The Secret to Hitting Any Goal You Ever Set with Hal Elrod

Courtney Elmer 0:00  

Welcome back, you're listening to the AntiFragile Entrepreneurship™ Podcast. This is episode 140. 

If you are someone who has struggled to hit your goals, whatever goal it is that you set for yourself, today's productivity tips packed episode is for you. Today's guest is going to give you the secrets to hitting any and every goal you ever set. But what productivity tips he shares inside this episode might surprise you. Because these are not your standard productivity tips. So keep listening, because what productivity tips my guest shares today in this episode will change your life.

[INTRO]

Courtney Elmer

It is my true honor today to introduce you to Hal Elrod. He is someone who has achieved the impossible, not once, not twice, but multiple times throughout his life. At the age of 20. He was hit head on by a drunk driver and found dead at the scene. This guy went six minutes without a heartbeat and was in a coma for six days. He had broken 11 bones he had suffered permanent brain damage and was told he would never walk again. And then he went on to run a 52 mile ultra marathon. And that's when he began sharing his story and productivity tips. Fast forward from there 17 years when he nearly died again And after his heart, his lungs, his kidneys were on the verge of failing from a rare aggressive form of cancer. And he was given a 30% chance of survival. That was roughly five years ago at the time of this recording, and he is still here today sharing his story and productivity tips with you, and his secrets to conquering life's most insurmountable challenges.

Courtney Elmer 5:34  

Hal, Welcome! Right before we hit record, I was telling you that I met you for the first time, at one of your speeches that you gave at this tiny little town in Louisiana, right outside of Baton Rouge. I have a signed copy of your book sitting right here. Your book, The Miracle Morning was one of the very first books that got me started on my own journey of personal growth and development. So to have you here to be here chatting with you today and have this conversation about productivity tips truly is an honor.

Hal Elrod 6:05  

No, thank you Courtney Elmer for having me in, that it is so cool. I lit up when you showed me the signed copy. It is amazing how things do kind of come, come full circle. I hope that what productivity tips I share today is is really helpful for you. And but especially for those listening,

Courtney Elmer 6:25  

Absolutely. Those listening, come here for systems, and productivity tips! And we're always talking about productivity tips and systems for improving your business and for making more money and for getting more visible. And all of that is great. But the thing that I love most about you and why I have followed you through the years and continue to follow you in the work that you do is because you teach systems and productivity tips for personal growth. And it's one of those things that I feel like we don't give as much weight to as we should. Yeah. Why do you think that is?

Hal Elrod 6:52  

[Hal tells the Miracle Morning story]

Courtney Elmer 11:53  

Yes. And I want everyone who listening today who has not read your book and needs productivity tips to get a copy. So I'm not going to have you take us through the steps and productivity tips because I want them to go to the show notes and get a copy of your book and take yourself through his productivity tips. Because what you've designed is very doable. My question for you is, when did you begin to recognize how important it was not only to become more, but to figure out a measurement system for that? But when it comes to personal goals, I remember struggling with this in the early days of my business was okay, I want to grow. But what how what am I even measuring? How were those benchmarks to even know if I'm growing? So what would you say to all of that?

Hal Elrod 13:14  

So one productivity tips Courtney Elmer, I would honestly say not to be too attached to a metric around growth. But the way that I do, incorporate a metric is is the simply the the old school Wheel of Life exercise, right where and that's in, like, in the Miracle Morning, I referenced that. It starts with like, why are you doing this, you don't do the Miracle Morning like you can do it because it , you grow and you evolve and you feel better every day, it's kind of hitting the reset button. But ultimately, for me, I'm a results oriented person. And and that's where the productivity tips and the entire Miracle Morning came in.

Hal Elrod 

And so the wheel of life is essentially right. What are these? It's eight to 10 areas of your life the way I do it, it's 10. Courtney Elmer, it's your health, fitness, relationships, happiness, finances, business, contribution, etc, etc. So it's these areas, and then you ask yourself on a scale of one to 10 Where am I Like what would attend look like? If I were to measure like the best I could imagine my life being in this area. What would that look like? And where am I now on that on a scale of one to 10 and that's where I committed to run the ultra marathon because I was like I haven't worked out when I started the Miracle Morning hadn't worked out in six months. Courtney Elmer, I was in the worst shape of my life. My body fat percentage had tripled because I lost all my money so I was like living on cheap food on and on and on.

