0:00

I had an epiphany recently that I

0:02

had not read a physical book in

0:05

months, maybe even a whole year. I

0:08

used to read physical books every night. I

0:11

switched to audiobooks to save time,

0:13

but never really re-evaluated my routine.

0:16

Yes, I had time to read, but I

0:18

was making other, less productive

0:20

and less fulfilling choices. Now

0:23

you can do the same thing. Make

0:25

that same switch. This is

0:27

the 5am Miracle, episode number 531. Knocking

0:31

down all the excuses. If

0:34

you have time for X, you definitely have

0:36

time for Y. Good

0:41

morning and welcome to the 5am

0:43

Miracle. I am Jeff Sanders and

0:45

this is the podcast dedicated to

0:47

dominating your day before breakfast. My

0:50

goal is to help you bounce

0:52

out of bed with enthusiasm, create

0:54

powerful, lifelong habits and tackle your

0:56

grandest goals with extraordinary energy. In

0:59

the episode this week, I'll break

1:01

down the common excuses we tell

1:04

ourselves about our bad habits, unfulfilled

1:06

dreams and missed opportunities. Also

1:09

what it takes to overcome the most insidious

1:11

of habits and the

1:13

power of the compound effect over

1:15

time when you make better, even

1:18

tiny choices today and most days

1:20

going forward. Let's dig in. So

1:25

my tendency in the last 12-18 months is essentially to waste

1:27

my time at night. Which

1:38

is really unfortunate because I basically teach

1:40

this stuff. So

1:42

I have fallen into the trap that

1:44

I try to get myself out of

1:46

all the time, which ultimately comes down

1:48

to a lack of intentionality and lack

1:50

of a plan. My

1:54

evening hours are an opportunity to

1:57

get more value out of time that I tend

1:59

to waste. If I choose

2:01

to stay up late, watch

2:03

TV, drink a glass of wine

2:05

or two, scroll through social

2:08

media, or ultimately just choose any

2:10

activity that doesn't really have any

2:12

direct and tangible value, I have

2:14

wasted one, two,

2:17

maybe even three hours in the

2:19

evening. Now, what if

2:21

we made some changes? What if

2:23

instead of that routine, something was

2:25

a little different, something tweaked in

2:27

just a small way, but it

2:30

could have profound benefits and

2:32

changes that are not crazy,

2:35

they're not extreme, but they're wildly

2:37

effective. So my mission,

2:39

generally speaking with the 5am Miracle,

2:41

is to pivot those evening hours

2:43

and move them to the morning.

2:46

So if I went to bed one hour earlier

2:49

and then woke up one hour earlier

2:51

and then used that new one hour

2:53

in the morning for something productive, anything,

2:56

fitness, reading, planning, goal achievement, you name

2:58

it, fill in the blank, do something

3:01

that means something to you, and you

3:03

did it in that hour, it can

3:06

change your life. Now,

3:08

if you are wasting two hours at night and you have

3:10

two hours in the morning, imagine the

3:13

possibilities here, this just adds up

3:15

depending on how your life is

3:17

currently structured. The point here is not

3:19

to destroy your evenings and go to bed at

3:21

6pm. That's not the intention. The

3:24

goal is to assess where is time

3:26

being wasted that could, with a small

3:28

change, actually be utilized in

3:30

a more effective way to provide the kinds

3:33

of benefits you know are possible with the

3:35

24 hours you have each and

3:37

every day. Because the time

3:39

is already there and moving even one hour

3:41

from the evening to the morning makes a

3:43

huge difference in your day. Honestly,

3:46

if you have time for nonsense at

3:48

night, you definitely have time

3:51

for something productive in the morning. To

3:54

the point of the title of the episode

3:56

this week, if you have time for X,

3:58

you definitely have time for Y. So

4:01

I want to go through a

4:03

few of the common excuses we

4:05

tell ourselves about those bad habits,

4:07

about our unfulfilled dreams, about those

4:09

opportunities that we miss because we

4:11

have these just structural, routine, nonsensical

4:14

choices that were made at some

4:17

point that are backfiring. They're

4:19

not working for us. They're working against us and we

4:21

know it. And if we

4:23

can change even small things, little

4:25

tweaks to prevent that kind of

4:28

mis-opportunity, imagine what's

4:30

possible. So let's get to those

4:32

excuses. Excuse number one, I

4:35

can do that tomorrow. Yeah,

4:38

I've heard that one before. That's

4:40

probably one of the most, if not

4:42

the most common thing to possibly say

4:44

about anything that you want from your

4:46

life. I don't

4:48

have time today, but I could do that tomorrow. I

4:51

could do that next week, next month, next quarter.

