MOTUC #39: Deep Dive into Chapter 2 of The Miracle Morning

Hello.

Hello.

What?

So, people.

Yes, people.

This is the Masters of the Universe Club.

We are a show about mastering your universe.

In here and in here.

What about down there?

Every part of your universe.

Mastering every single part.

That's it.

And so, you know, we don't really have a formal intro, so I'm just going to wing it.

The whole point is that we want this to be a show that we bring some value to you, hopefully bring you some resources like this book to help you master your universe and I guess part of it also.

So hopefully the resources themselves, the discussions around it are helpful, but also just coming to you on a regular basis and serving as a reminder that, you know, maybe every couple of weeks you fall off the horse, so to speak, you fall off the wagon.

You're not doing everything you can to make your life better.

But then our show pops up and we're here reminding you and ourselves to do shit to make our lives better.

That's the whole point of the show.

Pete, I thought you said you didn't have a formal intro.

That's my, this is an.

That was my informal master.

We're here to help you keep your shit together.

Yeah, yeah.

So no loose stools.

Yep.

And we, and we, we were starting the series with some book reviews.

Right.

And this being the miracle morning, I am this far through the book.

Nice.

Which is page 75 out of 10 to.

Out of about.

About 230 pages.

Nice.

You're up to the meditation section?

Yes, I'm beginning.

Yes.

And I.

But in more exciting news, I guess.

Well, we can jump into the book.

But I, I think I sent you a text.

I.

First, Anna's suggestion.

Pick a start date.

I'm doing the reading.

I'm like, I'm going to do this, I'm going to do that, but like actually need to start.

Start.

What's the word?

Start these practices.

So you said you were going to pick June 1st.

Yeah.

So.

So about a week.

Yeah, about a week from now you're going to start.

Yes, we were.

So we're going to talk about chapter two today.

And I have some, you see, I put some notes, I put some post its things I thought were interesting to discuss.

But.

So this book, the prescription of the book is that every morning you get up and do these things.

Right.

And this is going to change your life.

That's what the book alleges.

There's a section that I highlighted because you don't have to do it every morning.

You can.

What I do is pretty haphazard, but I feel like it works for me where I just have reminders in my phone, lots of different reminders.

You know, empty the bathroom, garbage, post something on social media, go get my dry cleaning, do journal, exercise, affirmations, all these things.

They're all in my reminders and there's lots of reminders.

And anytime they cycle, I do it.

So it's not.

I don't do all this stuff every morning.

And maybe I'm screwing, screwing it up, probably am.

But I don't think perfection is going to be the goal.

I think it's just getting on the path.

Maybe one day I'll do all these things every single morning.

I don't know.

But I think my.

I guess I just feel like it's probably helpful for people to hear that you don't have to be perfect.

Right?

You could do your best.

And if you don't do it, if you don't journal every single day, you're not, you're going to be better than you were before when you weren't journaling for sure.

And I think every little bit helps.

And it's probably even if you did every single one of these things every week or even once a month, I think you'd probably still be in the top 1% of people doing self improvement stuff.

You know, technically speaking, that's my guess.

I don't really know this.

That's a really great point.

Yeah, really great point.

So did you have anything in particular you wanted to go over?

Because I had a few things.

No, not like I said, I've been kind of working.

I'm a little past this chapter already.

So it's going to be a review on there.

But you have the stickies in there.

I think I'll use your notes as a starting point.

Okay, so let's go over my stickies because I think they're good.

Yeah.

So the first thing is chapter two is basically about the fact it's called the miracle morning origin and the fact that this whole process was born out of desperation.

Basically what he talks about is that he hit rock bottom twice.

One time he was near fatally injured in a car crash and he sustained very severe injuries and almost died.

Almost couldn't.

Almost lost eyesight in an eye.

They told him he wouldn't walk again.

He's doing all those things despite what the doctors told him he couldn't do.

But then he talks about how that was his first rock bottom, but it wasn't his worst Rock bottom.

His worst rock bottom was being actually financially impaired.

There's a lot we can talk about through that, but basically he talks about the fact that he hit rock bottom and that's what caused him to want to write the book or let's say, find these self help processes.

Here's what stuck out to me.

He was having rock bottom.

He didn't know how to get out of his life, his, you know, his shitty life experience.

He didn't know how to turn his life around.

Then he writes, I called my longtime friend John Berghoff, who had been exceptionally successful in businesses and was known for being wise beyond his years.

