Elevating your Daily Consciousness with Hal Elrod

Foreign. If you were on a mission to elevate consciousness of humanity, like one person at a time, like, what would that mission in your life look like? Well, you're about to find out because coming up in a moment, my friend Hal Elrod, international keynote speaker and author of one of the highest rated books in the world, the Miracle Morning, the life changing book. You know, he has over 4,000 five star reviews on Amazon. He sold over 2 million copies. He's going to be here elevating your daily consciousness with the steps that you should be considering on what to go through in your life. And we're also going to be talking about how to overcome adversity and inspire people along the way. Hal Elrod will be with me on the Todcast coming up in just a few moments. This podcast is brought to you by the Wire Buzz team. Now, if that name sounds familiar, it's because I've spent the past decade growing Wirebuzz into a digital marketing powerhouse designed to maximize clarity in complex sales processes so we can help accelerate revenue. And we do this in three phases. Phase one, we transform your website to function like your best salesperson and then also incorporate persuasive on demand sales videos. Now your entire team is aligned on messaging and they're injecting massive clarity into your prospect's head. So your site looks great, but it also has engaging content that helps your team sell on demand 24. 7. The next phase phase two, we train your sales and marketing teams and to sell remotely or in person to expand the impact of your sales team. And the third phase is we develop and run targeted ads to your prospects. Scale those ads to help you achieve more business results. Sign up for the Wirebuzz Company newsletter to learn more about effective and simple ways to improve your company messaging, attract more digital attention, and ultimately make more sales. What is up? What is up? All right, I'm super fired up about this and I want to talk with you about a whole lot of things in this episode, but I want to talk to you about you and how you get yourself primed in position to be that incredible force for good in the world. Not only in your home with the people that are counting on you the most, but also in your community and at work. But first question I've got for you is how do the world's most successful people start their day? And I'm talking about people like Mel Robbins, who I absolutely love, and Brendon Bouchard and Robert Kiyosaki, who I recently saw. Even people like Lewis Howes or Dr. John Gray. How do they start their day and what can you learn from them? Well, we're going to talk about that in this episode and that's why I'm joined right now by the author of the international bestseller the Miracle Morning. How Elrod is with me. Hal, thanks for joining me on the Todcast, Todd.

It is a pleasure. And anyone that can put their name into the pot. Like, I mean, I just, I love the, the. How creative and clever you are.

Thank you. Well, look, dude, I have a. I'm a fan and I'm also a fan of the morning time where everything in my life is renewed and I've got a power and an energy and it all comes from Miracle Morning philosophies. Let's go back. Before we get into Miracle Morning. We talk about the impact things. I'm intrigued by the how that maybe most people don't know. Like, when you were a teenager.

Yeah.

I think you and I were both radio nerds. Like, we both loved radio. And I know you had an early gig in the early days, like I did. What do you. What did you think you were going to be doing with your life here on Earth?

Yeah. So great question. And I love going back like that. It for me, at 15 years old, I started DJing school dances. So it happened on accident. A buddy of mine, he called me, said, hey, my older brother Jake is sick and he was supposed to DJ our 8th grade dance. So I was a sophomore at this time in high school. My buddy Jake says, hey, we're supposed to do this eighth grade dance. And he says, you want to do it with me? Because my brother is sick. And I was like, yeah, that sounds fun. So we DJ the dance. We make like $7 in tip cups, you know, from a tip cup. Yeah. The eighth graders don't have a lot of money and, and, but, but, but a passion is born. And I'm like, I love that. Let's start a little. Like, let's start doing other school dances. So my dad helps me finance equipment. I'm working at a grocery store that my parents owned, so I'm paying the payments on this equipment. And Jake and I end up getting in a fight over a girl. But I'm like, that's not gonna deter me. I'm gonna go be a DJ. And so I started DJing weddings, school dances, local bars. Like, I lived in a small town, man. They let me in the bar to dj. Like, and, and then, and then my dream was to be a. And one day I get a phone call from the local radio station manager, and he wants me to come in for an interview because he heard around town that I was a dj. And so I go in, I interview, I get the job. I have my own radio show every Thursday during the school year. And I'm like. And so for me, what I thought I was gonna do was I was going to start a DJ business and be a nationally syndicated radio DJ. So at 15, that was the goal, the dream that I was pursuing.

Yeah, that's classic. That's very similar to me and my path. By 26, I had a show on the number one station in Arizona. By 27, I was on air six days a week. And by 29 or 30 I was traveling for Clear Channel as one of their on location reporters for breaking news. And then I totally burned out. And. But I love it. Like I know that at 20 you got into a horrible car accident in your mid-30s, you went through a bout of cancer that took you years to get through. Adversity is part of your story, isn't is?