Hal Elrod 

And and I went on a scale of one to 10 My Fit That's right now is like at a two or three. And I thought what would be a level 10? I thought running an ultra marathon. I can't even I don't even know what like, I've never run more than a mile. So that was how I quantified it is I defined? What does it look like? Okay, how can I move in that direction? And I trained for six months, and then I completed that, And Courtney Elmer, you can look at your business the Miracle Morning, My goal was to sell 1 million, it was changed 1 million lives one morning at a time. So the metric was to sell a million copies of the miracle morning with the year that it came out.

Hal Elrod 

So if you're listening right now, like take a deep breath, you're exactly where you're supposed to be on this journey. Even if it's not where you want to be. You're where you're supposed to be. And if you maintain unwavering FAITH that you can get where you want to go, and you put forth extraordinary effort a little bit every single day, and keep moving forward. , I want to do it a year, it took me six, you'll eventually get there and the timing will be perfect.

Courtney Elmer 19:26  

Okay, you're speaking to me right now to like, this is good. And I can imagine for those listening right now, they probably feel such relief in hearing you say that, how because there's not that many influencers, these gurus that we look up to on the top of the mountain today, we see them as these huge successes. We want to be where they are. And we don't see many of them lifting the curtain of their productivity tips to show what it took to get there. They might nod their head towards Oh, took me , 10 years to be an overnight success and don't share any productivity tips. 

Courtney Elmer

So for you to break it down like that and to actually give them productivity tips, it really it took me six years to do it. But I didn't give up, I kept believing in my dream. And you said that there at the end of sharing that whole story, and it was so interesting, because it ties exactly back to what you said, as we started this conversation of who you are becoming, that really is the difference maker. And I like what productivity tips you said about not taking so much stock in the metric of it, it personal growth in and not trying to measure it, you will have to measure everything, but we can't have a KPI for our personal growth, certainly want to see that we are growing. But you are going to see that as a result in your life, you will see your business start to grow, your followers may increase, people might start reaching out to you might start booking more clients as a natural result of the growth.

Hal Elrod 20:52  

Yes Courtney Elmer, and let me say this for everybody listening, that is not a details or numbers person. Because I know some people listening, that's their jam, they know every metric in their business, okay. And I want to speak to what might be the majority, it's probably at least half That you're not that person. And it stresses you out. When you hear business owners say you've got to track this know that know your numbers. Do you hear that all the time? Guys, I don't know shit about my numbers. Okay, pardon my French. But I don't when I get asked, Courtney Elmer, like, I mean, I know some obviously give you a few numbers. But those are because I've known those for years. 

Hal Elrod 

But for the most, I don't know how much revenue we're doing. And I've not used to stress me out. And now I take a different approach. And so I want to kind of liberate those that are not detail oriented people, which is I wake up every day, and I do something that moves me toward my vision. That's it. I don't measure every step of the way. I don't write, I keep moving forward, I keep moving forward with energy and passion and moment, what I mean Courtney Elmer? Alright, and there's a lot of days where I don't feel like it, but I do it anyway. And the Miracle Morning helps that because the Miracle Morning is what enables me to start every day in a peak physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual state, so that I can start as a better version of who I was when I went to bed the night before. And I can bring that energy into my day into this interview into everything that I do. I mean, the Miracle Morning, really is my secret to success, if you will Courtney Elmer.

Courtney Elmer 22:21  

Yeah, , you mentioned something there. And you didn't say this explicitly, because you spoke to this in a recent episode that you did on your productivity tips podcast, I think it was episode 443 on consistency. What you were describing in your own life and in your own journey, You're not really focused on making a million dollars in revenue this year. You're not focused on these numbers. You're focused on the daily actions that bring about the results. Can you expand on this a bit more and tell us why is this so important?

Hal Elrod 23:04  

Yeah Courtney Elmer, I learned this when I was in sales. So when I was 19 years old, I was a radio DJ. That was my dream and I was pursuing it. And a buddy of mine took me into an interview that he was going to and he asked me to go with him. And it was for Cutco cutlery, Cutco kitchen knives, and I was like, no interest. None. I went because to shut him up and lead get him Leave me alone. And it appealed to me Courtney Elmer. I was like, Wow, no ceiling on my income, I've never had a commission job but like I can make whatever I want. And so I decided to give it a shot and I was doing Cutco during the day and DJing at night. And after three weeks I quit the radio. I quit my dream job because I was earning so much money with Cutco. 

