I was thinking it would be one year like I just in my mind I'm like I'll give myself a year to turn this around in less than two months now

[00:53:06] And now James keep in mind this was it the height of the great recession the economy continued to get worse I doubled my income in less than two months because of the miracle morning

[00:53:18] And I went to my wife and I said sweetheart and it's that because you have more energy So you were making more calls and networking more and meeting more people for lunch dinner or whatever

[00:53:26] It's it's honestly the sequence of all of the practices. So let's start with reading Okay, I ordered a book online by Michael Port called book yourself solid And it was basically teaching service-based businesses how to get more clients. So that was like the starting place

[00:53:43] Okay, I'm gonna get a book on how to get more clients then I used my meditation practice to get in a peak Mental and emotional state every morning so that I could implement what it is that I was learning

[00:53:57] Then I took the main points in the book and I translated them into Affirmations that clarified what I was committed to why it was a must for me and what I was going to do then I

[00:54:09] Visualized aka mentally rehearse myself doing the things that I had just affirmed that would get me where I wanted to go And then I use my journaling process practice Right every day to look at my to-do list and instead of doing the easy things the busy work

[00:54:26] Which too many of us are guilty of doing I went okay What's the number one thing on my list every day that I need to do that's gonna move the needle and get me clients?

[00:54:35] So it was literally stacking all six of the practices and the exercise of course just gave me some you know Energy and get got me in shape and all that but it was stacking the practices and sequencing them together

[00:54:47] That enabled me to you know implement what I was learning in the book Every single day take action generate motivation generate energy, and then I got the results that I wanted

[00:54:58] Yeah, and then I'm gonna fast forward to another time in your life where you were having some troubles the 2019 2020 maybe was where you're having trouble sleeping You're sleeping only two three or hours a night. Do you know why you were sleeping so so few hours?

[00:55:12] My guess is because of chemotherapy But but I'm not you know chemotherapy It's something that they call it chemo brain where it's basically chemotherapy is poison and it is poisoning your body and one of my on

[00:55:26] Collegy nurse told me this I said this earlier. It actually came from her She said how I'm gonna be straight with you she that kind of looked to you know side to side and leaned in She's like look she's like

[00:55:35] Chemo therapy is poison. Okay, it's killing you right now It is killing you and I was literally you know hooked up to chemo right then I'm like, okay This is the I already know this but it's not really encouraging

[00:55:45] She said and and let's be honest the goal is that the chemotherapy kills the cancer before it kills you and Then we can get your body You know builds you back up so that you can live a life like a normal explanation of chemo actually

[00:56:00] Yeah, yeah, it's killing the cancer and it's killing your body It's killing every part of you right? You're you can't kill the cancer that killing your body It's killing you but the idea is that you're gonna hopefully hopefully live um and I forgot what was your question

[00:56:14] You're asking an old man now Oh, I was I was asking about your sleep habits. Oh, yeah So so yeah, they call it chemo brain which that that phrase it bothers me because of how dismissive my doctors were they go

[00:56:28] Oh, that's just chemo brain like it's this cute phrase I go. Why don't you say what it is? My brain is being poisoned and now I can't function the way that I used to after three years of chemotherapy my cognitive abilities declined Significantly

[00:56:45] To where I feel like my IQ dropped 30 points and I feel like I was not myself anymore And I tested it before and after I know I should I know that wasn't like highest on your priority list But that would have been fascinating data point for sure

[00:56:59] But I went from being I never in my life. Have I experienced anxiety? I didn't even know what it felt like I developed such extraordinary anxiety And and then I that led to depression and I think that so the chemotherapy

[00:57:13] I think caused you know the anxiety the depression my cut because it was it was all this vicious cycle where Because my cognitive abilities were there. I was nervous to talk to people I couldn't have normal conversations anymore and that made me anxious then the anxiety

[00:57:29] Caused depression and they like it was this vicious cycle And I was depressed that I could that I my brain felt like it was not mine anymore And so I started sleeping two to four hours a night was my average sleep

[00:57:41] And if you ever slept two hours in a night, you're a mess the next day Compound that over four or five six months of sleeping two to four hours every single night. I was hallucinating

[00:57:52] I was I mean I was not I lost my mind and I was suicidal. I wanted to kill myself Yeah, yeah, I saw in the book you you mentioned you wrote to Ursula one morning and said you wanted to die

[00:58:04] You couldn't take it anymore. What was going on in there? Like you're responsible for a big You know, yeah social media community around the miracle morning like what was going on then?

