This article is an excerpt from the Shortform book guide to "The Miracle Morning" by Hal Elrod. Shortform has the world's best summaries and analyses of books you should be reading.
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Do you wonder how to wake up with energy each morning? Can you imagine having a wake-up routine that made you actually want to get out of bed and face the day with motivation?
In The Miracle Morning, Hal Elrod shares his experience and recommendations for a winning wake-up routine. He outlines how much sleep is enough, how to increase your wake-up motivation, and ultimately how to wake up with energy. He provides additional wake-up tips that might surprise you!
Read more to learn how to wake up with energy and boost your morning motivation.
A Life-Changing Wake-Up Routine
You can literally change your life by changing how and why you wake up.
If you’re like most people, you delay waking up for as long as possible. You hit the snooze button and, ultimately, only drag yourself out of bed because there’s somewhere you must be or someone you must answer to. No one invites you to gives talks on how to wake up with energy.
However, what you’re doing when you hit the snooze button is resisting your life, your day, and creating the life you want. By starting your day with resistance, you perpetuate a negative cycle:
- You wake up discouraged and depressed.
- You spend your day feeling the same way.
- You go to sleep again feeling anxious and depressed.
- The cycle repeats itself the next day.
You can change this, like many famous and successful early risers, such as Oprah Winfrey, Bill Gates, Tony Robbins, Howard Schultz, Albert Einstein, and Benjamin Franklin. You can change your life by establishing the conscious intent to wake up each morning with a genuine desire to do so. You can learn how to wake up with energy.
How Much Sleep Is Really Enough?
Experts say the amount of sleep needed varies by individual. How much you need depends on such factors as your age, health, and how much exercise you get. While you may function well on five hours of sleep, someone else may need more.
Some research suggests that getting too much sleep can actually be as detrimental as too little.
In one study, sleeping more than nine hours a night was associated with illness and mortality. A greater amount of sleep was also associated with depression.
While there’s no one-size-fits-all answer, the advice that follows stems from Elrod’s experience, study, and experimentation with sleep.
How to Wake Up With Energy
How tired you feel when you wake up may have less to do with how much sleep you got than with how much sleep you believe you need. What you tell yourself when you go to bed significantly affects how you feel when you wake up. For example, if you believe you need eight hours, but will be getting only six on a given night, you’ll probably tell yourself that you’re going to feel tired in the morning—and you do.
Taking responsibility for every aspect of your life includes using the power of mind-body connection to wake up feeling good regardless of the amount of sleep you get. Elrod experimented with different amounts of sleep while telling himself he would feel either exhausted or energized. When he told himself he’d feel exhausted on four, five, or six hours of sleep, he felt exhausted on each of those amounts. The converse was true when he told himself he’d feel energized, using the affirmation: “I believe I create my experience of reality, and I choose to create the reality of waking up tomorrow feeling energized…”
The real secret to waking up feeling energized and excited is to make each morning feel like Christmas morning felt as a kid. Now, that’s how to wake up with energy! The Miracle Morning wake-up routine creates this experience by giving you purpose and excitement around developing into the person capable of creating the life of your dreams.
Increasing Your Wake-Up Motivation
On a scale of 1 to10, most people’s motivation level for waking up starts at a 1 or a 2. However, you can make waking up easier by gradually increasing your “wake-up motivation level” with a series of simple “snooze-proof” steps:
1) Establish your intentions before going to sleep: Your first thought when you wake usually is the last thought you had before falling asleep. For example, if you fall asleep excited about going on vacation the next day, you wake up excited about vacation. Before falling asleep, use affirmation to establish a positive mindset and expectation for the next morning, such as: “No matter how overwhelmed I am right now or how long it takes to fall asleep, I will spring out of bed with energy tomorrow at 5 a.m. to create the life I want and deserve. I know how to wake up with energy, and I will do it in the morning.” You can find a more detailed bedtime affirmation on the Miracle Morning website. Download Elrod’s four bedtime affirmations here.
2) Move your alarm clock across the room: Move your alarm clock as far from your bed as possible, so you have to get up and move when it goes off. Movement requires energy, which helps you wake up. Further, getting up counters the temptation to simply reach for the snooze button and go back to sleep. Getting up to turn off your alarm clock will raise your motivation level a notch or two.
3) Brush your teeth: To keep moving, go to the bathroom sink and splash some water on your face and brush your teeth. This will raise your wake-up motivation level a bit more.
4) Drink a full glass of water: After six to eight hours without water overnight, you’ll be dehydrated—dehydration causes fatigue (when people feel tired, they’re often dehydrated), so rehydration should restore energy. Fill up your glass the night before, so it’s ready. Drink it as quickly as feels comfortable. This will boost your wake-up motivation level to at least a 5.
5) Get dressed in your workout clothes. Get dressed so you’re ready to leave your bedroom and start your Miracle Morning routine. While some people prefer to shower first, Elrod recommends saving your shower as a reward for completing the routine. Now, your motivation level should be a 6 or better. These five steps take only about five minutes.
Additional Wake-Up Tips
Some people have found these additional steps to be helpful:
- Set a timer for your bedroom lights. You may want to set your lights to come on as your alarm goes off. Turning lights off tells your mind and body to go to sleep, while turning lights on tells you to wake up. If you don’t use a timer, be sure to turn on your bedroom lights when you get up to turn off your alarm in the morning.
- Set a timer for a bedroom heater. Consider using a heater in your bedroom, timed to turn on about fifteen minutes before your wake up time. When your room is warm, you’ll be less tempted to stay in bed to avoid the cold.
Do whatever works for you. The key is to have a simple, step-by-step strategy to get you started every morning. Now you can have confidence that you know how to wake up with energy.
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Like what you just read? Read the rest of the world's best book summary and analysis of Hal Elrod's "The Miracle Morning" at Shortform .
Here's what you'll find in our full The Miracle Morning summary :
- How getting up early and following a simple, daily routine can empower anyone to transform any area of their life
- How Elrod's "Life S.A.V.E.R.S." routine can help you feel energized and motivated
- Why hitting the snooze button is comparable to resisting your life