4:53

I could do that after, still

4:55

in the blank. Postponing

4:58

your future is not

5:00

the answer to your problems. If

5:04

you don't do it today, you're not

5:06

going to do it tomorrow. Straight

5:08

up, that's a fact. If you

5:11

don't make some effort today, why

5:14

would tomorrow be any different?

5:18

This is the challenge that I have

5:20

posed to myself recently when I have

5:22

spent some time being very explicit, very

5:24

direct with myself. I

5:26

made a list. I wrote it down. Here are

5:28

the things that I want to see

5:31

from my life, from my business, from

5:33

my family in the next five, ten

5:35

years. Then I looked

5:37

at that list and realized all of

5:39

these things I could have taken action on ten

5:42

years ago, but I didn't. Or

5:45

I only kind of sort of

5:47

did. It wasn't intentional. It wasn't

5:49

planned. This excuse of I can

5:51

do that tomorrow just showed up again

5:53

and again and again. And

5:56

ultimately, the I can do that tomorrow

5:58

reality is. is I can

6:01

make another excuse tomorrow. I

6:03

can find some other rationale why

6:05

I can't fulfill my dream tomorrow.

6:08

When tomorrow shows up, I'll have

6:10

another rational reason,

6:12

excuse lined up to

6:15

prevent me from doing the thing I know I

6:17

should be doing. If

6:20

you wanna change your life, this

6:22

excuse has to go. If

6:24

you want your dream fulfilled, you want your

6:26

goal accomplished, you want that thing to happen,

6:29

you're gonna have to make

6:32

a sacrifice today, literally today.

6:35

And if you don't do that, even five

6:37

minutes of your life committed to that goal

6:39

in some capacity, why

6:41

would tomorrow be any different? If

6:43

you can't answer that question about exactly why tomorrow

6:45

is different, you know that this is going to

6:47

apply to you. You know

6:49

that the change has to take place today.

6:52

And yes, just five minutes. I

6:54

told a story in the podcast recently about how

6:57

back in college, I came back from a study

6:59

abroad trip and committed to five

7:01

minutes a day of running on a treadmill.

7:04

That was it, five minutes a day

7:06

and that scale to five miles a day

7:08

in just a few months. That's

7:11

where change happens in the five minutes,

7:13

not the five miles, that's just an

7:15

effective long-term habit change. But the real

7:18

change, the one that matters was the

7:20

five minutes. That's what

7:22

this is. If I can do a five

7:24

minute walk or run today and I definitely

7:26

can, well then tomorrow I

7:28

can do the same thing and maybe

7:31

walk or run a little further, maybe

7:34

push my goals ahead even

7:36

more. So yeah, my new

7:38

excuse is I can only

7:40

do five minutes, flip it around. I

7:43

can only do five, so I'll guarantee those

7:45

first five. And the next day I

7:47

can only do 10, but I'll guarantee those 10.

7:50

You turn an excuse into an action step,

7:53

into a I only have time

7:55

for blank, which means I'm

7:57

definitely gonna do that thing. And

7:59

then when that... happens the progress begins to add

8:01

up. So flip that excuse

8:03

on its head. I can

8:06

do that tomorrow and I will and here's

8:08

how it's gonna look and here's the specifics

8:10

to guarantee it happens. Here are

8:12

all the distractions that would pull me away and

8:14

here's how I've addressed those. Here's

8:16

the guaranteed location, guaranteed time,

8:19

guaranteed resources. Here's my list

8:21

of how I will ensure

8:23

this happens. Flip

8:26

the script, guarantee your

8:28

success. Common

8:30

excuse number two. This

8:33

one instance won't make

8:35

a long-term difference. Okay

8:38

this is actually true. A single

8:40

instance of a habit by

8:42

itself means almost nothing but

8:45

of course compounded over time it's

8:47

incredible. It's a magical amount of

8:49

growth over time. So yeah

8:52

a single five minute workout means

8:54

almost nothing. A single

8:56

salad for lunch means almost nothing

8:59

but of course if you ate a salad for

9:01

lunch every single day for a year that

9:04

could be life-changing for your diet and your health.

