LIFE S.A.V.E.R.S.
S Is for Scribing
“Whatever it is that you write, putting words on the page is a form of therapy that doesn’t cost a dime.”
—Diana Raab
“Ideas can come from anywhere and at any time. The problem with making mental notes is that the ink fades very rapidly.”
—Rolf Smith
Scribing is the final practice in the Life S.A.V.E.R.S. and is just another word for writing. In full disclosure, I wouldn’t normally use the word scribing in place of writing, but I needed an S for the end of Life S.A.V.E.R.S. because a W would have made it awkward. Thanks, thesaurus; I owe you one.
My favorite form of scribing is journaling, which I do for 5 to 10 minutes during my Miracle Morning. By getting our thoughts out of our head and putting them in writing, we gain valuable insights we might otherwise never see. The scribing element of your Miracle Morning enables you to document your insights, ideas, breakthroughs, realizations, successes, and lessons learned, as well as any areas of opportunity, personal growth, or improvement.
While I had known about the profound benefits of journaling for years—and I had even tried it a few times—I never stuck with it consistently because it was never part of my daily routine. Usually, I kept a journal by my bed, and when I’d get home late at night, 9 times out of 10, I would find myself making the excuse that I was too tired to write in it. My journals stayed mostly blank. Even though I already had many mostly blank journals sitting on my bookshelf, every so often I would buy myself a brand-new journal—a more expensive one—convincing myself that if I spent a lot of money on it, I would surely write in it. Seems like a decent theory, right? Unfortunately, my little strategy never worked, and I accumulated more and more increasingly expensive, yet equally empty, journals for years.
That was before the Miracle Morning. From day one, my Miracle Morning gave me the time and structure to write in my journal every day, and it quickly became one of my favorite habits. I can tell you now that journaling has become one of the most gratifying and fulfilling practices of my life. Not only do I derive the daily benefits of consciously directing my thoughts and recording them in writing, but I am able to go back and review my journals to relive meaningful experiences and gain powerful insights.
Gap Focus: Is It Hurting or Helping You?
In the opening pages of this chapter, we talked about using the Life S.A.V.E.R.S. to close your potential gap. Human beings are conditioned to have what I refer to as gap focus. We tend to focus on the gaps between where we are in life and where we want to be, the gaps between what we’ve accomplished and what we want to accomplish, and any perceived gaps between who we are and our idealistic vision of the person we believe we should be.
The problem with this is that constant gap focus can be detrimental to our confidence and self-image, causing us to feel like we don’t have enough, haven’t accomplished enough, and aren’t good enough or, at least, not as good as we should be.
High achievers are typically the worst at this, constantly overlooking or minimizing their accomplishments, beating themselves up over every mistake and imperfection, and never feeling like anything they do is quite good enough.
The irony is that gap focus is a big part of the reason that high achievers are high achievers. Their insatiable desire to close the gap is what fuels their pursuit of excellence and constantly drives them to achieve. Gap focus can be healthy and productive if it comes from a positive, proactive “I’m committed to and excited about fulfilling my potential” perspective, without any feelings of lack. Unfortunately, it rarely does. The average person, even the average high achiever, tends to focus negatively on their gaps.
The highest achievers—those who are balanced and focused on achieving level 10 success in nearly every area of their lives—are exceedingly grateful for what they have, regularly acknowledge themselves for what they’ve accomplished, and are always at peace with where they are in their lives. It’s a dueling idea: “I am doing the best that I can at this moment, and at the same time, I can and will do better.” This balanced self-assessment prevents that feeling of lack—of not being, having, doing enough—while still allowing them to constantly strive to close their potential gap in each area.
Typically, when a day, week, month, or year ends and we’re in gap-focus mode, it’s almost impossible to maintain an accurate assessment of ourselves and our progress. For example, if you had 10 things on your to-do list for the day—even if you completed six of them—your gap focus causes you to feel that you didn’t get everything done that you wanted to get done.
Most people do dozens, even hundreds, of things correctly and a few things wrong during the day. Guess which things people remember and replay in their minds over and over again? Doesn’t it make more sense to focus on the hundreds of things you did right? Surely, it’s more enjoyable.
What does this have to do with writing in a journal? Writing in a journal each day with a structured, strategic process allows you to direct your focus to what you did accomplish, what you’re grateful for, and what you’re committed to doing better tomorrow. This all helps you to enjoy your journey, feel good about forward progress, and access a heightened level of clarity to accelerate your results.
