The 5-Hour Rule

I read this article last year, about how the majority of self-made millionaires spend an average of five hours a week (one hour a day) learning or practicing. This article mentions titans like Barack Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, and more that all adhere to the five-hour rule.

I’ve been doing some of this with my Miracle Morning practice, but wanted to do more. In my youth, I took a number of classes and learned a ton of different skills that I’ve let lapse over the years. I thought a great goal for 2020 would be to bring some of these talents/skills back to life. I also find that having creative outlets helps to inspire me in my daily work.

Piano

I took piano lessons for many years, up until we moved to Michigan and I started high school. A few years ago, we moved the family piano to my house and part of the reason I wanted it here was so I could pick it back up again.

I can still read music pretty easily and have a number of songs I can play, the problem is all of my instructional books are for children. I can play plenty of rounds of Hickory, Dickory, Dock, but I’d rather play something more in line with my age. I found this book, called Returning to the Piano: A Refresher Book for Adults ($19.99) and it’s perfect for someone like me who can already read music. It has a number of adult songs like “What a Wonderful World,” Sweet Home Alabama,” and “Stand by Me.”

I figure if I commit to 30 minutes of practice a day, I could definitely master some of these songs.

Cake Decorating

My sister and I spent a few summers taking these fun classes offered at our school, which included Wilton Cake Decorating courses. I didn’t do much with it after that until after I graduated college. I really got into it then and made a number of fun cakes. I stopped before we got into fondant, but I can do flowers and roses. People LOVE a themed cake, the reaction you get is always the most fun. I think it would be fun to do a monthly baking project to keep my skills up-to-date. It’s been so long since I made a cake that all my impressive creations are in a shoebox somewhere. I once did this insane cross cake for Easter with tons of little flowers and roses that I spent so much time making in advance.

Horseback Riding

In the summer after the third or fourth grade (I can’t remember exactly), I started attending horsecamp with the Girl Scouts. I spent weeks learning to care for and ride horses. I loved it so much that I started taking lessons, until we moved and I started high school. I was at the point where we had started to do some small jumps. Unfortunately, I haven’t ridden in SO long, but I would love to get back into it. Not just the riding part, but grooming and caring for horses as well. I found a few places in Michigan where I could get back into lessons. It might be something Skyler and I could do together once she gets older. First things first, I need some ducky boots and a riding helmet. Ducky boots are great for riding, because you need a heel, but you can also wear them to muck out stables and anything else. I liked these Liyuandian Womens Lace Up Duck Boots Waterproof Two Tone Combat Calf Rain Shoes ($40.98).

Calligraphy

Ever since I found out that Meghan Markle used to do calligraphy to help out when she first started in the acting business, I’ve been wanting to get back into it. This is one of those things I took a class on in my childhood and loved it! My pens are all old now, so I would need to get some new supplies, but I think it would be really fun to start practicing with my Start Today Journal. I found this Modern Calligraphy: A Beginner’s Guide to Pointed Pen and Brush Pen Lettering ($24) on Amazon to get me started.

Softball

I’ve mentioned before how I’m a big Yankees fan, it’s a fun tradition between my dad and I. When I was younger, I used to play softball and would practice all the time with my dad. I wasn’t a star athlete by any means. but always made up for it with enthusiasm.

Look how cute I was!

A while back, I heard that the Yankees organization runs a fantasy camp for women and I thought it would be really awesome to go one year. BUT, I am totally out of practice and would have to work on it. I definitely need a new glove so I could practice with my husband. I love this Rawlings Player Preferred Adult Baseball/Softball Glove Series ($40.27), it’s classic.

What skills do you want to brush up on or learn in 2020? My goal is to spend five hours a week working on each of these things, I will probably re-master one at a time instead of trying to do them all at once. How can you make the 5-hour rule work for you?

For more Be the Best You posts, click here.

