Finding Success After Literally Dying with Hal Elrod

Hal Elrod claims he was mediocre at everything he did as a kid and yet he ended up having his own weekly radio show by the age of 15. Then he became one of the top salespeople at Cutco Cutlery.

Then, in 1989 he was struck a drunker drive and broke 11 bones, suffered permanent brain damage, and was found dead. His heart stopped beating for 6 long minutes. Six days later, he woke up from a coma to be told he would probably never walk again.

Then, in 2007, he lost everything and used a morning ritual to get his hope back. That ritual turned into The Miracle Morning, which has sold over 2.5 million copies and started a global movement.

All good, right? Um, then he was diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia and given a 20–30% chance of surviving.

Anyway, he beat cancer, and has gone back to world conquering. So if anyone can talk about failing their way to success, it’s this guy.

If this episode doesn’t inspire you, it’s safe to say nothing could.

EPISODE TRANSCRIPT:

Anna: So we’re just gonna launch right into it. Are you ready? Okay. Hal, so excited you’re here. Thank you for doing this.

Hal: Anna, I’m just happy to see you in person. This is so great.

Anna: It’s a treat and a half. So this show is all about failure. The multiple failures that people have on their way to success and your story is so perfect for that. Now, you say, you say in a bio, that you were very mediocre at everything at school, and yet you had a radio show by the time you were 15. Please explain.

Hal: I love that. Yeah, that fell into my lap. So a buddy of mine, Jake, my best friend in high school. His older brother had started DJing school dances. And one night he got sick before he was supposed to DJ our, the junior high that I went to. I was a sophomore at the time that this happened. And so a few years prior I went to a junior high, Oakhurst Elementary School and my buddy’s, Jake’s older brother got sick and he couldn’t do it. And Jake called me and goes, “Hey, Colin’s sick. Do you want to help me DJ the school dance?” I was like, “Dude, yeah, it’d be so fun. Sure!” So we DJed the dance. We put out a tip cup, we got like $7 in tips, mostly quarters and dollars right. And, um, and, but we loved it. And so I said, “Dude, let start a, like a DJ business or something. Let’s start, or let’s start doing other school dances.” So my awesome dad helped me. He, he put money on his credit card, put equipment, and got all the speakers and strobe lights and fog machines and all of it. $1,500 worth, you know, back then, which probably be five grand now. And I worked at our grocery store, we owned a grocery store. And so I had to pay the payment every month. And Jake and I started the DJ business. And then the local radio station manager in our small town–I grew up in a really small town–he heard that I was a DJ and he called me one day. And he said, “Hey Hal, we’re looking for a high school student to host a weekly radio show. And I heard you’re a DJ, and you do DJ, you know, stuff all over town. Would you host the radio show?” And I was like, “That’s my dream, you know, and I’m only 15. And it’s coming true. Absolutely!” So kind of fell into it. Well of course, I did start a little DJ business around town. So there was, there was that.

Anna: You rose to the occasion. I would hardly call that mediocre.

Hal: Yeah, yeah.

Anna: But, but so, and so then you, you start working at Cutco. At what age?

Hal: 19.

Anna: 19. How long did it, I mean, you rose to being one of the top salespeople. How long did that take you?

Hal: 10 days (laughs).

Anna: Are you serious?

Hal: So I, and that’s really where I went from what I felt was mediocre my whole life to being like, “Oh, wow, I’m capable of extraordinary things.” So I was a DJ on the radio again. I, I after my first-year college, I got hired at 97.1 FM and you know, Visalia, California, Northern California, or Central. And, um, and I was making 10 bucks an hour and I was DJing midnight to 6am. Right. So it sounds all glamorous. You know, like when I’m dating girls like, “Yeah, I’m a radio DJ,” you know. Making 10 bucks an hour working midnight to 6am. Two days a week.

Anna: It’s exhaust-, sounds exhausting.

Hal: Yeah. But I was the grunt shift because I was the new guy and my buddy Teddy was uh, he, he, he sold Cutco cutlery. And he did all first-year college and he would always tell me, “Hal, man I can get you an interview. You’d be great at this.” I said, “No, no, Teddy. I’ve got my path. I’m a DJ, I’m pursuing radio. I eventually want to start another DJ business. Like that’s the path I’m going down.” And one day I was with him when he went to the Cutco office to get some supplies. And he introduced me to his manager, who became my manager, Jesse Levine. And Jesse was just really charismatic and authentic. And like the way he described the opportunity where, “Hal, you set your own hours. There’s no ceiling on your income. The kind of experience you’re going to get trying your hand at sales will exceed anything that you’re going to get at like fast food restaurant or you know, coffee shop, whatever.” And he really got me interested and I went, “Alright, I’ll give it a shot.” And on, on my second day of training, I learned about the Cutco Fast Start record, which was the most anyone had ever sold in the western half of the United States in the 50 year history of the company. And this girl had just broken the record two weeks prior. And she lived an hour and a half south in Bakersfield, California. So it wasn’t like she was in Beverly Hills. So that kind of helped me go, “Okay wait a minute. She’s like in Bakersfield. That’s not any different than where I’m selling Cutco.” And just something inside me. And I feel like every person listening to this, it’s one of most important beliefs for us to adopt. Which is if another human being can do something, that is evidence of what’s possible for us.

