Where the Magic Happens: 5 Life Lessons
that Can Change Your Trajectory

The 5 AM Miracle Podcast, hosted by Jeff Sanders

Episode #571: Where the Magic Happens: 5 Life Lessons that Can Change Your Trajectory

Jeff Sanders
So it's 19 degrees here on a Saturday morning.

That's 19 Fahrenheit, by the way.

It's cold.

Saturday 7 a.m.

I'm out at Beeman Park just outside of Nashville, Tennessee.

I'm the only person at this park this morning.

Sunrises just happen.

It's chilly, but I'm also just amazed at the kinds of choices people make.

And by that I mean the easy answer on a Saturday morning when it's this cold is to stay in bed.

The easy answer is stay in the warm bed.

It's cozy.

It's comfortable.

Why not?

right?

And yet here I am out for a hike because it's not the easy answer.

I want my life to mean more than just laying in bed.

There are mornings that are meant for that.

But for me, I don't know.

I just had this sense that if I'm going to do something with my life, it's going to happen now.

And it's going to happen in places like this. this is where I'm going to have this spark, that energy, that pizzazz that I want my life to have.

And this is where it is.

This is where the magic happens.

The magic happens at 7 a.m. when it's below freezing at a.m. at a.m. at sunrise.

It doesn't happen in bed.

Well, it's not that kind of pizzazz.

The other kind.

So this kind of like, awesomeness for life.

It's this, this is what I want more of.

This is what I enjoy, but more importantly, this is what brings about the change that I want to see.

It's this place.

It's this kind of activity.

And the more that these things happen, these types of habits, you know, healthy habits, productive habits, the more that these things take place, the more that I see the results that I want. more energy, more vitality, more enthusiasm.

That's the big one.

Well, just yesterday I went for a hike for the first time in a while.

I'd been sick and injured and really busy with random stuff.

And I'd gotten out of sync with my best habits.

And so I decided I chose yesterday morning to wake up early and go for a short hike.

And it just spawned in me the sense that yes, yes again, this is where I need to be. this is my place this is where the magic happens so if you are considering i don't stay in bed if you're considering sleeping in i would encourage you to go to bed on time get a really great sleep and then wake up bright and early and go do something go get that pizzazz go to the park when it's below freezing when no one else will show up when it really is just you because you're the trend or you're the one saying this is my place this is what I do it's different it's better and it's what I need for my next big step forward in life this is the 5 a.m.

Miracle episode number 571 where the magic happens five life lessons that can change your trajectory good morning and welcome to the 5 a.m.

Miracle, I am Jeff Sanders, and this is the podcast dedicated to dominating your day before breakfast.

My goal is to help you bounce out of bed with enthusiasm, create powerful lifelong habits, and tackle your grandness goals with extraordinary energy.

I am a keynote speaker and corporate trainer, specializing in delivering high energy, interactive, and action-oriented presentations and workshops, focused on productivity, wellness, and personal and professional growth.

If you want to learn more, head over to jeffsanders.com slash speaking.

Now, in the episode this week, I'll share a few special recordings from the trail and how those life lessons can transform your life's trajectory.

Let's get to it.

So as you just heard the top of the show this week, I played an, extra special recording from a recent hike that I went on.

And the episode this week is going to feature five of those recordings.

And what I tend to do, this is kind of how my brain tends to operate, is when I break away from my normal rhythms and routines and habits, and I allow myself to just be, whether it's on a hike, whether it's taking some time to meditate or take a nap or whatever the case is, those creative aha moments we're all looking for for that inspiration, that spark, that pizzazz to go do something extra special.

We don't get that when stress is high.

We don't get that when we're pushing hard 100% of the time.

We need the chance to reflect, to pause, and to let those creative ideas flow in.

And so for me, going to the trail is that place.

It's the number one place that I go to be inspired or to just chill out or let my brain just kind of take a breather.

And then amazingly, every single time when I do, I get new ideas.

