A 30-Day Program
Winners are wide awake; they are alive. Every day you will find them in the marketplace making things happen. The real winners are not just dreamers. Although they have dreams, they are doers: They realize their dreams. They are the bell ringers, always attempting to wake others up to the numerous opportunities life offers.
—Bob Proctor, legendary personal development author and speaker
Action is everything. It is the difference maker between success and failure, achievement and regret, progress and stagnation.
Now that you have walked through all seven steps of The 5 AM Blueprint, it’s time to put those ideas into action. We discussed many important concepts in the previous chapters, and I am certainly not expecting you to try everything right away.
The key is to focus on the vital few actions that will make the biggest difference in your immediate future. Dominating your day before breakfast is ultimately about focusing on your current grandest goals.
What follows is a 30-day plan to implement the core strategies of The 5 AM Blueprint. This is your chance to pull out your calendar and schedule the key activities that will get you from where you are to where you want to be.
30-DAY PLAN TO IMPLEMENT EVERYTHING
Day 1: Get Ready
• Finish reading this book from cover to cover.
• Review your notes, highlighted passages, and ideas scribbled in the margins. Identify which strategies stand out to you as ones you would like to begin immediately.
Day 2: Get Connected with Other Ambitious Early Risers
• Find a group near you that meets early in the morning, like a local running club, a business group that meets for breakfast, or schedule early morning activities with people you live with or near.
• Connect with others online in virtual groups, like Hal Elrod’s Miracle Morning Community, Facebook.com/groups/MyTMMCommunity, or The 5 AM Miracle Community group on Facebook, Facebook.com/groups/The5AMMiracleCommunity/.
Day 3: Begin Your 5 AM Miracle
• Begin your transition to waking up a little earlier.
• Either set you alarm 15 minutes earlier than normal or prepare to wake up bright and early at your ideal time tomorrow morning.
Day 4: Create Your POP
• Design your Personal Optimization Plan, a set of circumstances when your life is working like a well-oiled machine.
• What does the highest and best version of yourself look like?
• What are you doing when everything is working well?
Day 5: Blueprint Step 1
• Brainstorm the list of your life’s grandest goals.
• Feel free to think like a kid and fly to the moon. Be the fireman, princess, or astronaut you always knew you would be.
• What have you always wanted to do but never made time for?
Day 6: Blueprint Step 2
• Create your Quarter System.
• Choose the dates for your quarters (e.g. January to March) and clear your upcoming calendar.
• Choose your top two or three grandest goals to pursue this quarter and set up your goals notebook.
Day 7: Blueprint Step 3
• Clarify your daily anchor and complementary habits that are based on your grandest goals. The most common daily anchor habits include waking up early, working out, and beginning your day’s work.
• Decide when each of your anchors will occur and which smaller habits will accompany them.
Day 8: Blueprint Step 4
• Create your ideal week template and create your ideal week.
• Be sure to include time for your ideal morning routine, ideal evening routine, and focused blocks of time for your current grand goals.
• Keep in mind that the goal is an ideal week, not a perfect week. Plan time to catch up when things don’t go as planned.
Day 9: Ideal Morning
• Design your ideal morning routine.
• Plan your mornings backward from the time you begin work for the day to the time you wake up.
• Include time for your most critical anchor and complementary habits with a strong focus on energy and self-care.
Day 10: Ideal Evening
• Design your ideal evening routine.
• Plan your evenings backward from the time you fall asleep to the time you stop work for the day.
• Decide upon an evening boundary when your work will end and your routine begin.
Day 11: Blueprint Step 5
• Consolidate your tasks, projects, and events into a dedicated task manager. There are many great task managers to choose from and I have had great success with Nozbe.
• The key is to optimize the system by including every task, large and small, into one system so you are able to see everything in one location.
Day 12: Go Paperless
• Consolidate your documents, files, and folders into a digital filing service.
• Dropbox, Google Drive, Microsoft OneDrive, and Apple’s iCloud Drive are all great choices to store your documents.
• It’s best to choose one system for all of your items instead of spreading your data across multiple platforms.
Day 13: Get Evernote
• Consolidate your articles, notes, and ideas into a note-taking application.
• Evernote is the best choice for a digital system to store your note-related content.
Day 14: Get Focused
• Schedule focused, uninterrupted blocks of time onto your calendar for working on your grandest goals.
• Identify two to three locations where you can isolate yourself from people who may make you veer off course from your work.
• Get in the habit of turning off social media, mobile devices, and other potential distractions.
Day 15: Inbox Zero
• Clean up your emails to get to Inbox Zero.
• Plan a few days to play catch-up if your inbox is overflowing.
• Schedule time on your calendar to get back to zero emails at least once every 24 hours.
Day 16: Project Management Zero
• Complete any unfinished tasks to reach Project Management Zero.
• Take a detailed look at each of your projects and determine where you have loose ends and open loops.
• Schedule time at least once a week to rein in your projects and determine what your most important next actions will be.
Day 17: Desktop Zero
• Clear your desk to reach Desktop Zero.
• Get in the habit of only allowing materials on your desk that relate to your current task.
• Put everything away in a predetermined and organized location at the end of each day.
Day 18: Home Base Zero
• Clean up your home and office to reach Home Base Zero.
• Schedule time once a week to put everything away in its predetermined and organized location.
• Work toward the goal of putting everything away at least once a day.
Day 19: Blueprint Step 6
• Set up your Daily Rituals and Habits Tracker.