Yeah. When I was 20, I was head on by a drunk driver at 80 miles an hour and I was found dead at the scene. My heart stopped for six minutes. I spent six days in a coma. When I came out of the coma, you know, I found out I had 11 broken bones including my femur had broken in half, my pelvis had broken in three places, my arm had broken in two pieces, my elbow was shattered, my eye socket was shattered, my ear was almost completely severed. And a lot of internal injuries, punctured lung, ruptured spleen. And the doctor said I would never walk again. And so the, you know, and I mean, that's obviously a long story, but the short of it is I just had this mindset that I'm going to accept the worst case scenario so that it has no power over me. So if I'm in a wheelchair the rest of my life, I decided I'll be the happiest, most grateful person that anyone has ever seen in a wheelchair. Because I will not let my unchangeable circumstances determine my mental and emotional well being. I'm going to choose those things. And I thought, but, but if I, but, but I'm not going to accept that's my only option. I'm going to visualize walking again, I'm going to pray about it, I'm going to maintain unwavering faith that I can walk again. And three weeks after the crash, two weeks after I came out of the coma, the doctors came in with routine X rays and they said, we don't know how to explain this hell, but we're gonna let you take your first step today. And it was like, and even for me, I was like thinking it'd be a year before I could walk again. And it was three weeks later I took my first step that day and the rest is kind of history, as they say. And then, you know, financial collapse in 2008 led to the miracle morning concept that, you know my book that I'm known for and, and then yeah, the cancer was, that was terrifying, man. My organs were failing, my lung was collapsed, my heart was failing, my lungs were. And this was like from healthy one day, hospitalized the next day. And turned out I had a really rare aggressive cancer which had a 20 to 30% survival rate. So I was 37 years old, I had a 7 year old daughter and a 4 year old son. And I was being told by doctors, there is a 70 to 80% chance that you're going to die in the next few weeks. And I immediately started chemo, which that horrified me because I'm like, I don't want to poison my body with chemo. And it was a really intense chemo. It was like 100 hours of chemo every three weeks. I mean it was intense and I'm still suffering the effects of that now, but anyway. But it was the same mindset. I went, well, I can't change that I have cancer. And I think that's been the lesson that I feel like God has given me to share with the world, or at least one of many. Which is like, accept life exactly as it is. Because every painful emotion that we experience is really self created by our resistance to reality. Like you think about it, if something bad happens to two people, one person resists it and goes, this isn't fair, I don't deserve it. God, why could, how could this happen to me? They are creating this inner turmoil, but that exact same thing could happen to another person standing right beside them. And that person goes, I'm not going to resist this. I'm going to accept my reality as it is and so I can be at peace with it, make the best of it and move forward. Right? Two different people, exact same tragedy or circumstance and two completely different realities that are self created based on one person resists wishing things were different that can't be different and the other person accepts it, is completely at peace and can focus on the positive.

And that's a choice, right?

Yeah, it's absolutely a conscious choice. You have to make that choice. You have to give yourself permission that, hey, let me put it this way. I think this will help people even frame it another way. We've been conditioned to think, to believe that when good things happen, I feel good, and when bad things happen, I feel bad. Another way of saying it is when good things happen, I get to feel good, but when bad things happen, I have to feel bad, and I blame it on the thing happening. And the reality is, this is the new paradigm I want to offer everybody listening or watching, is how about no matter what happens, you feel how you choose to feel, and you don't allow unchangeable circumstances to determine your mental and emotional well being. You determine your mental and emotional well being. And yes, that is a choice.

So that also means that we have to insulate ourselves in a way that. My grandfather was an early pioneer of American metaphysics. He would always say to me when I would be frustrated, nothing or no one can harm you in any negative way. You're 100% in charge of your outlook on life. And the mind leads the body, not the body leading the mind. So, like, I was conditioned at an early age to recognize that I'm in charge of those things. Where did that come for you? It.

