The Bossticks - The Miracle Morning: Hal Elrod On Morning Routines, Affirmations, & Mindset Shifts To Unlock Your Highest Potential

Episode Date: September 1, 2025

#881: Join us as we sit down with Hal Elrod –  bestselling author of The Miracle Morning, keynote speakers, & transformational coach. The Miracle Morning was created to unpack the powerful habits, mindset shifts, & daily rituals that can transform the trajectory of your life. In this episode, Hal dives into how tragedy turned into triumph after surviving a near-fatal car accident, a rare cancer diagnosis, & financial hardship. He breaks down the six practices that have helped millions elevate their mornings & how to tailor them to your own lifestyle. From the power of affirmations, impactful mindset shifts, & practical tools to build consistency – these habits will set your day up with ultimate success & help unlock your highest potential.   To Watch the Show click HERE   For Detailed Show Notes visit TSCPODCAST.COM   To connect with Hal Elrod click HERE   To connect with Lauryn Bosstick click HERE   To connect with Michael Bosstick click HERE   Read More on The Skinny Confidential HERE   Head to our ShopMy page HERE and LTK page HERE to find all of the products mentioned in each episode.   Get your burning questions featured on the show! Leave the Him & Her Show a voicemail at [phone].   To learn more about Hal Elrod and The Miracle Morning visit https://miraclemorning.com.   This episode is sponsored by The Skinny Confidential Your daily routine done better – with The Skinny Confidential Caffeinated Sunscreen. Subscribe today at http://bit.ly/TSCSunscreen and get it delivered right to your door – because great skin doesn't take days off!   This episode is sponsored by Hero Bread Hero Bread is offering 10% off your order. Go to http://hero.co and use code SKINNY at checkout. This episode is sponsored by Beam Go to http://shopbeam.com/SKINNY and use code SKINNY at checkout for up to 40% off.    This episode is sponsored by Opill Opill is birth control in your control, and you can use code SKINNY for 25% off your first month of Opill at http://Opill.com.   This episode is sponsored by Superpower Head to http://Superpower.com to learn more and lock in the special $199 price while it lasts.   This episode is sponsored by Cozy Earth Head to http://cozyearth.com and use my code SKINNY for up to 40% off!   This episode is sponsored by Bobbie Bobbie is offering an additional 10% off on your purchase with the code TSC. Visit http://hibobbie.com to find the Bobbie formula that fits your journey   Produced by Dear Media

The following podcast is a Dear Media production. She's a lifestyle blogger extraordinaire. Fantastic. And he's a serial entrepreneur. A very smart cookie. And now Lauren Everts and Michael Bostic are bringing you along for the ride. Get ready for some major realness. Welcome to the skinny confidential, him and her.

Hello everybody. Welcome back to another episode of the Skinny Confidential, Him and Her show. Today we are joined by Hal Elrod. He is the man behind the miracle morning, the book in front of me right now. Many of you may be aware of his book. It has sold over 2 million copies and now has an expanded edition that we're going to talk about on this podcast. For those of you that are unfamiliar with Hal, he has created a movement and transformed millions of lives around the world. Howe's story is unlike anything you've heard to being clinically dead for six minutes after a car crash,

to defying cancer, to creating one of the most powerful morning routines of our time. Today we're diving into his journey, his tools for resilience. and how you can create a life you're obsessed with on your terms with one of the strongest morning routines out there. With that, Howe, welcome to the skinny confidential, him and her show. This is the skinny confidential, him and her. How did you wake up this morning? How does the king of mornings wake up? I wake up without an alarm now.

Okay. Usually between 4.30 and 5ish, give or take. Yeah, and then I did my miracle morning. So meditation and prayer and affirmations and visualization and little exercise, some reading, some journey. journaling all in like an hour before, sometimes 30 minutes, depending on the day. If I don't have, like, I like a full hour and taking it slow. But on days where I'm just like press for time, I'll do a 30 minute version and kind of customize it, you know. So is a 30 minute version of what you just said, like five minute blocks for each one? Yeah. So it's very flexible. My first miracle morning ever. I'm an all or nothing person. Okay. So 2008, the economy's crashing. I'm, I'm failing. My house is being foreclosed on. I'm like, and I'm deprecable. And I'm, and I'm deprecrow. I'm scared and I don't know what to do. And I call a buddy of mine and he says, I want you to listen to this Jim Rohn audio. I'm like, no, dude, how do I make money?

I need to, I'm like, I'm struggling. And he said, no, listen to this Jim Rone audio. It'll change your mindset. It changed my mindset. And I'm like, fine. So I listen to it. And Jim Rone says your level of success, which I attribute to like in every area of life, not just like professional, but your level of health and, you know, marriage success, you name it,

will rarely exceed your level of personal development. And so I had this epiphany that, okay, if I want on a scale of one to 10, if I want to have a level 10 life, level 10 happiness and health and relationships, I need to become the level 10 version of myself through daily personal development. And so I created this. I was like, I'm going to create this morning routine. I'm not a morning person, but I'm going to start my day with the six most timeless proven practices. And it took a while to research what those were. And then and then that became the first miracle morning. So the first day it was I'm going to do 60 minutes. And there's six practices. So I'll just do, yeah, div him up 10 minutes each. Then, over time, I'm like, I want to read longer. I don't need to visualize for 10 minutes. I can visualize for like five minutes. I want to read for 20. I want to exercise a long. So like I really, and it customizes it day by day. Like some days I'm like, I need more exercise today or whatever. How is your life changed since you started taking control of your mornings? I mean, oh, that it's like that I could just answer that for the next, for the rest of the episode. But so the reason it's called the Miracle Morning. This was not a book idea. This wasn't, it wasn't called

the Miracle Morning on day one. I started doing this practice. Again, so 2008, economy is tanking, great recession. I'm physically, mentally, emotionally and financially at the lowest point in my life, literally. What were you doing as a profession at that point? So I had just hit Hall of Fame with Cutco sales. I was in sales. The knives. The knives. Yeah. So I had done that from age 19 to 25. And then I left Cutco and I was like, what am I qualified to do? I want to be an entrepreneur. So I want to do my own. And I want to write a book because when I was 20, I barely survived a head-on collision with a drunk driver where I was found dead at the scene. I broke 11 bones. So, and we can unpack that more if you want. But but but so ever since that happened, I was like, there's a

reason. There has to be a reason. I'm supposed to share this story of how I overcame this with other people. So like I had planted the seed like, I want to be an entrepreneur. I want to write a book. I want to be a speaker. So, but to answer your question specifically, I was making money as a as a coach. I had started. I was like, well, I've done really well on sales. So I'm going to become a coach and coach other salespeople. So when the economy crashed in 2008, in six months, I lost over half of my income, half my clients, because everybody else was their sales are down. They can't afford to pay their coach, right? So, and what happened is I started doing this morning routine. And within two months of doing it, and I was like, like, Lauren, you've done the miracle morning. Yep. It's like, it's so much,

like you said, when you don't do it, I think you use the word like discombobulated or something. Like when you don't do it, you're like, I am not in a peak state like I am when I do my miracle morning. So I do the morning routine for two months and we double our income. At the height of the Great Recession, we double our income. And I can get into tactically, like, what book did I read? How did I, how did I do the mat with the Miracle Morning? But I remember the day I signed on two coaching clients and I went, I can picture my wife coming out of our bedroom. She's got a basket of laundry. I said, sweetheart. I said, we just signed on two more coaching clients. She just goes, good, great. You know, that's good, good news. We need some

money. I said, no, no, you don't understand. That second coaching client officially put us at more than double our income where we were two months ago when I started the morning routine. I go, It's a miracle. It is, I can tell you specifically how it's because of the morning routine. And she goes, it's your miracle morning. Like without skipping a beat. And I go, I like miracle morning. I start teaching to my coaching clients. And they went from like, I'm not a morning person to, okay, I'll give it a try to wow how. Oh my gosh, it works. And that's when the light bulb went off. And I went, if this worked for me and I wasn't a morning person for all my coaching clients and they weren't morning people like, this could work for the world. And that's when I was like, I have to write a book.

You said something really smart. People are like, oh, if you don't do your morning routine, you're like, you're going to freak out. It's not that. If I don't do my morning routine, I'm not in my peak state. And for me to do what I do in the most efficient way, I have to be in a peak state with clarity. So that's exactly what it is to me. It's not like I'm going to spiral and freak out. Sure.