9:07

If you ran for five minutes a

9:09

day every single day and scale that

9:11

over time it will change

9:13

your physicality. Yes the

9:15

compound effect matters here. The

9:17

one instance, the single individual

9:19

choice, it is by

9:21

itself kind of pointless but

9:24

the transformation, the switch, the realization

9:26

that this one thing is one

9:28

of many and this

9:30

habit, this commitment over time of

9:32

one more and one more and

9:34

one more. That's the rhythm.

9:37

That's the progress. That's where all the

9:39

magic happens is one more. Not

9:42

one singular but one more added on

9:44

to the list. Then

9:46

all of a sudden you are building

9:48

something. You're creating something. You are establishing

9:50

a rhythm, a routine and

9:53

a snowball effect that kicks

9:55

in and changes your life. So

9:57

if you have this excuse of I just you know

9:59

this one. I'm not committed to

10:01

it because it's just one. But let

10:04

that go. Because it's just one more.

10:07

One more on the list. One more day. One more trip

10:09

to the gym. One more salad.

10:12

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11:03

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11:05

up early, dominate your day, and

11:07

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11:09

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11:12

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11:14

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11:16

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11:18

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11:20

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Once again, that's 5ambook.com. Common

11:51

excuse number 3. I'm

11:53

too tired. Okay,

11:56

this is a hard one. It's

11:59

a hard one because I... Feel it. Oh

12:01

man, like I said before this podcast, being

12:03

the father of two young girls and having

12:05

to manage the business and the health goals

12:07

and the life and the family, I'm

12:10

in a season of my

12:12

life where tiredness, fatigue, exhaustion

12:16

is my middle name. It's just every

12:18

single day is a challenge to, okay,

12:21

here we go, I got this, I got this. But

12:24

the thing is that I do have this.

12:27

This is happening, it is working.

12:29

And the excuse of I'm too

12:31

tired is really acknowledgement of there

12:34

has to be a shift in priorities. Yes,

12:37

more sleep is going to help big

12:39

time. Yes, more breaks and

12:41

more margin will help in a big way.

12:44

But ultimately being too tired is

12:46

probably an acknowledgement that you're taking

12:48

on more than you have time for. The

12:51

big challenge, the big change that takes

12:53

place when you reach a season of

12:55

life where you are worn down, you

12:58

are stressed, you are tired, you are fatigued. The

13:01

only rational response to

13:03

that is a reduction in

13:05

activities, a deletion of every

13:07

possible thing you could imagine to simplify

13:09

the calendar, simplify the schedule and get

13:11

to a place where you look at

13:14

what's coming up and you say, I've

13:16

got this, I can

13:18

do that, that's manageable. I have

13:21

significantly underplanned my calendar. So

13:23

I have margin built in and guaranteed. I

13:25

have the free time I need, the sleep

13:27

that I need, the recovery time in the

13:29

gym or sauna that I need. I have

13:31

what I need, it's there. I

13:34

still have to follow through and execute on that plan. But

13:36

the plan is there and the plan makes sense because

13:38

I've thought it through. So

13:41

my mission, whenever I feel the sense of

13:43

yes, I'm too tired, yes, I'm beat up,

13:45

yes, I've been sick, yes, things are hard.

13:48

Okay, we can acknowledge reality and yes, that

13:50

may be true. But there are

13:52

things you can do about the fact

13:54

that you're tired, stressed, fatigued, worn down.

13:57

There are actual tangible steps you can take

13:59

to... address that emotional

14:01

and physical feeling and

14:03

then also have a schedule long term that

14:06

prevents that and that encourages you to

14:08

do the kinds of things that provide

14:10

more energy, more power,

14:12

more control. And

14:14

then that excuse of I'm too tired it

14:17

fades away. It may take some

14:19

time to get there but it will fade away

14:22

because you're gonna feel better. You have a

14:24

plan and the plan is working. Common

14:28

excuse number four. This

14:30

isn't a good time for me. Okay

14:33

I know this one. I personally experienced this one.