And so what I did recently was I recorded myself on two different hikes, and I'm sharing those thoughts with you here on the show.

There really is no through line.

There's no specific direct thing to do.

There are just some thoughts that I had.

And so hopefully you can take away some action steps from each one of these individually.

These are just basically five life lessons, I'm calling them.

And I think that they each reflect upon different aspects of my life.

And I think that you can pull away quite a bit from each one of those.

The first one I will reflect on here for a second was this kind of initial reaction I had that I've had before.

When I go to a trail, especially early in the morning when the weather is bad, it's just me.

And it's an incredible thing to be able to go to a state park or in this case a big city park and have no one be there but me.

It's a really bizarre and amazing opportunity, and I just love those moments so much.

I'm much more of an introvert that you may believe, and there's just so much power that I get from being alone in the woods.

And as weird as that may sound on the surface, it's such a powerful thing to be able to do.

And so if you have the chance to do so, to get away, to be able to reflect, to let your stress level and cortisol levels decline for a bit long enough for you to relax, to de-stress, to let the overwhelm of life just kind of pause for a little while.

You'll be amazed at how many ideas you get for all kinds of things.

And my advice for you in those moments is to write them down, to record them, to document them, to be able to take action on them later.

You may want to reflect on those on a podcast episode of your own.

But the real intention here is to allow yourself the space in your life for moments like these. moments where you have the chance to just be.

And it's an amazing thing.

All right.

Another thought, another moment of wisdom here in the freezing cold tundra that I'm in.

As I was thinking about essentially poor choices that my kids make, which is kind of funny because as a parent, I have gained perspective on what others do. and others, I mean, a three-year-old and a six-year-old.

But it's so easy as a parent or as another person to see their behavior and their choices and say, they're making such obviously dumb choices.

Like, they're doing things that don't make any sense.

And I know the right answer.

And I'm trying to hand it to them.

And they reject it.

And instead of doing the thing that they're scared to do or don't want to do, they fight. and they fight in a way that's counterproductive, that's self-sabotaging, and that ultimately is way more painful for them to try to avoid the pain they think they're going to experience or doing whatever the task is.

And I was thinking about this in the perspective of my own behavior, my own goals.

Like where am I essentially sabotaging my own success by running from fear and by doing so causing myself more fear, more pain?

when I could just simply step into the fear.

And it wouldn't be nearly as hard as I thought that would be.

And would actually give me the thing that I want without all the fuss.

And it's just, it's having this third-party perspective to watch other people make choices where you and the outside can see what seems so obvious.

Why wouldn't you do X, Y, Z?

Why are you making these terrible choices?

But we can't have that same thought on ourselves because it's so dumb. difficult to be that outside voice when you're on the inside.

You're too close to yourself and you need someone else to be able to see what's happening.

This is why you need trusted people in your life.

Spouses, friends, parents, coaches.

You need people.

We all need people.

Sometimes we can coach ourselves in these scenarios and see our own flaws and pivot and coach ourselves.

Yes.

But there are so many scenarios where we have blind spots that we cannot coach ourselves out of, that we need someone to be able to kind of guide us on that journey, to show us that wisdom that we need and to tap into the simplicity of simply facing our fears and saying yes to it.

Now, maybe you have a fear of being out of bed at 7 a.m. in the cold, I don't know.

For me, that comes fairly naturally.

I would argue I don't have a blind spot in this area of life, but I know that I do in others.

And so I'm trying to figure out here this morning, in the cold, by myself in the woods, what's the connection between the areas where I succeed and the areas where I need success and I'm looking for it?

How do I apply the lessons where I'm doing well to the areas where I'm not?

That's my personal challenge this morning.

We'll see how it plays out.

But those are my words of wisdom here from the woods. here on Saturday morning.

Over and out.

What I really love about this recording is the fact that I am now able to learn from my kids.

It's such a cool thing to be able to have that third-party perspective that was just talking about where I look at their lives.