Anna: Yep.

Hal: And we often separate ourselves like, “Oh, they’re younger, they’re better looking. They’re more talented, they’re more charismatic, I’m stupid, whatever.” And I went, I don’t know what it was, but I went if she could do it, why not me? And I went to my manager after class and I said, “Hey,” I said, “I want to break the record. The Fast Start record, I want to sell more in the next 10 days than that gal did two weeks ago” and she had sold 12,000 bucks of Cutco, which is a lot. And he said, “Hal!” I thought it was gonna jump up and down and high five me and go, “Oh, I’m so excited!” He said “Hal, I hear that every week in a training class from at least one person. Guess how many people in my career have done that?” I don’t know. He said none. He said it’s one thing to say it and get excited. It’s going to require more work and discipline and dedication and commitment than you’ve ever put to anything in your life. If you’re willing to commit at that level, you can do–I will show you, I will hold you accountable, I will support you. And I believe you can do it. And at that point, Anna, like, I was, again, mediocre my whole life, I had no reference point of like, “Oh, yeah, I can do that. I could, I could be disciplined and, and committed and, and work hard.” But I was just embarrassed at that point to say anything other than “Okay.”

Anna: Yeah.

Hal: And so I said, “I’ll do it.” And if it wasn’t for him, I literally called on the end of the first day, I sold zero on my first day. And I was ready to quit. And he said, “Hal, you can do what most people would do right now, which is give up,” and I go that’s what I’m thinking. He said, “Do you want to be successful in your life?” I said, “Of course.” He said the only thing a successful person would do right now is shake off today, get on the phone tomorrow morning and make tomorrow a great day and just keep moving forward. And so with his guidance, I ended up selling $15,000 of Cutco. And it all happened on the last day. I sold $4,000 on my last day in this miraculous fashion to break the record. So that was when I was like reborn, is like, “Oh, wow, I can do amazing things.” You know.

Anna: One of your many rebirths. I don’t know that anyone’s ever had as many rebirths as you have. So, and I know a bunch of people who also really thrived there, you know, Kathy Christian?

Hal: Oh you know Kathy Christianson?

Anna: Oh, yes. Amber Vilhauer. Like they were all part of your community and they’re terribly successful. So I feel like Cutco at that point was this breeding ground for crazy success.

Hal: Yeah. And also John Ruhlin, that you and I were just talking about, right?

Anna: Oh yeah, he was there too?

Hal: Yeah, oh yeah. He was, he’s actually their top rep of all time. So every record that I set, John broke all of them. He just destroyed them. Yeah.

Anna: But was it all phone?

Hal: So it was, so when you started out, you started–it was mostly college students that were selling Cutco. Okay, so that’s number one, no sales experience. And you started out by reaching out to everyone that you knew. So your friends, your family, your friends’ parents, your parents’ friends, right? And you said, “Hey, I started this new job. And as part of my training I have to go on some training appointments and get your opinion on a product. I get paid just to show it,” which you did. And so there’s no pressure to buy anything, but it is a really good product. And if you see something you like, you can get it. Great. So it was really great, you know.

Anna: Yeah, that’s a great pitch.

Hal: You know, right. And they go “Sure, come on over.”

Anna: Yeah.

Hal: And you go in, and then you literally, you, because you had no sales experience. We weren’t we weren’t seasoned sales veterans. We had a word for word like 28-page script. And you literally said in the beginning, “I’m actually going to read this because I’m brand new, and I don’t want to miss anything for you. Is that okay?” But if I look back, that’s really disarming, like…

Anna: Exactly. Well how cute.

Hal: Yeah, exactly. You’re not some hardcore salesperson, like you’re adorable. Sure read your little script, buddy. Or the product was so good, that you read the script and you really explained all the features and benefits. And then they got to cut-, and they’re, “Oh, my God, this is amazing.” And then at the end, you’re like, “Hey, I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t ask you. Would you like to to place an order for the set of Cutco and get your super shears and kitchen tools for free?” And then, and then the way we kept going is, they, at the end, you said “Hey, the most important part is, would you mind, do you know anybody that I could show this to?” And then you’d ask for referrals. And again because it was such a low-key thing with a great product. Most people are like, “Yeah, this is your, you know, you’re fine.” And so then I’d get out the company average, like three to five referrals, but I knew how important that was. So I would average 10 to 15 referrals on my appointments. So that I could really have a lot of people to call, and that’s how it perpetuated every appointment, ask for referrals and just keep going.

Anna: I mean, what a great lesson too. It’s like, as somebody who has a referral-based business. To be, to learn those lessons that you learned. I mean, the what training and this is how good you are at it. I want to buy. I’m not even kidding. I wanted to get my boyfriend a set of knives for Christmas. I’m like, can I get, maybe he still knows…

Hal: I know. I know. I know some people. I know a guy.