14:35

This is to a certain degree what I was

14:38

just talking about of a season of life. This

14:41

season isn't a good time. This

14:43

current lifestyle isn't my norm. It's

14:45

just what's happening right now. Now

14:48

there's two ways to approach this. The

14:50

first is that it's actually true. That

14:52

this current season is temporary. That this

14:54

is actually not a good time for

14:56

the thing you're trying to do and

14:58

that things are going to be shifting

15:00

and changing very soon and then when

15:02

it does you can work on this

15:04

next big project. The

15:06

problem with that is it's probably not true. It's

15:09

probably not the case. What generally

15:11

is the case that I have seen

15:14

firsthand just recently is

15:16

that this current season is gonna last a

15:18

lot longer than you think. That

15:21

saying this is not a good time won't

15:23

work because every single day

15:26

it's just the same thing. I

15:28

can do that tomorrow. Excuse number one we just

15:30

talked about. That tends to kick

15:32

in along with this one. Like

15:34

this isn't a good time but I will have time

15:36

next week. But the thing is

15:38

there's really not gonna be a better time. You

15:42

start now. Where you are with

15:44

what you have. That's where everything

15:46

starts. To use the excuse

15:48

of now is a bad time. It's

15:50

really a way of saying that thing I'm trying

15:52

to do is not as important to me as

15:54

the other things I've already said yes to. Which

15:56

is a question of priorities. It's a question of

15:59

sacrifice. A question of of do you say yes or

16:01

no to things that are on your list? Because

16:03

at some point you have to draw a line to

16:06

stand and begin. At some

16:08

point you're going to start now with where

16:10

you are even if that place seems crazy

16:12

and not prepared. You don't

16:15

feel ready. And that's okay

16:17

because no one feels ready. No

16:20

one feels ready. They just begin

16:22

anyway. And if someone

16:24

does feel ready, that means they should

16:26

have started years ago. They missed the

16:28

opportunity to start when they didn't feel ready.

16:31

That's the truth. That's what you're going

16:33

for. You start now. Because

16:36

if you don't start now, there's not

16:38

going to be that tomorrow. It's not

16:40

going to be a good time tomorrow. Today

16:43

is that time. Today is

16:45

your day. Common

16:48

excuse number five. I

16:50

don't know how or I don't

16:52

have the skills to or I

16:54

don't really enjoy filling the blank. The

16:58

answer to all three of these excuses is the

17:01

same. So if you say I

17:03

don't know how or I don't

17:05

have the skills or I don't like

17:07

doing XYZ, learn it.

17:10

All of these excuses fade away instantly

17:12

if you have the skills to do

17:15

the thing you're not doing. I

17:18

say this from personal experience in just

17:20

the last few months I had

17:22

this epiphany myself that there was a part of

17:24

my business I didn't want to do. I didn't

17:27

have the skills to do it. I didn't enjoy

17:29

trying to do it. I was bad at

17:32

it. And guess what? I still

17:34

kind of am bad. I still don't know how

17:36

to do this one aspect of my business. But

17:39

I'm learning. I've committed to the

17:41

process of learning how to do it.