It happened in. At 19 years old, I gave up my dream job on the radio and pursuing my DJ business to start a career in direct sales. I started selling Cutco cutlery. And I think you and I have a lot of mutual friends that sold Cutco. Yes, if it wasn't for Cutco, I wouldn't have any friends. I met most of my friends in Cutco, but I was there for six years. But at 19, I started in sales, and I learned something on my second day of training called the five minute rule. And it simply stated that when something happens, that you would call, you know, this bad thing happened. And in the context of when I was learning, it was like, hey, you're gonna be in sales. Sales is like daily rejection and disappointment and failure. Like, the way that my mentor framed it is he said, hey. He said, the average person occasionally faces rejection. They occasionally fail. Like maybe at the end of the year if they don't reach a goal, Right? But he said, you're gonna have it on a regular basis. I think he called it accelerated adversity or amplified adversity, something like that. He said, you need a tool to deal with it. And so he simply taught us. It seems so simple, but it's one of the most profound lessons I've ever learned. And it's that when something bad Happens. He taught us, set your timer on your phone for five minutes and give yourself five minutes to feel whatever emotions come up for you. Bitch, moan, complain, cry, vent, punch a wall, be angry, feel it all. But when the timer goes off after five minutes, now that you've allowed yourself to not suppress, but to express your emotions after the five minute timer goes off, he taught me to say three really powerful words. Can't change it. It's an acknowledgement. I can't change what happened five minutes ago. So right now I have a choice. I can continue to suffer and be miserable and be upset over this thing I can't change. And I can blame it on the thing, but it's really up to me. Or I can say, can't change it, acknowledge. I can't change it. So the only logical choice I have is to accept it, to be at peace with it. I might not be happy that it happened, but being at peace with it is much more powerful. It's rooted. Happiness is an emotion that's fleeting. You could be happy one minute phone call with bad news changes it. But when you choose to be at peace, it's a state of being, it's a state of consciousness where when bad things happen, but you choose to accept them, you live your life in this underlying state of inner peace. And so he taught us this. My first response was, you gotta be kidding me, dude. You expect me to get over something in five minutes? And the first time I set my timer for five minutes, it went off. And I was still upset. I'm like, see, I'm still mad. I'm not upset. I'm not just cause a timer goes off, I'm not over it. But after literally a week or two of doing that, when I would set the timer and it would go off and I would start to go, I'm so upset. And then, you know, like 10 seconds go by and I'm like, well, I can't change it. What's the point? Because I had practiced taking five minutes to get to can't change it. I eventually started getting there almost immediately. And I was like, five minutes is a waste of time to feel sorry for myself. Give me five seconds to, you know, drop an F bomb, like, you know, like grunt, whatever. And then I'm ready to move on. And that lesson I applied when I had my car accident, right? That's literally why I was able to. If it wasn't for that lesson of the five minute rule and practicing it for so long, a year and a half after I learned it, I Woke up from a coma, and I was like, okay, I can't change that I was in a car accident. I can't change that I broke 11 bones. I can't change that I have permanent brain damage. I can't change that my body is scarred significantly, and it will be forever. But I can choose to be the happiest and most grateful I've ever been while I endure the most difficult time in my life. And that's my invitation for everybody, is to consider that paradigm that you could actually be the happiest you've ever been, the most grateful you've ever been while you're in the midst of the most difficult circumstances you've ever faced.

I love you, Hal. Like, as you're talking, I'm like, I'm so glad he's my friend, because this is the way that I've got myself to think and act and how I've trained myself over the years. And of course, there's always naysayers, but the naysayer also fuels the negativity that keeps them from breaking through and coming to peace and terms and then identifying where they can. What they can fix. And I. It's so interesting to me, like, how does. So the miracle morning has changed so many people's lives. I want to give you one example.

Yeah.

You know, I'm a special advisor to the White House, chairman of the president's cancer panel. Have been for the last two administrations. And I'm honored to do that. One of the incredible.

And I didn't know that. That's amazing. Yeah.

One of the top cancer experts in the world. I was. We're waiting to go into a meeting, and he said to me, he's now retiring from daily surgery, which he's done for 40 years. What should he. Any advice on what he should do for his morning, on how he can give himself a routine because now he's got more time. And I said, oh, my God, you've got to read my friend Hal's book. So I started telling him about your book and how it changes the entire day by focusing in on this one area of the day. Then, like, a couple months went by, and he saw me, and he's like, oh, my God. And then Hal said this, and then Hal said that, and he turned, like, you turned one of the top cancer experts into the world into a raving, like, Taylor Swift fan for Hal Elrod. And I loved hearing him say this. And the impact. How did miracle morning get started for you? And then we're going to talk about Impact and how people can start using it in their lives. What's the origin here?

Yeah, it was a very organic story. Meaning that this wasn't like a book idea, right? I wasn't an author. I had written one book, but it was about my car accident called Taking Life Head On. And it was like a one and done. I'm like, cool, I gotta share my story. My friend convinced me I should do it, so I wrote that book. But I wasn't like, I'm not writing. Takes me a long time. So I thought, I'm not gonna be an author again. And then in 2008, the economy crashed. I crashed with it. I was in denial because I was like, I'm not. I don't care what happens in the economy. I'm going to. You know, I won't be impacted by it. Like. And then I was. I was a coach. So most of my clients were like, hey, we're. Our business is down. We can't afford to pay you. And I'm like, oh, okay. So I lost over half of my income in a matter of months. And I couldn't pay my mortgage. My house was foreclosed on, which. That alone, you know, you buy your first home, you're living the dream, you think, and then the bank takes it back and you have to move back in with dad. At age 30, when you thought you had, you know, made it right, you'd gotten out of your own. And so I got really depressed. I couldn't figure out how to turn my situation around. And a buddy of mine had me. I confessed to him how bad things had gotten. My friend, John Bergoff. Do you know John, by the way, John Bergoff?

I don't, but I'd love to.