I look at how they interact with the world and discover new things and explore and test and make mistakes and fail at things, but then bounce back so quickly to be able to learn something new, apply a new lesson, solve a new problem, and they grow up right in front of me.

And to be a parent and watch that happen in real time is a really cool experience just kind of on its own as a parent.

But of course, the reflection for me is to be able to apply those same lessons to myself.

And one thing that I've been able to do recently is really take advantage of this idea that I could have more self-awareness in the moment.

And one way that I've applied that is my new philosophy, or I guess an old philosophy reapplying that I call see a problem solve a problem and from that perspective what I'm looking for are problems right I interact with my world in my house or I'm out doing you know running errands or whatever the case is if I see an opportunity to solve a problem in my life I want to pounce on that right away this is actually fairly similar to Mel Robbins book the five second rule and her concept around when you get an idea you have five seconds to act on it or go was away forever, I feel as though that's essentially this new kind of rhythm that I'm in is when I have a fear, when I have an anxiety, when I have a thought on a thing I forgot to do previously, whatever the new thought is in my brain, I want to act on it right away.

I want to learn from my past experiences by being able to solve problems now and not let them grow into bigger problems down the road to be able to say, I see an issue.

Let's take care of it in the moment.

Now, not every problem can be managed right here and now, but at the very least, you can write down, I see a problem, and here's an opportunity for me to go solve it later, and I can add it to one of my various lists and be able to address it when the time is right, but I'm not going to let it go.

I'm not going to look at it, assume I will remember that problem later or assume anything.

Like, don't assume.

Just see the problem, either solve it right now or write it down to solve it later.

And to this idea of third party perspectives or having a coach, oftentimes we don't even see these problems well ourselves.

So one perspective is see a problem, solve a problem.

That's from my own perspective.

But the other angle is to let someone else do that for you as well.

That could be you hire a coach or you talk to your spouse or you have a best friend or a boss or a coworker or someone to speak into your life to be able to say, I see a problem in your life.

And if you don't want to acknowledge it, you probably should.

And if you don't, there may be a bigger problem down the road.

And we all have blind spots.

We all have issues where we can't see ourselves well.

And I think that the big theme for me here in this particular example is that I want to see more.

I want more awareness.

And with more awareness means I will see more problems and therefore have a much longer to-do list to tackle, but I would rather know than not know.

I would rather have fewer blind spots.

I would rather be able to prioritize what I know is true and then start the top of that list and work through it one by one, knowing that I'm doing the most important things first.

It's this life prioritization challenge that is really only possible if you are living your life with your eyes open and being willing and able to see everything as. as it is real as it's happening.

I think a way to perceive that or another angle on this is to say, I'm not going to numb myself out.

I'm not going to blind myself to my problems or ignore them or bury them in the sand.

I'm going to face these things.

Head on, full on, and be responsible for all of it.

That's a tall order.

It's a difficult task, but that's the challenge that we have to do life better.

And when you're able to see yourself clearly, either through your own self-coaching or a third-party perspective.

When you have that clarity, you can then take action, and that action leads to results.

And that's what all of this is about.

All right, round three.

One thought that just popped in my head was that I just passed by a group of three guys who are out for a run.

And from the looks of them, I would argue they're probably in the military or used to be. and what I was thinking was there are people with excuses and there are people with results and they're not the same people.

If you want something, you have to go do it and the excuses don't mean anything.

If you are thinking about, here's a problem in my life and here's why I can't achieve it.

Here's a thing I've been striving for and here's why it has failed.

That will not lead to success. that will not lead to the result you want, that will lead to more failure, more excuses, more of what doesn't add up to what you want.

You know, the guys I just passed are really, no different than me in the sense that we decided that there were results we wanted, and so we're out here making it happen.

Did I have an excuse to not come this morning?

Yeah, I had a dozen.

And yet, I'm here, and that's the point.

Now, I'm not in rock star shape.

This is not going to be a life-changing moment per se.

But habits are nothing more than simply saying yes.

No to the excuse.

Yes to the habit.