17:44

And so it's getting better. It's

17:46

a slow and tedious process like anything

17:48

might be to learn a new skill,

17:50

especially one you believe that you don't

17:52

personally enjoy. But here's the funny thing

17:54

about that. Most

17:56

people in most scenarios who say they

17:58

don't enjoy something. It's because they

18:00

don't have the skills to do it well. But

18:03

if you learn it, you gain the skills,

18:05

and you get really good at doing that

18:07

thing, all of a sudden it's a

18:10

lot more fun. Because we love

18:12

doing things we're good at. We enjoy

18:14

doing things that feel natural and come

18:16

easily to us. And when you

18:18

have the skills to do something, you've removed

18:20

the excuse of, I don't like it because

18:22

I'm bad at it. I don't

18:24

like it because I can't do it well. All

18:27

of a sudden that doesn't exist anymore. Now,

18:30

you may learn the skills for something and

18:32

still not like it. That's possible, right? It's

18:34

a different conversation. But if you have the

18:36

skills, and you can learn to

18:38

enjoy and revel in the fact that you're good

18:41

at this thing now, you've done it enough times

18:43

now, well then the excuse

18:45

disappears. And you just do the task,

18:47

you get it over with, you move on to the

18:49

next thing. Learn to

18:51

do the thing that is the obstacle

18:53

in your path. Become a

18:55

master of that skill. And

18:58

then all of a sudden, you're making progress

19:00

without all the nonsense. So

19:03

now that we've knocked down the top five

19:05

most common excuses, let's discuss what

19:07

it takes to overcome the most

19:09

insidious of habits. Now the

19:11

funny thing here is a side note. I wrote

19:13

the word insidious down in my notes without even

19:15

realizing what that word meant. And I had to

19:17

look up the definition of it. It just popped

19:19

into my brain. I was thinking, this sounds like

19:21

a great word. I don't know what it means.

19:24

What it actually means is to

19:26

proceed in a gradual or subtle

19:28

way, but with harmful effects. So

19:31

imagine a bad habit that's gradual,

19:33

it's subtle, it sneaks into your

19:36

life, and it causes harmful effects.

19:38

It's a bad habit. It works

19:40

against you over time. And

19:42

so we're asking the question right now of

19:45

what it takes to overcome not just bad

19:47

habits in general, but the kinds of bad

19:49

habits that are sneaky, the kind that come

19:51

into your life and cause harm and wreak

19:54

havoc and make you just think, oh man,

19:56

I screwed that up because I should have

19:58

seen it coming. but I didn't. So

20:01

let's talk about a few of these ways

20:04

to overcome these bad habits, these things that

20:06

if you make the switch, you can start

20:08

to do the thing that's gonna have better

20:10

results for you in the long run. Once

20:13

again, if you have time for X, the

20:15

bad habit, you definitely have time for Y,

20:17

the good habit. So step

20:19

number one to overcome these bad habits

20:22

is to acknowledge reality. You tell

20:25

yourself the truth about the habit. No

20:28

lies, no excuses, no

20:30

exaggerations. This is

20:32

an extremely important part of personal growth.

20:35

There is no way for you to grow

20:37

in a realistic way from where you are

20:39

to the next step up in your journey

20:42

without acknowledging where you are now. For

20:45

example, let's imagine your goal is to lose some

20:47

weight and so you look at the scale, but

20:50

you lie to yourself about what the number

20:52

actually says or you decide you're gonna

20:54

lose some weight and you never look at the

20:56

scale to begin with. You're not

20:58

going to make the kind of progress that's

21:00

possible without the truth. You're not

21:03

going to. By lying to yourself,

21:05

you are preventing progress. You are

21:07

preventing the ability for you to

21:09

tackle the actual problem at hand.

21:12

And that's where growth comes from, is seeing

21:14

the truth for what it is. And

21:17

even if it's bad, and it might be, but

21:20

even if it's bad, that gives you real

21:22

things to work with. It is the truth.

21:24

The truth is powerful. The

21:26

truth leads to real progress. What

21:29

it takes to overcome bad habits is

21:31

you have to understand where the bad

21:33

habit came from, how gradually and subtly

21:35

snuck into your life, so

21:37

you know how to stop it and sneakily

21:40

coming back in later. Acknowledge

21:42

reality, every single thing. If

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you're loving this podcast, and

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400 episodes, as well as any

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future. Now, in addition to

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all of that, you are supporting me

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and this podcast, which allows me to

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keep this show alive and making podcasts

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you love. To learn

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more and join today, simply

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go to 5ammiraclepremium.com. Once

22:40

again, that's 5ammiraclepremium.com. Number

22:51

2. Find examples of others

22:53

who have solved this problem you're trying

22:55

to solve and then model after them,

22:57

also known as copying. In school,

23:00

you would get in trouble for copying someone

23:02

who is smarter than you, you were cheating

23:04

on the test. In real

23:06

life, cheating is totally fine in

23:09

most cases. We're not trying

23:11

to reinvent the wheel, we're trying to

23:13

be strategic and smart and take an

23:15

easier path that's proven to work. So

23:17

if you find someone else who has solved

23:20

the problem and they're doing it really well

23:22

and you can directly copy what they're doing,

23:25

go ahead and try. In most cases, I'm

23:27

not going to give you carte blanche opportunities

23:29

here, there are some cases where it's bad,

23:31

but most of them in the real world

23:33

are great. Copy smart

23:35

people and do it all the time. You're

23:38

going to solve so many problems by

23:40

getting a great coach to give you

23:42

advice on how to move forward, by

23:44

literally following and reinventing someone else's success.