I felt a sense of relief as I finally confessed how badly I was struggling.

I held nothing back.

And while he expressed his genuine concern, his initial advice caught me off guard.

He asked me if I was exercising every day.

The first thing that struck me is that it was reaching out to community that got him over the hump.

And I don't think that that paragraph even.

I don't think he stresses the importance of it enough, that it's really not about what we do by ourselves, but it's this community that hopefully we're fostering here somehow.

We did call the Channel Masters of the Universe club.

So I would eventually like this to be some kind of club.

Like maybe I have a Facebook group made where people can join and then we can all have a system for supporting each other.

But to me, that jumped out that he called his friend and that's what.

And even though his friend gave him this advice to exercise, I feel like that's secondary.

You know, what was primary about that was that he called his friend.

And to me, I've told you this many times, and I'm very happy to say it over and over again.

You.

Doing this with me is very important for me because as much as I would like to do this all, as much as I plan to do this all by myself.

Who wants to do that?

I don't want to do that.

I want my friend to come with me and my friends to come with me, you know, and do it with me.

And it's more important somehow.

I don't know exactly why or, you know, just probably because we're just, you know, social organisms.

I don't really know, but that's important, you know, so to me, that resonated.

What do you think?

That's, that's an astute observation because the first time I read that paragraph and I was just getting to the book and I just went by it and I was Like I wanted to hear about what his ideas were, but you just reading it back, reading it for a second time process things differently.

I already know where this chapter is going, so I was just taking in what he's saying and you're reading it and, you know, reflecting on my own times that were pretty low, rock bottom or otherwise.

And you hit the nail on the head as you're reading it back.

It's like, whoa.

Actually reaching out and not feeling like you have to cope with everything on your own and just being up in here by yourself, it can be so counterproductive.

And like just the act of reaching out and unloading can feel liberating.

Of course, it's twice as good if you are unloading on to someone who has helpful advice too.

Like, get off the couch, my friend.

Yeah, but yeah, I totally agree.

Yeah, no, that's a great.

Yeah.

But reaching out and community is huge.

Community is huge.

So, you know, that's why I think that eventually transitioning this whole project to more of a community thing is very important.

Because even though he says he reached out to his friend and his friend gave him this advice to exercise, I still feel like, and I can't quite put into words that the advice itself was somewhat secondary.

And I think that there was something more to the idea that he reached out to a friend that wasn't his wife, but he reached out to a friend that.

And that marked a turning point and made whether that was.

It's like a chicken egg thing, you know, I don't, I feel like there's something more important to this whole dynamic.

You know what I mean?

I don't know.

Not saying it exactly right, but.

Any other points on that or should I move on to the next little quote?

No, I just want to reiterate for anyone listening, if you are struggling to reach out, if you don't have a friend per se, there are so many great organizations out there.

Whatever you're struggling with and.

Yeah, actually that reminds me, friend of mine from high school is, he works at crisis text line.

Maybe that's something we should on this channel and on our socials, promote on a regular basis.

I don't know the number, but it's basically just like a 24 hour text line where you can text if you're, you know, in a bad spot and you just need support.

They're all like, you know, trained and impartial and you know.

Anyway, so he goes on, he says, I had no idea that on my very first run I would hear a quote that would Change the course of my life.

And then.

He goes on, you know how sometimes you have to hear something at the right time for it to finally click?

That morning I was in the right state of mind, a state of desperation.

He says, but I'm going to disagree.

And I got it.

When I heard Jim Rohn proclaim with certainty, your level of success will seldom exceed your level of personal development because success is something you attract by the person you become, he says, he stopped in his tracks.

What I'm thinking here is that he says, you know how sometimes you have to hear something at the right time for it to finally click.

That morning I was in the right state of mind, a state of desperation.

That's the whole thing.

I do think that because why do these things work?

Why does exercise make us feel better at all?

I think there's chemical, electrochemical reasons, but I also think that there's something about the feeling of taking control of your life.

And so I'm actually disagreeing with this statement that he was in a state of desperation.

And so that quote resonated.

I think that the reason the quote resonated was actually because he had already made the decision subconsciously or consciously to move forward.

And then the quote resonated.

And why does that matter?

You know, I think it matters because I think that there's probably so many reasons why it matters.

But you know, it's like you can sit here and think, oh, do I have to really do all these things that he prescribes to actually become successful?

I don't know.