Accomplish: Entrepreneurship

When I chose “accomplish” as my one little word for 2019, I knew this was the year I would finally take the leap and become an entrepreneur. My entrepreneurial journey has been a long time coming. Even with the creation of this blog in 2013, I had entrepreneurship on the brain. I’ve always had business ideas pop in my head, but it wasn’t until I read Rachel Hollis’ book, Girl Wash Your Face, in summer 2018 that a plan started to form.

As a 15-year veteran of the PR industry, I had worked for a number of agencies and companies throughout my career, but one thing always weighed on my mind. Whenever you made a move to a different company, you couldn’t take your clients with you. After spending years building brands and relationships, you had to leave that all behind and start over again from scratch. I liked the idea of building something that I owned. After working at other agencies for years, I wanted to build something different. A way to help clients and future employees live their dreams.

For years, I had been inspired by the entrepreneur community. I started my Be the Best You Campaign after reading The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod and listening to the Side Hustle School podcast by Chris Guillebeau. All of these things were pushing me to just get started. So in 2018, I started making a business plan. I developed a concept, a name, and a plan of action. When Christmas rolled around that was pretty much all I could talk about at every holiday party we went to.

Every business owner I spoke to kept pushing me to get started. “What are you waiting for?” was asked frequently. It ended up being a few things that pushed me to take the leap, but even then I wasn’t exactly ready. What did give me confidence was having a solid business plan outlined and ready to go. As soon as I left my previous position I had a clear list of things to do get started and keep the momentum going.

As I approach the six-month mark of launching LINC Detroit, I wanted to encourage everyone out there to start making a plan to live your dreams. The reason I was able to move forward with such conviction was because I had the plan ready to go. I was talking to a few friends that are dreaming of starting their own businesses and my best advice is to just get started. Buy your website domain, start on a small scale until you’re ready to take the big leap. The more details you have mapped out, the more comfortable you will be making the change.

If you’ve started your own business, I would love to hear your journey. What inspires and motivates you to keep moving forward every day?

Monday Motivation: The Miracle Morning

I have a confession to make…I fell off the Miracle Morning bandwagon these past few months. I’m still doing bits and pieces here and there but I haven’t gotten up early in a while. Life happened and things got really stressful for a while so I just needed some extra sleep. But today – today was different. I woke up motivated to get back on track. These things that I am doing will lead me to the right path but only if I’m consistent with them. So it’s time to start over and get fired up. This video from Rachel Hollis is a great motivator.

Needless to say, I finished her book Girl, Wash Your Face ASAP. So here are a few of the Miracle Morning SAVERS that are speaking to me right now.

Silence

I’m still loving the Headspace app, but we did have the Meditation Works van come to work a few weeks ago and it was awesome to get out of the office and really leave those thoughts behind. I like the idea of going to a special place to meditate, even if it is outside on my patio while the weather is still nice.

Affirmations & Visualization

I’m putting these two together because I think I need to have both of them more visible and present in my life. In Rachel Hollis’ book she suggests posting things up in her closet because she can see it every day. While I love my affirmations and visualization apps it might be good to have them a little more in my face on the regular. I LOVE this Maison Rouge Lamartine Shabby Chic Distressed Antique Ivory Wood Wall Memo Board ($70.99).

Exercise

I need to get some exercise motivation, so I was thinking about trying a new class once a week and see how I liked it. I REALLY want to start with cardio drumming and I found the POUND workout series, but can’t find many around where I live. If anyone knows of a good class let me know! I found one on Friday nights so I will definitely share on my social posts if I make it out there, but if anyone knows of a good morning class in Oakland County sign me up!

Reading

As I mentioned above, I recently finished Girl, Wash Your Face and LOVED everything about it. Rachel (I’m going to pretend that we’re on a first name basis) is so inspiring and motivating. I haven’t been this fired up in a while. I’ve also read The Body Book by Cameron Diaz, The 5 Love Languages by Gary Chapman, Successful Philanthropy by Jean Shafiroff, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo, and The 5 Second Rule by Mel Robbins. I’m currently working on The Millionaire Next Door by Thomas J. Stanley.

