How you wake up in the morning affects your entire day. If you begin your morning with momentum, you can keep it up for the entire day. Hal Elrod was impacted significantly by the economic crash of 2008, with his health, finances and career all in a downward spiral. But then he researched the personal development practices of high-performers and identified the six habits shared by many successful people. Hal instituted these habits into his daily routine and saw dramatic improvements in all areas of his life in just two months. He has since written a book called “The Miracle Morning” and here are the six habits, also called life S.A.V.E.R.S.

1. S—Silence. For a minimum of 5 minutes (but ideally 10-20), either meditate or do deep breathing. This will help clear your head of negative thoughts. Make sure you don’t do this in bed or you might fall back asleep.
2. A—Affirmations. Your self-talk has a dramatic influence on your mood. The affirmations should not be who you are or what you want to be, but rather what you are committed to. Here are four questions to help craft your affirmations:

   1. What are you committed to?

   2. Why is it deeply meaningful to you?

   3. What activities will you do to ensure your success?

   4. When, specifically, will you commit to doing these activities?

3. V—Visualization. Visualize your day to prepare yourself mentally and emotionally, just like an athlete visualizes his or her performance before the competition. Get very specific with your visualizing to make this most effective.
4. E—Exercise. Get your blood moving and oxygen into your lungs. This doesn’t have to be a long workout. A few minutes of jumping jacks and stretching, a 20-minute walk or yoga will help you wake up and have an effective start to your day.
5. R—Reading. There are countless books available to help you get whatever you want in your life. Sticking with a trend to not overwhelm you, even reading 5 to 10 pages per day equates to quite a bit of reading during a year. If you read 10 pages every day, this will be 3,650 pages per year which equates to 18 books of 200 pages. Those who read this frequently are separating themselves from 95% of society, according to Elrod.
6. S—Scribing. Another word for writing, but the acronym doesn’t work as well.  😊  Scribing will help capture ideas as the process of writing something down will force you to think through it enough to understand it better.  Elrod recommends writing on two questions:

   1. What are three things you’re most grateful for? Starting your day with gratitude helps you see the world through a positive lens.

   2. What are the three most important things you need to do today? Elrod noticed significant progress towards goals that he thought were unattainable.  But he made a point of writing specifically the three biggest tasks to move closer to those goals and saw the reward.

One last piece of advice.  If you’re struggling with the snooze button, move your alarm clock across the room, forcing you to get out of bed when it goes off.

If you’re interested in having a more productive morning, leading to a more productive day, try these tips.  And if you want to dig a little deeper, here is a link to the book on Amazon.

This WealthNotes Inform was written by Tim Petska, Client Advisor & Manager of Engagement Services