My First Journal Review
After my first year doing the Miracle Morning and writing in my journal each day, I discovered what I’ve found to be one of the most beneficial aspects of journaling: a journal review. The last week of the year, I went back and read every journal entry from that year. Day by day, I was able to review, remember, and relive my entire year. I was able to revisit my mindset each day and gain a new perspective as to how much I had grown throughout the year. I re-examined my actions, activities, and progress, gaining a new appreciation for how much I had accomplished during the past 12 months. Most importantly, I recaptured the lessons I had learned, many of which I had forgotten over the course of the year.
I also experienced what I call gratitude 2.0—a much deeper quality of gratitude than I had experienced before—on two different levels. It was what I now refer to as my first Back to the Future moment. Try to follow me here (and feel free to picture me as Marty McFly stepping out of a 1981 DeLorean). As I read through my journal, looking back at all the people, experiences, lessons, and accomplishments that I was grateful for throughout the year, I was reliving the gratitude that I felt in the past. At the same time, I was grateful in the present moment for how far I had come. It was a remarkable experience and a bit surreal. And I’m excited for you to experience it for yourself.
Then, I began to tap into the highest point of value I would gain from reviewing my journals: accelerated growth. I pulled out a sheet of blank paper, drew a line down the middle, and wrote two headings at the top: Lessons Learned and New Commitments. As I read through my journal entries, I found myself recapturing dozens of valuable lessons. This process of recapturing lessons learned and making new commitments to implement those lessons influenced my personal growth and development more than almost anything else. I owe much of my own progress to this one exercise.
Final Thoughts on the S.A.V.E.R.S.
Everything is difficult before it’s easy. Every new habit is uncomfortable before it’s comfortable. The more you practice the S.A.V.E.R.S., the more natural and normal each of them will feel. My first time meditating was almost my last. My mind raced, and my thoughts bounced around uncontrollably like the silver sphere in a pinball machine. But now, I love meditating. Similarly, my first time doing yoga, I felt like a fish out of water. I wasn’t flexible, couldn’t do the poses correctly, and felt awkward and uncomfortable. Now, yoga is my favorite form of exercise, and I’m so grateful that I stuck with it.
Here’s some excellent advice from Miracle Morning practitioner Alaina Cash, especially if there’s one or more S.A.V.E.R.S. you don’t feel confident about: “Focus on sharpening one of the S.A.V.E.R.S. at a time. For example, if you’re not confident in Silence, download an app, follow some YouTube videos, or ask for help in the Miracle Morning Community Facebook group and give Silence some extra attention for a week or until you feel confident in it. Do this while also getting the other S.A.V.E.R.S. done if you can. I’ve benefited from focusing on sharpening them one at a time each week and using more outside resources to help me become more confident in the practices. This helped me pivot from focusing more on the S.A.V.E.R.S. that were easier or more enjoyable to me to giving balance to all my S.A.V.E.R.S.”
Consider this a tip from Christopher Moscarino, who shared in the opening pages how the Miracle Morning transformed his and his wife’s financial situation: “Start small! Implement one to two S.A.V.E.R.S. at a time and maybe start with 5 minutes and work your way up. If the goal is to wake up an hour or more earlier than you have been, start with small increments—15 minutes, then 30, and so on. Start small, keep it simple, and before you know it you will be a consistent Miracle Morning practitioner.”
In “Chapter 8: Customizing Your Miracle Morning,” you’ll learn how you can personalize nearly every aspect of your Miracle Morning. For now, here is an example of a fairly common (60-minute) Miracle Morning routine using the S.A.V.E.R.S.
•Silence (10 minutes)
•Affirmations (10 minutes)
•Visualization (5 minutes)
•Exercise (10 minutes)
•Reading (20 minutes)
•Scribing (5 minutes)
The order in which you do the S.A.V.E.R.S. can be adjusted. For example, some people prefer to exercise first to get their blood flowing and become more alert. However, you might prefer exercise as your last activity so you’re not sweaty during the rest of your Miracle Morning. Personally, I prefer to start with a period of peaceful, purposeful silence so that I can wake up slowly, clear my mind, and optimize my mental and emotional state for the day.
I invite you to begin practicing the S.A.V.E.R.S. now, so you can become familiar and comfortable with each of them and get a jump start before you begin your 30-Day Life Transformation Journey in Chapter 10. If your biggest concern is still finding the time to fit this in, don’t worry, I’ve got you covered. In the next chapter, you’re going to learn how to do the entire Miracle Morning—receiving the full benefits from all six of the S.A.V.E.R.S.—in only six minutes a day.