It's just not the best version of me. Yes. And I have never been able to articulate it like that. but you're so right. And I'm a believer is you're really only as good as your systems. Yeah. And if your systems are off in the morning and you're throwing yourself into the day and being so reactive to what everyone else wants, it makes it really difficult to be your best. Yeah. Well, no, I agree. I think that I was asked probably a year ago, which I've been doing the Miracle Morning since 2000, I think I started 2007, 8. So we're looking at 2007 or 2008. So it's 17 years now. And I was asked,

why do you still do the Miracle Morning Hell? Like when you created it, it's because you were in a really bad place and then it changed your life. You're not in that place anymore. Like, why do you still do it? And it was actually like a head scratcher. I go, let me. Like, that's a really interesting question. And the two answers are the big picture and then the day to day, which is the big picture is human potential is limitless. Right. Right. It's not like you turn a certain age and you're like, well, I can't learn anything or grow or improve in any way. I've hit the ceiling. So that to me is like, I'm always striving to fulfill my God-given potential, which is limitless. But then in the day-to-day, to your point, Lauren, is that it's like, when I do the miracle morning,

I literally, I'm putting myself in a peak physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual state. So to me, it's like, my kids deserve the dad I am when I do my miracle morning and I meditate and I do my affirmations that remind me who I'm committed to being as their father. And I read a book on being a better dad, right? And then I can take all of that energy and momentum and clarity into like, now I get to show up at my best for them. I don't think there's anything wrong with wanting to be like a student of your life. And I think that all starts with the morning. So I'm such a fan of you in your book. I know that you did talk about this earlier and you've talked about it in your book. Tell us what happened with the drunk driver and why that has been so impactful in your life. Yeah. So I was 20. I had been selling cutco for a year and a half. And I gave a speech at a cutco conference, got a standing. which was like really cool. First ever standing ovation for me. I'm like on cloud nine. So this is

like the night starts. And then I got to dinner and then I'm driving home and my car was hit head on by a drunk driver at 70 miles per hour. And then my car spun off the drunk driver and the car behind me that was tailing, you know, I don't know, a few car links behind. My car spun in front of them and they crashed into my driver's side door at 70 miles an hour roughly. And so the entire left side of my body, I broke my leg in half. I broke my pelvis in three places. I broke my arm in two pieces. Shattered my elbow. Is that scar there? Yeah, this, I mean, you can see how my elbows just. Oh, shit.

I actually have, so I've got a metal rod in this arm, two screws in this elbow, three metal plates in this eye and a 14 inch metal rod in my, like to hold the femur together. I was immediately, like the car was crushed over me. And thank God I was in a coma, like immediately, I think that's the body's protective mechanism. Like, okay, I'm going to put you in a coma because you can't handle what you're going through right now. But it took them an hour to use the jaws of life to cut the car off of me. And when they did, I bled to death. So I'd lost so much blood over the hour while I was trapped in the car that I bled out and my heart stopped.

And they immediately rushed me onto a medevac helicopter and hooked up to defibrillator and roughly six minutes without a heartbeat. And then they got me, brought me back to life. Air lifted me to the hospital and I spent six days in a coma, underwent lots of surgeries, had all those metal rods put in and came out of the coma to be told I would never walk again and that I had permanent brain damage. And at 20 years old, I'm like, you know, processing how am I going to, you know, to face this? How did you face it? Oh, shit. Were you married at the time? Supports this?

Like, anybody? No. So I had a girlfriend who was in the car. And her, and she was like unscath. She had like a sprained shoulder. So all the impact, like the head on collision was on my side. The, the, the, the, what do they call that? T-bone, right?

Like, was on my side. And so she was, she was okay. And we broke up in the hospital. That's like another, and a whole other story. It's a very stressful time for everybody. And I think we were already kind of, on, you know, we were six months in a relationship and kind of on thin ice or whatever. But I had learned something in my Cutco sales training a year and a half prior that enabled me to

handle this so well that the doctors thought I was delusional. And it's called a five-minute rule. And I think this is for anybody listening. This is, I still, to this day, I use this all the time. And I learned this in sales training where when, when something goes wrong and you face adversity, challenges, disappointment, failure, anything that causes you to be upset, I was taught to literally set your timer for five minutes and you give yourself five minutes to fully feel your emotions. Like don't suppress, don't think, what am I supposed? How do we put on a happy face? No, angry, sad, whatever it is, feel it fully. But after the five minute timer goes off, you say three very liberating words, which are can't change it. And it's an acknowledgement, I can't change what

happened. Now I got a choice. Am I going to keep being upset and wasting my energy that doesn't change anything? Or do I accept my reality exactly as it is and focus on what I can control? So I learned that to deal with like no sales and canceled orders and you know no shows but I had practiced it for a year and a half even in traffic I'm like can't change it no point being upset so when I came out of the coma and I'm going oh my god I'm never going to walk again I'm in a wheelchair the rest of my life like what is this mean I've got scars I'm broken bones permanent brain damage and within a few days I don't remember the exact moment but I remember the five minute rule and I was like wait a minute does this apply to this like radical adversity that I'm facing? It does. I can't change that I was in a car

accident. And if I'm in a wheelchair of the rest of my life, I can't change it at that point. So the only choice I have is to be totally at peace with all of this and to choose to be the happiest, most grateful I've ever been while I endured the most difficult time in my life. And the doctors thought I was in denial because of this was, they're like, how's always smiling and happy and joking? This can't be real. And I'm like, No, it is real because what's the alternative? I'm miserable. I can't change the car accident, but I'm choosing to make the best of it. This is like really weird, but I think when you send positive good energy to your cells and it heals.

Like I'm very like into Louise Hay. Yes. And I listen to her meditations in the morning and at night. And if you send, if you're constantly stress, your cells feel that. Yep. Whereas if you send healing energy to yourselves, I know. this sounds crazy and woo-woo. I heal way quicker when I send healing. I don't even know how to explain it. Well, let me be living proof. Okay. So I, so my mindset, the way this, this unfolded,

my dad came in. So two weeks after the crash, one week after I come out of the coma, right? So I'm literally a week after the coma. I mean, I'm still my arms up in a sling. It's they just inserted all the metal rods of my leg. So I'm, you know, I'm in, I'm not in great shape. The doctor's called my parents in to tell him that they thought I was in denial and delusional and that my mom and dad needed to come talk to me and get like get hell to admit how he's really feeling so we can talk about it in therapy and he can start actually healing instead of you know checking out of reality and so my dad came in he explained the doctor's concerns I said dad the doctors are wrong they're actually like 180 degrees off on my mindset agreed I'm not in delusion I'm totally at peace with this because it's

this is it I said and I've decided it there's I'm imagining if I'm in a wheelchair the rest of my life, I'm totally at peace with it. I'll be the happiest, most grateful person you've ever seen in a wheelchair because I'm in a wheelchair either way. Why would I let it ruin me? I said, but here's the thing. I don't believe that's the only option at this point. Like, no one knows what's possible. The doctors don't know what miracles or what healing's possible. I said, so I am maintaining unwavering faith that I'm going to walk again while I accept that I might not. So I said, every day, I am praying that I'm going to walk again. I am, and to your point, I'm visualizing my body healing. I'm seeing myself walking again. I'm meditating in a like like every fiber of my being

was totally at peace and faithful that I would walk again. And my dad went back and told the doctors. They thought I was more delusional I think than when they originally died. They're like, oh, he's really out of there. But a week later, they came in with routine x-rays and they're like, hell, we don't know how to explain this, but your body has healed so rapidly or so, we're going to let you take your first step today in therapy. So three weeks after my leg broke in half, my arm, and I was found dead, three weeks later, and I have a picture of this. Thankfully, my dad took a picture.

I'm taking my first step and, you know, the rest is kind of history. But your point, I completely believe that. And I applied it later, which we can talk about this, but I was diagnosed with cancer. Same mindset. I'm like, I'm going to heal this cancer with my mind and my, you know, etc. But it makes a ton of. Your cells are listening. Totally.

It makes a ton of sense to me because you, like, you have these people that sometimes something will happen in the past and they spend their whole life talking about that past event and how terrible it was and why because of that event they can't do anything or the circumstances of the way they were raised means that they can't grow in a certain way or that they behave in a certain way. And like unfortunately, a lot of those people are held so far back in life because that's the focus. Yeah. Where if you don't focus that way and you start to think, you know, that happened but can't change it, then you can spend all of your energy and your mind share on ways you can be better in the future. Yeah. Like it makes a total sense to me. Of course,

if you focus on things that you can't change, it's going to take energy or whatever, mind share, whatever you call it, on something that is useless to think about anyway. I also think if you're just focused on the stress, it's raising your cortisol, which is making inflammation worse. It actually makes scientific sense. Scientific sense, exactly. It really does. And I think anyone can try this at home. I had a sinus infection the other day, and I meditated for an hour. Michael thought I was going to have to go to the hospital. I thought I was going to have to be put on antibiotics and I just literally just sent healing to my cells, healing, healing, healing, healing meditation.