No to the BS and yes to the actions that add up to what you want.

That's all this is.

It's not complicated.

It is very simple.

It just requires you to say yes to step in, step up.

There are going to be days where it's going to start.

I mean, you could argue this morning's like that, but really, this is amazing.

I love this.

I really, really do.

The more difficult it is out here, the more I find it's fulfilling and fascinating, and the more that I want to do it again, which is, I think, indicative of when we're in our zone of strength and we're really striving forward, is that when the going gets tough, the tough get going, but really when things are difficult, that's when you shine.

That's when your best comes out. and so consider that as you're looking for your next big move.

Where can you step up?

Where can you say yes?

Where can you let go of the excuses and say yes to the results?

That's all it is.

You know, in my first book, The 5 a.m.

Miracle, I have the section in the beginning of the book that I call comfort is the enemy of greatness.

And this is a concept that has been with me since the beginning of this podcast. the last 11 years or so.

And what I realized way back in my mid-20s when I was running marathons and ultra-marathons was that any kind of endurance athletic events of that nature.

Could be a triathlon, could be any kind of difficult task like that, physically difficult, is that it sucks, is that it hurts.

However, despite the fact, or maybe because of the fact that it hurts, that's where the greatness comes from.

And that if my goal is comfort, then my goal is not a finish line.

If my goal is to feel good, then my goal is not results.

They don't work together.

These things butt heads at every turn.

Comfort is the enemy of greatness.

Now, that does not mean that you have to be uncomfortable 24-7.

But what it does mean is we need to choose discomfort on purpose more often.

You know, I said that there are people with excuses and people with results, and they are not the same people.

That, to me, is indicative of this identity that we carry with us.

Are we the types of people who think of ourselves as excuse makers or the kinds of people who just don't have excuses?

Once again, we see a problem, solve a problem.

We want results.

We go get the results. despite how we feel, despite what the hurdles or obstacles may be, we may have had a laundry list of excuses to why we shouldn't do XYZ, but we showed up anyway.

You know, actions add up, but so do excuses.

We're going to have hard days, right?

That's just going to be what life is going to be filled with so often.

And recently, I was just rereading David Goggins book, Can't Hurt Me, which is such an intense book, such a radical perspective, on discipline and execution of difficult things.

But it's such a great reminder that if you want greatness, if you want a finish line, if you want something significant and ambitious and life changing, something is remarkable.

You're not going to get that by seeking comfort.

You're not going to get that by filling your life with excuses or blaming others or seeking out scapegoats or being mad or resentful or regretful.

Like we just, we don't get what we want through that negative emotion.

We get what we want by saying yes to the challenge.

And our best comes out in those moments.

Our best comes out at 7 a.m. on a trail when it's super cold outside.

Like that's when we are at our best because we gave ourselves the chance to be so, to experience that, to be able to leverage our tools and our resources in a way that we otherwise would just never be able to tap into.

Speaking of David Goggins, one of his life rules is that people only use about 40% of their potential and that we don't tap into the rest.

And this comes from a philosophy that our brains basically ping us to say around 40% of our energy or our kind of exertion.

Our brains will ping us and say, this hurts too much.

Stop or you're going to injure yourself.

It basically comes in this philosophy that our brain is protecting us.

And so therefore, once we hit a certain threshold, we should just stop.

But David Goggin's perspective is one of ignore that, don't listen to yourself, and push forward anyway.

It's obvious risk from that decision.

There's all kinds of bad things that could happen.

But there's also all kinds of potential that could be tapped into if we don't listen to ourselves.

If we ignore our brain, ignore our excuses and we just plow forward into the execution of bigger, more ambitious, more amazing activity. activities.

That's what this can be.

So are you the kind of person who makes excuses or are you the kind of person who gets results?

They're not the same people.

And I'm back here at a new park.

Now we're one day later.

I was at the very cold Beeman Park yesterday.

I'm at the slightly warmer Montgomery Bell Park outside of Nashville, Tennessee today on this Sunday morning.

