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

Spring 2006 My first book, Taking Life Head On: How to Love
the Life You Have While You Create the Life of Your Dreams hit #7 on
the  Amazon  bestseller  list.  Then,  the  unthinkable  happened.  My
publisher fled the country with 100% of my best-selling royalties and
was never heard from again. My parents were devastated; I was not. If
there’s  one  thing  that  I’ve  learned  from  my  car  accident,  it’s  that
there is no point in dwelling on or feeling bad about the aspects of our
lives  that  we  can’t  change.  So,  I  didn’t.  I’ve  also  learned  that,  by
focusing  on  what  we  can  learn  from  our  challenges  and  how  we  use
them to add value to the lives of others, we can turn any adversity into
an advantage. So, I did.
2006  Without  almost  zero  knowledge  of  what  the  profession
entails, I accidentally became a life and business Success Coach when
a forty-something financial advisor asked me if I would coach him. I
agreed. I ended up loving it. My first client saw measurable results in
his  life  and  business,  and  I  was  passionate  about  helping  others,  as
their  coach. At  just  26,  the  odds  of  me  succeeding  as  a  professional
coach were probably slim to none, but it’s so in line with my purpose
in  life,  I  went  for  it  anyway.  My  coaching  business  took  off,  and  I
went on to coach hundreds of entrepreneurs, salespeople, and business
owners.
Shortly after, I gave my first paid speech when I was hired by the
Boys and Girls Clubs of America to be the featured keynote speaker at
their  national  conference.  Although  I’d  been  speaking  to  large
business  audiences  made  up  of  primarily  salespeople  and  managers,
since 1998, with my spiky hair, (somewhat) youthful appearance, and
nickname “Yo Pal” Hal, impacting young people was the way to go. I
started  speaking  and  sharing  my  story  at  local  high  schools  and
colleges.
2007 The  year  my  life  fell  apart.  The  United  States  economy

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crashed.  Overnight,  my  income  was  cut  in  half.  My  clients  couldn’t
afford  coaching.  I  couldn’t  pay  my  bills,  including  my  house
payment.  I  was  $425,000  in  debt,  and  devastated.  Mentally,
physically, emotionally, and financially—I hit rock bottom. Never in
my life have I felt so hopeless, overwhelmed, and depressed. At a loss
for  how  to  fix  my  life  yet  again,  I  desperately  sought  answers  to
insurmountable  problems.  I  read  self-help  books,  attend  seminars,
even hired a coach—but nothing worked.
2008 The year my life began to turn around. I finally confessed
to a close friend how bad things had gotten (which I had successfully
kept  a  secret  up  until  this  point).  His  question: Are  you  exercising?
My answer: I can barely get out of bed in the morning—so, no. “Start
running,” he said. “It’ll help you feel better and think clearer.” Ugh, I
hate  running.  I  was  desperate,  though,  so  I  took  his  advice  and  went
for a run. The realizations I had on this run became a turning point in
my  life  (details  in Chapter  2:    The  Miracle  Morning  Origin  –  Born
Out  of  Desperation),  and  I  had  the  inspiration  to  create  a  daily
personal  development  routine  that  I  hoped  would  enable  me  to
develop into the person I needed to be to solve my problems and turn
my life around. Incredibly, it worked. Virtually every area of my life
transformed so fast I called it my “Miracle Morning.”