It is, it is true. And I woke up the next morning and I asked Michael, it was gone. It is true. We called the doctor, doctor sending to an antibiotic. And she did heal it on her own with no antibiotic and the swelling, right? When she started doing that, the swelling went down within 48 hours. Yeah. So I just think like, listen, I'm not, I'm just saying your mind has a lot of power over your

body. Totally. And it would just prove because stress causes disease. So if stress causes disease, right? And if you're you focusing on things that cause you stress and raise your cortisol levels and there's chemical reactions that are detrimental to your physical health, then the opposite would also be true. Yeah. So tell us about how you use this later when you were diagnosed with cancer. I was 37 years old when I was diagnosed with cancer. So 20 when I had the car accident and then 37 when I was diagnosed with cancer. And I woke up one night struggling to breathe. I spent the next 11 days in and out of the ER getting my lung drained of fluid like every other day. They drain one liter to two liters of fluid from my lung and they couldn't figure out what was wrong. And then finally they diagnosed me with this really rare aggressive like fast acting form of leukemia. So it's blood cancer called acute lymphoblastic leukemia. And so my wife and I, they're like, hey, go to MD Anderson Hospital.

We live here in Austin. They said, go to MD Anderson Hospital in Houston three hours away. they invented the therapy, the chemotherapy for this particular cancer. So they're the most experts in this field. So we go there. And it turns out not only was my lung filling with fluid, my heart was on the verge of failing. I had to go into an emergency procedure where they had to inject this needle just outside my heart. And I had to sign a release saying that if they went like an eighth of an inch too far, it would puncture my heart.

I'd go into cardiac arrest. So it was a very delicate procedure that they didn't do very often. And I had to sign a waiver saying that they couldn't be held liable and they had to drain this fluid. And then also my kidneys were failing. And so the doctor said how you have a 30 per, this cancer has a 30% survival rate. So if you can imagine, right, I've got a four-year-old son at the time. My daughter is seven. I'm literally my heart's failing.

My kidneys are failing. My lungs are failing. And they're telling me that your best chance if you start chemo is 30% survival. And if you don't, they said you have one week to live. maybe two. What is what is that from? This cancer shuts your organs down. So my heart, so basically they said in one week, your heart will stop. What do they think it's from? No, they have no idea. And so for me, I'm about personal responsibility. So I'm like, what's everything I put in my body that wasn't natural? Adderall when I was in my 20s, you know, I mean, I'm like, what's all the things I put in that may have diet, lack of sleep,

stress, all the things, right? The chemo regimen, because the cancer is so aggressive, it's the most aggressive chemo regimen. Maybe, I don't know if there's anything more aggressive. So, like, some cancers, you know, you get like one hour infusions once a week. I was, I would get a hundred consecutive hours of chemotherapy over the course of five days every three weeks for eight months. So it was 800 hours of chemo in eight months. And so this, so they're like, and it has a 30% survival rate. So they're like, and most people die, right, not even the cancer. Because like, once they start the chemo, it kills the cancer, then they die of the chemo. So I'm like, it's damned if you do, damn.

if you don't. So I said, I told the doctor, I said, first of all, I asked him, I wanted to test his how much I could trust him. I said, what part does diet play in this healing? He said, it doesn't matter as long as you do chemo. I'm like, oh, man, well, can't really trust you that you think it doesn't matter. So I said, give me 24 hours to do a little bit of research. He said, okay, but I wouldn't take longer. Like, you're in it right now. Your organs are failing. He said, so let me know tomorrow. We should start chemo tomorrow with the latest. And so my wife is, you know, like she's freaking out, of course. And so I go home and I research who are the best holistic oncologists in the country. And I found two. And one of them happened to me in Houston. I'm like, oh, this is meant to be.

Like he lives here in Houston. This is, it's supposed to be this way. Plus, he's Polish. And my wife's like, it's really meant to be because she's Polish. And so I call him and he says, how there's nothing any holistic doctor can do for you at this stage that you have to do chemotherapy. So I'm like, If the best holistic oncologist in America, I mean, there's documentaries made about this guy, if he's telling me, like, you have to do chemo. And he goes, now I can support you, like, during and after the chemo. I can help you detox and stuff, but your chemo is the only option. So I started chemo the next day. And I told my wife, she was naturally terrified. And I said, sweetheart, I know you're hyper focused on this statistic of 30%. And you're going, okay, there's a 70% chance.

My husband is going to die. I said, I look. at it differently. The 30% statistic is based on all human beings that give this cancer, including those that eat terrible diets, those that don't take care of themselves, those that live in fear, those that have no faith, those that, right? Like, so I'm not, I'm going to do everything to beat this cancer that is humanly possible, not just chemo, but I will, I will relentlessly research and implement every holistic protocol known to man. And I said, here's the way I see it. There's a 100% chance that I will be among the 30% of those that beat this cancer because I'll do everything they did and a lot more.

And you told your mind that and you committed your mind to that. And so your mind, I mean, I'm not surprised. Yeah. Well, and then my Miracle Morning became all six of those practices went from being on, you know, business and parenting and da, da, da, do, do, no, all six were focused on beating cancer. That's it. It's a really interesting way to look at statistics.

And that way when you're talking about it, where it's where you're right, a lot of these statistics, especially as it relates to health, are based off of a pool that in many cases are either already sick to begin with or unhealthy or not doing the things or unwilling to do many things that you did. I think if you look at it from that perspective, then it takes a poor statistic and it makes it, it sounds like in your case, empowering in a way because you're like these people, there is the ability to beat. I mean, if they were saying it's one out of a hundred, that might be a little different. How did you implement the Miracle Morning when you were going through this.

So right away, Miracle Morning is something I do every day, right? So it's like, I didn't really stop doing it. I just kept doing it. And then I was like, all right, I'm looking at my goals. And I'm going, none of these, I would read my goals every morning. It's part of my affirmation. So I'm going, none of these matter if I'm dead. So I'm like, let's set these aside.

And the first thing I did, which goes back to like 2008 when I doubled my income, the first thing I did was buy a book on how to get more clients. Right? Because like the savers acronym for those that like to catch everybody out, The Miracle Morning is made up of this acronym known as Savers or the Life Savers for Long, but it's S-A-B-E-R-S. S for silence. That's your prayer, meditation, deep breathing, contemplation.

A for affirmations, which we can unpack, because it's very different than the goofy way that most people think of affirmations. V for visualization. E for exercise. R for reading. And the final S-N-savers is for scribing, which is a fancy word for writing. So the reading portion, immediately I went on Amazon and I looked at what are natural ways to beat cancer.

My favorite book, by the way, of all the books I read is called Chris Beat Cancer. Oh. Yeah. And that's his website, by the way, Chrisbeatcancer.com. In fact, he didn't have the book initially. It was just the website and then the book came out. But he was like my go-to because what he did is he beat cancer holistically when doctor said he would die. He's very religious and he was like, God, he's like, I felt my body's designed to heal.

I'm going to heal. And then he dedicated his life to interviewing people that had beaten cancer naturally, interviewing doctors, all of that. So that was, so I got a book on reading or a book for some. foremost was the first thing I ordered. And then my affirmations are like the anchor of my miracle morning. They're the most important part. I'm going to introduce you to a bread. It's called hero bread. It has zero grams of sugar. Okay. It is low net carb, which we love. And it's really a dream. So they have bagels. They have tortillas. And it's really fluffy too. So it doesn't taste like you're compromising. They even have baked goods. So they have bread, buns, tortillas, bagels, all the things that we all love. They just launched hero noodles even. So there's more protein in the noodles and 60% fewer calories than best-selling noodles. So they really thought of everything when it comes to carbs. Basically what they've done is they've allowed you to enjoy all your bready favorites, guilt-free. And I'm very much about this because I am on a journey to lose 30 pounds and I still want to eat the bread.