Scribing

I’m taking a page out of Katie Dalebout’s book (Let it Out if you haven’t seen my last post on the Miracle Morning) and trying to work on her HappyThankYouMorePlease prompt. This is where you create a note in your phone called “HappyThankYouMorePlease” and anytime a good feeling washes over you, you take out your phone and complete this sentence: “Thank you for_____________________________; more please.” Then you have this wonderful long note of gratitude to pull back out and look at when you are feeling down. It is based on a movie by Josh Radnor (a.k.a. Ted Mosby for all my HIMYM fans) that I have been meaning to watch:

How are you staying motivated for the Miracle Morning? For more Miracle Morning posts, click here.




The Miracle Morning – One Year Later

It’s been a whole year since I started doing The Miracle Morning and I’m amazed at the changes I’ve made in my life because of it. As I mentioned in my previous posts, I had a lot of personal changes going on and The Miracle Morning gave me a way to focus on my priorities and not lose myself in the process. If you missed my introduction post, you can see it here, my 60 day post here, my 90 day post here, and my 180 day post here.

Here are a few things I added to my morning routine over the last 365 days:

Silence

I’ve upped my Headspace meditation to 15 minutes from the original 10 minutes. I’m currently working through the focus pack. I also started reading the One Year Bible and I love everything I’m learning. I’ve never read through the Bible in its entirety and it is a breath of fresh air. I also have been trying my hand at memorizing Bible verses. So far I’ve memorized Psalm 23, John 3:16, Mark 12:30 and Psalm 1:2.

Affirmations

I’m still using the Think Up app for my affirmations, one of which has been to drink a gallon of water every day. Since I’ve introduced the Hidrate Spark into my day I’ve gotten a lot closer to hitting that goal on a consistent basis.

Visualization

This Tony Robbins is currently my visualization jam. I want to be a millionaire and I want to go to Fiji and this video has it all. Plus Tony is amazing:

Exercise

Since it’s been so cold out, Sport and I haven’t been able to walk too much so I’ve been hitting up my Gaia app and working out to old “The Firm” videos. I need to buy a set of 8 pound weights and move up to the next level from my 5’s and 3’s. I love doing Cardio Party on Fridays. I currently have this set of 20 pounds total, which are handy to have around.

Reading

Since my last post I’ve read The Body Book by Cameron Diaz, You Are a Badass by Jen Sincero, Let it Out: A Journey Through Journaling by Katie Dalebout, The 5 Love Languages: The Secret to Love that Lasts by Gary Chapman, and Successful Philanthropy: How to Make a Life By What You Give by Jean Shafiroff.

Scribing

This is been the hardest thing to get into over the past year, but reading Katie Dalebout’s book really helped give me some direction.

This journey I’ve been on for the past year has changed me for the better in so many ways. If you’ve read The Miracle Morning and are looking for a time to start, now is the time. Join me on the journey for a brighter future! I promise you won’t regret it.

If you’ve already started your Miracle Morning I would love to hear how its been going for you.

For more Be the Best You posts, click here.




The Miracle Morning – 180 Days

I just hit the 180 day mark on my Miracle Morning journey and thought I would give you a little update! In case you missed my introduction post, you can see it here, my 60 day post here, and my 90 day post here.

Something amazing is happening! Since my last post, a few of my friends have starting doing The Miracle Morning after seeing my process on a recent girls trip. I love that we are all pushing each other forward! Our texts have changed to sharing fun motivation posts and asking meditation questions. This by far is one of the best outcomes of starting this journey.

Achieving 180 days of The Miracle Morning requires a lot of discipline. When I get questions about my routine, many people ask how I have time to focus every day. My answer is that some days are more hectic than others. The important thing is consistency. If you can’t do a full blown workout – do a 10 minute ab workout. It’s about quantity more than quality on some days. The second you stop doing it, the easier it is to not start back up again the next day.

Here are a few things I’ve added to my routine in the past 90 days:

Essential Oils

I wrote a post on adding essential oils to my meditation and morning routine. Right now I am using peppermint, lavender, rosemary and lemon in my diffuser, but hope to add more to my collection soon. I had a lot of trips scheduled in June and brought peppermint along for the ride. It was so helpful to get me in the Miracle Morning mindset when I was in a different place. Smell is really powerful in bringing you back to your routine.