Okay. I'll have to introduce you at some point. But anyway, the. He recommended that I. Two things. He said, you need to be exercising every morning. Go for a run every morning. I said, I hate running. And he asked. He said, very profound response. He said, what do you hate worse running or your circumstances that you just described to me? And I was like, damn, I don't hate anything worse than how bad I'm struggling right now. And so I said, I'll go for a run. And what else? And he said, listen to this Jim Rohn audio and apply it. And so I listened to Jim Rohn audio and there was a quote. He said, you, level of success will seldom exceed your level of personal development. And I rewound it and I played it again. And I went, every person, myself included, if we're measuring success, however you define it, fulfillment, you know, monetary success, business success, whatever it is. Your level of happiness, on a scale of 1 to 10, everybody wants level 10. Like, I've never met anyone that's like, I don't want to be too happy or too healthy or too wealthy. Like, I believe there's an innate drive and desire for all of us to fulfill our potential and create the most extraordinary life that we can imagine, yet very few people do it. And so I then asked myself, okay, if Jim Rohn says your level of success will seldom exceed your level of personal development, okay, I want level 10 success. Well, what's my level of personal development? And I believe this is the disconnect, Todd, for the majority of our society is we all want level 10 success. But we ask ourselves, what's my level of personal development? Like, how many people other than Miracle Morning practitioners have a daily, strategic, dedicated personal development ritual that ensures that they're becoming a better version of themselves every single day? And so I assessed my own, and I went my level of personal developments, like, at a 2, maybe a 3 on a good day. And I believe that's the disconnect. Well, I wanted level 10 success, but I was a level 2 version of myself in terms of who I could become. So the epiphany was, I'm gonna go study what the world's most successful people do for their personal development, and I'm gonna combine the best of the best practices to create the ultimate morning ritual. Because I'm not a morning person. But I thought, if I want my life to be different, I have to be willing to get out of my comfort zone, overcome my limiting belief that says I'm not a morning person, and start my day in a peak state. And so I did it within two months. And this is in 2008, when the economy was just tanking, getting worse and worse. Businesses are going under. You know, my business was going under within two months of doing this morning ritual, which didn't have a name. It was called personal development in the morning. Right? I more than doubled my income. And I really. I want to emphasize that for anyone that's either feeling the effects or scared of the effects of the economy on your business, on your income, on your career. Even though the economy got worse because I got better every single day, I was able to double my income in a worsening economy. Physically. I went from being in the worst shape of my life, where I had canceled my gym members six months prior and I hadn't exercised at all. Literally, I Was just. I was in depression mode. I woke up at the last minute. I worked until I couldn't anymore, ate some food, watch some tv, went to.

Bed and static energy is depression. Like, you know, the, the, the people that are moving their bodies are the ones that are moving out depression. Like how one of the things that I love and I'm sorry to take you off track and just.

So please go.

One of the, one of the things that I love is how when you, when your muscles contract and it could be anything that you do, it could be yoga or running, or it could be Pilates or lifting weights. It doesn't matter. When you contract the muscles, your body secretes hope molecules that inside you get you fired up to take on whatever comes your way with a positive attitude. And it feels like you know that once you got yourself into the spot where you had hope molecules flooding your system on a daily basis and you were doing your rituals and your confidence went up.

Yep.

Then things became really easy because now HAL was playing in a different level.

Totally. Well, yes. And it's, you know, the miracle morning is made up of six practices, right. And the acronym is S A V E, R. S known as the Savers or the Lifesavers. But, but the Savers, it's silence. That's your meditation or prayer. Affirmations. That's affirming. Not some goofy like, I'm amazing, I am a millionaire. But I'm committed to doing these things for these reasons at these times. Right. And then you live in alignment with what you affirm and you see results. The V is for visualization. The world's best athletes visualize themselves performing every day. They mentally rehearse performing in a peak state. And why wouldn't we do that? Whatever you mentally rehearse, you then live into. Right. Whatever you visualize. The E is for exercise. And you don't have to go to the gym in the morning, but we're talking 60 seconds of jumping jacks. That will get your heart rate up, get the blood and oxygen to your brain to boost your mental clarity and boost your physical energy in literally a minute or two in the morning. The R is for reading. Right? Reading. Not Harry Potter or Fifty Shades of Gray, but like reading a book on a topic that you want to improve. So for me, every morning I have to read a book on parenting or marriage. I have a self imposed rule that I have to read a book on parenting or marriage to earn the right to read the business book that I'm working on. Right. And it's just A reminder of my family is my highest priority. Not because I say they are, which is how before I had cancer, that's how it used to be, but because I'm actually doing things every day to learn how to be a better husband and a better father. And the final S in savers is for scribing, and that is a fancy word for journaling or writing, right? And that's journaling what you're grateful for, reflecting on your progress, tracking your, you know, your priorities, and getting clear on what your highest priorities are so you can be as productive as possible. And so those six practices every morning in as little as six minutes or in 60 minutes, or anywhere in between, that's a miracle morning. And when I started doing those, like, to your point, I became more confident very quickly. I started every day in a peak physical, mental, emotional and spiritual state. And that enabled me to show up at my best every day. And how can you be depressed when you're doing that? Right? I mean, my depression literally started fading during my very first miracle morning because it was replaced. Hopelessness was replaced with hope. I'm like, wait a minute, if I do this every day, it's only a matter of time before on a scale of 1 to 10, I become level 3, 4, 5, 6, you know, and eventually becoming the best version of myself to be able to create and sustain the success that I want in my life.