Anna: Okay, okay, okay. And so, and so then you embark on a public speaking career, the beginning of your public speaking career. Well first of all, would you say there have been any failures at this point in the story? Or has it really been success, success?

Hal: No. So um, I mean, again, failing throughout high school. I got terrible grades, right. I was bullied. I was beat up like many, if not most kids, right. And then the, you know, and then in Cutco, I experienced failure after failure after failure. Like that was, you know, I would set a goal and I wouldn’t reach. I mean, even like my first day, I went out there. I’m like, “Okay, I’m going to sell at least $1,000 today.” And I had the three best appointments I thought were the most likely to buy and it was no sale, no sale, no sale, right. So little mini failures and there was plenty of goals I would set with Cutco, and then I would fall short. And that’s one thing about sales is, you know, my mentor taught us early on sales is a microcosm for life’s adversities at an accelerated pace. So meaning the average person is rejected rarely, every once in a while in their life. And the salesperson is rejected on the phone six times a day, seven times, 20 times a day, in person, on appointment, right. So you have to learn how to deal with it. And I started practicing the thing called the five-minute rule that my manager and mentor Jesse taught me which is when something goes wrong, set your timer for five minutes. Give yourself five minutes to bitch, moan cry, vent, feel sorry for yourself, get angry, whatever, feel the emotions. And when the timer goes off, he’s taught us to say three very powerful liberating words, “Can’t change it.” It’s an acknowledgement. I can’t change what happened five minutes ago. So I can either continue to be miserable and wish it didn’t happen, which doesn’t serve me at all. Or I can completely accept it, be at peace with it and move on. And so I practiced that philosophy for a year and a half with Cutco. And then to, you mentioned the public speaking career, well the segue before I started speaking, was my first major adversity, which I was hit head on by a drunk driver at 70 miles an hour on the way home from a Cutco presentation or speech sorry, I’d given a speech at a Cutco event. Hit head on by the drunk driver, I was found dead at the scene. I broke, I broke 11 bones. I was clinically dead for six minutes. When the paramedics had, they had to rush me on the helicopter and medivac me to head to the hospital. And they had to pump blood back in my body, hooked me up to you know, defibrillators, IV, oxygen, on and on. And I was, I had no heartbeat for six minutes. And thank God they kept trying. And they brought me back to life. I flatlined twice more while I was in a coma for six days. And when I came out of the coma, you know, I woke up to this unimaginable devastating reality. And I was told by doctors that permanent brain damage and I would never walk again.

Anna: Yeah.

Hal: And so having to rational-, “Okay, wait so I’m gonna be in a wheelchair the rest of my life?” I’m 20 years old, you know, I’ve got all these broken bones, my arm doesn’t, my hand wasn’t working. I couldn’t lift my hand and that went on for six months. They didn’t know if it would ever come back. So I was in bad shape. And ironically, I pulled the five-minute rule out that I learned from my Cutco training. And I went, “Wait a minute, this is way more challenging than a no sale or a canceled order.” But the principle is the exact same. I can’t change that I was in a car accident. I can’t change that I broke 11 bones or that I have permanent brain damage. And if I’m in a wheelchair the rest of my life, well, then I can’t change that. But I can choose to accept it and be at peace with it and move forward. And so while I was in the hospital, I decided I’ll be the happiest, most grateful person anyone’s ever seen in a wheelchair if that’s the case. But I’m not accepting that as my fate until it’s proven there’s no other option. It’s to this, nobody knows, maybe I’m gonna heal, who knows? So I’m going to put 100% of my energy, my intention, my prayer, my thoughts, my words, my actions into walking again. And the doctors thought I was in denial because I was so happy and positive. And I remember, my dad came in one night and he was like, “Hey, the doctors are concerned that you’re not facing reality.”

Anna: That you’re delusional.

Hal: Yeah, that you’re delusional, literally. And I said, “No, it’s the opposite. I’ve completely faced reality. I can’t change it so no point feeling sorry for myself.”

Anna: And your dad is here so we know that if that was not true, somebody would be objecting.

Hal: That’s right. Yeah, he’s like, he’s watching.

Anna: Could we get any water for Hal? I would give you mine but you know, getting over something? Um, um, so in terms of the, did you have a sort of white light experience? Like, do you think that that contributed to your attitude when you came out of the coma?

Hal: I don’t remember, um, I’ve been asked that a lot. Like did you see a light? Did you have a near-death experience, you know?

Anna: Yeah. Or you know, the kind of peace one has heard described, where everything…

Hal: I have no recollection. So the, there’s a very common injury with a head-on collision where the front of your brain, your frontal lobe–which I’m not a doctor but I believe that is where your short-term memory and your judgment essentially are housed.

Anna: Yeah.

Hal: That’s why, by the way, the irony is I was hit by a drunk driver, but the effects of my brain damage were as if I were drunk all the time.

Anna: Wow.

Hal: So I had virtually no short-term memory. I mean, literally, you and I could talk for a few, you could come visit me in the hospital. We could talk for a few hours, you’d go to lunch and come back and I’d be like, “Anna. Oh, my God, it’s so good to see you.”

Anna: Yep. Wow.

