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

You Only Live… Twice?
What  happened  next  was  nothing  short  of  incredible—what
many have called a miracle.
The emergency rescue teams arrived, and, using the jaws of life,
firefighters cut my bloody body from the wreckage. When they did, I
bled out. My heart stopped beating. I stopped breathing.
Clinically, I was dead.
The paramedics immediately put me on the rescue helicopter and
worked  determinedly  to  save  my  life.  Six  minutes  later,  they
succeeded.  My  heart  started  to  beat  again.  I  breathed  clean  oxygen.
Thankfully, I was alive.
I  spent  six  days  in  a  coma,  and  woke  to  the  news  that  I  might
never  walk  again.  After  seven  challenging  weeks  of  recovery  and
rehabilitation  in  the  hospital,  learning  to  walk  all  over  again,  I  was
released  to  my  parents’  care—back  into  the  real  world.  With  11
fractured  bones,  permanent  brain  damage,  and  a  now  ex-girlfriend
who broke up with me in the hospital, life as I knew it, would never
be the same. Believe it or not, this would turn out to be a good thing.
While  coming  to  grips  with  my  new  reality  wasn’t  easy,  and  at
times I couldn’t help but wonder—why did this happen to me?—I had
to take responsibility for getting my life back. Instead of complaining
about  how  things should  be,  I  embraced  how  things  were.  I  stopped
putting energy into wishing my life were any different—into wishing
bad  things  didn’t  happen  to  me—and  instead  focused  100%  on
making  the  best  of  what  I  had.  Since  I  couldn’t  change  the  past,  I

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focused  on  moving  forward.  I  dedicated  my  life  to  fulfilling  my
potential  and  achieving  my  dreams  so  I  could  discover  how  to
empower others to do the same.
And, as a result of choosing to be genuinely grateful for all that I
had, unconditionally accepting of all that I didn’t, and accepting total
responsibility
for creating  all  that  I  wanted,  this  potentially
devastating car accident ultimately became one of the best things that
ever  happened  to  me.  Hinging  on  my  belief  that  everything  happens
for  a  reason—but  that  it  is our  responsibility  to  choose  the  most
empowering  reasons  for  the  challenges,  events  and  circumstances  of
our lives—I used my accident to fuel a triumphant comeback.
2000 A year that begins with me lying in a hospital bed—broken,
but  not  defeated—ends  quite  differently.  Despite  not  having  a  car,
even less of a short-term memory, equipped with every excuse in the
world to sit at home and feel sorry for myself, I returned to my sales
position at Cutco. I had the best year in my career, and finished #6 in
the company (amongst over 60,000 active sales reps). All this, while
still recovering—physically, mentally, emotionally, and financially—
from my wreck.
2001  Having  learned  some  invaluable  life  lessons  from  my
experience,  it  was  time  to  turn  my  adversity  into  inspiration  and
empowerment  for  others.  I  started  speaking  and  sharing  my  story  at
high  schools  and  colleges.  The  responses  from  students  and  faculty
were  overwhelmingly  positive,  and  I  embarked  on  a  mission  to
impact youth.
2002  My  good  friend,  Jon  Berghoff,  encouraged  me  to  write  a
book  about  my  accident,  to  further  inspire  others.  So,  I  started
writing. As  quickly  as  I  started,  I  stopped.  I’m  no writer.  Essays  in
high school were challenging enough, let alone a book. After repeated
attempts  that  always  ended  with  me  staring  at  my  computer  screen,
frustrated, it didn’t look like a book was in the cards. I did, however,

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finish in Cutco’s Top 10 for the 2
nd
year in a row.
2004 To try my hand at management, I accepted the position as
Sales Manager for the Sacramento Cutco office. Our team went on to
finish  #1  in  the  company  and  break  the  all-time  annual  record.  That
fall,  I  also  reached  my  highest  personal  sales  milestone  and  was
inducted  into  the  company’s  hall  of  fame.  Feeling  that  I’d
accomplished  everything  I  wanted  to  accomplish  with  Cutco,  it  was
time  to  pursue  my  dream  of  becoming  a  professional
keynote/motivational  speaker.  I  might  even  write  that  book  that  had
been swimming around in my head the last couple of years. I also met
Ursula. We were inseparable and I had this feeling that she could be
the one.