Dude, I just love this, okay? I am obsessed with like everything that you just explained. So I don't even know where to get going. Let me. The first thing, the first thing is the first act of the day is so crucial in dictating what the day is going to develop. I look at the heart. The first act of this, Hartley, is a lot like the first act of the heart. The first act of the heart is an action of loving self kindness. It takes the oxygen depleted blood that comes from outside the heart, goes right into the heart. But with its first action, it pumps that oxygen depleted blood into the lungs and then back into the heart so it feeds itself first. Its first act is caring for the heart. Now, miracle morning is a lot like what the heart does. Caring for yourself before you can be of service and impact the other people. Am I seeing that accurately?

Completely. You know, to me, one of the ways that I often describe the miracle morning or the benefit of it is it enables you to show up at your best for those you love and those you lead. And hopefully you are the first person that you love and that you lead because then you can only give what you fill yourself up with. And so, yeah, absolutely. The miracle morning. When I started it, I was in financial desperation without, you know, without a family. And now I have a wife and I have kids. And so now I realize that it's not just about doing this for me. It's doing this so that I can be the father that my kids deserve and the husband that my wife deserves and the human being that humanity deserves. Right. And I think that for all of us. You know, you mentioned earlier in the opening about elevating our consciousness. Right. That is what this is doing, is you're elevating your consciousness to a higher state so that you can show up at your best every single day.

All right, let me give you a real practical Todd example with the miracle morning. The very first time I meet Tony Robbins and the team, I'm on a business trip in Dallas, and I get notification that he's there and that they want. We want to meet. And I change my plans, and I go to Unleash the Power within day one. I walk into Unleash the Power within, and I'm like, wait a minute. This is that event where you're going to walk the coals at the end of this night. And I haven't thought about any of this, but I'm like, when given the opportunity, do it. So I walked the Kohl's, and by the time and we were in a basketball stadium, there were like 15,000 people. By the time I got to walk the Kohl's and got back to the hotel room, it's now 3:45 in the morning. Okay. It was a long night.

Yeah.

And a long day.

And I was just waking up for my miracle morning, by the way. Continue.

Yes. No, I get it. I totally get it. This is not my. I'm in bed at, like, 8:30. Okay.

Okay. You're like me.

So this is a completely different Todd moment. But I've got to meet team Tony at 8 in the morning, and I'm laying down at basically 4. But I do know that I'm going to be worthless unless I get my miracle morning going. So I slept for 90 minutes. I got out of bed, acted like I had a full night's sleep. I went and worked out. I did all of my. My silence and my, you know, my meditation and my journaling, and I prepared myself, and I had literally one of the best meetings of my entire life that changed my life. But if I would have skipped over the miracle part and got more sleep, none of that amazing connection would have happened.

I Love that. That's powerful. No, it is so true. It's. It's most of us, most people, right? If you think about how you wake up in the morning, most people wait to wake up until the last possible minute, right? So they look at their schedule and you go, okay, what's the first appointment I have? Or when do I have to be somewhere, do something or take care of someone else? And they go, okay, how long is it gonna take me to get ready for that? And how many times do I wanna hit the snooze button, right? Like, and then they, then they set their alarm, you know, and then there's this other camp of people you mentioned in the beginning, the Mel Robbins, the Lewis Howes, the Tony Robbins, the world Robin Shar, class athletes and, you know, entrepreneurs and successful, you name it, right? And they've realized that, no, most of the world's most successful people start their day not when they have to, but when they want to dedicate time to becoming a better version of the person that went to bed the night before. Right? And that. And whether it doesn't have to be an hour, it can be 10 minutes or 20 minutes or 30 minutes or, you know, whatever works for somebody. And it doesn't have to be. It doesn't have to be all the savers. You know, I always say a miracle morning, if you wake up 30 minutes earlier and you, you know, you meditate and do some jumping, like, that's a, That's a miracle morning, right? Yeah. So. So I love, I love that. And I have stories like that where, you know, if I hadn't done the miracle morning, like, something shifted for me during that time that allowed me to show up better for. For whatever it was on my agenda that day.

Okay, for those of that are that are listening right now, I want to just bookmark this moment and I want you to have a little conversation with yourself about how committed are you to being the highest and best version of yourself for, of course, yourself and your time here on Earth, but also for the people that are in your immediate circle and your clients and the world that you get to interact with. Like, how important is that? Because as I hear, hear Hal talk, what I'm really hearing about is a commitment to being the highest and best manifestation of the abilities that you've been given here in your limited amount of time. This drives you, doesn't it?

How do you mean?

Like, this is part of your daily Hal personal mission is to be the highest and best version of yourself. Am I, Am I like this Is this is something that is. I have it wound inside of me too. I'm excited for what my full potential will be when I've developed myself fully. But it sounds like you, you too have this bit of obsession's the wrong word, but commitment inside of you.