[00:58:15] How are you were kind of presenting yourself to the group? Yeah, so I'm usually I have no problem being vulnerable typically But the thing was I did have a problem in more about that time because I was such a mess that I couldn't even think straight

[00:58:28] So I was like in I was like I was like embodiment of fear. I was afraid of everything I was scared to get on calls with people that I had known for 20 years

[00:58:37] I was scared and I ended up that was the year that the miracle morning movie was supposed to come out And so I ended up on letting my team go because I couldn't manage them I couldn't I would I would I would get on calls and be shaking

[00:58:52] I was so scared to talk to these people that loved me and that I knew I was an Absolute mess and so I just did the bed, but I had to record a podcast every single week I had to record the achieve your goals podcast

[00:59:03] And so I just did the best I could with you know with with with who I was and and I will tell you that You know 2020 when that happened and I asked myself, okay

[00:59:13] I am you know as a leader of the miracle morning community and my podcast listeners What should I be focusing on right now? Because there was so much thrown at us that was out of our control right the the pandemic and the you know

[00:59:26] The economy and the this and the that and And what I realized is that when we focus on that which is out of our control and this is true across All aspects of life when we focus on that which is out of our control

[00:59:38] We feel out of control and feeling out of control leads to anxiety and stress and depression And so on and so forth And so I will say that I did double down on a miracle morning that year

[00:59:49] Which is part of what helped me get through the sleeplessness as well is I realized okay? I can't control COVID and the economy and all this crazy in the world I can only control showing up at my best every single day for myself

[01:00:04] For those I love and for those I lead and that's all I'm gonna do And that's what I encourage my listeners and the miracle morning community. I go guys look

[01:00:11] I know you're scared of this you're scared of that you're worried about this those things are out of our control All you can control is double down on your miracle morning so that you can show up at your best for those

[01:00:21] You lead those you love and for yourself And so that's what I did and that's what our community did and I've there are a lot of Testimonials of people saying like that got them through the most difficult time in their life

[01:00:32] Well, and also you this also resulted in the chapter in this expanded edition the miracle evening Yeah, which helped you improve your I'll let people read that I've done several podcasts about sleep But as you mentioned in the miracle evening having us a ritual that helps you

[01:00:46] Sleep healthfully is so important like they say if you if you sleep six hours or less for three days in a row you'll have You won't have Alzheimer's, but you'll have Symptoms almost similar to like Alzheimer's or dementia just three days of six hours or less. Yeah

[01:01:04] Yeah, yeah, that's why I wrote that chapter is because I you know and I started that chapter about telling my sleep, you know deprivation chronic insomnia story and it's like I Because since then I've started asking my audiences when I when I give keynotes and I speak

[01:01:19] I say how many of you struggle with sleep either falling asleep or staying asleep, you know James It's it's over half on average It's it's half or more of the audience

[01:01:28] And I realize what a huge problem it is and I think you know part of my my one of my Abilities if you will is to really communicate

[01:01:39] Information in a way that that resonates with people and that is so simple because I'm not an intellectual like I'm not someone that has a wildly expansive vocabulary and can talk over your head like I really need to simplify things to make sense for me

[01:01:56] And so as an author I'm able to do that for other people And so it's similar to how the miracle morning has enabled millions of people that never thought they could become a morning person Right, I mean we've surveyed our audience

[01:02:07] It's 72% of miracle morning practitioners say they never in their life Were a morning person or believe they could become one and now they read the book and it completely changed that for them And so my hope is that this this you know 22-page sleep or miracle evening chapter

[01:02:22] We'll do the same for people for sleep as I'm telling you these are the simplest most specific straightforward step-by-step practices in the evening that I use to overcome You know six months of chronic insomnia

[01:02:36] So I could get a good night's sleep, and I hope it'll work for people as well So and I love that you added the miracle evening to your expanded book The miracle morning and and again it's been ten years since you know

[01:02:50] The miracle morning first came out millions of copies sold you've helped help so many people Including me like I love this book and it's it's one of the few Self-help books I think are legit and I really enjoy reading and I love the ideas behind it

[01:03:05] And I feel it overlapped a lot with just my instincts on what a good morning should be and it really put to words a lot of things And and but let I want to talk about your the business of the miracle morning for a second

[01:03:18] I also love how you kind of franchise the concept, you know like let me read some of the chapter titles You know you had other authors essentially write, you know the miracle morning for Couples the miracle morning for entrepreneurs the miracle morning for parents