• Determine which daily habits are most important based on your current grand goals.
• Review your tracker during your weekly review.
Day 20: Weekly Review
• Set up your weekly review system.
• Schedule one or two hours per week, typically on Friday afternoon or Sunday evening, to review your past week and the week coming up.
• Determine what went well, what did not, and what changes you will make so the next week can be better than the last.
Day 21: Accountability Partner
• Connect with two to three people who could be your accountability partner.
• Set up an accountability system and meet with your partner on a recurring basis (e.g. weekly, biweekly, etc.).
• Align your accountability meetings with your weekly reviews to provide a solid context for your discussions.
Day 22: Monthly Review
• Set up your monthly review system.
• Schedule time at the end of each calendar month to review the previous weekly review documents.
• Review the progress you have made thus far on your current quarterly goals and determine what changes need to be made for the upcoming month.
Day 23: Quarterly Review
• Set up your quarterly review system.
• Schedule time at the end of each quarter to review the previous monthly review documents.
• Reflect on the achievement of your grandest goals and create your plan for the next quarter.
Day 24: Annual Review
• Set up your annual review system.
• Schedule time at the end of each calendar year to review the previous quarterly review documents.
• Reflect on the achievement of your grandest goals and determine what changes need to be made for the upcoming year.
Day 25: Blueprint Step 7
• Schedule a block of time (preferably up to an hour once a day) to think.
• Ask yourself a tough question based on your current quarterly goals and brainstorm the best possible answers.
Day 26: Listen Up
• Find your favorite productivity music.
• Focus on music that enhances your ability to think while avoiding distracting sounds.
• Sign up for Focus@Will to optimize your brain and productive time.
Day 27: Stand Up
• Enhance your daily productive flow with a standing desk.
• You can construct a very simple and effective standing desk with textbooks, cardboard boxes, or other easily available materials.
• Build or purchase a standing desk when you are ready to make a firm commitment.
Day 28: New Vision Board
• Create a vision board in your home or office.
• Using a corkboard or another similar surface, post images, quotations, and other visual reminders of the process to get to your grandest goals.
• Avoid using generic imagery of distant fantasies, and instead, focus on what you can do now to move the needle toward your current objectives.
Day 29: Hang Upside Down
• Research inversion, specifically what type of equipment you would like to purchase (gravity boots, inversion table, or inversion chair).
• Easily integrate inversion in your daily schedule by adding it as the last step to your exercise routine.
• Begin inverting for one minute and then build up to 10 or 15 minutes per session over the next few weeks.
Day 30: Connect in a Mastermind Group
• Find other ambitious, productive, and successful people who are pursuing goals similar to yours.
• Schedule time to meet, share ideas, and enhance each others’ growth.
THE SUMMARY OF EVERYTHING: THE 5 AM MIRACLE IN THREE STEPS
I know that it can be daunting to even just glance at a list of 30 days’ worth of actions. So here is the summary of everything in this book broken down into three simple steps—the same steps I previewed in the first chapter.
If you reach a panic point or you feel a bit overwhelmed, pause and refer back to these three steps.
1. Plan: Map out each day intentionally before it begins.
2. Execute: Make tangible progress through focused blocks of time on your grandest goals.
3. Review: Every week, fully review what you did and what you will do next.
Plan, execute, and review. That’s it.
KILL THE SNOOZE BUTTON
Pitfalls, Mistakes, and Problems to Avoid
Domination is a daily decision.
It would be ideal if reading one great book, attending one inspiring conference, or talking to one fascinating person a single time was all it took to stay upbeat, positive, and motivated for life.
As it turns out, we need to be reenergized constantly. As Zig Ziglar, the late personal development legend, is known for saying, “People often say that motivation doesn’t last. Well, neither does bathing—that’s why we recommend it daily.”
There are times when I lose my energy, feel down on myself, and begin to actually believe that my life is going nowhere. In these low moments it only takes a dash of brilliance to bring me back. When I know I’m in need of a pick-me-up, I turn on my favorite music and head out for a run, knowing that I can literally restart my life in that moment.
It’s true that every day is the first day of the rest of your life, and if you want to begin again, all you have to do is take one simple action.
Tomorrow morning you have the opportunity to dominate your day. The best part is that you get that chance every single day for the rest of your life.
QUICK REVIEW: 30-DAY ACTION PLAN
1. It may be a bit ambitious to implement every strategy in this book, so be sure to identify the strategies that will have the biggest impact on your life in the near future.
2. You don’t have to stick to a 30-day plan; however, it’s best to set a firm deadline to hold yourself accountable as you implement the strategies you choose.
3. If you do nothing else, plan each day of your life with intention, purpose, and passion.
1. Since it’s unrealistic to implement every idea, strategy, and tactic in this book at the same time, choose now which ones you want to pursue right away.
The most inspiring goals from this book that you want to pursue right away include:
1) __________________________________________________
2) __________________________________________________
3) __________________________________________________
4) __________________________________________________
5) __________________________________________________
2. If you have not done so already, add your most important goals to your Quarter System for this quarter or the upcoming quarter.
The goals you will commit to for the upcoming quarter include:
1) __________________________________________________
2) __________________________________________________
3) __________________________________________________
3. Using the 30-day template in the book, choose a starting date and then add each objective to your calendar or task manager. Alternatively, you can to sign up for the 30-day email reminder system at 5amBlueprint.com.
The date you will begin your 30-day challenge:
