Miracle Morning Routine: 6 Steps to Transform Your Life and Boost Your Productivity

The Miracle Morning routine was introduced by Hal Elrod in his book The Miracle Morning: The Not-So-Obvious Secret Guaranteed to Transform Your Life (Before 8 AM).

This method of self-improvement consists of waking up early in the morning to set up a daily morning routine, through 6 activities called life savers.

You can use this routine to take some time for yourself when you wake up, to visualize your goals, exercise and meditate.

This will help you to be more productive during the day, succeed in life, and improve your work-life.

If you're an entrepreneur looking for ways to increase productivity or to spend more time with your family, the Miracle Morning routine could change your life.

In this article, we will provide you with its evaluation and review of the Miracle Morning routine, a starter kit, as well as concrete solutions to improve collaboration and teamwork:

See all software Idea & Innovation Management

An Overview of the Miracle Morning Routine

The Miracle Morning book encourages waking up early, along with several life-changing tips.

Let's take a look at how this method was created and what inspired the author to write about it! 👇

What is the Magic Morning Routine? The state of mind of Hal Elrod

Hal Elrod is an American author, keynote speaker and success coach. He is the author of the bestselling book The Miracle Morning, a routine he also created.

Also called the Magic Morning routine by some, it’s said to have changed the course of his life.

Throughout his life, Hal Elrod experienced two major setbacks: a car accident that put him in a coma for six days (during which time his girlfriend broke up with him) and personal bankruptcy in 2007.

In his book is a chapter called “The Miracle Morning Origin: Born out of Desperation” in which he explains how he got back on his feet after each setback.

He didn't let himself get discouraged, came out of depression, and looked for a way to move forward, and succeed and surpass himself in all areas including, love, health, professional success, and financial prosperity. 💪

I wanted to change, but I didn’t know where to start. So I became interested in what successful people have in common. I came across something I didn't want to believe: they're all early risers. If I wanted to get out of my situation and have a better life, I not only had to get up, I had to get up early! That's where Miracle Morning was born and its simple principle: get up early to do something positive.

Hal Elrod

The Promises of this Personal Development Method

Hal Elrod's research led him to conclude that personal growth is the key to success.

You have to wake up very early in the morning, as many famous entrepreneurs did before, and not feel sorry for yourself.

You must not be satisfied with mediocrity, but set goals and get the right tools to achieve them, surpass yourself, and fulfil your dreams. 🚀

According to Hal Elrod, anyone can improve their life by applying a daily morning routine based on life SAVERS (we’ll get into details further in this article 😉).

Here are some of the benefits you can expect to gain from this morning ritual:

• wake up every day with more energy, drive, and structure,
• lower stress levels,
• overcome challenges,
• improve overall health,
• increase productivity and focus,
• have more gratitude and less worry,
• attract more monetary wealth,
• uncover and begin your life’s purpose.

The following video explains Hal Elrod's vision:

What Time should I Wake up for Miracle Morning?

It’s said that successful people wake up at 4:30. 😮‍💨

Many people testified on how this method changed their lives. And because it’s easier said than done, if 4:30 am is too early for you, you can go for 6:00 at the beginning.

Here is a list of successful entrepreneurs and CEOs that wake up early:

• Richard Branson (CEO and founder of Virgin)
• Tim Cook (CEO of Apple)
• Howard Schulz (CEO of Starbucks)
• Jack Dorsey (CEO and founder of Twitter & Square)
• Robert Iger (CEO of Disney)
• Colin Lalouette (CEO and founder of Appvizer)
• Marissa Mayer (CEO of Yahoo)

📣 One of our coworkers will give you her personal opinion further in this article.

The 6 Practices of Miracle Morning routine: Life SAVERS

The challenge of the method is to change your life in 30 days. To succeed, you have to use the 6 life SAVERS every morning for one or several hours.

Hal Elrod encourages us with quotes throughout the book such as this one:

An extraordinary life is all about daily, continuous improvements in the areas that matter most.