My favorite one is probably the bagel because I'll do like cream cheese. I'll do a wild salmon locks. I'll add some really crunchy purple onions on top, a slice of Roma tomato and some capers and lemon. And it is so good. Like I'm telling you, it is absolutely delicious. And these bagels have 17 to 19 grams of protein. So not only am I getting the protein from the wild locks, I'm also getting it from the bagel and it's just like a guilt-free bagel. Hero Bread is offering 10% off your order. Go to Hero.co and use code skinny at checkout. That's skinny at h-e-r-o. Let me introduce you to dream. I'm so excited to share something that's made a real difference in my life. Beams dream powder. Okay, here's the deal. Beam is a healthy nighttime blend pack with science-backed ingredients

showed to approve sleep so you can wake up refreshed and feel ready to take on the day. whether that's tackling a day full of meetings or planning out your next big idea. Dream, it's made with a powerful blend of all natural ingredients. So Rishi, magnesium, al-thianine, apigenin, and melatonin. And what's cool about Beam is Beam has already improved over 17.5 million nights of sleep, helping people across the country to wake up and feel their best. Essentially, it's designed to help you fall asleep faster, stay asleep and wake up feeling amazing. And unlike other sleep aids, there is a no next day groginess, just great restful sleep. It tastes incredible. You can make it a part of your nighttime routine, especially if you feel like you can't sleep easy. I would recommend trying Beams Dream Powder

turning on a red light booklight or a red light light and getting into bed. Maybe you put on some 528 hertz music and you're good to go. Here's the bottom line. Better sleep equals better business, and Beam is giving our listeners their best offer yet of up to 40% off. Try their bestselling dream powder and get up to 40% off for a limited time. Go to shopbeam.com slash skinny and use code skinny at checkout. That's shop, B-E-A-M.com slash skinny and use code skinny for up to 40% off. Outwork the competition after you outrest them. Try Beam today.

This episode is brought to you by Opil, the first over-the-counter. are a daily birth control pill available in the U.S. O-Pill is a daily birth control pill that is FDA approved and full prescription strength. It's a progesterine-only pill, meaning it does not contain estrogen. Progesterine-only pills like O-Pill have been FDA approved to prevent pregnancy for over 50 years, but now with O-Pill, the way you are able to access daily birth control pills is completely in your hands. I know this would have been so amazing. for me when I was in college to get access to birth control so easily. There's like an ease to it that we just never had when I was taking birth control every single day. I also think it's just an

incredible achievement in reproductive health to have daily birth control pills on your terms. There's no prescription or doctor's appointments needed and you can find O pill online and at most major retailers. O pill is birth control and your control and you can use code skinny for 25% off your first month of opill at opill.com. That's skinny at opi-l.com. Check out opal to see if it's right for you. Have you ever gone to a doctor's appointment feeling like you got nothing useful? I know I have sometimes I'll go to the doctor wanting some kind of answer and you'll just get like, you're fine or drink more water. There's not a lot of real data. So let me tell you about superpower. Superpower. Superpower. sends a licensed professional to your home or you can visit a nearby lab. It's one simple

blood draw with over 100 biomarkers. So this is going to give you the data that you want. Okay. It's way more than what you get usually at a doctor's appointment without doing that test. They have an app that gives you detailed information on your heart, your liver, thyroid, hormones, metabolism, vitamin and mineral levels. I did a test like this after I had my first baby, and I found a ton of information about my hormones that was super helpful for me to get out of the postpartum depression fog. So you get supplement suggestions, you get nutritional guidance, you get lifestyle and behavior adjustments. This is really awesome. So instead of following a bunch of people's advice on social media, you actually get tangible, actionable health tips for your own

health and supplement suggestions based on your blood work. Superpower used to cost a 499,000. but right now it's just $199 for the full experience. Know your numbers with Superpower. Head to Superpower.com to learn more and lock in the special $199 price why it lasts. After you sign up, they'll ask how you heard about them. Please make sure to mention this podcast to support the show. Your biology decoded. Your blueprint activated with superpower.

Affirmations are mistought, I believe. So usually when you hear that word, you kind of roll your eyes, like affirmations, what are some goofy, like, feel good statements? Two problems with the way they're normally taught. Number one is we're taught to lie to ourselves. Like if you're struggling financially, you're taught to affirm, I am wealthy, right? I am wealthy. But like, that's not based in reality and you're just diluting yourself into something

that you don't actually believe. Second problem with affirmations is we're taught to use this flowery, passive language that promises a result, almost magical, independent of any effort. So like you might have heard the affirmation, I am a money magnet. Money flows to be effortlessly. I was just going to say, I say money flows. me effortlessly. That's wrong. I say that all the time. I say money grows on trees for me. I'm going to say this. I've said that since I was little. You're doing okay. So it might work.

I'm getting to see. But I'm going to, here's the fact, to me, this is the fallacy in that. Let's, it's also different if you're already on like a money trajectory, right? But here's the fallacy in that is that, is that imagine someone is struggling financially, right? Like, okay, I've got no money in my account. And they're looking at their bank account on their phone in the morning and they're like, oh my God, I'm overdrawn again. No. So if they have an affirmation that says, I'm a, I'm a, money magnet. Money flows to me effortlessly and in abundance. What that does is it gives them a a temporary sense of relief like, oh, thank God, money is going to flow to me effortlessly. But I bet if I actually interviewed you, Lauren, which I should have in my podcast, right,

I bet you didn't effortlessly create money. Like y'all put forth effort. There's strategy. There's strategy. So you've got to back up the affirmation with the strategy. So here's my formula for affirmations. Okay. And these are rooted in truth. They are practical. They are actionable. There's also a little faith mixed in. But those three steps. And anybody that's listening, like, write these down. Step one, affirm what you're committed to. So I am committed to be, this is my affirmation. I'm committed to being cancer and living to be 100 plus years old alongside Ursula and the kids, no matter what, there's no other option. And to be honest, there were moments of fear, especially when you're sick, you don't feel good, your mindset goes with

your physical body. Well, when I was on chemo, 100 hours in, I'm like, I want to die. this is like this is terrible and how am I going to live through that not to mention I went from 167 pounds to 127 pounds in three weeks wow I lost 40 pounds in three weeks and every hair on my body so I mean a sickly cancer patient right and so you know you're looking in the mirror you're like I'm dying and then you're like right and then you're going okay wait I have a 30% survival rate no wonder the chemo's killing me so like so many thoughts and so many thoughts and so I would have fear of like, what if I die? What if I do everything right and I still die? What does that mean for my kids? So fear would like seep in and then it would start to grow. And so my affirmations

were the anchor where I would lift them up and I would go, I would go, fear does not serve me. Fear is going to kill me. And I'd replace the fear with the faith of that first statement. I am committed to beating cancer and living to be 100 years old alongside Ursula and the kids, no matter what, there is no other option. And I would say it over and over. And I mean, I've said it thousands of times until eventually that became my reality. It's like, I'm like, people go, are you afraid you're going to die? I'm like, no, that's not even an option anymore. Like, I'm fully committed to living.

That's the only option. And so it gradually day by day by day reprograms your subconscious mind and directs your conscious thoughts to the outcome that you're committed to. So you say, like, let's use money as an example since we were using that. I love that. So you'd say, I'm committed to, I'm just making this stuff. I'm committed to making this much money for my family. No matter what.

No matter what. There's no other option. And there's no other option. Step two? That's exactly. So what you said is exactly right. Very different from I'm a money magnet. Money's going to show up magically so I can just feel okay that everything's going to be fine by itself.

I told Michael that there's like money on trees outside in the house. I might be the fucking tree, Lauren. Michael. Dude, I just listened to your podcast, right? And you're talking about how Lauren runs the design parts of the business. I'm in my club. I don't want to discredit her because she plays this, but she's much more savvy than she's coming. She knows what she's doing.

I'm fine. But I also know, like, but Lauren does, you know, think in abundance and all that, but she's also one of the hardest workers. Like when we, when we go to, when we, we're both, we work. And the reason we're good as a couple together, and we don't talk about this a lot is, like, I know when it's go time, we need to hustle. We need to work. like she's been with me. Yeah. Through these long, long hours and travel and kids.

And they're like, when she needs to work, she fucking works. And so it didn't just like fall into the lap. You know what I mean? Like it's been a hustle. Yeah. And so if you realize, right, you are, you are committed to the results that you guys create together, both of you. Okay.

Right? You're not sitting back waiting. And so there's nothing wrong. Like, think of it this way. It's a yes. And it's not an either or meaning you've been affirming. I'm a money magnet. Money flows to me.