And kind of ironically, I'm at the park again by myself.

They're doing some construction here and the campground is closed.

So at a place that I expected a lot of people to be, it's just me, which is really weird.

So here I have again in the woods. for some more, I called them, moments of wisdom.

So I thought that I was actually just having it a few minutes ago was about fear and about essentially what it comes down to our typical reaction to problems and problem solving, which is to say, as an example, I feel out of shape.

And so because of that, I'm not going to go to the gym because I can't lift weights well.

But the reality is the exact opposite is what's the most true, because you feel out of shape, you should be going to the gym.

Or I feel financially poor right now.

So I'm just going to avoid talking to a financial advisor or reading a book on how to invest my money.

But the opposite is actually true.

When you feel poor, you should be doubling down on financial education.

Point being that if you find yourself in a position where you have a problem and your typical responses to kind of throw your hands in the air and say, well, because. that problem exists, I'm just going to simply avoid thinking about it, talking about it, addressing it all, I'm going to bear my head in the sand and walk away.

But that, of course, isn't the answer.

The answer comes from the direct facing of the thing that you're avoiding.

And it's not going to be as hard as you think, and it's going to add up to what it is that you want a hell fly faster than if you just simply try to walk away.

You know, for me to be let's say, for example, up early out for a hike, is directly addressing the fact that I have felt tired.

I need more energy.

I need to feel more awake and alert and enthusiastic.

And I know that that's not going to come from sleeping in.

It's going to come from directly doing the things that add up to what it is that I want.

And the initial feeling is going to be one of fear, apprehension excuses.

But the second you actually step in and do it, the exact opposite becomes true. you see a path forward, you feel the energy, you see the momentum, you find all these different strategies and tools and resources to go do the thing you know is best and it feels good to do it.

And then you want to do more of it.

And I just can't help but think that that's the kind of pattern, the momentum we're trying to build towards problem solving in general, is asking that question, how do I start the ball rolling, get myself in the game, be in an environment where that kind of success is possible, and then see where it takes. us because that's the only way forward.

The alternative is a dead end.

It's not going to add up to what you want.

Being in the game is the only possibility of success.

It's not a guarantee.

There's no way to absolutely say yes, I will get what I want, but you're definitely not going to get it by ignoring it.

So a challenge to you this morning is to kind of what I said yesterday to say yes, to opt in. to directly face these things and say there might be a band-aid ripping off moment there might be a ooh i have to go acknowledge reality moment but that quickly fades as you see a path forward on what to do what to focus on and how to actually improve your current scenario that's where the power is is in the the belief and the hope and the tangibility of the actions you can take that's where it comes from.

And that's what you're looking for.

So in my mind, productivity, goal achievement, effectiveness.

They come from that not just direct action, but the belief that you can do the thing you need to do to get the thing you want.

There it is.

Hiding from your problems makes them worse.

That's the through line that I see in almost all of this.

If there is a through line this week in this episode, it's going to be that.

That hiding from your problems makes them worse.

I have a great example of this, which is something that I will go into a lot more detail on the podcast very soon, which is that my wife and I just finished, actually our whole family, just finished a massive rebuild of our kitchen and crawl space and almost our entire structural foundation of our house.

Why?

Well, we had a a leak.

A long time ago, possibly as long as 10 years ago or more, there was a leak in a pipe under our kitchen that we couldn't see that no one really knew about, that just snuck in.

And long story short, our kitchen was literally falling into the earth.

It was falling away.

And we had to address this issue.

Now, there were some warning signs that we had that I ignored.

There were a few things that were fairly obvious that I should have looked at a lot more intensely, a long time. ago, and I just didn't.

And so what happened, I'll go to more detail later, was that we had to spend a boatload of money to fix an incredibly complex problem, and our house is way better because of it, and I'm very glad it's done now, but wow, what a task.

And it really, yes, the problem was going to be big regardless of when I solved it, technically the way this thing happened, it was going to suck in in either direction.