Meditation

I’m still loving the Headspace app and it recently received an update. One of the great new features is that you can change the time of your meditation daily instead of sticking with only 10 minutes for an entire pack. For example, if you have extra time you can up your meditation to 15 or 20 minutes and then go back to 10 minutes the next day. Headspace also shared this new video – if this doesn’t convince you of the importance of meditation I’m not sure what will:

Reading

I completed The Power of Consistency by Weldon Long and I highly recommend it. Weldon has an incredible back story as a 3-time convicted felon. If he can make affirmations and visualization work in an 8×8 prison cell, what’s your excuse? I would love to read his other book, The Upside of Fear which shares more of his personal journey.

If you’re still not doing The Miracle Morning, what’s stopping you? Watch the following video with Hal Elrod himself explaining how The Miracle Morning can transform your life:

How are you sticking to The Miracle Morning?

For more Be the Best You posts, click here.



Set Your Intention with Aroma Foundry Essential Oils

I received complimentary samples from Aroma Foundry in order to provide a review. All opinions are my own. 

If you’ve been following the blog for a while, you’ve probably noticed my Miracle Morning journey. I’ve just crossed over 120 days and am always looking for ways to enhance my morning routine. When Aroma Foundry reached out to me, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to incorporate essential oils into my Miracle Morning routine and maybe even create my own Miracle Morning blend.

Essential oils are all-natural and extracted from plants. Aroma Foundry sources Native Oils where they are first known to have appeared. For example, Aroma Foundry Rosemary is sourced from Morocco. Each of their oils has a little history attached to it. Rosemary has this background: “Going back to the time of the indigenous Berbers, fields of wild rosemary were sustainably harvested and utilized for many centuries.” 

If you are thinking of incorporating essential oils into your Miracle Morning routine either by diffusing, smelling or applying them, here are a few to consider:

Rosemary

Rosemary is the perfect oil to diffuse during your affirmations and visualization time. It is known to promote memory retention, concentration and productivity. It also uplifts and stimulates the mind. You can also take it with you during the day and take a quick inhale whenever you need a reminder to stick to your goals.

Bergamot

A type of orange, Bergamot has a calming effect and its citrus properties will help to uplift you during meditation. Aroma Foundry sources their Bergamot from the Netherlands where it is popular as a fragrance, in teas, and even in beers.

Peppermint

Aroma Foundry sources its Peppermint from Washington which surprisingly produces more mint than any other region in the world. Who knew? Peppermint can be used as an energy booster and to promote concentration. It can also stimulate clear thinking. It would be great in a brainstorm or when you are doing your visualizations. You may try taking a whiff of this when you first wake up in the morning.

John and I used Peppermint during a road trip to stay alert and energized.

Lemongrass

If you are hitting your yoga mat every morning, consider diffusing Lemongrass or applying it to your wrists prior to practice. Aroma Foundry uses Lemongrass from Guatemala because the climate produces some of the most fragrant oil. Lemongrass will invigorate your senses and open your mind. It’s also perfect for those sore muscles and can be used in massages.

Lavender

Source in the United States, Aroma Foundry’s Lavender is 100% pure and not diluted. Lavender can help relieve nervous tension and depression. To ensure you get a good night’s sleep, rub some behind your temples before bed and visualize the next morning’s routine.

Grapefruit

This grapefruit oil is sourced from Florida and has a stimulating effect on the body and the mind. It’s another mood lifter, perfect for your down days or when you need to focus on your goal with clarity.

Lemon

Aroma Foundry’s Lemon oil is sourced from California. Lemon promotes concentration and can help calm you when you’re exhausted or feeling angry. This is a good one for an early morning meditation when you really don’t feel like doing it that day.

