Are you settling for mediocrity rather than reaching your potential? Do you wonder how far you can go in life and fear you might have hit your limit? Are you ready to reach your potential but unsure how to start?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In The Miracle Morning<\/em>, Hal Elrod offers more than encouragement. First, he sets the stage with some sobering statistics. Then he provides three practical steps to break away from the norm and reach your full potential<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Read more to discover how you can start reaching your potential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n Every day, you face the challenge of rejecting mediocrity and reaching your potential<\/strong>. Most people\u201495%\u2014don\u2019t succeed at this. They settle for the life they have and live with regret, without realizing they have the ability to be who they want to be, do what they want to do, and have whatever they want.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you take one hundred people at the start of their working life and follow them for forty years, you\u2019ll find, according to the Social Security Administration, that:<\/p>\n\n\n\n The challenge is ensuring that you are among the successful minority rather than the struggling majority<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here are three steps to rise above mediocrity, reach your full potential, and join the top 5%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you don\u2019t think and live differently than the mediocre majority, you\u2019ll experience the same life of struggle, failure, and regret as most people, including your friends, family, and peers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Every day, most people struggle physically, mentally, financially, and in relationships:<\/p>\n\n\n\n When you realize that mediocrity is the norm, it’s easier to see how to break away from that and reach your potential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The most common reasons people struggle, accept mediocrity, and fail to reach their potential are:<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s human nature to view current choices through the filter of our past experiences\u2014the rearview mirror syndrome. If we failed at something in the past, we believe we\u2019ll continue to fail in the future at anything remotely similar. <\/p>\n\n\n\n We measure every new opportunity against our past experiences and capabilities<\/strong>\u2014for instance, thinking: \u201cI\u2019ve never done anything like that before; I\u2019ve never succeeded at that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Thus, we limit our future development based on the limitations of our past. Even though we want to change, we\u2019re stuck on the way things have always been.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Most people process up to 60,000 thoughts a day, but 95% are recurring thoughts, including fears and worries from yesterday. Instead, you must recognize these as limitations, move past them, and imagine a future without limits. Overcome limitations by repeating affirmations<\/a> that inspire confidence that anything is possible and that you can make it happen. Focus on what you want, reprogram your beliefs about what\u2019s possible, move in the direction of your goals until they become reality, and reach your full potential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Remember: your past doesn\u2019t dictate your future. Your present is a result of who you were, but your future will be determined by who you are<\/a> from now on<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The average person can\u2019t tell you their life purpose<\/a>, the reason they keep getting up every day<\/strong>. They just do what they have to do to survive; they take the easiest path, pursuing short-term gratification<\/a> and staying in their comfort zone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, to escape mediocrity and reach your potential, you need to have a purpose<\/a>. A life purpose can be anything that\u2019s meaningful to you, that inspires you and directs your daily actions and priorities. It isn\u2019t something you \u201cdiscover\u201d\u2014you decide what your purpose<\/a> will be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can start with a small purpose\u2014for instance, smiling more or being more helpful\u2014and make it bigger as you grow and evolve. The point is to create a purpose now, and start living it. Use your Miracle Morning to come up with something. Write it down and keep it where you\u2019ll see it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When you commit yourself to a purpose bigger than your problems, they\u2019ll shrink in comparison<\/strong> and you\u2019ll find you can easily overcome them and reach your potential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We wrongly think our choices affect only the moment\u2014for instance, that it\u2019s no big deal to eat something unhealthy or to skip exercising today because we\u2019ll get a \u201cdo-over\u201d tomorrow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, your individual actions, as well as thoughts, have long-term consequences. Every thought, decision, and action determines who you\u2019re becoming<\/strong> and, ultimately, the life you create. In Secrets of the Millionaire Mind<\/em>, T Harv Eker, wrote: \u201cHow you do anything is how you do everything.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n For example, when the alarm goes off and you hit the snooze button, you tell your subconscious mind<\/a> that it\u2019s OK to not follow through on your intentions. Instead, when tempted to go back to sleep, tell yourself, \u201cI\u2019m not a person who lacks discipline. I\u2019m getting up because I am committed to waking up early and working toward my goals.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n By keeping your commitments, you\u2019re developing the discipline to achieve the results you want<\/strong>. Every action counts: what you do determines who you\u2019re becoming. Every action either hinders or facilitates you reaching your full potential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A lack of accountability<\/a> can keep you from reaching your potential. Accomplishment and success require accountability, which means being responsible to someone else for our actions or outcomes. As children, we were accountable to parents, teachers, and coaches; as a result, we did homework and ate our vegetables\u2014things we wouldn\u2019t have done on our own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As adults, however, we often resist accountability and, as a result, we\u2019re prone to mediocre performance<\/strong>, short cuts, laziness, and ducking responsibility. To be successful, you need to create your own systems of accountability, using friends, family, mentors, and partners\u2014for instance, having an exercise partner who expects you to show up at the gym. The most successful people use the power of accountability as motivation to act when they don\u2019t feel like it and reach their goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For that reason, Elrod recommends finding an \u201caccountability partner\u201d for your Miracle Morning routine<\/a> to help you reach your full potential. To team up with someone else while reading this book, post an invitation in The Miracle Morning Facebook group. (Shortform note: Refer your partner to this summary or the \u201ccrash course\u201d at www.miraclemorning.com<\/a>.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n We emulate the people we spend the most time with\u2014our circle of influence<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n If you\u2019re surrounded by negative, complaining, lazy, people, you\u2019ll be like them. Likewise, if you spend time with positive, successful people, their attitudes will rub off and you\u2019ll become more like them. This is true of every aspect of life, including happiness, health, and even income. If your friends are financially successful, you\u2019ll think the way they do and adopt the habits that made them successful. However, if the majority of the people around you are struggling financially, they won\u2019t inspire you to do better. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Spend less time with people who pull you down (this can include family) and associate instead with those who believe in and encourage you. Work actively to improve your circle of influence, through resources such as online networking, professional groups, and the Miracle Morning Facebook group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Look for people who will add value to your life and strive to add value to others\u2019 lives<\/strong> by contributing to their personal development, so they, in turn, can be a better influence on you. Surround yourself with people who will help you reach your potential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The amount of success you achieve is determined by how much you develop yourself<\/a>. The Miracle Morning provides structured daily personal development time to practice silence, affirmation, visualization, exercise, reading, and scribing (writing in a journal). These practices help you develop physically, intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually. They help you reach your potential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When you don\u2019t commit time to personal development, you\u2019ll spend it spinning your wheels on problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\nAre You Settling for Mediocrity or Reaching Your Potential?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Step 1: Realize that Mediocrity is the Norm<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Step 2: Understand the Causes of Mediocrity<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
1) Rearview Mirror Thinking<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
2) Lack of Purpose<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
3) Viewing Small Actions in Isolation<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
4) Lack of Accountability<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
5) A Mediocre \u2018Circle of Influence\u2019<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
6) Lack of Personal Development<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n
7) Lack of Urgency<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n