However, weighting did make it worse.

And ignoring the problem made it cost more.

It was more invasive, more cumbersome, more expensive.

And that's what happens when we ignore problems.

They don't go away.

They don't get easier.

They just get worse.

If there is something you are ignoring, if there's a thing you are procrastinating on, a thing you just say, you know what, I'm not going to lose the weight right now.

I'm not going to look at my finances right now.

I'm going to ignore that messy closet or garage.

I'm going to just ignore the relationship that's falling apart.

I'm just not going to look at it.

It's not going to get better.

The answer to all of this is to say yes and opt in and start where you are and engage with the problem.

It's not fun in many cases.

I didn't want to know the price tag to this massive rebuild.

I didn't want to know the logistical nightmare we had to go through to live in this really way where we had no access to our kitchen or laundry or all these facilities that were just basically out of commission during the rebuild.

And I didn't have plans for that.

I didn't have budget for that.

There was no plan for me to do this.

And yet we lived through it.

We did it.

We made it work.

And we figured it out.

And that's kind of my point.

It might suck.

The tearing of the bandaid away, the acknowledging of the problem.

But I mean, here I am right now just on the other side of this massive project being And the one thing that's very clear to me is that I'm so glad I said yes to the solution.

I'm so glad that I said yes to addressing the problem because ignoring it was never going to work.

It was never going to make it better.

Literally, in this case, physically our house would only collapse more than it already was.

Like it literally would be killing us.

And so from that perspective, I just have to ask the question for you now in your life. what are you ignoring?

What are you not saying yes to that you need to say yes to?

Where is the fear?

Because that's going to give you such a good indication of your next best big move.

And I will tell you from experience, yes, there's going to be this kind of like, a moment.

I don't want to do that.

But it's going to work.

It will because it can't otherwise.

I've got one more for you.

This thing just keep coming out here.

So there was an episode of my podcast recently where I talked about this concept of a dedicated space.

And it's something that has really revolutionized my thought process in the last year or so about productivity in general, but specifically how the environment that you're in, dictates your behavior.

And the examples before that I've used are things like when you go to the gym, you're probably going to work out because you're in a gym. when you're at the office.

You're probably going to work on your work because you're in a place where work gets done.

The point being that your environment shows you a path forward on here's what people here are doing.

You know, I'm in a park this morning and so I'm going to hike or run or work out.

I'm going to explore because that's what you do in a park.

That's part of the experience.

But there's a nuanced perspective to this that I just thought of that I think is actually more indicative of what a dedicated space actually is.

And that nuance is that a dedicated space does not guarantee the result you think it does.

So, for example, going to the gym does not guarantee you will work out.

Going to the park does not guarantee I will hike.

Going to the office does not guarantee you will work.

However, what these spaces do provide are restrictions. they will say, because I'm at the gym, I can't do my laundry at home.

I can't look at my laptop.

I can't do all these other habits and activities that I may be doing to distract myself because I'm in a place where that's actually not possible to do.

If I'm in the park, I don't have access to anything.

There's nothing here besides me, my water bottle, and my phone.

So I'm just not going to do anything else except have the option to opt into what the park provides.

And the option that you still have to choose to do is the primary activity of what's there.

And so the interesting thing for me is that a dedicated space is a restriction creator.

It's a boundary to stop you from doing the things that otherwise would prevent you from doing the thing you really want to do.

And with that in mind, you're thinking about productivity through the lens of focus blocks of time. an F bot that I love, those are about blocking distractions.

They're not about doing work.

They really, at the end of the day, are 100% built around the idea of cutting yourself off.

Because that's what we need to learn how to do.

And the more that that happens, the more likely you are to then opt into the thing that you really want to get done.

But it has to start with saying no.

It starts with saying, here's what cannot. be possible.

And because of that, my options are now limited.

And limited options actually will breed success faster than anything.

Because not being able to do 100,000 things and only being able to do one or two means the one or two are probably going to get done.