It’s your lucky day, because Aroma Foundry has generously offered to give a $25 gift card to one of my readers. I am thrilled to share this with you so you can kick start your Miracle Morning practice using essential oils. Enter the giveaway below and I will select a winner on June 5th:
a Rafflecopter giveaway

For more posts about the Miracle Morning, click here.



The Miracle Morning – 90 Days

I am thrilled to share that I recently hit 90 days in my Miracle Morning journey! In case you missed my introduction post, you can see it here and my 60 days post here. Since I started doing the Miracle Morning, I have been more on track and focused on my goals than ever before. I can see a number of positive changes already happening in my life which makes me even more determined. If you still aren’t convinced that getting up early is a good thing, take a look at this article from Business Insider on all of the successful CEOs that are incorporating parts of The Miracle Morning into their routines. I never considered myself a morning person, but if I can do it, so can you!

If you’ve been following along, I’m going to share a few insights and tips I have learned or added to the morning routine for each of the SAVERS.

Silence

I am still loving the Headspace app more than ever! Now that it has warmed up and I’m walking the dog again, I’ve been using the Walking Meditation available in the Singles section. I haven’t mentioned it yet, but after the first 30 days I wanted to add some devotions to my silence. We had a copy of Jesus Lives in our guest room and I have been doing that every day after my meditation.

Affirmations

I’m still loving the ThinkUp App for my affirmations and I recently discovered that you can categorize them. So I could have a set that I listen to in the morning and some on the way to work, etc. Over the past 30 days, I have hit two of the goals that I have been saying daily affirmations for. I can’t tell you how exciting it was to do that. One was a money goal that I set a specific time limit to (end of Q1) and the other was my water goal. Ever since I got the Hidrate Spark, I went from barely getting in 8 ounces a day to exceeding 100 ounces everyday! Both were HUGE accomplishments for me. Stay tuned for a full review of the Hidrate Spark in an upcoming post. I also want to create a group of bedtime affirmations that are specifically targeted for the next day and start a night routine as well. I’m sharing this video just for fun – you have to own your affirmations people!

Visualization

This is the area I have the most trouble with. I am still using my HayHouseVB app but think I need to step it up a bit. Someone in the Miracle Morning Facebook Community suggested YouTube visualization videos and I am just starting to incorporate them into my morning. For example, one of the things I am visualizing is taking a trip to Paris, so I found this video which is 100 times better than just looking at photos:

Exercise

Now that it has warmed up again, Sport and I are back at our morning walks. I try to get 10,000 steps each day which is hard to do without our walk. About a month ago I accidentally flushed my Fitbit Zip down the toilet so I couldn’t track my steps anymore. This was the perfect reason to upgrade to the FitBit One, which I love! This added a sleep tracker and the ability to set an alarm. So I now have an alarm set on my Fitbit to vibrate and wake me up in the morning. How cool is that?

Reading

I finally finished Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. That one was a harder read just because of the outdated language, but the principles are great. I took a short stop to my next book to read Michael Ellsburg’s manifesto What Does it Mean That Your Life is Perfect? This was recommended in one of Hal Elrod’s podcasts and it is a free download and only about 40 pages.

Scribing

This is another SAVER that I am still working on. One thing I want to incorporate into this next round is adding one thing that I’m grateful for each day.

How are you sticking to The Miracle Morning?

For more Be the Best You posts, click here.



The Miracle Morning – 60 Days

I wanted to give a little update to my original Miracle Morning post. I recently hit the 60 day mark and wanted to share some of my tips and tricks for my SAVERS and hopefully get some tips from you if you’re following along at home.

Silence

I am OBSESSED with the Headspace app. The first 10 days are free and then you subscribe for a nominal fee. I recommend doing the first 10 days free and then subscribing afterwards. I have a few free month trial codes if anyone is interested. The first two people to email me at elizabeth@detroitduchess.com can have them. I will put you on the list after that in case I get more. Also let me know if you are using this because we can be meditation buddies!

Affirmations

For my affirmations, I got an app called “Think Up.” You can type your affirmations and then record yourself saying them. Every morning I play them back to myself.