But I think that there is something to feeling good and the way you act, whether people want to be around you, your attitude when you're doing a project and you're trying to get something done makes a big difference.

I don't know.

I think it makes you more creative.

There might be electrochemical reasons for it, they probably are, but there is something going on here that makes this important.

And I just kind of didn't want to.

I didn't want to leave what he said at face value because I was sort of disagreeing with it.

I think that him reaching out to his friend, him having a realization that he had to do something was.

The wheels were already turning.

He was already over the hump of deciding that he needed to do something.

And so when he heard that quote, it was a self fulfilling prophecy.

He was already in the mindset to start getting better about his life.

And maybe you don't become successful by doing all these things, but maybe you just feel better.

And maybe that's what it's about.

And maybe that's all you need.

Okay.

I thought that's why it's important, you know.

Anyway, go ahead.

It could be.

Yeah.

And I think there's like a one or two second delay in our back and forth, so I'm sorry about that.

He.

I kind of.

I hear.

I catch what you're saying about that.

And it may be, you know, he's.

It could have just been his writing style, but I think he was saying it resonated because he was already doing that.

And.

Ah, but that's a way of saying it.

That's the way of saying what I am, what's going.

What I'm going through right now.

And again, that's.

But it relates back to him being in that state of mind, back to reaching out once you've decided that you don't have the answer already on your own.

You look, you look, you're like, I give up.

Like, let me reach out.

Help.

Give me some help.

Like, I just can't.

I can't do it anymore.

And his friends just like.

But that's a huge turning point.

Like you're saying he was already made that decision.

He'd already started by saying, I have to call someone.

I can't figure this out.

That reaching that point, it seems like such a simple thing, but it can be.

Like, I have the biggest epiphany to do that.

So I know the way he wrote that chapter, that that moment was very important to him.

Like the way he wrote it, I was jogging and then I stopped in my tracks and.

And this quote, I was like, well, let me take note of this quote then.

And I read it.

I went back around a couple times.

Like, I like, oh, my God.

So that was your second sticky on there.

This is my, this is sort of my.

Still my first sticky.

Okay, but.

And, and part of it was that I didn't.

Well, I didn't want to leave what he said alone because I was sort of go.

I wanted to go that one level deeper.

Yeah, the quote, like you said, the quote itself is important, but I didn't want to also leave the quote undiscussed because, you know, it's like he says, your level of success will seldom exceed your level of personal development.

I don't know if that's necessarily true because I think people can.

I think a lot of people can be not very developed, but become very successful through, you know, some other means, including sociopathy and narcissism and stuff like that.

So I don't necessarily think this quote is entirely true, but I do think that there's part of it that's true is that you'll never really.

I think you're set up for disaster if you find success in those other ways.

I think that you're on borrowed time, so to speak, and that, you know, self destructive and in general, sort of like selfish behavior can benefit you to a certain extent.

But I think eventually it comes back to bite you, you know, or even if it doesn't, there's a much higher risk of that over time.

It's a risky way.

Yeah, you know, that's a really good.

That's a really good point.

And I guess, you know, taking a step back before we go any further, like on, on anything, I guess it's worth acknowledging it's not like a moral judgment, like there's right and wrong, which, you know, you can argue there is, but it could say there's definitely light and dark.

And you and I, I like to think we are on the side of light, you know, so everything.

We're going to try to achieve success, but not through the more negative ways you could achieve success.

Success, whatever.

But we are definitely here to elevate ourselves, but everyone else too, so just want to say, yeah, we're.

We're on the side of light, you know, here not everyone is right.

Some people will openly admit it and some people are just.

Don't even think about it.

They're just doing it.

Yeah, yeah, no, I'll say it.

I'll add to that and just say.

And I'll say in a different way is that we're here for our.

We're here for collective success, you know, and hopefully to benefit you.

Actually, that was also why I highlighted that quote, was because.

No, that's.

Never mind.

I don't.

I'm thinking of something different.

Let's go to the next quote.

Oh, do you want to see what I'm drinking?

Next quote.

I wanted to show you this.

This is lollipop.

It's like allegedly healthy soda, but this is.

I'm drinking the banana cream flavor, which is like some people feel is like an abomination, but for some reason I've always liked banana, like banana flavored things.

It matches.

It also matches.

Is that probiotic soda?

Is that probiotics?

It does match.

Probe sod.

Probe sod.

Knocking back.

You're knocking back some probe sode.

