(For Those Days When You’re Short on Time)
“On the one hand, we all want to be happy. On the other hand, we all know the things that make us happy. But we don’t do those things. Why? Simple. We are too busy. Too busy doing what? Too busy trying to be happy.”
—Matthew Kelly
“I don’t have time to wake up early.”
—Unknown
Oh, you’re busy? Weird. I thought it was just me.
One of the most common concerns I hear from people new to the Miracle Morning is the idea of adding anything else to their already hectic life. Of course, adding the Miracle Morning makes life less hectic as you become more at peace, focused, productive, and capable of handling anything life throws at you. Still, there will always be some mornings when you simply don’t have a full 30 to 60 minutes for your Miracle Morning.
Many of us tend to have an all-or-nothing mentality when it comes to how much time we believe we should take to do something. Early on, I found myself doing exactly that with my Miracle Mornings. If I didn’t have the full hour that I wanted, I just skipped it. I realized this wasn’t ideal. For one thing, doing anything related to personal development is almost always better than doing nothing. So, one morning, I had an early appointment, and after I got dressed, I only had 15 minutes until I needed to leave the house. I was about to skip my Miracle Morning when I thought, What if I just did one minute for each of the S.A.V.E.R.S?
I sat down on my couch, set the timer on my phone, and began my first six-minute Miracle Morning.
Imagine if the first six minutes of every morning began like this:
Minute 1: Silence
Instead of rushing carelessly into your hectic day—stressed and overwhelmed—you spend the first minute sitting quietly and enjoying a period of peaceful, purposeful silence. You sit, taking slow, deep breaths, with no one and nothing demanding your attention. Maybe you say a prayer of gratitude to appreciate the moment or pray for guidance on your journey. Maybe you enjoy a minute of meditation. As you sit in silence, you’re totally present to this moment. You calm your mind, relax your body, and allow all your stress to melt away.
Minute 2: Affirmations
You pull out your Miracle Morning affirmations—the ones that clearly articulate and remind you of the exciting improvements you’re committed to making in your life, the reasons they mean so much to you, and which actions you’ll take to ensure that you achieve everything you want. You read them from top to bottom, and as you focus on what’s most important to you, your level of internal motivation increases as you realize that, day by day, you are transforming your affirmations into your reality.
Minute 3: Visualization
You close your eyes and visualize what you need to do today to reach your goals. You visualize the day going perfectly, see yourself enjoying your work, smiling and laughing with your loved ones, and easily accomplishing all that you intend to accomplish for that day. You see what it will look like, you feel what it will feel like, and you experience the joy of what you will create. You rehearse being in a peak emotional state that you’ll revisit at the appropriate times during the day. Seeing and feeling yourself showing up at your best reminds you of how capable you are and gives you a feeling of confidence.
Minute 4: Scribing
You write down one thing that you’re grateful to have in your life, and then put your hand on your heart and feel a deep sense of gratitude. With 30 seconds to go, you optimize your productivity by clarifying, in writing, your top priority for the day to ensure you make progress toward a level 10 goal. In just 60 seconds of scribing, you’ve been able to enhance your emotional well-being and your productivity for the day.
Minute 5: Reading
Then, you open the book you’ve been reading, and in just one minute you’re able to learn something useful that you can apply to your life. Maybe it’s a new perspective that helps you see things in a new way. Or better yet, maybe you learn something tangible that you can incorporate into your day and that will improve your results at work or in your relationships. You feel empowered with this newfound knowledge that you can use to improve your life.
Minute 6: Exercise
Finally, you stand up and spend the last minute engaged in exercise, moving your body for 60 meaningful seconds. Maybe you run in place or do a minute of jumping jacks. Maybe you do push-ups or sit-ups. You may not break a sweat, but the point is that you’re getting your heart rate up, generating energy, and increasing the flow of blood and oxygen to your brain, which increases your ability to be alert and focused.
How would you feel if that’s how you utilized the first six minutes of each day? How would the quality of your day—your life—improve?
To be clear, I’m not suggesting that you limit your Miracle Mornings to only six minutes every day, as investing more time engaged in the S.A.V.E.R.S.—ideally 30 to 60 minutes—certainly deepens the impact of the practice. But on those days when you’re pressed for time, the six-minute Miracle Morning still provides a powerful framework for accelerating your personal development and putting yourself in a peak physical, mental, and emotional state to optimize your day.
What’s more, the six-minute Miracle Morning eliminates your “I don’t have time” excuse and allows you to consistently practice the Miracle Morning. This consistency is critical to building the habit of daily practice.