The Miracle Morning: The Not-So-Obvious Secret Guaranteed to Transform Your Life (Before 8AM)

Isolating Incidents
One  of  the  most  prevalent,  yet  not-so-obvious  causes
of  mediocrity  is isolating  incidents.  We  do  this  when  we
mistakenly  assume  that  each  choice  we  make,  and  each
individual  action  we  take,  is  only  affecting  that  particular
moment, or circumstance. For example, you may think it’s
no big deal to miss a workout, procrastinate on a project, or
eat fast food because you’ll get a “do-over” tomorrow. You
make  the  mistake  of  thinking  that  skipping  that  workout
only  affects  that  incident,  and  you’ll  make  a  better  choice
next time. Nothing could be farther from the truth.
We must realize that the real impact and consequence
of  each  of  our  choices  and  actions—and  even  our  thoughts
—is monumental, because every single thought, choice, and
action  is  determining who  we  are  becoming,  which  will
ultimately  determine  the  quality  of  our  lives.  As  T.  Harv
Eker said in his best-selling book Secrets of the Millionaire
Mind, “How you do anything is how you do everything.”
Every time you choose to do the easy thing, instead of
the right thing, you are shaping your identity, becoming the
type  of  person  who  does  what’s  easy,  rather  than  what’s
right.
On the other hand, when you do choose to do the right
thing  and  follow  through  with  your  commitments—

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especially  when  you  don’t feel  like  it—you  are  developing
the  extraordinary  discipline  (which  most  people  never
develop) necessary for creating extraordinary results in your
life.    As  my  good  friend,  Peter  Voogd,  often  teaches  his
clients: “Discipline creates lifestyle.”
For example, when the alarm clock goes off, and we hit
the  snooze  button  (the easy thing), most people mistakenly
assume  that  this  action  is  only  affecting  that  moment.  The
reality  is  that  this  type  of  action  is  programming  our
subconscious  mind  with  the  instructions  that  it  is  okay  for
us  to not follow through with the things we intended to do.
(More  on  that  in  the  next  chapter: Why  Did  You  Wake  Up
This Morning?)
We  must  stop  isolating  incidents  and  start  seeing  the
bigger  picture.  Realize  that  everything  that  we  do  affects
who we’re becoming, which is determining the life that we
will ultimately create and live. When you see the big picture
you start to take the alarm clock more seriously. When the
buzzer  goes  off  in  the  morning  and  you’re  tempted  to
snooze,  you  start  thinking, Wait—this  is  not  who  I  want  to
become—someone who doesn’t even have enough discipline
to  get  out  of  bed  in  the  morning.  I’m  getting  up  now,
because  I  am  committed  to  __________  (waking  up  early,
hitting my goals, creating the life of my dreams, etc.)

Always  remember  that  who  you’re  becoming  is  far
more  important  than  what  you’re  doing,  and  yet  it  is  what
you’re doing that is determining who you’re becoming.
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