Hal: Literally. And that went on for, you know, I mean months, years. I mean, today, I might my, my family will vouch I still suffer from permanent brain damage. Like I do struggle with short-term memory. My inhibitions. I say what I think without, there’s I don’t have that filter in the front.

Anna: Yeah.

Hal: But I don’t remember about two weeks of my life. So the last memory I have is getting on the freeway. And then the first memory I have is about a week after I come out of the coma when my dad had that conversation with me about the doctors concerns.

Anna: Wow.

Hal: But so yeah, so I don’t remember if I saw a light, but I always say this: to me, what’s more powerful than any recollection of like, “Yes, I saw a light” is just the sense of like, this spiritual purpose of like, this happened for a reason. But it’s my responsibility to choose the reason.

Anna: Yep.

Hal: And I encourage everyone to consider that, right. That old adage that everything happens for a reason. But people often go through life going, why, why, why did this happen to me? It’s like, no, your responsibility is to choose the most empowering reason for you. For the people you love, the people that you lead. How you’re going to show up, right? And so for me in the hospital, I remember it was actually the same conversation with my dad about the doctors concerns I said, “Dad, you know how I’ve wanted to be a motivational speaker ever since I started speaking to Cutco events?” He said,” Yeah.” I said, “Well, I never really had anything to talk about. Like I’ve had a pretty normal life. Like you and mom were good parents. Like I don’t have any crazy, you know, maybe that’s why this happened. Maybe I’m supposed to overcome this in the most positive, proactive way possible, so that I can share this message with other people.”

Anna: Right.

Hal: You know. And that was, so that was the, the seed being planted for my speaking career.

Anna: Wow.

Hal: And I was with Cutco for six more years, so I got to practice at Cutco for six years. Then I started speaking at high schools. My, my high school was, my alma mater, like three months after the car accident, my high school called me and go, “Hey, I know this is rush, but do you think Hal” (he called my dad) “would speak at our high school?” And so back to my own high school. Spoke there. And then I started high schools and colleges and you know, and then now my dream is, you know, corporate keynote speaker and you know, and that that took a long time to come true.

Anna: Well, and I’ve told you this, that I am convinced. I know I met you at NACA, many, many years ago in an elevator. And you had your book…

Hal: That is so crazy, right?

Anna: Yeah. I literally was like, “Is there something wrong with this guy? He’s so nice. Like, is he like, what’s the deal? I live in LA, like people aren’t that nice.” And I was, but I remember it. And then when I met you years later through Joe Polish, I’m like, no, no, no, that’s not the same guy.

Hal: That’s so crazy.

Anna: That’s the same guy. Yeah. Okay. And so, and so then the recession hits. And would you say this is the period of your life where you felt like the failure was coming back?

Hal: Yeah. This was at that time, it was the lowest point in my life financially for sure. But mentally and emotionally for sure. Because of the accident. I think. I in the accident, I think that, you know, I woke from the coma. And I was like, “Okay, I can’t change what happened to me. And it, I’ve hit rock bottom. It’s only going to be, I’m going to heal, right, things are going to get however better. Maybe not a lot. I don’t know how much better but they’re getting better.” So it was like things are on the up from there.

Anna: Yeah.

Hal: In 2008 when the economy started to crash, I was in, I was delusional then because I was like, I’m such an optimist. I’m like, I’m not worried about it. I don’t watch the news. I don’t let other people control. I create my own, I remember I create my own economy. That was my mantra: I create my own economy. And I think that is possibly true, but I didn’t know how to do it at that point. And so in a six-month period, I lost over half of my income and I could not pay my bills.

Anna: What was your income? Was it Cutco and speaking?

Hal: No. So I had just, I had, I had just hit Cutco Hall of Fame, about a year and a half prior. And that was kind of like the pinnacle for me. I’m like, alright, like, I’m ready to move on. I always had a desire to be an entrepreneur, you know. And Cutco is like this great hybrid because you’re selling their product. but you’re like an entrepreneur. You have to set your own appointments. You’re in charge of your own schedule. You don’t show up and get a paycheck like if you don’t work, you’d right, so it’s like this hybrid entrepreneurial journey, right. But I wanted this, I wanted I’m like, “I want to create something from scratch. That’s my own.” Also, a friend of mine was like “Hal, you should be telling your story. You have a wild story.” And for me, I was kind of numb to it. I’m like, “It’s just my story.”

Anna: Right.

Hal: He’s like, “Dude, you died and came back from the dead and then the way you overcame it was, was like, very few people will do that.” He’s like, “You should be speaking and sharing your story.” So I left Cutco and I started, I needed to make money while I built a speaking career correct. It’s not like you just go get a job at a speaking company. So I’m like that’s gonna take me a while and I wanted to write a book. So I started writing my first book Taking Life Head On. And but I’m like, I need to make money. How am I gonna make money as I transition out of Cutco? This was while I was still selling my last year so I’m trying to think of my exit strategy. And I asked myself, “Well, what am I qualified to do?” I thought all I’ve done is sell a lot of Cutco really, right? And then I go, what if I were to coach Cutco reps on how to do what I did?

Anna: Smart.

