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

How To Wake UP With More Energy (On Less Sleep)
Through my own experimentation—as well as that of many other
Miracle  Morning  enthusiasts  who  have  tested  this  theory—I’ve
concluded  that,  for  the  most  part,  we  need  as  much  sleep  as  we
believe that  we  need.  In  other  words,  I’ve  found  that  how  we  feel  in
the  morning  when  we  wake  up—and  this  is  a  very  important
distinction—is not based on how many hours of sleep we got, as much
as it’s based on how we told ourselves we were going to feel when we
woke up.
For example, if you believe that you need 8 hours of sleep to feel

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rested, but you’re getting into bed at 12:00 midnight and have to wake
up at 6:00 a.m., you’re likely to tell yourself, “Geez, I’m only going
to  get  six  hours  of  sleep  tonight,  but  I  need  eight.  I’m  going  to  feel
exhausted in the morning.” Then, what happens as soon as your alarm
clock  goes  off  and  you  open  your  eyes  and  you  realize  it’s  time  to
wake  up?    What’s  the  first  thought  that  you  think?  It’s  the  same
thought  you  had  before  bed!    “Geez,  I  only  got  six  hours  of  sleep.  I
feel  exhausted.”    It’s  a  self-fulfilling,  self-sabotaging  prophecy.  If
you  tell  yourself  you’re  going  to  feel  tired  in  the  morning,  then  you
are absolutely going to feel tired. If you believe that you need 8 hours
to  feel  rested,  then  you’re  not  going  to  feel  rested  on  anything  less.
But what if you changed your beliefs?
The mind-body connection is a powerful thing, and I believe we
must  take  responsibility  for  every  aspect  of  our  lives,  including  the
power  to  wake  up  every  day  feeling  energized,  regardless  of  how
many hours of sleep we get.
I’ve experimented with various durations of sleep—from as little
as  four  hours  to  as  many  as  nine.  The  other  variable  in  my
experimentation  was  actively  telling  myself  how  I  was  going  to  feel
in  the  morning,  based  on  the  amount  of  hours  I  slept.  First,  I  tried
each duration of sleep, telling myself before bed that I was not getting
enough sleep, and that I was going to feel exhausted in the morning.
On four hours of sleep, I woke up feeling exhausted.
On five hours of sleep, I woke up feeling exhausted.
On six hours of sleep, you guessed it—exhausted.
Seven hours…. Eight hours… Nine hours… The hours of sleep I
got  didn’t  change  how  I  felt  when  the  alarm  clock  went  off  in  the
morning.  As  long  as  I  told  myself  before  bed  that  I  wasn’t  getting
enough sleep, and that I was going to feel tired in the morning, that’s
exactly how I felt.

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Then, I again experimented with each duration—from nine hours
to  four  hours—this  time  reciting  a  bedtime  affirmation  and  telling
myself that I was going to wake up feeling energized in the morning:
“Thank you for giving me these five hours of sleep tonight. Five hours
is exactly what I need to feel rested and energized in the morning. My
body is capable of miraculous things, the least of which is generating
an abundance of energy from five restful hours of sleep. I believe that
I  create  my  experience  of  reality,  and  I  choose  to  create  waking  up
tomorrow  feeling  energized  and  excited  to  take  on  my  day,  and  I’m
grateful for that.”
What I found was that whether I got nine, eight, seven, six, five,
or  even  just  four  hours  of  sleep,  as  long  as  I  consciously  decided,
before  bed,  that  I  was  getting  the  perfect  amount  of  sleep—that  the
hours  were  going  to  energize  my  body  to  feel  wonderful  in  the
morning—I  consistently  woke  feeling  better  than  I  ever  had  before.
However,  don’t  take  my  word  for  it.  I  encourage  you  to  experiment
with this yourself.
So, how many hours of sleep do you really need? You tell me.