Yahoo Finance 6 'miracle morning' habits of millionaires
If you thought you had to be into 5am yoga and kale to be successful, you can (thankfully) think again.
It turns out plenty of millionaires and other successful people aren’t actually super-early risers, or health freaks for that matter. They’re just consistent – and formulaic.
According to success coach and author of The Miracle Morning Hal Elrod, the majority of high performers have a few morning rituals in common, which can be grouped into this simple acronym: SAVERS.
1. Silence
The first ‘S’ stands for silence, and can do us a world of good, according to Elrod.
“There’s usually not a lot of time for peaceful, purposeful silence,” he said in a careers podcast hosted by Pete Mockaitis, How to be awesome at your job.
“Yet, when we quiet our mind, that’s when our best ideas come –we tap into our inner wisdom.”
But given meditation is usually taught as clearing the mind, or trying to silence your thoughts, it can be tough to actually get into it – and as a result, many of us rarely do.
Rather than remove your thoughts, Elrod says you can actively use mediation to generate a specific result.
“I try to use my meditation to set the mindset for the day,” Elrod said. That means checking your schedule, thinking about what you need to do for the day and preparing yourself for it.
This kind of ‘active’ meditation can be particularly helpful if you’re working on a specific project, he said.
“I’ll have my notes app on my phone in front of me, and...I pause the meditation timer, and write an idea – I’m not trying to think, when you force thoughts you don’t usually get your best thoughts.
“This is just a way to engineer that space to tap into your genius every single morning.”
2. Affirmations
The ‘A’ stands for affirmations, but not the kind where you simply ‘think, therefore you are’.
If you repeatedly say, ‘I am a millionaire’ to yourself, your brain is probably going to call you out on it – unless you really are.
“It’s essentially lying to yourself, and trying to trick yourself into believing something that is not true or yet to be true,” he said.
Instead, you should make truthful affirmations, which is a four-step process.
“Affirm what you’re committed to – don’t say I’m a millionaire, say I’m committed to being a millionaire,” said Elrod.
After you do that, you need to reinforce why that is “deeply meaningful” to you, which ultimately determines how committed you are to achieving that goal.
Next, you need to say what activities you’re actually committed to in order to become a millionaire.
“You can say, I’m committed to increasing my income to $100,000 a year, and saving 50 per cent – get very specific on the activities that you’re going to do.”
The last thing you need to do is confirm when you’re going to achieve those activities.
3. Visualisation
The ‘V’ is for visualisation, and it’s a huge motivation to achieving your goals.
For example, if you’re wanting to start running, Elrod said you should continuously visualise yourself enjoying running. Eventually, you will.
“Visualise the activity – see yourself opening your computer to write those words, see yourself going to the gym and lacing up those shoes and running out the door, especially if you don’t feel like it or like those things.”
4. Exercise
While I said there was no 5am yoga, the ‘E’ is for exercise.
Elrod said the benefits of exercise in the morning – even for just a few minutes – are huge, and can help you wake up, feel energised and feel ready for the day.
If you usually exercise in the afternoon or in the evening, you can keep your routine as it is. However, you should try to introduce just a few minutes of jumping jacks or squats, or even a short 15 minute walk, in the morning to boost your energy levels.
“I in the morning usually do stretching followed by a 7-minute workout – it’s an app, it’s totally free, it’s fast-paced so you get cardio and strength training. That’s what I recommend in the morning.”
5. Read
The ‘R’ is for reading: “Every single one of us is one book away from learning everything we need to learn to improve our life.”
Even reading just five pages per day can hugely transform your life, Elrod said.
“Do you want to be a millionaire? There’s hundreds of books on that.”
6. Scribe
The second ‘S’ is for scribing.
“That’s a pretentious word for writing, but I needed an ‘S’ to round out the acronym,” Elrod said.
This part encompasses journaling and goal-setting, and writing down what you’re grateful for.
Elrod recommends The Five Minute Journal, which comes in a hardcover journal or an app. It has pre-prompted questions or statements that you can answer.
“Most of us are busy, and being busy tricks us into thinking we’re productive, but productive isn’t busy,” he said.
“Productive is busy doing the things that move us toward our biggest goals, our greatest dreams, the life that we truly want to live and the impact we truly want to make.
“That simple act of scribing every morning...that is a game changer.”
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