Hal Elrod 

I was earning like $7 An hour DJing on the radio. And with Cutco. I earn like $3,000 My first 10 days. So I was like, okay, that's like months worth of radio DJ money. Right. So I went through Cutco. And if you've ever been in sales, the way my manager described it is he says sales is a microcosm for life in terms of adversity. Like the average person faces rejection, every once in a while, you'll face it 10 times a day. People on the phone will say Don't ever call here again. You'll go to an appointment, someone will say I don't want to buy right. And he said disappointment. You're gonna set a goal Courtney Elmer, you're gonna you're gonna miss your goals every day every week. So it's like a really set you up for like, oh, wow, okay. Um, he said, If you can succeed in sales, you can succeed at everything because you're gonna overcome more of what stops most people from succeeding on a daily basis than they do in like, , a year. 

Hal Elrod 

And so Courtney Elmer, one day, about a year and a half into my career. I was making calls one night, and I had I had had a bad week people didn't buy from me. And on that I made like 20 calls one night and nobody scheduled with me and like the last lady I talked to is like Don't ever call her again. and click and hung up on me! Courtney Elmer, I'm a sensitive guy and like, what? If she knew me, she would not do that. Why would you do that? And so I'm like having a pity party. And I'm literally thinking, like, I don't like the way I feel. And in business you've ever felt that way, You fear rejection, overwhelm whatever the emotion is, We're emotional creatures. And I was like, I don't like the way this feels, I want to go get a regular job where I clock in and clock out. And they give me a fixed amount of money. And I don't have to be so stressed all the time.

Hal Elrod 

And so that night, as I'm falling asleep, I had an epiphany Courtney Elmer. The epiphany was, my sales and income number at the end of the year, will be based on how many times I pick up the phone and dial it. For example, if I average 10 calls a day to prospects, I'll make X amount of dollars. Here's a little algebra equation. If I make instead of 10 calls a day 20 calls a day, I will to x the income medal, Like, really, it was, it almost seemed too simple. But I went, What if I figured out how many calls I need to make, on average, what if I tracked my calls for the next week, figuring out how many calls I make, and then do some math and figure out how much I need how many calls I need to make every day to hit my sales goal for the year. Like this sounds like a simple productivity tips Courtney Elmer. But I was like, I'm gonna try this. 

Hal Elrod 

And so for the next week, I tracked my phone calls, and I determined that I needed to make at least 100 calls a week. And if I did that I would sell I would earn $50,000 in income that year. That was the goal for me Courtney Elmer. And here was the real epiphany though I went every day, I'm going to commit to the process of making 20 calls. And I'm going to make a conscious decision to not be emotionally attached to my results whatsoever. So I started making my 20 calls. And if somebody hung up on me and said Don't ever call her again. Normally, that would give me this pain in the pit of my stomach, right Courtney Elmer. But in this case, I went sweet. That's the fastest call and that much closer to 20. I completely changed my paradigm. And I would make my 20 calls. And it didn't matter if I set zero appointments or 10 appointments. It didn't matter if everybody was rude to me. As long as I checked off 20 calls for the day, then I could go to the pool at my apartment, swim for a few hours till my first appointment, relaxed layout, whatever. 

Hal Elrod 

And I didn't have to feel any stress toward my job, because I knew the averages would work out and the next four months. There were 60,000 sales reps in the Cutco company that time roughly that I was essentially competing against right there were standings every week. At the end of four months. I made 20 calls a day, five days a week, I felt zero stress over anything. Courtney Elmer I was probably the only sales rep in Cutco that had no, I had no stress. I'm like a robot if you will, right. I mean, I bring energy and enthusiasm but I'm a robot otherwise, right at the end of those four months, I was the number one rep out of 60,000 reps in Cutco number one. 

Hal Elrod 

And but but maybe best of all, I had the easiest job in the world, they have this up and down roller coaster that I used to have, It's like oh my God, such a stressful job, good days, bad days, good weeks, bad weeks, some days, you want to quit, you want to give up. I'm like, I don't know what you're talking about. I pick up the phone and I dial the phone number. I do that 20 times a day. And then I enjoy the rest of my life like that was my new world. So if you're listening right and to what you're talking about, I mentioned that I'm not a numbers guy Courtney Elmer. The only place I'm a numbers person is in the process, I figured out what do I need to do every day.

