It’s September 1, 2019 tomorrow. I notice the days shortening. It’s dark longer in the morning and sooner in the evening. A long spell of heat and humidity has broken, so it’s cool when I walk home from the gym in the early hours. Yesterday, even with all the light pollution in my urban area, Orion’s Belt was visible, and the sky turned a beautiful violet color as the sunrise began. Peaceful, beautiful moments such as this bring gratitude to my heart.
Serendipity (noun) Finding something good without looking for it.
The guiding forces in the universe are always working to help us. When we are open-minded and willing to follow their machinations, we improve our lives. Three such opportunities recently presented themselves to me in rapid succession, all in the form of literature. Thankfully, I was ready to listen and am now on a growth journey.
(Be sure to visit my “Resources” page for publication specifics)
First, I rediscovered The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod on my Kindle. I purchased it a year ago, read a couple of chapters about his actual death experience and quickly moved on to something more suitable for bedtime reading – youth fantasy novels. Something made me open the ebook again and actually finish it this time. The very next evening, I planned out my morning TMM protocol of SAVERS, set my alarm 45 minutes earlier than usual, read his “Bedtime Affirmation” and went to sleep excited about what the morning would bring. My 27 straight days (so far) of having a Miracle Morning culminated in me finishing second book, High Performance Habits by Brendon Burchard.
HPH came into my possession last year in a “swag bag” at Isagenix’s Global Celebration in Nashville. As a keynote speaker at the event, Brendon relayed his near-death experience, the big questions he asked himself in those moments, and what he has learned through a career of performing intensive research on high performers. I wrote a few notes. When I got home, the book went on the shelf in the section “Read When You Have Time.” Do you have one of those sections? Do you ever manage to find the time to read them? Implementing TMM gave me 30+ minutes to read every day for 27 days, and I finished the book. Along the way I was able to make detailed notes about what resonated with me for all six High Performance Habits. I am a high performer, but there is always room for improvement. A couple of the habits I hit out of the park. I need to work hard on developing more skills around a couple of them too. The pursuit of personal excellence is never complete.
While HPH has comprised the majority of my TMM reading, some weekend mornings were dedicated to a third tome, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey. (Pat likes to sleep late when he can, giving me a couple hours of reading time.) Our Human Resources Manager at work reads A BOOK A WEEK, 50 weeks of the year. She wanted to start a book club in the office and chose “7 Habits.” This is not a wine club with a book problem. Lunch is eaten while she leads a discussion of how we understand Covey’s teachings. So far it seems I’m a reasonably effective person, but there are still a few habits to go. The key benefits of this book club are two-fold. First is the introspection on who I am and who I want to be. Second is getting to know people who work for the company but who I don’t regularly work with. (It will become apparent through more of these posts that Interconnectedness is an area of development for me.)
Back to that stunning sky I was lucky enough to experience because I am an early riser – now an even earlier riser. This pocket of time in my day is allowing me to know myself. Part of that process is clarifying who I want to be both in my own mind and in the minds of others. There is a significant amount of thinking and planning to be done, followed up by focused action. These “Growth” posts will give you some insight into my journey. The Universe led you here. Be open-minded and listen. Maybe there is a journey you should be on too.
“Yesterday did not make it through last night, and this morning’s sunlight belongs to a fresh, new day.” Burchard, 2017.