Hal Elrod

The term SAVERS stands for:

• Silence,
• Affirmations,
• Visualization,
• Exercise,
• Reading,
• Scribing.

The objective of each step is to develop one or more of your

• physical,
• intellectual,
• emotional,
• or spiritual attributes.

🎬 This video unfolds the life SAVERS elements.

Now, let’s go over each step in detail. 👇

Step 1: Silence

The idea is to create and strengthen the serenity that lies within you. Starting your day with a moment of silence is soothing. 🤫

We all face many sources of stress daily, right?

We might as well start with something positive and enjoyable by projecting ourselves positively into the present moment and expressing gratitude for the things we have.

To appreciate calmness, try:

• meditation,
• prayer,
• breathing exercises.

Morning silence reduces stress and enhances our ability to think and react to challenges.

Step 2: Affirmations

Similar to autosuggestion and Coué methods, the more we repeat positive things to ourselves, the more it acts positively on our morale, as our well-being and contributes to our success. 🧘

This step consists of writing down positive statements about oneself and reading them aloud every morning.

The goal is to remove negative thoughts from our brain that may prevent us from moving forward, and to reprogram it with positive thoughts.

This leads to causing a boost effect on our actions over time. 💪

It is recommended to make affirmations in all areas:

• family life,
• relationship with your children,
• work objectives,
• financial situation,
• real estate project, health,
• well-being,
• sports,
• relationships with friends,
• colleagues, etc.

Imagining yourself becoming the person you aspire to be helps you to become this person. And, by believing in yourself, you give yourself the possibility to become that type of person.

Step 3: Visualization

By visualizing successful situations that you want to achieve in the smallest details, you project yourself as a winner, you then imagine each situation as possible and achievable. 🏆

Elrod says that for five minutes, you should “visualize living your ideal day, performing all tasks with ease, confidence, and enjoyment.”

Again, having a positive vision reinforces our ability to believe in it and to access it: it’s a law of attraction.

Here is another example of Visualization from the book:

Jim Carrey wrote himself a check in 1987 in the amount of 10 million dollars, and gave himself the end date of Thanksgiving 1995, with the memo line “For acting services rendered.” He then visualized it for years, and was paid 10 million dollars in 1994 (1 year early) for his starring role in Dumb and Dumber.

Hal Elrod

Step 4: Exercise

The benefits of playing sports or simple physical exercise have proven to increase energy, improve sleep, health and emotional well-being.

For people with physical disabilities or those who are less athletic, Hal Elrod advises doing yoga or arm movements, to avoid being inactive. 🏋️

The more athletic ones can devote as much time as they wish to their favorite activity:

• jogging,
• running,
• weightlifting,
• gymnastics,
• swimming, etc.

Of course, it is recommended to consult your doctor if you have a physical condition.

Hal Elrod tested his method, and after a bet with one of his friends, he said that if he could run 42 km, he could run 83 km! (And, he did!)

Step 5: Reading

The idea is to read for pleasure, to combine learning with entertainment. We should not force ourselves to read a book that we are not interested in.

This step consists of reading 10 pages every morning, regularly. 📖 Hal Elrod advises you to immerse yourself in self-help books rather than fiction.

The best advice: read positive things that will help you project yourself into your affirmations!

💡 It is also possible to reread a book that had a positive impact on you.

Step 6: Scribing

Putting your ideas on paper helps you sort through and structure your thinking.

The goal of this morning exercise is to keep a paper or a digital journal, depending on your preferences.

This step consists of keeping a written record of your positive thoughts and the means used to reach your goals, or to capture moments of happiness and awareness, etc.

Your diary can help you in many ways:

• you can visualize your positive thoughts, with illustrations, photos
• you have guidelines for your affirmations
• you can look back and see how far you've come
• you can write down even the craziest ideas
• you have a secret garden, completely devoted to your imagination
• your journal helps you to be clearer, to remember your ideas, etc.

To Sum Up the 6-Steps Routine

The Miracle Morning Routine Starter Kit

How do you start using the Miracle Morning routine? 🤔

Before practicing, you need to know how to get into the best conditions: here is a starter kit to start your Miracle Morning.