It's a little ocd, I'm sure is involved. But no, no, but to your point, you know, my purpose in life, if you will. I mean, I talk about purpose as something that you don't have to have. Just one right for those that are like, you know, I don't know what my purpose. I think a lot of people look for their purpose. It's like you don't look for it, you just make it up. You just literally go, what, what, what gets me excited and you can borrow it from somebody else. In fact, Matthew Kelly wrote the book the Rhythm of Life. I was reading that early on when I was doing the Miracle Morning and I was writing the book. And in that he talks about the purpose of life is to become the best version of yourself. Every day. Everything you do, every choice that you make, you can back test it against that purpose. Hmm. Would eating this fried, you know, food, this ice cream, right? Or these vegetables or this, you know, high quality meat, like which of these choices will contribute to me becoming the best version of myself? And so for me, the way that looks is my purpose is to fulfill my potential so that I can help other people fulfill theirs. And it starts at home with my family, right? Like I believe I have a responsibility to my kids, to my wife, to humanity, to do everything in my power to live to my full potential, which is a constant, never ending pursuit. Right. On my deathbed, I'll still be pursuing, you know, the next level of evolution for me personally, but the point being that it's to fulfill my potential in service of others, right? Because you can't help somebody else fulfill theirs if you don't know how to do it, right? I mean, almost anybody that's written a book, it's because they did the thing and now they're paying it forward and they're helping somebody else do the thing, right? And so, yeah, so for me, that is the purpose is fulfill my potential while helping other people to do the same.

Yeah, it's beautiful. It's impact. And you can't have your full impact unless you're fully developed. And that's a great pursuit to be on. What I'm hearing is you're in Kanai. And for those that don't know what can I is it's like you can be stuck in life in a lot of places. Frustration, irritability, desperation. But the only place you're allowed to keep yourself stuck in is in Canai. Constant and never ending improvement. And if you get yourself stuck there, that's where you want to be because you'll keep developing yourself. What are some things that are going on right now where you're working on developing yourself? And I know you mentioned the being a better husband and a better father, which is incredibly admirable. Most people sweep that under the rug. Is, are. Is that in your core focus area right now for your development?

I mean that, that always is. Right now I'm. I'm working on the. So my latest project is the Miracle Morning Updated and Expanded Edition. I just sent that off probably about a month ago to my, to the editor for final edits. And I've always wanted to rewrite the original book. When I was writing the Miracle Morning, the hottest book out there was Four Hour Workweek at the time, right? And I loved that book. I was obsessed with that book. And I think about two years after that came out, Tim Ferriss came out with the updated and expanded edition. And I remember, you know, I bought it immediately. I didn't even think twice because I'm like, I love the original book. I'm sure Tim's a smart guy. Whatever he's done to the new version's great. And I thought one day. Cause I was writing the Miracle Morning at that time, I thought, one day I wonder if I'll ever do an updated and expanded edition. And so anyway, so right now that is really. That's been my focus is how do I take what's already been. You know, it's. Millions of people have read the original edition and it's like, how can I. For me, it's like I have to elevate my own consciousness, right? And I probably for eight months rewrote the original to make this edition. So anyways, that's been my, like, that's been my obsession over the last eight months or so. Is, is. Is that book and really studying other authors and you know, which is I did originally. But like, what. What does this author do that I really appreciate? What can I take from what they've done and apply it to what I'm teaching and you know, and so on and so forth. So that's been the real big professional focus. And then now, you know, as an like now I'm shifting into how do I now launch the book again and get it out there to millions of new readers. And, and so, yeah, so it's as we talked about before we started recording, you know, you said, how are you? I'm like, overwhelmed. A little overwhelmed, but, but, but that's it. It's evolving to. To be the new version of who I need to be, to. To take my, My, my impact to.

The next level, as you mentioned. Impact. What hit me is, wow, we could should all be so blessed as to have the impact on the globe that I see you having. And I mean that with all sincerity. Like, the ability to write a book, bro, that people that you'll never meet, but people all over the world are using, and it's impacting their day and their relationships at home and the way that they present at work is a life incredibly well lived. And it's just an absolute honor to one know you and to hear what makes you tick. And for those that are listening in, I think it's really important to study people that have found their path and their way of serving and giving back, because all of our lives get significantly better. You know, the secret to living is giving. And everybody's life gets better when we're able to impact people in an exponential way. And I see that in you. And I'm inspired and I strive for that also. And just think it's super cool. Like, I don't know, dude, I'm. There's very few people's work that I get jealous about in the loosest way of saying jealous. That impact, bro, is just amazing. And it's gorgeous to see it impact people. It's really cool.

Thank you.

No question.

Thank you, Todd. I really, I received that. I really appreciate it. And yeah, it's a little bit surreal. I always remember back to, like, when I was writing the miracle morning on my laptop in my, you know, in my living room and just. And getting writer's block and thinking, no, no one's gonna read this. Like, nobody knows who I am. No one's gonna read this. And how am I gonna convince people to wake up early when, you know that's such a limiting belief for people? Like, I'm not a morning person, right? And in fact, interesting statistic. I was once asked in an interview, what percentage of these. Of miracle morning practitioners that are doing the miracle morning every day, what percentage of them were already, quote, unquote, morning people? So this was like, just instead of checking email, they already were waking up early. Now they're just doing their savers, doing their miracle morning. And they said, what percentage were not morning people? So this was like they had to overcome that, you know, limiting belief that says, I'm not a morning person and I didn't know the answer. And so we, we regularly now survey the community and it's. 72% of the millions of Miracle Morning practitioners said they never in their life consider themselves to be a morning person until now. And so.

