I read Hal Elrod’s book The Miracle Morning for the first time in 2014. It immediately changed my life trajectory. Along with Don’t Sweat The Small Stuff by the late Richard Carlson (also a recommended read) it is on my list of top 3 most influential, life-changing books.

The concept is simple: life is crazy, stuff happens during the day, so the best time to focus on clearing your mind and bettering yourself (with whatever you are trying to improve) is first thing in the morning, every day. As Hal put it, it can feel like Christmas morning every morning.

Those of you with one or more kid under five are probably rolling your eyes right about now. My wife and I are having our first child in May. I realize this will be more challenging and will likely have to be much earlier in the morning once kids are in my life if I want to keep this habit going.

But the way to be the best wife/husband, father/mother, son/daughter, and professional is to take care of yourself first through regular quiet time. According to Hal and from my own experience, the best time to do this is first thing in the morning. Outside of getting good sleep, saying no to drugs, saying no to infidelity, and eliminating or limiting alcohol consumption, setting time aside for yourself to improve mentally, spiritually, and physically should be up there on your list of no-brainer, must-dos.

I have written about this book before but I wanted to emphasize how this morning routine provides the required foundation for any area of self improvement. This is the time that is dedicated to you – your quiet time in prayer, meditation, reflecting on and visualizing who you want to be, taking some time for short (easy) exercise, catching up on that book you’ve been meaning to read, and journaling.

No matter how stressed out I am from the daily grind, I know that tomorrow is going to be a great day because I start it off with quiet time to myself with a cup of coffee. It does not mean that it is always perfect, sometimes babies cry uncontrollably and dogs pee on the carpet. But I know that I owe it to myself, my spouse, and my surroundings to be the best that I can be – by working on it daily.

Start your day with 30 minutes to yourself and see what happens. Bump it up to an hour if you can. Read The Miracle Morning. No excuses it’s like 97 pages and Amazon will deliver it to your doorstep tomorrow. You got this. I think you’ll be glad you did.