And then you work your ass off. Great. So what's the second part of the affirmation? The second step in the formula is, so step one is affirm what you're committed to. Okay. And like the formula is I'm committed to blank no matter what there's no other option. And by the way, the commitment, that blank could be an outcome, but it could also be an activity. Like you could say, I'm committed to losing 20 pounds no matter what there's another option. And then that drives you to do whatever it takes. Or you could say, you could say, well, what does it take to lose 20 pounds? I got to run 20 minutes a day. So you can say, I'm committed to run 20 minutes today no matter what there's another option. So you can really. affirm the outcome. I like the outcome usually because step three kind of brings in the activity, but step two is affirm why it's a must for you. Okay. This is where Simon Sinek made his whole career off of the power of why. We like him a lot. Yeah, I love Simon. So when I affirm that I was committed to beating cancer, if all you do is affirm the outcome, let's say, for example, go back to the money example. I am committed to being a millionaire, right? If you're not clear on why that is a must for you, like why is it so important that you're willing to,

to do whatever it takes because it's just, you're like, well, being a millionaire, it'd be cool, right? Like, if you're not clear on the like, no, no, no, why is it a must for you? So I had five reasons. And I encourage people that are doing this, have three to five bullet points that are such crucial, non-negotiable reasons for you. So number one, I am committed to being cancer for my wife, Ursula, because I promised her forever and a day. That's part of our wedding values, right? So that has like a deep meaning for me. Like, I promised her forever in a day. Step two. So this is step two. second reason I'm committed to being cancer for Sophia and Halston my two kids because they need their daddy's love guidance and leadership and I'm committed to watching them grow up. Three, I'm committed to beating cancer for my mom and dad because they already lost a child.

My baby sister died when I was younger. Man, you've been through it. And my parents have been through it. I think as a parent now, it's like, oh, they've actually been through it. Worse, I've been through it, but they've been through it. But so I said they've, my affirmation said they've already lost one child and do not deserve to lose another. Number four, I'm committed to being cancer for myself because damn it, I deserve to live a long, happy, healthy life as much as any other person on this planet. And number five, last but not

least, I'm committed to being cancer for the millions of people who are themselves battling cancer or some other disease and may not have the knowledge and resources that I've been blessed with. And it's my responsibility to get through this so I can help them through their journey. So those five reasons. And the reason I, like, I didn't just say, I didn't just make reasons. Like, I want to give you real life examples. When I, I felt like giving up, which there were days where I was so sick. I was so fatigued. I just, I just didn't want to do it anymore. Those five reasons and those affirmations are what kept me going day after day after day. If all I would have read is I'm committed to beating cancer for

Ursula and the kids, that might have kept me going, but it's like it was the five reasons. It's like, oh yeah, I'm doing it for her. I'm doing it for them. I'm doing it for my mom and dad. I'm doing it for myself. I'm doing it for humanity. Let's go. I can't not do it. I have to do And those are the reasons why. Yeah. It's funny. Like perfect example. Like obviously we take, we, we talk about health on the show and we take it seriously.

And there's, but there was a moment where we've, we've lacked on it. And especially right before we had kids. And like one of the, like, one of the main reasons that I, that I wanted to personally get in shape is like, I want to be able to pick up my children for as long as possible. And so like, when I'm in there and I'm working out, I'm not thinking like, oh, do I have a six pack. I'm thinking like, I want to be able to do all of that without, you know, struggling. You know, and like whenever they, you know, if they're seven years old, I hope maybe they by then, they're doing their own thing. But you can do it without, like, that was like a driving force.

Well, then it's grandkids. You want to be in shape to pick your grandkids. What was it like when you were given, like, when you were given the news that you were cancer free? Was that incredible? Or did you predict it? Yeah, well, and it's actually, you can watch it in the movie. So the Miracle Morning documentary, have you seen that yet? No. I know Michael hasn't seen it. Where can you watch it? So you can watch it. You can watch it free on YouTube. Okay. Or you get a miracle morning.com, find it there. Or you can rent it on Amazon Prime if you want to. pay the five bucks and have it in your Amazon Prime Library. You can like buy or rent it there. So we were making the documentary. A friend of mine, Nick Conadere is a filmmaker. And he was like bugging me for six months. Gotta make a documentary. I'm because he's in the Miracle Morning community Facebook group. And he goes, the stories in there are crazy how people. People are like overcoming depression. Although legally I can't say it does that, but overcoming depression. They're losing weight.

They're like like it's, he goes, we have to share these people's stories. And we should share your story of how you're like traveling the world trying to spread this miracle morning message. And I kept saying no, no, no, no. And then finally one day I was like, let's do it. You're right. Let's do it. So we start making the movie. And it's like, where I think about two years in and Mel Robbins is in the movie, Brendan Burchard, Robin Sharma, Lewis Howes. There's all these like world renowned, you know, experts talking about their morning routines. And so we're making this awesome movie. And then I'm diagnosed with cancer. And I called Nick. I said, Nick. I'm actually in the hospital. I go, hey, I'm in the hospital. I have. I have.

have to start chemo tomorrow. I have this crazy cancer. It's not looking good. And movies on hold. And we talked for a little while. He's a friend. And he said, Hal, I hope you don't take this wrong way. I don't think we should put the movie on hold. This is the movie. Like, this is your story and the miracle morning story. And this is the movie now. I was like, let me talk to Ursula. We weren't planning on filming this. And thank God I said yes. Because like when you're watching the miracle morning documentary. The first hour is the original plan for the movie. And then it's a selfie video of me recording for like friends, family, whoever going, hey guys, I'm in the hospital. They can't figure out what's wrong with me. And then the last 30 minutes of the movie, you're watching

me battle cancer and fight for my life. And then you watch and when you're watching it, like if you didn't know that I made it, you literally, none of us knew. I mean, I had faith, but nobody knew. Like, is how I'm going to live to the end of like the movie? And then you actually watch in the movie, I'm ringing this bell at MD Anderson. And it's the day that they gave me the official your cancer-free diagnosis. And I'll tell you, that was a, that was a, that was a great moment. It was a great feeling. But the journey wasn't over in terms of I still had to do chemo for two more years, minimum, was what they, the doctors had me on.

And it went from being 100 hours a month to one hour a month. But for those that are ignorant about chemo, what does it do? And what does it make you feel like as you're like is it, does it just drain all of your energy? Does it make you sick? Does it make you feel? So it poise, it's, it's poison, essentially. It's medicine slash poison. And real quick, I'll answer that question first by just quoting one of my nurses. She goes, Hal, let me be frank with you. She's like, I've been a, I forgot what the name of the nurses, but it's a cancer nurse, uh, for 20 years. And she said, chemotherapy is killing the cancer and it's killing you

simultaneously. And the goal is that it kills the cancer before it kills you. And then you have a chance to live your life and rebuild your body. to the best to your ability. Like, that's how she described it, being very frank. But yeah, it's killing the cancer cells, but it's also killing your bone marrow. It's completely wiping out your immune system. I mean, the cancer journey, it was the most horrific thing. So once they injected chemo, it was supposed to go in my spine and they accidentally hit my nerve. And I had 11 days of the most horrific migraines that morphine didn't help. Nothing helped, except for cannabis, which is a whole other story. That was the only thing that actually helped it. And I don't find that out

till 11 days in. So yeah, it's killing the cancer, but it's killing every, it's killing your brain cells. It's killing everything. So I had 700 hours or 800 hours of everything being destroyed. And for me, like someone who's like really into health, right? You can imagine that. Imagine you're like, it's killing me right now. It's all that I've worked so hard to like thrive in my health. It's all being just taken, you know, away. But do you think because you were so focused on your health before you had obviously maybe a better chance of you're not, or do you not think it would have made a difference? No, no, well, here's what I think it was. So, yes, the fact, so youth health, all of that, right? Like, if someone gets cancer

when they're 70, it's harder their body to rebound than when I was 37 being the fact that I was pretty healthy ahead of time. And I say pretty healthy because I thought I was healthy. But when I actually after the cancer, I'm like, wait, let me examine everything. I'm like, wait, I have one beer after work every night. That's not healthy. Like, yes, I eat an organic diet and I eat grass fed beef, but I also So at that time, I was taking Adderall. I was my, you know, I was like back on Adderall. So I was like, I was like, there's a lot of little things I do that thinking I'm healthy is not actually healthy.

But the point is that. If you change like all your cleaning supplies and like everything that was in your house. To me, now it's impeccable health. Like before it was healthier than most people was how I justified. I'm healthier than like 95% of society. Now it's impeccable health, which is nothing goes in my body that isn't from the earth, first of all, right? But here's, I really want to answer your question.

Michael is that it was. all of the holistic practices that I did in conjunction with chemotherapy, I believe that's why I'm alive today. So for example, the doctor, I'm like, how do I detox my, you know, so I Google like, what are the negative side effects of chemotherapy that cause people to die? And it was like liver toxicity. Like, so basically toxicity. So I asked my doctor, how do I detoxify? He's like, oh, we have like a, we have a pharmaceutical drug that will help you detox. I'm like, so I had to go all on my own. And so coffee inemas are, according to Chris Wark, Chrisbeat Cancer.com, of all the doctors he is interviewed, he is convinced that that is the most effective natural protocol to prevent cancer because it detoxify it pulls all the toxins that build up in your cells and can make your cells become cancerous. I heard you feel like really good after that.