Hal: And so I started reaching out to my colleagues. I’m like, “Hey, um, would you hire like, if you hire me to coach you, the average coach charges like $500 a month. I’ve been doing my research. What if I did, for the first six months I would cut it down to $200 a month?” Just like, as you’re like, I’m your, your my test subjects, right? I’m like, but I’ll help you sell more Cutco. So I got a bunch of clients. And then, and that began, so I had grown fast forward to 2008. That was 2006. So in a year and a half, I had grown to, I think $80,000 a year in. in, in coaching…

Anna: But you’re working pretty hard for it. That’s some hard work.

Hal: Totally. Yeah. Well, you know, I, yes and no, actually. I’m probably doing 20, you know, hour long calls a month so, I’m sorry, a week, a week. So no, I’m working 20 hours a week. It’s actually not that…

Anna: Okay, I find calls very exhausting. It sounded exhausting to me but hour wise, not so bad. Go on.

Hal: Yeah, so not too bad. But uh, so, so that, that, so I lost over half of my clients, yeah. So and I and you know, and like most people, my income was like, you know, my expenses were 90% of my income, right? So once the income went down 50%, I started living on credit cards and in six months, I went from being like a Dave Ramsey, you know, debt free student paying off my cards every month. I had $52,000 in personal credit card debt in six months. It was just growing, month after month after month. And that was so depressing and so scary. And I couldn’t pay my mortgage. So I just bought my first house a year and a half prior. I lost that. The bank foreclosed on my house.

Anna: Were you already married?

Hal: I was engaged. And this was taking a toll on our marriage because I got depressed for the first time in my life. I’m never really depressed.

Anna: Right.

Hal: And I was depressed, I was, because I was hopeless. I’m like, nothing’s working. And I’m getting every month. I’m not, I’m not, you know, that’s the part of the whole car accident comparison, where I always say debt was worse than death. Because death was rock bottom. And it’s only getting better from the moment I woke from the coma. In 2008, every day got worse and worse and worse and worse for six months, like this downward spiral. And then what turned it around, I heard a quote from Jim Rohn. Jim, my buddy John recommended this Jim Rohn audio. He said, “Hal, listen to this. This Jim Rohn audio changed my life.” I go, alright, I’ll try it. And I listened to Jim Rohn audio and Jim Rohn says, and if you’re listening, this is worth writing down because this quote was the catalyst that changed my life. And it gave birth to the Miracle Morning, which is my book, my life’s work, all of it. Jim Rohn said, “Your level of success will seldom exceed your level of personal development.” And I had probably heard that before but immediately it clicked in this way it never had where I quantified it. I go okay, wait, my level of success will rarely exceed my level of personal development. So that, there’s two questions within that statement. Number one, what level of success do I want? And number two, what is my level of personal development? Is it, is it in alignment with that level of success? And the first answer I think is true for all of us. Well, on a scale of one to 10 I want level 10 success. I don’t, I don’t want to be like, why would I want less? I want, I want to be as happy as I could be. Again when I say success, that’s an important part is, it’s in every area of life. Level 10 health, level 10 happiness, a level 10 relationship, level 10 finances. So then the next question, okay, I want level 10 success. What’s my level of personal development? And let me define that real quick for people because I think that’s a vague term.

Anna: Yeah.

Hal: To me, your level of personal development, it’s measuring, who are you becoming every day? Are you becoming a better version of yourself? What’s your daily personal development ritual or routine that is enabling you to become a better version of yourself every single day to go from wherever you start at two or three, you know four, five, six. And that you’re gradually getting more, you’re gaining more knowledge, better habits, more skills, right. You are becoming a more capable version of yourself until you get to that level. And you know, the level 10 is arbitrary, right. You never achieve level 10 success because on your, on your deathbed, you could have done more, you could have learned, right? You’ve never become the level 10 version because you can always learn and grow. But the idea is that you’re, you’re working towards the best that you can be and creating the best life that you can.

Anna: Yeah.

Hal: And so I, I, I said, What’s my level of personal development? And that time in my life, I mean, I was, I was depressed. I had cancelled the gym membership. I wasn’t exercising. I was eating cheap food because I was broke. I was like, and I said, “You know what, I might get a two, maybe a three or four on a good day.”

Anna: Yeah.

Hal: And, and so I had the epiphany. I went, “Oh, I need to go home.” I was on a run when I heard this. My buddy told me, “You got to run, Hal. Get the blood to your brain.” I’m like, “I hate running.” He’s like, “Do it.” So I’m running, listening to Jim Rohn. And I run home and I go, “I gotta go figure out what the world’s most successful people do for their personal development, and adopt their practice, and do it every day.” And I can become that level 10 version of me that can create the level 10 success I want. And so I just Googled for like an hour: What do the world’s most successful people do for personal development, personal growth? What do millionaires do? What do billionaires do? What do, right. Just, just every phrase I could think of in that realm. And I ended up, I was looking for one practice, Anna, and I ended up a list of six.

Anna: Yeah.