Start by freeing yourself from obstacles

According to Hal Elrod, 95% of people settle for less than they want in life because they allow themselves to be influenced by a few negative factors and bad habits.

Therefore, he recommends:

• Healing yourself from the "rear-view mirror syndrome": the perception of others and past failures promotes negative beliefs, this prevents us from projecting ourselves into a future where we might be successful;
• Defining your "why": if you get up in the morning without a definite reason, and you carry out a task without a precise goal, nothing makes sense, and your mind is then obsessed with the negative elements;
• Disciplining yourself: if you don't do anything to make things better, nothing will change, we are always responsible for our actions, and we should constantly discipline ourselves;
• Adopting a responsible behavior: it’s cowardly to flee from responsibilities, but also a behavior that devalues you;
• Knowing how to surround yourself: Get away from toxic people, befriend people who will give you ambition, and allow you to become better;
• Thinking about yourself: it is not a question of being selfish, but of taking care of yourself, personal development is the beginning of everything;
• Stop procrastinating: you need to associate a certain degree of urgency, set deadlines, and establish a plan of action that you will commit to, nothing will happen if you "let it happen".

Use Hal Elrod’s 5-Steps Wake-up Strategy

Here are 5 simple but powerful steps to make waking up every day a lot easier:

1. Set Your Intentions Before Bed

Think of something positive before going to bed. You will think about it the next morning when you wake up, and it will be a source of motivation for you to get up earlier.

2. Keep your Alarm Clock Across the Room

Keep your alarm clock across the room!

It will force you to get out of bed and engage your body in movement.

💡 Motion creates energy, so getting up helps you wake up.

3. Brush your Teeth

Go directly from turning off your alarm clock to brushing your teeth.

As you’re brushing your teeth, keep repeating the mantra “In five minutes, I’ll be awake!” over and over in your head.

4. Hydrate Yourself

When finishing brushing your teeth, hydrate yourself with a glass of water.

The objective is to rehydrate your body and mind, which were deprived of water during the time you slept.

💡 When you are dehydrated, you feel tired.

5. Get Dressed (OR) Shower

Put on your sportswear and start with physical exercise, the other steps will seem easy afterward… 😉

Of course, you are free to adapt the order of the 6 life SAVERS to your liking, as well as the duration of each step according to their desires.

The important thing is to do them all!

Define Affirmations

Elrod highlights the importance of affirmations and recommends repeating them daily, ideally out loud.

Affirmations transform how you think and feel so you can overcome your limiting beliefs and behaviors and replace them with those you need to succeed.

Follow the 5 steps of Hal Elrod's method to write your affirmations and answer these questions:

• step 1: what do you really want?
• step 2: why do you want it?
• step 3: who do you need to get it done?
• step 4: what do you have to do to get it done?
• step 5: what quotes inspire you?

In the table below, you will find a list of Miracle Morning affirmations.

The idea is to stop thinking negatively and transform a thought into a positive affirmation.

You can use inspirational quotes to help create your affirmations. 

Create a vision board

In addition to affirmations, a vision board is a useful tool to illustrate what you want in life. Your vision board should focus on things you want and how you want to feel.

This includes your goals and the means you need to reach them.

On your vision board, you should put:

• photos,
• illustrations,
• inspirational quotes,
• affirmations,
• and anything that inspires and motivates you.

The purpose of your vision board is to bring everything on it to life.

👉 Hang your vision board in a room to see it daily or create an online vision board that you can see at all times. It’s recommended to cover the following areas:

• relationships,
• career and finances,
• home,
• travel,
• personal growth,
• and health.

You should cover each area to your liking.

💡 Visualization is a proven scientific method, Olympic athletes have been using it for decades to improve performance.

The three phases of creating a new habit

Hal Elrod warns that: the beginning is very difficult, you'll have to hold on!