Oh, it's amazing. I still do it. It's what I've been doing it for last nine years. You do it here in Austin? I do it in my house. No, you do. People do it alone in their house. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, you can go, I've gone to facilities, but no. And it's actually, I love it. The first few are very awkward. You're like, oh, this is, and for those that don't know, like, you're, I don't want to get graphic. You're putting 32 ounces of coffee up your butt, and then you're holding it for 12 minutes. And the first time, it's super awkward, but now it's like the most, it's one of my favorite parts of the week. But then do you just go to the bathroom after? Yeah, then you, yeah, then you go sit on the toilet and you do it all.

It makes sense, though, it's getting, it's getting all the toxins, like, that are getting stuck to your colon and all that stuff. It's getting literally the shit out. Yeah, all of it. And it's, but what it's also doing and don't, you know, I'm so non-scientific. I never remember the details of things, but it's, it's going up. And first of all, you don't get caffeinated. It doesn't have the same effects where you feel like you just drink a bunch of coffee. You don't feel caffeinated at all. And it's, but it's going up and it's, I'm trying to think of what part of your body it's going, but it's basically it, it causes bile production where like, it just, yeah, just it detoxes you extremely, very quickly. And like, to your point, it's pulling

everything off of the walls of your pollen. It makes sense. I'm just, it's like sticking something up my ass. I just feel like, oh. It's tiny. Does it hurt? No, no, not at all.

So it's not like a giant garden hose. No, it's a tiny little skinny tip. For some reason I was, we can try it tonight. I'll try some different things. I was picturing like a big, like construction tubes. No, it's really tiny.

You make a beer bong. Yeah. It's like, it's tiny comes to a point. It's very small. But Ben Greenfield, I believe it was an article that he wrote. This was, you know, 10 years ago. But I think his article was one of my favorites on like teaching you why to do it, how to do it.

But and you just, you go to Amazon, Google or get a stainless steel coffee in a kit. Okay. And then get organic coffee in a coffee. And I think any organic coffee will work, right? But so I did, just to get clear, that was only one of dozens of things I did. I took 70 supplements a day. I did ozone sauna. I actually bought an ozone sauna.

for my house. It is a sauna. So it opens up your pores and then it puts ozone. You actually, it hooks up to an oxygen tank. And again, I'm very, I can't remember all the details of, right, I learned something and then I forget all the whys of like all the details. But so it's a, it's a sauna and then it also puts ozone into your cells while they are open into your pores while they are open from the heat of the sauna. Is it look like a barrel sauna and then there's an ozone machine in it? It looks like the one I use. It's called a hawk it. It's hard to explain what it even looks like. But you actually get in it and like the two doors open, you sit on a shelf and then you close the doors and it goes all the way up to your neck. Oh.

And you're completely enclosed. And then the oxygen machine is hooked up with like tubes that are going into the sauna. And it has infrared. It has infrared lights inside of it. So I did red light therapy. So this may be good for people to do even just regardless as a recovery protocol. You know, I love, I saw a meme the other day from a doc. I can't remember the doctor's name that I follow.

But he said, I eat like I have cancer so that I never get cancer. Oh. And like Chris Wark, who wrote the book Chris Beat Cancer, he says coffee innemas are, he believes, the most, and this is from him interviewing, you know, hundreds of doctors, the most effective way to not to get rid of cancer, but he said to prevent cancer. It makes sense because it's clearing you out, especially with all the colon cancer and everything. Like, it really does make sense. Yeah. I get it. But also to your point, even like going, if you just like kept going down that rabbit hole. I just did everything. The cleaner you eat and the more natural you eat, the less chance. you have of having bad stuff in you to begin with. What were the other things that you did? And I was talking to someone about this today. It was throwing the kitchen sink at it, first of all. People go, well, so what worked and what didn't? I have no idea what worked and what didn't because I did

everything simultaneously. And it was just like a risk reward. Like, okay, are there any side effects of, you know, vitamin C? No. Okay, great. I'll take that, right? Are coffee inamas? Any, any negative effects? No, they seem to be totally safe. Okay, great. I'll do those. Right. So it was like ozone sonnet. Is that safe? Yeah. So it's like all these natural holistic practices, they're just building your immune system, detoxifying your body. And so there went, you know, and biohacking is a very popular term back then. I don't even know if it was a term. It was probably early phases. But I realized, I just biohacked the heck out of my cancer. Like everything that I did would be considered a biohack. It was these natural ways of building the body up to enhance its ability to function and in an

optimal way. So even when the cancer was gone, you still had to do chemotherapy for an hour a month. Oh yeah, thank you. So they're finishing that story. So I'm doing, not only chemo, they had me on all these pharmaceuticals, prednisone. And it's crazy. I went from being all natural, not wanting to do any pharmaceuticals or any, any chemo to like, it just, you get, you get into the system. And then they're like, we'll just take this. You're like, okay, I'm already. And then all of a sudden, before you know, like, it's like, it's this slippery slope. A protocol. Yeah. And then now I'm like, I'm taking so much. So in 2020, it was the lowest. point in my life. It started in November 2019. I was hosting a live event and the night before the first night. And I wasn't, this was our sixth year. I wasn't even, I wasn't nervous. Like it was like, this is, I loved it. But for whatever reason, the night before the event, I went to sleep at 9 p.m. And at 11 p.m. in the hotel in San Diego, I woke up flooded with like adrenaline or cortisol. I don't, I wasn't measuring it. I don't know what it was. It was just like I was wired with this weird. buzzing stress. And that began six months of sleeping two to four hours per night. And if you

ever slept one night, two to four hours, you're a mess the next day. Months into it, I was suicidal. I was hallucinating. I thought people were trying to kill me. My brain did not work. I had never had anxiety my whole life. I had the most debilitating anxiety where if a friend called, I would start shaking before I'd answer the phone. It was crazy. And I would. was contemplating the only, if I didn't have kids and parents, like too many people, but like every morning, I would literally have these conversations myself where I'd go, I was sleeping in the guest room first of all, because if my wife would come to bed and wake me up, it would, the whole thing, I was a mess. So I'm sleeping by myself. My, our marriage is falling

apart because I'm not the man she married. I'm a mess. And every day, I'm literally, my brain is thinking, I'm like, how could I kill myself and not have it negatively affect the kids? Is there a way? Like, that's the problem. Like, that's the problem. I'm, problem I was solving for. Wow. And so I'm like, and I remember I'm literally like, well, A, I would have to make it look like an accident. B, I would have to record a bunch of videos ahead of time of all the lessons I want my kids to have and what like that's how bad it was. But I could never reconcile like, this would devastate. I can't do this to them. So six months into it, when we made the Miracle Morning movie, one of the experts in the movie is Dr. Michael

Bruce. He's known as the sleep doctor. Like that's his expertise. And my, brain was so out of whack, I forgot about him. I forgot that I have his cell phone number. So I'm talking to my friend Joe Paula. She runs Genius Network. And I'm telling Joe like, I'm crying. I'm like, I mean, I was literally every day. I was crying every day crying. People go, how's it going? And I would just break into tears. I'm like, I can't lie to you. Like I'm a mess. And I was afraid I was going to lose all my friends because they're like, hell, I used to be so fun and positive. And now he's like, he's a mess. So long straight short, Joe introduced. He goes, call Michael Bruce. He's the sleep doctor. He can help you. I call Michael. Michael's like, so Michael gives me lots of advice,

which supplements to take all the things. And I email my doctor, I'm like, how long before I can get off all these drugs and all this chemo? And he says, I want you on it as long as you can tolerate it. And I emailed him back. This is May of 2020. So I'd been six months of this. I said, I can't tolerate it. I want to die every day. I am. And I just told him everything going on. I said, I'm done. And so against doctor's orders, I quit 100% of pharmaceuticals cold turkey. I was taking prednisone. I was to all sorts of stuff. I quit cold turkey, no chemo, no nothing.

And so that's the day that I view my healing began. Yeah. Not the day that they said, hey, you're free of cancer, but you're going to keep taking all these pharmaceuticals and chemo. It was the day that I quit cold turkey. And I went, from now on, I rebuild my body 100% based on things. that come from planet Earth and nothing made in a lab. I have been learning, and this is so crazy, about the frequencies in fabrics.