Hal Elrod 

When I was doing Miracle Morning, I had productivity tips checklist, I need to put at least one social media post, I want to do either do one interview or reach out and secure one interview I had, I have a few different tasks. And I committed do these every day. And the earlier I do them I can check them off be done for the day. Be committed to the process, whatever that is for you without being emotionally attached to your results. And eventually because like you said, every outcome every result is preceded by the process. You can apply these productivity tips to every area of your life Courtney Elmer. 

Courtney Elmer 29:43  

And what a freeing feeling of freeing Yeah, right to even think about that mindset shift that I'm no longer focused on the outcome and I'm not making this mean something about myself because I haven't achieved that outcome yet. Right. And we were on ourselves these pity parties but focusing on the day The action and trusting the outcome will come from using the productivity tips.

Hal Elrod 30:03  

Not as soon as you want it to most likely, Courtney Elmer. That's part of the process. Gotta keep going.

Courtney Elmer 30:09  

Yes. 100%. What do you mean by that beautiful sentiment? And I'd love for you in these last few minutes, if you could unpack that for us.

Hal Elrod 30:30  

Yeah, I don't get asked that a lot Courtney Elmer, which is great. I appreciate that. I set out with the Miracle Morning, right, I self published the book. My mission is to change 1 million lives one morning at a time. I mean, how many authors sell a million books, not very many. So I was like, that might take the rest of my life. I'm gonna go for it in a year, but it might take the rest of my life. I was realistic, Once I sold a million books, I had to go, Okay, why need a new I need a new mission. 

Hal Elrod 

Then Courtney Elmer I went from a million to a billion that was like the thing and again, like a stretch beyond right, imagine, and then I go, why put a number on it? Why not be on a mission for the rest of my life to elevate the consciousness of humanity? Every person, Yes, 3 million people have read The Miracle Morning and heard my productivity tips, that means seven or 8 billion have have never probably heard my productivity tips. And so my mission is for the rest of my life, I've got to do what I'm doing right now, which is share my productivity tips with as many people as I can. And here's what I mean by elevating the consciousness of humanity, when I don't remember exactly, , how the mission kind of evolved to that Courtney Elmer.

Hal Elrod 

It's elevating our awareness of how our thoughts, words and actions impact ourselves, and the people and the world around us Courtney Elmer. So elevating our own consciousness is waking up every day, and dedicating time to becoming a better version of ourselves in every way, mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually relationally, I'm trying to be a better husband every day, a better dad every day, a better leader every day, a better human being every day. I'm trying to be kinder, happier, more confident, you name it, I'm trying to elevate my consciousness in every possible way.

Hal Elrod 

Courtney Elmer, the miracle morning mission is the more people that do the Miracle Morning, We are, by default, elevating the consciousness of humanity, one morning at a time. I came back from England yesterday, I was sharing productivity tips to 1300 folks in England, and was for the company Arbonne. I said, How many of you read the Miracle Morning, I always asked that question to get a gauge. Usually, it's like 3040, maybe 50% the most. It was 99%. It's actually part of their company requirements, that there they all do the Miracle Morning, which was I have never seen that it was it was amazing Courtney Elmer. But I had so many people come up and say, I'm a better mom. Because of my productivity tips and the Miracle Morning.

Hal Elrod 

Courtney Elmer, I realized is when I started the miracle morning, it was a selfish pursuit. I was struggling financially and I was desperate, I wanted to turn my life around. And the longer I've done it, the more I've realized that the Miracle Morning is not about me, being a better version of me for the sake of my own success. It's about me being the husband that my wife deserves, and the dad that my kids deserve, and the human that humanity deserves, And so that's what I mean, Courtney Elmer. it's all of us, dedicating time each day to elevating our own consciousness.

Courtney Elmer 34:38  

Thank you for the work that you do and for sharing your productivity tips to help us in so many ways.

Hal Elrod 34:47  

Thank you. I appreciate you, Courtney Elmer. 

Courtney Elmer 34:49  

Now coming up next week on the show, we're talking about whether or not you should launch a podcast of your own. I'll see you back here next Tuesday. And until then, go live your EffortLESS Life®.