The short.

Yes, I am.

I'm doing that today.

All day.

Okay.

So here's my next little quote.

Oh, so this is the, this is the Genesis of this book.

So he was at this turning point in his life and he said, I didn't know what to do.

My friend told me to exercise, but I know I wanted more.

I grabbed my computer and googled phrases like best personal development practices and what do the world's most successful people do for personal development?

He wrote them all down and he found that there was a bunch of timeless practices and there were six of them that he ended up settling on.

That's the whole point of the book.

The whole point of this book is that.

So if you know, you can buy the book.

Oh, I forgot to mention, you can buy the book through our affiliate link, which will be the top link if you want to buy the book.

The very top link in the show notes will be an affiliate link to buy the book.

So the six practices are meditation, affirmations, visualization, reading, journaling, and exercise.

And his, his, you know, his idea is that basically you could do.

If you do all those on a consistent basis, he says, every single day, then you're going to level up your life.

There is.

There's a large following, I think, of a million people or more that actually do this practice, do this practice every day and swear by it.

Because there's a community.

There's like a miracle morning community.

There are regional miracle morning communities.

But that's.

So lots of people like doing it.

I don't ever want to bring anything to our audience and presume that it's going to be the right thing, but you and I sort of decided that this is a great book because it's sort of like Intro to Self Love.

You know, it's like, what is the basic things that you have to do to take care of.

Yes.

It's also a sample platter of techniques.

Right.

Because I guess the point of it is that he googled what do all the successful people do?

And they all do something different, but they all did one or more of these six things, but not all of them did all six.

So his idea is, how do I turbocharge this?

We'll do all six every day.

My contention is that you don't need to do all six every day.

You know, like, it almost seems a little bit counterintuitive.

Well, counterproductive in a sense, let's say, because you might.

If it's causing you stress that you're not getting them done, then maybe that's not helpful, you know.

So that's why I chose the last quote.

He says, and this is probably the most important one, I won't ask you to sleep any less, nor will I harp on you to get up an hour earlier.

Remember, the miracle morning is completely customizable to fit your lifestyle.

Many people do a 30 minute miracle morning.

Five minutes for each practice and it can be done in as little as six minutes.

That's one minute for each practice.

There's a chapter about that.

You'll also see that there are other times of the days when you can implement this.

If mornings simply do not work for you, I was thinking.

So I texted you earlier in the day and you were going to walk your dogs.

Walking is probably.

It might be the most healthy exercise for human beings, period.

So you got your exercise.

How long did you walk them for?

About 45 minutes.

You got your ex.

You probably got 7,000 steps if I had to guess.

So you got your exercise for the day, you know, so.

Yes.

I just want to sort of like, yeah, good baby.

So that's, you know, so that's like.

The thing is that this could look different for different people.

It's malleable.

It's something to aspire to for sure, but it's not something to get yourself all twisted up over and stressed out.

Did I lose you?

No.

Oh, am I still here?

Yeah, I can hear you.

You just getting a little funky.

Can you hear me?

Yeah.

So that's.

Okay.

Good.

Do you.

Do you want to add to that or how do you feel?

No, that's.

I mean there's a lot to go on.

There's a lot more to cover in this book.

But I feel like those two.

The quotes were good.

And also some great points like just to reiterate, community, reaching out.

And also don't make the perfect the enemy of the good.

Right.

Progress, not perfection.

Right.

These are rehab slogans too for rehab.

So.

And, and recovery.

Recovery, community.

Right.

But.

But that it's all about self improvement and, and making yourself a better person.

So I am looking forward to.

Can I be honest?

Starting this.

These.

I'm most looking forward to the.

I'm most looking forward to the things I've never done.

Affirmations, journaling and visualization.

Maybe I've tried visualizations a little bit, but I would assume that there's techniques that I could actually start with that.

I've never done any of that.

So these are three things I've never done and I'm really curious to try them because they sound like very low risk.

Things to do.

So.

Right.

But like different, like you get, you know, at this point in my life, for instance, like just to use an Analogy or like, a comparison, like trying something.

Some new food or flavor I've never had.

Like, the longer I go, the harder it is.

Like, what is this?

Like, the only things I haven't had are probably, like, disgusting.

No.

But, like, something I just.

Like, I've been around.

So I tried everything, you know, but there's still a few things out there.

So I'm like, ooh, something new.

So I'm very excited.