Hal: And I got a little overwhelmed. It was meditation, affirmations, visualization, exercise, reading and journaling. And I went, “Well, I can’t do all of these. So which one’s the best?” And as I’m going back to the articles I’m reading, there was like, there’s no clear winner. I read this article called Fortune 500 CEOs Who Swear by Meditation. And that threw me off because I will, I always picture like monks meditating, not fortune 500 CEOs. This article talks about how some of the best CEOs had their biggest financial breakthroughs, the biggest business breakthroughs. It also is how they manage their stress every day and they optimize their mindset. I’m like, “Okay, well, I’ve got to meditate.”

Anna: Yeah.

Hal: Then I came across a, a video of Ellen DeGeneres interviewing Will Smith. Now this was pre-Chris Rock slap. So it’s a different Will Smith. Different feeling. But I, but she asked him like at that time, he had the number one movie in the country. He had like one of the, one of the top TV shows. His album has gone platinum, right? She goes, “Will, you grew up in the middle, in middle class Philly. How everything you touch turns to gold. How would you do this?” And to paraphrase what he said, he said, “When I was 15, I learned about affirmations.” And he said, “And I start, I wrote affirmations first by articulating what I wanted in my life. Then I wrote down who I needed to be to create what I wanted. Then I wrote down what I needed to do on a daily basis to become the person I needed to be to create what I wanted.”

Anna: Wow.

Hal: And I was like, “That makes so much sense.” And he said, “I simply lived in alignment with the affirmations. I became that person. I created what everything I wanted.” I was like, “Oh, that makes so much sense.” So I’m like, I gotta do affirmations. So I’m looking at the other practices and I’m going, “I can’t do all of them. What am I going to do?” And then I had a lightbulb moment, as I almost like just closed the computer like, never mind, screw it, it’s too much. I went, “Wait a minute. What if I did all of them? What if I woke up tomorrow 30 to 60 minutes earlier?” And I did all six of the most timeless proven personal development practices that the world’s most successful people have sworn by for centuries. That would be the ultimate personal development routine. And that would theoretically enable me to become the level 10 version of myself as fast as humanly possible. And I’ll wrap the story with how it worked out. I was thinking, “Give me a year.” If I do this every day for a year, it’s only a matter of time, I can become that person. I woke up the next morning, and I sucked at it. I was like meditating was weird. Affirmations were weird. Like, I wasn’t good at these things. But even after one hour of poorly done practices, I was like, “If I started every day like this, it’s only a matter of time.” And in less than two months, I more than doubled my income…

Anna: Yeah.

Hal: During the 2008 great recession. And I really want to highlight this for a second, Anna, because there’s so many people–human nature is to point your finger at why things are not going well in your life. Of course, I’m struggling financially. It’s the economy’s fault. And that’s how I’ve been living for six months. It’s the economy’s fault. And I had no control to change it because it was the economy’s fault. After the two months, I went, “No, no, no, I’m gonna get better, the economy might not get better.” In fact, it got worse. I’m gonna get better, I’m gonna figure out how to generate income, even in the midst of the declining economy. And so I more than doubled my income. I went from being in the worst shape of my life physically, having never run more than a mile in high school PE class that I hated, to committing to run a 52-mile ultra-marathon because I decided that would enable me to become the level 10 version of myself in terms of my fitness and my mindset. And so I committed to it publicly to raise money for charity so that I had to do it, or I’d look like a total jerk. And then the third piece was my depression. It did not take two months to go away. On day one, not that it went away completely. But it I’d say it went from like a nine to like a five. And the reason is this: You think about it, one of the main causes of depression–and again, I’m not a neurologist. I’m not a psychologist, right. But we can all understand in layman’s terms that if you, if the future is hopeless for you, if you feel like there is no chance for your life to get better. You’re depressed. It’s depressing.

Anna: Yeah.

Hal: And that’s after six months of this downward spiral into financial ruin, I, I had lost all hope. But my very first morning ritual, and it wasn’t called the Miracle Morning, I’ll get to that one sec. But my very first morning routine like this, the six practices. I went, again, it was this hope, like I said, if I started every morning like this, it’s only a matter of time. And I remember that. I remember the moment. Two months out later, I signed my second coaching client for the day. And I went to look for my wife, Ursula, my fiancée at the time, Ursula. I found her in the hallway. She was coming out of the bedroom. And I said, “Sweetheart, I just signed on two more coaching clients.” She said, “Congratulations.” I said, “No, you don’t understand. Because of this morning routine and what I’m learning and the mindset I’ve developed.” I said, “We have doubled our income in the last two months.” It feels like a frickin miracle. And she gets, she looks doesn’t even skip a beat. She goes, “It’s your Miracle Morning.”

Anna: Yep. Yay Ursula.

Hal: I go. “I love it!” And so I started teaching to my coaching clients thinking if it worked for me, it could work for them. They’re like, I’m not a morning person. They protested. But 13 out of 14 coaching clients came to their next call and said, “Hal, I had my best week in my sales career. I am running. I am reading, I’m meditating. I’m sure, I’m doing, I’ve never, I’m happy. I’m a morning person. And I’ve never been one in my entire life.” And that’s when I went okay, if this changed the Miracle Morning changed my life and I wasn’t a morning person. And it changed my client’s lives and they weren’t morning people. This could change the world if you will. And that’s when I started writing the original edition of, you know, The Miracle Morning and the rest is history as they say,

Anna: Oh my God, I love it. I’ve never gotten the full story. That was incredible. You know what it reminded me of that quote: Faith is belief without evidence.