Visualization

To help visualize my goals, I downloaded the HayHouseVB app, which is essentially an online vision board. I like that you can create a bunch of different boards and I have a lot of fun with this. Plus they are always with me and I can look at them anytime.

Exercise

Since we are in the winter months, I’ve had to find some alternatives to walking as it is FREEZING outside. When I lost weight in the past, I was an avid follower of The FIRM workout plan. I found out that The FIRM was acquired by Gaia and that you can get all of their workout videos from the Gaia app. So I went ahead and got myself a subscription. This has been one of the best investments I’ve made! I LOVE these workouts and I love being able to do them on our Apple TV. You can find all of The FIRM workouts here. I also like that I can get any kind of workout I want at anytime anywhere from Gaia. Here’s a little taste from YouTube in case you’ve never done one before:

Reading

I finished 10% Happier, my pick from the first 30 days and now am onto Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. This one was recommending by Hal Elrod and he noted it was where he first heard about affirmations. The book is interesting because it was written in 1937 and published during the Great Depression. Most of it still holds up today and I love that it is a collection of real world examples of 20 years of studying successful people.

Scribing

This has probably been the hardest area for me because I’m not really sure what I’m supposed to be doing here. I did end up purchasing the official Miracle Morning Journal because I like the SAVERS checkboxes. You can get a free sample here.

How are you sticking to The Miracle Morning?

For more Be the Best You posts, click here.



The Miracle Morning

Hello readers! I’m back!

Long story short, 2016 was tough on a personal level and I was definitely pushed to my breaking point. This forced me to re-evaluate my priorities and focus on what was most important. I worked really hard and ended the year on top with a big promotion at work. I had planned to kick off the year with this post, but got hit with a bad case of pneumonia, which is why I’m hitting the restart button on 2017 now.

Last year, I was turned on to The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod and have been following parts of it ever since. I decided that I would really commit to it in 2017 and wanted to invite you to join me.

I first heard about The Miracle Morning on Episode 37 of the Marriage More podcast with Jeff and Mandy Rose. They interviewed Hal Elrod and I was blown away by his story! From being on top of the world to a horrific car accident, Hal had every reason to give up. But that’s not what he did. His optimism inspired me and I was hooked. From the podcast I was inspired to start getting up early and doing some of the things that Hal outlines in his miracle morning. After hearing this, I started listening to Hal’s podcast and then I bought and read the book.

Essentially, The Miracle Morning is a lifestyle change that will help you achieve Level 10 success in every aspect of your life. The crazy thing is it’s really simple. The premise is that you have to wake up early and then do a routine of self-improvement activities (Life SAVERS) before you start your day.

I’m inviting you to start this process with me for the next 30 days and I will outline a few of the things that I am going to focus on with my Life SAVERS.

Silence

On one of Hal’s podcasts, he recommended the Simply Being app to help with meditation and the times I’ve used it, I thought it was extremely helpful.

Affirmations

The next step is to write your affirmations down and review them every morning. Here is one that I liked and will use to kick this off.

Visualization

I plan to do my Miracle Morning in our office, so I want to create a larger vision board that I can focus on during my SAVERS. I have a few small ones right now, but I want to make a bigger board for 2017.

Exercise

Normally I love to walk Sport in the morning, but right now it’s too cold so I will be hitting my morning yoga class until it is warm enough to start walking him again.

Reading

To kick off the first 30-day challenge, I am planning to start reading 10% Happier by Dan Harris. Dan is a Nightline anchor who had a nationally televised panic attack on Good Morning America. Afterwards, he decided to make a change and learn about meditation. I’ve been listening to Dan’s podcast for a while and love it! I had no idea so many people meditate every day. I figured this would be a good book to start with as I will be meditating now.

Scribing

The last SAVER is scribing or journaling. I am terrible at this, I hate writing my thoughts down on paper, but there are a number of benefits to doing this. Hal recommends The Winners’ Journal for this and I also have The 5-Minute Journal app to get me started.

Will you start The Miracle Morning Challenge with me? I loved this quote from the book and thought it would might help convince you.

For more Be the Best You posts, click here.





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