So there's frequencies in fabrics. And one that has really good frequency is silk. So Michael and I recently switched out the sheets in our bedroom to silk. My kids are obsessed. I love silk pillowcases. You guys know this. And the brand that we got is called Cozy Earth. I also picked up their gray cashmere blanket from my bed.

and it is amazing and cashmere has good frequency too. So if you're looking to really upgrade your sheets, your blankets, your fabrics that are around your body for eight to nine hours a night, then you should check out their site. So the ones that I would check out is, yes, they're silk sheets, but I would also, this is like my next thing, is to try their bamboo sheets and it's temperature regulating sheets. Basically what they do is they naturally wick away the heat and moisture from your body, which helps you sleep several degrees colder, which is really really, good for you. They have like a bubble cuddle blanket and this has got a lot of comfort and style. Everything on their site is just really, really beautiful and I really like the fabrics that they use.

My dogs love them. My kids love them. They even have a hundred nights sleep trial so you can try them out if you don't love them, return them 10 year warranty, all the things. Head to cozy earth.com and use my code skinny for up to 40% off. And if you get a post-purch survey, make sure sure you let them know you heard about cozy earth right here because your bed should be more than a place to sleep it should be your happy place cozy earth makes that possible all right let's talk about formula so bobby it's not just another formula it's a movement this is a really really cool company it's the world's first USDA organic whole milk infant formula and it's manufactured right here in the United States. So I had the opportunity of interviewing the founder of Bobby and that industry is

just wild. You really have to do your research. Bobby is clean label certified and it's trusted by 500,000 parents nationwide. I personally think that when you are picking a formula, it's important to look into it. This formula has had three years of research. It has had testing, retesting. And And it's led by a mom who really, really cares. So if you're looking for a brand that's by a mom who wanted something better for her babies and yours, you got to check this out. Their ingredients meet the strictest organic standards in the world. Everyone is talking about this company, too, behind the scenes. Like, I hear about it from everyone. I personally like that their manufacturing facility is in Ohio. You know where it's coming from. And it's really a premium. recipe. If you're looking for a formula, you have to check out Bobby. They really support the whole feeding journey. They even have DHA to support brain development, which is crucial in the first year of life. And they gave you a code exclusively for our him and her listeners. Bobby is offering an additional 10% off on your purchase with Code Skinny. Visit highbobobby.com for more

details. That's hibobbibio.com. This sunscreen, it's caffeinated, it's mineral, and it does not pile under makeup. I applied it today with a damp beauty blender before I got my glam done and it lays so nicely under like a foundation or a concealer. But here's the thing that I like the most about it. So when I'm off work and when I don't have to do podcasts or Instagrams or content or I just can just be comfortable, I can. wear this caffeinated sunscreen and I still get a really nice tint and a protection. And it looks like my skin is all one even tone, which is nice without all the makeup. It's not like a foundation. It's like the caffeine tightens your skin. It gives you a nice, even tone and it just gives you a little bit of color. So what I like about this sunscreen is the versatility. So you can wear it when you're off and you're running around and you're running errands and wear it with nothing over it. Or you wear it like I'm wearing today right now with foundation and concealer over it. So it works both ways.

I will wear this when I'm going to the gym in the morning and just wear it throughout the day with nothing else. Or I will wear it with a full look. I created the sunscreen because I couldn't find a mineral-based sunscreen with caffeine in it. Caffeine tightens the skin. It shrinks the pores. And I just like how it lays on the skin. And I mixed it with a mineral sunscreen. And then we made it SPF 40. So it's a real treat. I think that you guys will absolutely love it. It just comes out in a pump, fits in your handbag, and it can go through the airport. You can shop this at shop skinny confidential.com and it's the caffeinated SPF. Also, if you're like me and you go through sunscreen quickly, you can subscribe. And the sunscreen will get delivered straight to your door so you don't have to worry

about it. That's shop skinny confidential.com. You have to sometimes question. You have to sometimes protocol because here's the problem with protocol. They say the protocol is the same for everybody, but everybody's different. So even when I went in to give birth and they have the protocol, I'm different than someone else who just gave birth. And I understand that protocol is needed in situations, but it also has to have some place to be malleable. Because if there's no place to be malleable, it's like we're not all the same.

No, no. And like, so I've, I've gone. on some, I don't know if I'd call them rants, but I've just, I've posted on social media before about this, right? And about how my doctor said, your diet doesn't matter. And so I've been, I've been like, our medical system needs some serious work and respect all the doctors. I believe all that, like, I don't think doctors have anything but the desire to help people, right? It's, it goes much deeper than that in terms of the, you know, the education, which is funded by big pharma and all the things. But I've had people say, how dare you how chemo therapy saved your life? And I said, yeah,

and the fact that I did all these things that my doctors knew nothing about. If I would have only done chemotherapy, I'd be giving myself a 30% chance of being alive. So that's your point. Protocol gave you a 30% chance of living. Protocol plus building your body through nature and prayer and meditation and every possible thing that you could do like holistically. That to me is why I'm alive today. We know so many doctors. We have on the show and we talk and, you know, we get that same kind of pushback.

Whenever you question any kind of medical authority or anyone with a credential, they, you know, people get up in arms. But at the same time, we get to talk to a lot of these people off air. And I'll give you an example. Some of these people are surgeons and something very basic. They'll say, okay, you just had a surgery. I'll use a random thing. You're not allowed to exercise or do weights or do anything for a month.

Wink, wink, wink off the air, by the way, the patients that recover the fast that typically are up on their feet. I'm just saying there has been, and I'm not going to, and people are going to say, that's vague. Give us a specific example I'm not going to because I don't want to put anyone in blast. But it's funny because what these guys

is like they cannot go and say that to every patient for insurance reasons, for liability reasons. Like they can't take on that liability in many cases for their practice, but wink, wink off to the side between friends, the recoveries we've seen the best are counter to what the protocol is. Same with like a first. And I'm not saying that for

everything. I'm just saying there's instances of that. So you really, what I've learned talking to medical experts, having people that have had medical issues, you know, our own experiences is you take that information, but then you really got to go and have a lot of other conversations, get a lot of other opinions, do your own research, and do what's best for you. And most importantly, you have to advocate for yourself. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Because if you don't, you'll just be locked into a system. You'll be overwhelmed. You'll just get in this hamster wheel of like, I'm just going, going, and going to do what they're telling me. And many people get stuck on that and they just don't even think to think about a

counterway or another way to do things. So after all of this happened to you and you stopped everything, what happened? I started getting better. And I started sleeping again. And I, yeah, I mean, I was on prednis zone, which, I mean, there were many side effects of the drugs I was taking was caused issues with sleep, you know. And so yeah, I started getting back. And it's a long, it's still a process.

It's been five years since I stopped all the pharmaceuticals. And the resident. the residue, I guess you could say, of like that dark time. And I've had, I've, I've, I've, I've, I've, I've, I've, I've, I've, I've, I've, I've, I've, I've, I've, I've, I've, I've, I've, I've been in that a place where, it's the adversity we're going through, like, you were contemplating ending your life. They talk about how hard it is to not go, like, you'll, like, a stress or will immediately, right? There's neural pathways that essentially were burned into my brain, carved into my brain during those six months. And so it's still, yeah, like, mental health and all. that is still something that I'm always like working on. And I think for many people it is, right? Like it's not like you get to a place where you're like, nothing affects me. It's like,

and that's why to me my miracle morning is so important. It's like it's almost like a reset button every day. Like every day I get to wake up and be like, all right, I'm going to read my affirmations that remind me what I'm committed to as a husband, as a father, as a CEO, as an author, as a human, what I'm committed to for my, for optimal mental health and physical health and right? And then looking at why is this a must for me and which actions will I take today? And it's like, every day, starting my day with that practice with the Miracle Morning, allows me to show up each day at my best. So let's talk about this new version of the Miracle Morning. I'm sure many of this audience have read the book, many seen the documentary, but for those that haven't and you were

giving the run, like what can they expect out of this? What are you hoping that they get? Yeah. So the mirror, two ways that I'll answer that. One is the Miracle Morning can be just a general morning practice where you get up and you do your savers. And you can do them in as little is six minutes, by the way. I mean, there's a chapter in the new book called the six minute miracle morning. It doesn't have to take an hour. Most people do 30 to 60 minutes, depending on your schedule. So you wake up and you spend five minutes in silence and you calm your nervous system and lower your cortisol and maybe you pray and like, okay, I'm really centered for the day. Then you pull out your affirmations. And for me, I have affirmations for each area of my life

that matters. I've got affirmations for my business and for my family and, you know, my health. And I'm reading affirmations. And so now those are reminding you, oh, yeah, these are the things I'm committed to today. And here's why they're important to me. And the third step, which I didn't cover, which is which actions will you take to ensure that you are moving forward toward the outcome that you say you're committed to. So that formula, right, in each area of your life, you're like, all right, I know the most important areas of my life every single day. And I'm reminded every day by reading these miracle morning affirmations, this is what I'm committed to. This is why, and this is what I need to do. So you have total clarity on what you want and why and what you're going to do to get there.