Hal: There you go.

Anna: Which I love. So okay, cut to it sold over 2 million copies. You know, the average book sells 300 copies just to put it in perspective. How many different Miracle Mornings are there now?

Hal: There are roughly a dozen, a little over, there’s a dozen and some companion books but there’s Miracle Morning for Addiction Recovery…

Anna: The very best of that.

Hal: The best of course, of all of them. Co-authored by Anna David and Joe Polish. So fun. So cool. And then the Miracle Morning for Real Estate Agents, Salespeople, College Students, Parents and Families, Entrepreneurs with our friend Cameron Herold…

Anna: Cameron Herold, yep.

Hal: The Miracle Morning for Writers. You know, for Teachers. There’s the Art of Affirmations Coloring Book which my great friend Brianna Greenspan…

Anna: Oh, she’s amazing.

Hal: You know Brianna?

Anna: Because Brianna is now brought it all into schools. Taking it to the next level. Miracle Morning is her life.

Hal: Yep, yep, yep.

Anna: Which I love. Now that I’m a parent, I’m gonna get the Miracle Morning for Parents. I have to tell you, because okay, when I first read it, I was like, holy, yes. I mean I already meditate and pray. And I was all about it. And I might, my practice has slacked. Oh my God. And I bet anyone listening to this, I it’s like, oh my God, I’m gonna do that tomorrow. I am so recommitted from this, which wasn’t even my goal. So okay, so just to wrap up, let’s talk about so have you experienced failure since then? Well, there was a pretty severe illness. But do we call that, we don’t call that failure?

Hal: It wasn’t failure. So okay, here, well, let me I’ll tell you the best failure story that I think is the most helpful for anybody listening. The 2000 The Miracle Morning published on 12/12/12. The original edition, right. So the, the new edition, the updated expanded edition will come out on 12/12/2023. So it’s the 11-year anniversary of the original.

Anna: Perfect.

Hal: The original edition, though, when it published, I, you know, I was an unknown author, alright. I self published. I didn’t have, I didn’t have an audience, nothing. But it had been changing people’s lives. Because the three years that it took me to write the book, I was sharing it in speeches, I was sharing it on podcasts, I was like, just sharing it everywhere I could. It would become my life’s work. So I already had, you know, dozens, if not hundreds of emails from people saying the Miracle Morning is changing my life. It’s helping my marriage. It’s all these really profound results. And so, I felt a responsibility. It’s why I wrote the book. I have to share it.

Anna: Yep.

Hal: Well, when the book came out, and I was like, “Okay, what’s my goal for this year?” I go, “Oh, you know what, I’m just gonna go big.” I’m gonna, I want to change 1 million lives one morning at a time. That became my mission, the Miracle Morning mission, year one. Change one million lives one morning at a time, which was sell a million copies of the book. And so I did everything in my power. I got on 152 podcasts, and again I was unknown. That was just me emailing hundreds and hundreds of people and asking for, I’d ask for referrals from my Cutco skills. Every podcast I got on, “Hey, you know anybody else that this would be a good fit for?” Yeah, I got a few friends right. And so I was on 152 podcasts. I gave 36 speeches around the country. I hired a publicist with money I did not have that was on a credit card going in debt. But I was like, I got to do whatever is my, I can. I got on like, I think 13 morning talk shows. Good Morning,Houston, Good Day Sacramento, on and on and on. I was on social media every day, like I worked my butt off to sell a million copies. I did everything in my power. And at the end of the year, I failed by 987,000 copies.

Anna: I can’t do math. That means you sold 12,000?

Hal: 98 point, I sold 13,000 copies.

Anna: Which is still so many books, but nowhere near a million.

Hal: Yeah, I was 98 point, that was it was a 98 point 7 percent failure rate. And I lived by this thing that I created in my Cutco career. And then I wrote a book about it following the Miracle Morning called it’s called The Miracle Equation. And the Miracle Equation is, the way I frame it, it’s the Miracle Morning is your daily practice for personal development. And the Miracle Equation is a daily process for goal achievement. And so to me, it’s how I beat, it’s how I walked again. It’s how I eventually I sold a million, millions of Miracle Morning books. But it’s, it’s the two decisions, unwavering faith, which you just mentioned…

Anna: Yep.

Hal: And extraordinary effort until, and then that word until I always say, circle it, underline it, etc. Because very often when we set a goal, it’s only our timeframe that’s unreasonable. And so at the end of the year, I was discouraged for sure. I’m like, “Oh my gosh.” Because I think I did the math. And I’m like, I was, it would take me 110 years or something like that, or 76 or, something crazy, right? To reach the goal at that pace, right? So I’m like, “Oh, like that was not even close.” And so I went, “Wait, okay, I live by the Miracle Equation. So that means I need to maintain unwavering faith that I can change one million lives one morning at a time. And I will put forth extraordinary effort for as long as it takes until I do.” That was, that’s, that’s how I live, just a way of living. And it took me six years. I tried, by the way, I tried year two. I was like, “Maybe year two, maybe I can figure it out.” I sold 23,000 copies year two.