Here are the 3 phases of Miracle Morning that you will go through before setting up your morning routine:

• Phase 1: 10 unbearable days during which you will suffer; you will have to push through, and it will get better. This requires a lot of effort as you are fighting existing habits. 😮‍💨
• Phase 2: 10 uncomfortable days during which habits start to get a bit easier, but they are still not natural. Stay focused and do not reward yourself by taking a break, remember what your goal is.
• Phase 3: 10 unstoppable days during which the habit starts to feel natural. This is where habits become part of your behavior.

Software for Self-improvement

If using the Miracle Morning routine helps you with self-improvement, and project management software could be the ideal tool to unite and motivate team members around a project.

Not only does teamwork benefit a group as a whole, but it can also enhance personal development for the individuals involved.

Every member will save precious time and the whole company will see its productivity increase.

The features of these collaborative solutions allow you to :

• centralize data,
• give up-to-date information to employees,
• share and assign tasks,
• visualize projects in real-time,
• have customized indicators,
• and anticipate outcomes.

An Experiment and Review of the Miracle Morning Routine

📣 Aurélie, a 39-year-old ex-member of the Appvizer team, tell us more about how the Miracle Morning routine changed her life. We interviewed her to get her thoughts and opinions on the method.

Q: What inspired you to test the method?

Aurélie: The promises made by the book and its author: to wake up more easily, in a better mood, to increase productivity, to feel more fulfilled… It makes you dream.

Q: What are your life SAVERS? Did you use those recommended by Hal Elrod, or did you set up your morning routine with other activities? How did you cut them out?

Aurélie: At first, I followed Al Herold's method. Then, little by little, I distanced myself from it, as I like reading a lot, it's an activity that I gave more time to, especially in the evening.

Visualization and affirmations were fun to put in place. And, creating a vision board is an activity that I really enjoyed.

The affirmations should be updated constantly to match your current goals.

And I did not think that doing 10 minutes of sport in the morning would put me in such good shape. I quickly replaced it with gym sessions twice a week, from 6 am to 7 am. 😮‍💨

Q: What was the most difficult part of setting up your morning routine?

Aurélie: Waking up an hour earlier was a real challenge! Especially since I'm the kind of person who snoozes their alarm as many times as possible.

Meditation wasn't easy either, especially since I've never done it before.

Q: How easy was it to implement your Miracle Morning?

Aurélie: Once you've woken up, the method is very simple to follow and requires little preparation.

You just have to dedicate a few minutes to each activity. Devoting time makes it easier to set up the routine.

Q: What were your results after 30 days? After a longer period?

Aurélie: I started using the Miracle Morning routine during a challenging period in my life. I quit my job, and I was worried about finding a new one quickly.

The Miracle Morning routine helped me clarify my expectations for my future job and motivated me in my job search. I found a job within a month. A job that met my expectations and was more fulfilling.

Q: What would you recommend to someone who wants to test the method?

Aurélie: I would advise them to test it for a month to see if it suits them, and if it fits into their schedule.

Although the method is called miracle morning, it is also possible to do it in the evening.

And if like me, that person has trouble getting up in the morning, placing an alarm clock at the other end of the room is a good solution.

It is also easier to carry out the routine if you have a precise goal or at least a clear idea of what you want to improve.

Q: What are your tips for increasing productivity at work?

Aurélie: Every morning, before I start anything, I make a list of the tasks to do throughout the day.

I set myself the goal of achieving a number of them. This pushes me not to waste time between each task by wondering what to do next.

Once my tasks are listed, I schedule them in my agenda to determine how much time I need to give to each one.

For repetitive or long tasks, I use the Pomodoro Technique, which consists of working in 25-minute sessions and then taking a 5 or 10-minute break.

For time-consuming tasks, it is sometimes easier to cut them into smaller units. It is easier for me to concentrate for 25 minutes several times, instead of 2 hours at a time.

See all software Idea & Innovation Management

Start your Miracle Morning routine!

By adopting the six steps of the Miracle Morning routine, you will improve your mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual dials every morning.

The important thing now is to take the first step! 🏇

What are you going to start doing? Which of the steps catches your attention the most?