And that's what we're trying to get to.

So when you build a dedicated space, when you build out a place to work out, a place to get your job done, a place to do whatever, consider the reality that this space is, you know, you're in a place to work.

You is designed to block you from doing what you otherwise would try to do.

The self-sabotaging behavior you otherwise might engage in.

So build your dedicated space with that in mind.

And then, of course, actually do your best to discipline yourself to get into the habit of doing the activity you came to do.

Yes, that's the goal.

But if the distractions are blocked, it's going to be a million times easier.

Distractions are self-sabotaging behaviors.

Years ago, I got really excited about focus blocks of time, my F-bots.

And what I think that I didn't really realize back then that's so clear today is that my focus blocks of time were, yes, designed to block distractions.

But more so, they're designed to block me from myself.

They were designed so that I wouldn't do the stupid things I would normally do to stop me from doing the work I set out to do. do to begin with.

Self-sabotage is a real thing.

It's when we literally get in our own way.

We stop ourselves from success.

We become the obstacle.

And of course, we don't want that, or I don't want that for myself.

And so when I build out a dedicated space, when I build out a focus block of time, when I'm looking for what's the task list for today, I'm really asking myself the question, what are the results that I want at the end of the day and how do I get out of my own way to ensure these things can happen.

That's all this really is.

I mean, just now during this podcast recording, my phone has been blowing up.

I'm getting lots of text messages and they were very distracting.

I had to turn the phone off, block the messaging app on my computer, like really walk away from everything that could possibly ping me so I could just do the one thing I set out to do.

That's it.

If you have any possibility for anything pulling you away. from the thing you're doing, you will be pulled away.

The distractions will stop you.

It's just how this works.

Our brains just, we can't stop ourselves, right?

We are addicts.

And once you realize that and acknowledge that and accept that is true, you can then build out and create structures around your own behavior, the boundaries that will actually guide you forward.

You know, we still have to say yes in the moment of the thing that we set out to do, but the distractions are 98% of that solution.

Blocking those distractions is 98% of the solution.

And that is just such a powerful life lesson to not just realize, but then put into action on a daily basis.

And so I love the fact that I have this kind of nuanced perspective on this because I think that that really speaks to how I need to operate better every day to really double down on get rid of these distractions so that that.

The step forward into the project, into the task is the smallest and easiest possible yes you could imagine.

You make it effortless.

And by doing so, you're all but guaranteeing the results you set out to get with the least possible friction, the most possible efficiency, and the easiest way to get it done.

And that's the whole point.

We're not trying to make this difficult.

We're not trying to climb mountains here.

We're literally just trying to answer some emails or get some or do some household chores.

It doesn't matter what it is.

We just want to be able to easily say yes and do it and know that it got done and feel that sense of confidence that it's all but guaranteed.

It's all but guaranteed it's going to all get done because I know I've built out systems that guarantee my own success.

So I hope you enjoyed this episode this week.

This was a little bit of a new take on this podcast sharing these five life lessons that I pulled from my experience on the trail.

If you enjoyed this or didn't enjoy it or have some feedback for me, I would love to hear that.

You can email me, jeff at jeffsanders.com.

I have this inclination.

I will do more of these in the future.

I did enjoy this personally, and so I think there's more here to tap into.

And so we'll see how it goes.

But anyway, I hope you enjoyed this.

Once again, email me, jeff at jeffsanders.com.

And for the action step this week.

Get up early and make some magic happen.

The trail is my happy place and I know that a few hours there every week can transform my own life in countless ways.

Where does your magic happen?

Where are your miracles?

You know, just get there.

Be inspired in the place. where inspiration is most likely to take over.

Of course, subscribe to this podcast in your favorite podcast app or become a VIP member of the 5am Miracle community by getting a premium ad-free version with exclusive bonus episodes at 5am miracle premium.com.

And that's all I've got for you here on the 5 a.m.

Miracle podcast this week.

Until next time, you have the power to change your life.

And all that fun begins bright and early.

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