Finish this book and keep discussing it with you.

Me too.

That's why.

So I think that, you know, I think we're gonna.

We'll do chapter by chapter because we'll go through each thing, you know, and.

Well, and I. I have a bunch of affirmations written that I say on a regular basis.

So I'd love to share with you and the audience all my affirmations because he has a very prescriptive way of writing them that I thought was cool.

And the journaling.

I've started doing the journaling, and I actually find it to be very, very helpful as a way of just, like, unloading some, you know, mental, emotional stuff.

The journaling is the thing that surprised me, actually.

It was.

It's almost like an immediate, immediately cathartic sort of thing.

Sometimes when you just write down what you're feeling in a moment and the.

And the.

And the visualizations, I find is the hardest thing for me to do.

For some reason.

That's the one thing in this book that I've had a really hard time getting going is the visualization.

So.

And meditation.

I.

So exercise.

I've been consistent with exercise every other day.

Every third day.

I do a decent workout.

I get a decent amount of steps every day.

And meditation.

I meditate for probably almost every day, you know, maybe 10 minutes, may sometimes 20 minutes.

Sometimes I do several sessions.

If I'm really feeling it one day, I'll do.

I'll meditate a lot, but everything else is sort of a little more spotty.

Oh, yeah.

You know what?

I.

There was a point in my life where I did meditate every day for, like, 20 minutes in the morning.

And I'm looking forward to doing that again.

And so I have.

I do have add.

I have a little bit of a executive function, sort of like, struggles and being calm and focus.

Doing things that are calming and focusing make me feel a lot better because I feel more balanced, like, being right on, like, you know, about to lose traction.

I feel a little more planted, and I like that.

So I'm looking forward to meditating every day, getting that calm and doing that with some visualizations, affirmations, some journaling, like, really help me feel a little quieter and better.

Better.

More sure footed moving into my day.

Yeah.

And I think that's interesting.

I think I have a podcast for you about the add.

Okay.

But I gotta.

It's part of.

It's.

I gotta find it.

So I can't let everyone else know that's watching this because I can't.

Because I can't get it off the.

Top of my head.

Well, if we can put it in the notes.

If I come.

I know, I know it's a model health show with Sean Stevenson.

And I know it's the guy who wrote Men are for Mars, Women are for Venus, from Venus.

Oh, I've heard of it.

I've heard of it.

He wrote a book about ADD adhd and he has some really interesting ideas about it.

But for me, all these practices are sort of like, almost like I take them like medicine.

Like halfway through my day.

If I'm starting to feel stressed out, I'm like, oh, wait a minute, I'm feeling stressed out.

There's a meditation room in my office.

I go meditate for 20 minutes.

So that's how I've been using these.

But these practices is more like a.

When I need to take my medicine, I go take my medicine, you know, so instead of doing it to prime me for the day.

That's great.

But I will say for anyone who wants to try these things, they work.

You just meditation especially, you have to sort of keep at it and then you get into a vibe with it and you get to know what it feels like.

And that's a great point.

You know, it's a little tricky.

Well, I think you don't know what it is.

Yeah, exactly.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Sorry to jump in.

Yeah, just like, it's kind of like exercise, like your first couple times.

Like, remember.

Oh, this is how it works.

Yeah.

And it's okay.

Just remember to just be like, you know, you know, just keep at it.

And then.

Exactly.

Right.

Then you start to get a groove and find your way.

And then.

Then you're good.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Now I feel like I need it sometimes I'm like, oh, I need it.

And then I go do it.

That's great.

That's great.

Yeah.

Oh, I'm excited.

Excited to start.

Cool.

So I think this is probably a good, a good spot to.

Yeah, let's.

Let's wrap it up, everybody.

Thanks for watching this one up.

Yeah.

Miracle morning link in the show notes.

Right.

For being able to get this book for banana cream, probe sewed, and any other links.

I can put a link for this, too.

Let's blast them out.

Let's go.

Because, look, we're at a.

Like.

Like I said, I'm starting on the first, so.

Oh, okay, fine.

You know.

You know, let's.

Let's.

Let's do another couple one of these.

Maybe hit two chapters in one one.

One show next time.

Okay.

If you're up for it.

I'd be up for it.

Okay.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

It's a Memorial Day.

It's a Memorial Day weekend, everybody.

So hope everyone's having a good one.

Or in the future, hope you had a good one.

Okay.

All right.

Later, dude.

Adios.