Then the visualization piece is I call it mental rehearsal where you mentally rehearsed yourself doing the thing today that will get you where you want to go. So when I was training for, I ran an ultra marathon because I hated running and I thought, man, if I could do that, I could do anything. So I would visualize every morning getting up, getting dressed in my running clothes, heading out the front door and going on a run. And while I was at the front door, I would imagine myself reciting the affirmations one more time that I had just read. I'm committed to running 52 consecutive miles on October 29th, 2009, no matter what, there is no other option.

This is a must for me because doing so will enable me to overcome all of my limiting beliefs that think I can't be a runner and I will be able to do anything I ever decide to do. And so to do this, I will follow the training plan in the book I'm reading, the non-runners marathon trainer. You see, I literally, I'm bringing in the reading. I'm bringing in the affirmations. I'm visualizing the thing I'm doing. And then I would mentally rehearse going for that run in a peak state. And then what would happen in real time, you can apply this to any goal in your life, the alarm would go off my phone when it was time to go for the run, just like I had visualized.

I didn't procrastinate on going for the run, which would be human nature like, I'll do it tomorrow because that's not what I visualized and mentally rehearsed and put myself in the state of doing. So almost like a robot in the most positive sense of the word, I would go, oh, time to run. I would turn off the alarm, get up just like I visualized, go in my closet, get dressed in my running clothes, head out the front door, open the front door. And when I did that and I saw the sidewalk, immediately my affirmations flooded back into my consciousness and I would say them out loud as I looked at the pavement in real time. And then I would go on that run. The Ian Sabres is for exercise. And this is not going to the gym in the morning. It's literally as little as 60 seconds of jumping jacks. It's the idea that when you move your body in the morning, you wake up your nervous system, you get blood, your brain so you think clear. You have more energy, more motivation. So just a little bit of exercise in the morning. And right now I do about five minutes of morning exercise. It's stretching, plank, downward dog, and jumping jacks. That's what I do. And then I go, I do work out, but I work out after the kids go to school. So that's like separate from the miracle morning.

The R and Savers is reading, right? So I'll be read. I have one self-imposed rule. I'm an entrepreneur, like y'all. And I actually gravitate toward like the business book that you're reading that has the new strategies that you want to implement. My self-imposed rules, I'm not allowed to read a business book until I've read a book on marriage or parenting, a family book. I got to read that first. Love that rule. Yeah. And it just, it reminds me that, A, that's my priority by physically grabbing that book first and I learn something every day that I get to apply throughout the day. If I don't wake up tomorrow and you're not reading a book on marriage. I got a rule. I read three business books and that enables me to then read a science fiction book. No, no, no. What's the,

what's the marriage book that he's going to order it? on Amazon. No, no, I'm open. I like to read all sorts of different things. Yeah, you can't wait to read it. But if you got some good ones, I'll take them. One of my favorites, but it's like the seven. The seven principles of marriage. There you go. I already bought it for you. It's in our drawer. Okay. You already have it. Yeah. Yep. I already have it. The funny thing is I read like I read, I just spent in one of the episodes I did the solo, I do this like weird reading challenge where I got a print it. I don't know where I found it. Camille Stiles. No, I don't know if it was from her. Yeah, you did it was from her website. Was it from Camille? I love how he says he doesn't know where he found something when I sent it to you. It's a

You gave it to me. And literally sent it to you and you've repurposes your idea. If you were to tell me that like for the last like two months, I was like, I didn't know where I got it. Camille-Style style's website. I should have given her credit. Okay, so it's on there for people that have been asking me. But it makes you read these different kinds of books. Like, for example, to be like, read one that's a Pulitzer Prize.

Read one the year you were born. Read one that starts with the number. Read one that's like, like, whatever. It gets you out of your comfort zone. Read one about marriage. Yeah. But okay, I'll read it. Okay, we got some rapid fires before you jump here.

What do you do in your miracle evening? So there's actually, that's one of the aspects of the new book is there is a new chapter called the miracle evening, which I've been asked for like the last 15 years or so is what's your evening routine? And I used to not have one. Now it's very specific. So there's an acronym slumbers. And I won't go through all of them, but the S is for stop eating three to four hours before bed. Okay. Now, you might, actually, I think it's two to four hours.

I'm a snacker. Yeah. Oh, fuck. The thing with that is your body is now tasked with digesting food all night. long and that's when it's supposed to be repairing and also detoxifying. Okay. Yeah, so stop eating before bed. And also- I'm going to Amacasi tonight. This is a horrible day to hear this. No, but if you do that, then you just don't go to bed for three hours after. Yeah, yeah,

there you go. So I eat dinner typically by 6 p.m. Okay. And then I go to bed at at 9 p.m. Okay. That's like lights off. So I get about two and have three hours. In order to do the Miracle morning, do you have to be up early? Is that one of the principals? No, not at all. So the Miracle morning is how you start your day. So I have people that work the night shift, right nurses doctors whatever they work overnight and they wake up at you know noon got it so then they do their miracle morning from 12 to 12 30 okay so go back to slumbers so so yeah stop eating up three to four and four bed l is let go of stressful thoughts so it's a conscious decision love that you actually realize when when when i go to bed the only objective i have is singular focus of preparing my mind and body for restful sleep

Love. And so allowing myself to think through stressful thoughts doesn't work. Do you use sleep supplements as needed. So I use CBN and CBD oil. I use magnesium. I use Valerian root and I use a natural melatonin. Coffee in the morning, yes or no? Yeah, after you drink a full glass of water to rehydrate. One of your, okay, what about like one of your favorite books? So actually what comes to be, Strong Father's Strong Daughters is one of my favorite books. That's a good book. I'll read that. See, I'll read the family books. Yeah. I read the family books. one belief about success you've completely changed your mind on. That anything another human being can do is evidence of what's possible for all of us.

I love that. We should write a book called Strong Husbands, Strong Wives. Strong husbands, strong wives. After you read strong father, strong daughter, see how you can adapt it. Yeah, you should write that. Okay. Last and final question, how? Big headaches, strong wives.

If you had to write a new miracle morning for the next generation, which I feel like you've kind of refreshed. This is it. I know. That's it. Did you add a ritual in here? At a ritual? Yeah. Is there anything you added like an added ritual?

So there's 70 pages of new content in the new edition, including the miracle evening and the miracle life, which is the next book that I've been working on for the last three or four years. That's the last chapter in the new book. And it's essentially how it's kind of everything we've talked about today. Like how do you actually love every moment of your life? even when it's really difficult. How can you be happy when you feel unhappy?

Like, how do you transform your mindset so you can handle anything that comes your way? M, map out your next day. Thank you. But the rest is in your book. You guys have to go pick this up. This book absolutely changed my mornings years ago. I remember being in San Diego.

How long ago was that? I was in San Diego when I read your book. Helen and I were talking before you got here. It used to be blue, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. It had to be around between 2012 and 14 for sure. Yeah, I remember reading. your book. It was a partly white. It was a silhouette. It was a guy with his arms open. Yep.

With the sunrise behind him. Yeah, yeah. I almost want to say, hold on, please pause everyone, that I wrote about it on the blog seven years ago. But let me just see. Let me just see. Hold on. I love it. It's going to look real bad if you did it. We're going to cut the whole section out. On the blog seven years ago. It's on my book club. Is it really? It's on my book club from the Miracle Morning. There it is. Wait, are you going to do the new update? Now, and I'm holding your feet The new updated edition on your blog? Now we did the whole episode, Hal. Isn't that enough for you, man?

Hold on. This is from 2016. Wow. That's when I read your book. What month? What month does it say? It says August. 2016.

I was diagnosed with cancer October 2016. That's why that stuck for me. Wow. I posted about your book. That's so wild. That long ago with this, I remember. I was like, oh my God, I would love to interview him for the blog. Get out of here.

And now you're here on the show. So check it out, guys. The Miracle Morning updated and expanded edition, not so obvious secret guaranteed to transform your life before 8 a.m. Howell, you were great. That was fun. I appreciate you. Thank you so much. Thank you.