[01:03:36] The miracle morning for college students The miracle morning for writers which I wrote the forward to Steve Scott wrote the book or you and Steve Scott wrote the book and You've done a really good job just building this business and brand and franchise of the miracle morning

[01:03:53] How's it going? Yeah, that's a great question. I'm it's going really well and I want to give credit where credit is due early on when I had the idea for The book series I met a woman named honor a quarter I remember you know

[01:04:04] I'm you know on array and honor a she had created a book series called the successful single mom book series And now she is one of the most prolific Authors on teaching authors how to become authors had to sell a lot of books

[01:04:17] That's kind of her niche now because she's done so well She's written like 40 books and so I hired her to help me develop the miracle morning series And so she helped me figure out how to create this you know this book series if you will

[01:04:29] And and yeah, and so the miracle morning, you know one of the things I've had a lot of authors that have seen me give I give a speech occasionally I give it at Genius Network and I've given it a couple times. It's called beyond the bestseller

[01:04:43] How to write a book that creates a movement Earns you a fortune and changes the world and it's based on the premise that many authors are chasing a bestseller list But that actually doesn't give you what you really want which is

[01:04:55] Impact and income like lasting impact and lasting income I think if any authors honest, that's what they want We think we want to get on a bestseller list because that'll give us what we want

[01:05:04] But it doesn't there's a lot of bestselling authors that if you look at their book on Amazon It's ranked, you know 650,000 on the bestsellers on Amazon

[01:05:12] It falls into obscurity even though it was a what do they call that a flash in the pan where hit the bestseller list So I talk about how do you write a book that really sustains if you will becomes a perennial bestseller and

[01:05:23] When I give that speech I show a graph that shows how long It took for me for the miracle morning to take off and it wasn't an overnight success It took 18 months of sustained promotion. I had been on over

[01:05:37] I think 200 podcast interviews in those 18 months done TV interviews like I every my whole life evolved around this miracle morning Concept and then it finally took off and I have so many authors that go man

[01:05:50] You promoted for 18 months before you even got any traction and now it's sold millions of copies They go if I would have promoted my book for I only promoted for three months

[01:05:59] And then I got bored or then I changed my mind or then I did something else or then I write And so my point is this my and I believe the miracle morning is the most of anything I've ever created in my life

[01:06:12] It's made the biggest impact for people the most profound impact for people so it is my life's work So now the miracle morning book series the miracle morning movie the miracle morning app Which I mean that that alone now

[01:06:25] You know tens of thousands of people use the miracle morning app every day and it's got 2005 star reviews in the app store like people love that but the point is it got really clear that this is my life's work So every shiny object every awesome financial opportunity

[01:06:43] It's only a yes If it's an alignment with my mission to share the miracle morning with more people because two million people have read the book Eight billion people are still waiting for me to find a way to show share it with them

[01:06:56] You should make a book like the miracle movement and write about the process of that talk Basically the concept of that talk because that's incredibly valuable like I thought about this a lot this concept a lot when I was

[01:07:10] After I wrote the book choose yourself and it received a lot of coverage and recognition and a you're totally right like That's the most successful book. I've ever written and it was it's directly correlated to how much work I put into

[01:07:24] Promoting it after the book and even before the book came out. I was writing a lot about the concepts I was basically promoting a lot before I even wrote the book Wrote the book and then I was on podcast for years talking about it

[01:07:36] And that's directly correlated to the success of it, but but I never I thought about some of these ideas that you're talking about But I ultimately it was it wasn't the right thing for me and But I really admire how you did it with the miracle morning

[01:07:50] You've done such a good job like you've you've built you hired community leaders for the community and you did this miracle morning series which again, I'm glad I was a tiny bit of participant in and

[01:08:03] Really grateful for your how I'm really grateful you came on the show and I'm so glad you wrote this expanded edition because it get allows me to recommend the miracle morning a second time and And again to people listening Literally instead of giving my own book

[01:08:19] I gave this book to my kids to read when they were going through different periods and in their lives And and it's a valuable book I encourage people to read it and and try the the the practices described and and you know all the suggestions

[01:08:32] There's no there's no one-size-fits-all Which how definitely stresses in the book and stressed in this podcast So you could there's lots of different ways to try these ideas really great

[01:08:41] And and look I hope I hope we could one day interact again in person instead of just on a podcast I really enjoy spending time with you and and as always thanks once again Yeah, James. I feel the same man

[01:08:51] You're one of my favorite people one most enjoyable people to talk to and we definitely need to do it in person Not just on on zoom or virtually. Yeah, definitely. Thanks