23:47

Just do what they did and you'll get the results

23:49

that they got. And that's a great

23:51

thing for everyone. It can be that

23:53

easy. This podcast is a

23:55

good example of that. I directly copied Michael

23:58

Hyatt's podcast that he had way back in

24:00

the day over 10 years ago, and

24:02

I strategically created my own version of

24:04

what he was doing. So

24:06

it was customized, but it was very

24:09

similar. If you listen to his show, which he took

24:11

offline, but if you had access to it way back

24:13

in the day, you'd be able to

24:15

see the difference, which there wasn't

24:17

any. It was just his show and mine

24:19

were very, very similar, but it worked. It

24:22

absolutely worked, and it works again and again in

24:24

lots of places in life. Alright,

24:27

number three to overcome the most

24:29

insidious of habits is

24:31

to start the good habit now

24:34

before you have kicked the bad

24:36

habit. This is an interesting one.

24:38

You can actually begin a good habit

24:40

with the intention of it crowding out

24:43

the bad one. You could

24:45

begin to read at night, for example,

24:47

before you have stopped totally wasting the

24:49

evening hours. You could begin

24:51

a new fitness plan now before you

24:53

have perfected your new diet. You

24:56

could start a small business idea now

24:58

before you have the ideal plan in

25:00

place. In other words,

25:02

we're not going to wait for ultimate

25:04

success. We're going to start now with

25:06

what we have and let the good

25:08

habits that we're beginning crowd out the

25:10

bad one over time. Then

25:12

when it's time to let go of the bad habit, it's going

25:14

to be easier because the good habit

25:16

is already in place. We've already established it.

25:19

There's already resources and a plan. There's already

25:21

the action steps in place and that's on

25:23

the calendar. We've got what we need, so

25:26

the bad one just kind of fades. And

25:28

then it's easy to let go of. This is

25:31

an incredible strategy that works every single

25:33

time because it's just so easy to

25:35

start now with tiny steps and

25:37

then let those tiny steps grow over

25:40

time. This is a phenomenal process

25:42

and it works so, so well. Now

25:46

for the last component of the episode this

25:48

week, I want to talk more about the

25:50

compound effect, which specifically there's a book from

25:52

Darren Hardy called The Compound Effect that I've

25:54

discussed a long time ago on this show.

25:57

It's an awesome book, a little older now. but

26:00

still very, very effective and a

26:02

phenomenal concept to master and then

26:04

implement in your life, especially when

26:07

it comes to tiny daily choices,

26:09

the little ones that add up

26:11

to big success over time. Now,

26:15

the first component of this, I actually

26:17

stole from a different book, Atomic Habits

26:19

from James Clear. James was

26:21

a previous guest of this podcast a couple of

26:23

times. His book, Atomic Habits,

26:26

also fits in this conversation really

26:28

well because it is what we're

26:30

talking about, the kinds of habits

26:32

that are tiny changes with remarkable

26:34

results. And the

26:36

1% rule that James talks about

26:38

fits perfectly in this idea of

26:40

tiny actions that compound over time.

26:43

So if you were to apply the 1% rule to

26:45

fitness, you might lift weights that are

26:48

1% heavier or

26:50

you're going to change your diet. So you

26:52

eat a diet that's just 1% better and

26:54

you can define what that means in terms

26:56

of calories or content and nutrients, but you

26:59

define what 1% is and then

27:01

you make a 1% improvement the

27:03

next time around. This can apply to your business,

27:06

it can apply to your sales, it can apply

27:08

to anything. We are looking for

27:10

a tiny change, just 1%, that

27:13

over time compounds and adds up

27:15

to enormous success. The

27:17

goal here is not to do something dramatic

27:19

because you don't have to. The 1%

27:22

compounded over time will do all the

27:24

heavy lifting for you and that's the

27:26

amazing part. You never have to

27:29

actually work that hard, but you do

27:31

have to work. You do have to

27:33

make the choice to dig in, to commit

27:35

to this process and do the 1% every

27:38

single day. But if that's all you do,

27:40

it is dramatic, it

27:42

is powerful. And then

27:44

the second piece kicks in, which is the

27:47

hockey stick effect. And the hockey

27:49

stick is when you see this graft over

27:51

time, what you'll notice is very little change

27:53

and then all of a sudden dramatic change.