Wow. What'd you say, 72%?

Yeah. Yeah. So, I mean, it's, you know, so. And I'm one of them. I wasn't a morning person. So this for me was like a. I gotta do it. I gotta get out of my comfort zone. Neither were you. Right. So, yeah. So the biggest thing, you know, you may not be aware, but Miracle Morning is now in schools. We've got it in hundreds of schools in New York City. That's the pilot city. And we have lowering of detentions and bullying and absence measurable outcomes for these kids. And teachers, like, the teachers are benefiting, you know, some ways as much as the kids. And so, yeah, I mean, for, for me, the. To be able to help people wake up to their full potential, you know, it's like, it's, it's, it's the, the greatest thing I could ever hope to contribute to during my lifetime.

It's incredible. It's absolutely incredible. You remind me off when we're done with this episode. I'll tell you about the book that my wife and I are working on because you've been an inspiration behind a piece of this. You once gave me advice on. If you want to create a book that is life changing, make it a daily guide. And that has stuck with me, bro, like I am so after. And I can't talk about it yet publicly because it's such a great idea. I don't want to let anybody know about it, but you're the inspiration of what got that started. And I'll tell you about it in a moment. But it does seem like we all have inside of us the opportunity to elevate ourselves and to be more than we are today. Not for, you know, mere monetary value, but for impact and purpose. And I think your book not only gives us the playbook on how to do that, but the space in our day when most people think, like, I'm not a morning person, but I married a morning person. And we live in Scottsdale, Arizona, and, and it's so frigging hot here that if we want to be outdoors exercising people like we are, we got to do it before the sun comes up. Which means we have to change my schedule. My, the Way I want to exercise in the afternoon, but it's the hottest time of the day, and I can't be indoors all day. Right. So that little switch. Once I started following somebody else's schedule, then it became really easy. Do you see people that kind of draft off of somebody else who's got a morning ritual, and they just kind of jump into their. Somebody else's miracle morning.

Clarify that. I'm not sure I understand the question.

Yeah, like. Like, I'm sure there's people that are not morning people that see other people in their life that are using miracle morning and doing it incredibly well in their life. So they just start following that person. Maybe it's their spouse, and they swoop up and adopt their ritual.

Yeah. Yes. And I think the way that I've. The way that I've seen it the most is I see so many people say that the miracle morning was their first introduction to personal development period. Oh, so it was a friend that was like, hey, you have to read this book. And then they're like, I'm not a morning person. I don't want to be a morning person. They're like, no, no, no. I know. Neither was I. Like, you have to read the book. Right. And so. And then that. So that's usually how it spreads, is, you know, somebody convinces or they gift it. A lot of people will. You know, I hear all the time, we get orders all the time for 25 books, 50 books. Like, they'll just email us through the website and be like, hey, I want to get books for, like, my team or for my family for Christmas or whatever. And then that's how it spreads, I think, because that was my biggest thing when I was writing the book. Like I said, I kept asking, how am I going to not just convince someone that they should have a morning ritual? Because you convince somebody they should. You know, I could convince a smoker they should quit smoking. But. But is that going to get them to quit? They already know. Right? So that was the big question. I'm like, how do I go from convincing them that they should have a morning ritual to actually getting them to wake up earlier tomorrow and then the next day and for the rest of their life? Like, that's a tall order. Right. And so every word in the miracle morning, every page, I was like, okay, how am I guiding them? How am I holding their. Their hand on this journey from, no, not a morning person. Don't want to be one. You know, I'm reading it. Cause I told my friend I'd Read it. But then I'm never gonna do it. How do I, like, go from that level of such resistance to waking up earlier than you have to? And, and, and, and something that's been programmed for a lifetime. Right. I mean, a lot of people, they've, they've slept in since we were kids. Like, we only woke up early as kids when our parents forced us to get out of bed. Like, you think about it, very few kids were like, oh, I'm going to wake up before I have to. It was like mom and dad getting you out of bed. But then what happens when you turn 18? You leave the nest. You're like, I'm sleeping in nobody. I'm staying up late. I'm playing video games till three in the morning. Sorry, I'm projecting my college experience on people. Right. But, but then it's this realization that, oh, I'm not waking up earlier because I have to. I'm doing it because, you know, because I want to.

Yeah, because I want to. Hey, in marketing, we say that adoption, Adoption is the highest hurdle. So when you're trying to get somebody to adopt a new strategy or to adopt a new, you know, to convert and become a customer, adoption is always the highest hurdle. Did you ever think about targeting something that would have been an easier hurdle for people besides mourning? There's so much opposition. Yes. There's so much opposition against it. Did you have any concept that maybe you should take something that would be easier for people?