Anna: Yeah.

Hal: So you know, still not even close right?

Anna: Right.

Hal: So 97 percent off. And it took six years. But here’s, here’s an important lesson. So number one, right, is that it’s this, you know, the timeframe is often off. You’ve got to give it everything you have for as long as it takes. And I love that phrase: It takes 10 years to be an overnight success because took me six years if you will, right. But here’s the, here’s an important lesson in this and it’s for everybody listening who doesn’t feel like I’m not where I want to be. Everybody feels like that. I want to be further ahead.

Anna: Yeah.

Hal: I’m not where I want to be. I look at people on social media or my colleagues or friends. And they’re so much further ahead. And I’m, you know, and we feel like we’re not enough. And we’re not far enough along. Here’s the lesson that I learned through this journey. When you finally get to the point that you want to be that you’ve been working at so hard, for so long, and feeling like it’s never gonna happen. And feeling depressed and frustrated and stress. When you finally get there, whether it takes you six years or 10 years or 15, whatever, you almost never wish it would have happened any sooner. Instead, you look back and you go, you go, “Oh, it had to take me an exact amount of time because I had to meet that person.”

Anna: True. Yeah.

Hal: I had to fail that one time to, to, to overcome that challenge to learn that thing that led to this realization that led to this person I met, that led, right? And if it wouldn’t have all happen that way, I couldn’t have gotten here. And so my advice for you, if you’re listening to this, and you’re like, “Oh, wow, I really resonate with wishing I were further ahead than I am,” is to be at peace with where you are. Live in a state of perpetual peace. There’s no reason not to. None. Zero. Zip. Right? And so whatever you’re going through, be at peace that when I was in my car accident, remember, that’s why the doc said I was delusional. But I wasn’t, I was at peace. I cannot change where I’m at in this moment.

Anna: Yep.

Hal: I can do everything I can to keep moving forward. But where I am in this moment, and this moment, and this moment, and the moment I wake up tomorrow in, that’s where I am. So I can either be frustrated and stressed out and depressed and wish it were different, which is futile. Or I can be totally at peace. And then the second part of the advice is maintain a healthy sense of urgency to wake up every day, do your Miracle Morning, become a better version of who you were when you went to bed the night before. And take one step closer to your ultimate vision for your life. So be at peace where you are and maintain a healthy sense of urgency to move toward where you want to go.

Anna: I mean, I was going to say we have to wrap up with your top tips for overcoming failure, but you just did it without. So exquisitely. This has been so fantastic. If people want to find out more about you where’s the best place for them to go?

Hal: So the best place is Miracle Morning dot com (miraclemorning.com). That is a hub for, you can watch the Miracle Morning movie.

Anna: Oh, yeah, we didn’t even get into that there’s a movie. Okay, yeah.

Hal: It’s a 90-minute full length documentary. It’s really well done and I don’t, I don’t take credit for it. I give that to my filmmaker Nikara Dara, but it’s actually really fascinating and our friend, Joe Polish is in it and Mel, Mel Robbins is in it. Joe Polish, Lewis Howes, Robin Sharma, Robert Kiyosaki, there’s a lot of really well-known brilliant people in there talking about their morning routines. And then 60 minutes into filming the Miracle Morning movie, or sorry, 60 minutes into watching it. It was two years into filming it, I was diagnosed with a very rare aggressive form of cancer, acute lymphoblastic leukemia, and I was given a 20 to 30% chance of surviving. I was almost dead when I, when they found it. My heart was failing. My lungs were failing. And my kidneys were failing. And I called my director and I said, “Hey, the movie’s on hold, man. I’m fighting for my life. Like, they literally give me one to three weeks to live unless the chemo starts working.” And he said, “This is the movie now.” He said it after a few nice, pleasant friend things first. But he said “Hal, I really don’t think we should put the movie on hold. I want to come film you beating your cancer because that’s going to inspire even more people even, even more so.”

Anna: Yep.

Hal: So he was, “I know your mindset. I know you’re gonna take this on in the most positive way you can.” And, and so I was like, “Let me talk to my wife. I don’t think we were planning on filming this.” But thank God he did. Because when you watch the movie, it’s you know, it’s the most profound part is the last 30 minutes of the film. So yeah, Miracle Morning dot com. You can watch the movie. You can download the free app and the app has 2000 reviews in the app store, five-star reviews. People are loving the Miracle Morning app. And then you can find all the books and you know, the new Miracle Morning book. You can find it there too, and that there’s pre-order bonuses, all sorts of fun stuff.

Anna: And I’m touching it at this moment. So I can tell you listeners though you can’t see it. First of all a foreword by Robert Kiyosaki. It’s gorgeous. You just feel good even looking at that color. Hal, thank you so much for doing this. Listeners, thank you so much, and I will talk to you next week.

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