27:56

And what that really means is the 1% rule and tiny change. and

28:00

little compounding for a

28:02

long time will look and feel like

28:05

no progress. No results

28:07

for a long, long time. This

28:10

is when people quit. This is

28:12

when everyone gives up because they've been going

28:14

to the gym for three weeks, they saw

28:16

no effect and they gave up. But

28:19

three weeks is not enough time. Anyone

28:21

who's ever worked out for a long time can tell you,

28:23

you're not going to achieve your goals in three weeks. You're

28:26

not going to achieve your goals in three months. You

28:28

will probably achieve them in three years. But

28:31

it takes about that long for these things to

28:33

kick in and ramp up and the hockey stick

28:35

to then show up, which

28:37

means all that little compounding eventually swings

28:39

forward in a very dramatic way and

28:42

then all of a sudden you feel

28:44

it. All of a sudden you're

28:46

in the groove and those results begin to show

28:48

up back to back to back. That's

28:50

when you're in the zone. But to get

28:53

to that zone, to get to that amazing

28:55

hockey stick effect, you've got to put

28:57

in the time up front. You've got

28:59

to commit to the idea that, well, I

29:01

had time to waste for the last X

29:03

number of years on whatever I was doing.

29:06

Let's just change that habit and do the

29:08

more effective one and then we'll be patient.

29:10

We'll wait for these results to kick in.

29:12

And no, I'm not a patient person. I

29:14

don't like this process. No one does. No

29:17

one wants to wait for results they could get now.

29:20

Why would they want to wait? Well, you

29:22

want to wait because that's what it takes. But

29:24

the commitment to that daily habit and the 1% improvement,

29:28

it works. Trust me, it works.

29:31

Stick to it. Make the change. Find

29:34

your way to stay committed every day,

29:36

little rewards, whatever it takes and

29:38

you will see the results long term. They

29:41

will kick in. So

29:43

once again, the book, The Compound Effect

29:45

by Darren Hardy, Atomic Habits by James

29:47

Clear. These are phenomenal books to dig

29:49

more into this content. Of course, you

29:51

could always read my book, The 5am

29:53

Miracle or my second book, The Free

29:55

Time Formula, all of which fit in

29:57

this conversation really well. That's

30:00

all I've got for you here on this conversation, but

30:02

I would love to hear from you. I

30:05

would love to hear your feedback on excuses. What

30:07

excuses do you tell yourself? Email

30:10

me, Jeff at jeffsanders.com. I

30:13

want to know what excuses you've used to

30:15

stop your progress and then potentially the solution

30:18

that you had to that excuse. What

30:20

allowed you to break free and achieve

30:22

your goals? Once again,

30:24

Jeff at jeffsanders.com. What

30:32

do you think of the

30:35

action step this week? Make

30:37

just one swap. This

30:39

instead of that. Or this before

30:41

that. Choose something and make

30:44

it stick. Once you

30:46

realize how much time you spend doing

30:48

an optional activity that could easily be

30:50

replaced with another, it's incredible how much

30:53

time you all of a sudden have

30:55

available. So find your swap and implement

30:57

it today. Now,

30:59

of course, you can subscribe to

31:02

this podcast and your favorite podcast

31:04

app or become a VIP member

31:06

of the 5am Miracle community by

31:09

getting the premium ad free version

31:11

with exclusive bonus episodes at 5ammiraclepremium.com.

31:15

And that's all I have for you here

31:17

on the 5am Miracle podcast this week. Until

31:20

next time, you have the power to change

31:22

your life and the fun begins bright and

31:24

early. Hey,

31:31

it's Jeff Sanders and I'm here to

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