I mean, again, for me, and I don't know if I really said this earlier, but when. Yeah, I actually, I didn't, I didn't tell this part. Here's a short part of the story. So I had done the mirror. I had done my morning routine. Again, it wasn't called the miracle morning. So this was 2008. I was waking up an hour earlier than I quote, unquote, had to, doing these six practices. And after two months, I had more than doubled my income. And on that, on the day where I signed on two new coaching clients, I went. I went to go tell my wife, or we were not married. She was my girlfriend at the time, Ursula, and she was in the bedroom, and I went to the bedroom, and she was walking out of the bedroom and we met in the hall. I literally can picture the moment. And I said, sweetheart, I just signed on two coaching clients. We've officially doubled our income in the last two months. It's all because of this morning routine. I've been visualizing it. I've got it in my affirmations like, this morning routine's like. It's a frail. It's like a miracle. And she goes, it's your miracle morning. And I go, yeah, I like that. Miracle morning. So I started writing it miracle morning in my schedule every morning. And then it just so happens I'd call it serendipitous. But one of my coaching clients, Katie, who I'm still in touch with, like, you know, 15 years later, she asked me. She goes, hal, I keep reading about morning routines. Do you have a morning routine? And I'm just, like, chomping at the. I'm like, oh, my gosh, do I ever? Let me tell you about this thing I started called the miracle morning. Here's what it is. I told her all about it, and she resisted. She's like, I know, but I'm not a morning person. I'm like, no, I know. Neither was I. Let me teach you. Here's how I beat the snooze button. Keep the alarm clock as far across the room as possible, and keep it for me. I keep it on the bathroom counter with a glass of water right next to it. So in the morning, instead of reaching over. And by the way, this is a bonus tip for everybody listening. If you're like, this is how you beat the snooze button. Instead of reaching over and turning the alarm clock off on your bedside table when you're half asleep, when you have to get out of bed and walk across the room, you're five times more awake than you were reaching over to the bedside table. And so I taught her all these things. And she came back two weeks later to our coaching call and said, hal, oh, my gosh, your little miracle morning. And those tips, they worked. I just had the best week in my sales career. I started running again. I'm reading a book. Like she said, I'm on fire. I love it. And so then I taught it to all of my other coaching clients. 13 out of 14 clients came to the next call raving about the results. And then that's when the light bulb went off and I went, okay, wait a minute. If the miracle morning changed my life and I wasn't a morning person, it changed Katie's life. And most of my clients were not morning people. I have a responsibility to share this with the world. And it took me three years because I'm a slow writer, but then I finally wrote. So again, it wasn't. Again, it wasn't like, what's the best idea? With the least friction. It was, hey, this practice changed My life and it's changing people's lives that I share it with. I have a responsibility to write a book and share it with as many people as I could. And I never imagined it'd be translated in 41 languages and million. Like, I never thought that big. Never at all.

It's so cool. Well, that's the beauty of the gift that you have as being an incredible spokesperson for an idea, but also the gift that was given to you, which is, you know, this concept that you've been able to flesh out. Like we're all given ideas, but not all of us seize the moment to go and execute and impact people. Speaking of impact, the Miracle Mornings updated edition is now out. How where can people go and get it?

Yeah. So you can pre order it now go to miraclemorning.com I mean, it's available at most retailers, but we're doing a huge pre order bonus campaign. So if you buy one book, you get what I call the immediate implementation kit since the book's not out until the book actually comes out on 12 12, 2023. So December 12th, excuse me, but if you pre order it now and there's the form to submit your receipt, you get the a Miracle Morning sneak peek. What's new? Cheat sheet downloadable. You get a video training so you can immediately get started with the Miracle morning. And you get an audio meditation affirmation, a whole guided savers practice via audio. And then if you buy like five books, there's also, there's a live event, there's all sorts of bonuses. But yeah, go to miraclemorning.com and that's the hub and you can see everything there and pre order the book. And yeah, I'm really excited for this. It's, you know, 11 years, 15 years in the making.

Wow. I'm excited for it. And I'm sure people listening are he's Hal Elrod. He is not only a friend, but somebody that is a North star that I like to follow after. And I'm so grateful that you came here, Hal and joined me on the Toddcast. Great to connect up with you again.

Thank you so much, Todd, and thank you for everybody that watched and listened to this. I really, really, really appreciate it.

Yo, that was a powerful episode and from what we just learned, it should be obvious how you can now implement these lessons in your life to get to the next level. Now, before you bounce, I just have three quick thoughts. First, thank you for taking me on your incredible life journey. Second, if you receive some value from me and you want to pay it forward. It would mean the world to me if you left an honest rating and review at Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen. I'd be incredibly grateful. And lastly if you share this episode, whether it be a screenshot or a photo from where you're listening, anything via Instagram stories or LinkedIn, Facebook or any of the social media sites, just tag me and the guest. I'll repost your content and I'll reply back in the comments because I love mixing it up. In fact I'd love to share your shout outs in my feed too. Not only are these shout outs really good for you and for me but they also help us book more amazing guests because they'll be able to see the reach that you're helping to cultivate. This is a way for you to help contribute to the show. So thank you again for listening and I look forward to earning a regular spot here inside that ear of yours. Let's grow.