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June 30, 2025 15 mins

Unlock Your Day: The Compound Effect of Your First Hour

Ever felt your energy, focus, and productivity slowly vanish, like a melting ice cube? We understand! Our morning habits profoundly impact success and well-being.

Join Jason and Jana Shelfer on the Living Lucky® Podcast as we share our game-changing morning routine reset: the proven S.A.V.E.R.S. method from Hal Elrod's Miracle Morning. Reclaim your power, beyond mere discipline!

Discover The Compound Effect: small, positive choices compound into massive personal development; neglect leads to stagnation. Dedicating your first hour signals to your subconscious: "You are important!"

Learn the S.A.V.E.R.S. framework: Silence, Affirmations, Visualization, Exercise (10 mins!), Reading, and Scribing. Each 10-minute practice builds momentum, transforming your day and spinning "doom loops" into upward success cycles.

Ready to transform your mornings? Tune in for actionable self-help, mindset shifts, and positive thinking. Prioritize your first hour and start Living Lucky®!

Key Nuggets:

  • Ice Cube Effect: Subtle habit shifts have big impacts.
  • Compound Power: Daily choices fuel massive growth.
  • S.A.V.E.R.S.: Six 10-min practices for a powerful start.
  • Self-Priority: Your first hour signals self-worth.
  • Mindset Boost: SAVERS builds positivity and focus.
  • Doom Loop to Success Cycle: Routine shifts life trajectory.

Key Nuggets: Morning routine is key. Small choices compound. SAVERS method transforms. Prioritize yourself. Energy, focus, success.

Benefits of a morning routine for success. How to start a consistent morning routine? The compound effect of daily habits. Morning meditation for energy. Journaling for personal growth. How to increase daily productivity and focus? Best self-help routines for success. What is the Compound Effect? What does SAVERS stand for in The Miracle Morning? How can a morning routine improve my life? What are the benefits of daily meditation and journaling? How much time should I spend on a morning routine? Why is the first hour of your day important? How do small habits lead to big success?

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The 4 pillars of Living Lucky
Believe in yourself
Believe in the people around you
Believe in your circumstances and
Believe that God is working through you, for you, and always conspiring in your favor.

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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Jana Shelfer (00:00):
Are you ready to create a life you crave?
Let's spin that doom loop ofnegativity into an upward
success cycle and start LivingLucky®.
Good morning.
I'm Jana, I'm Jason and we areLiving Lucky®.
You are too.
We refreshed our morningroutine.

(00:23):
How fun is that?
And I have to tell you, it hasbrought me so much energy
already.
I love it and that's big.

Jason Shelfer (00:31):
Sometimes we just need to whip ourselves into
shape right, and this comesafter a week of really
stagnation.

Jana Shelfer (00:40):
We get a little lackadaisical.

Jason Shelfer (00:42):
Yeah.

Jana Shelfer (00:43):
And we've talked about this before.
It's the law of habituation.
You start getting into, youknow, you think they're good
habits, but then those habitsstart getting a little slack.

Jason Shelfer (00:56):
Yeah, and sometimes we just let them go
because we've been traveling,we've been doing ski
competitions and it's like okay,so what if we don't do it for a
morning?
What if we don't do it foranother morning?
What if we're on the road fortwo or three mornings?

Jana Shelfer (01:10):
And then you fall off for two or three and it
makes it harder and harder toget back and then you look back
and it's been 10 days, 15 days amonth without being on your
routine.

Jason Shelfer (01:20):
Hello.

Jana Shelfer (01:25):
We think at the time oh you know what, it won't
make that much of a difference.
However, if you've ever readthe book the Compound Effect,
you realize that those littledaily choices make all the
difference, that just gave megoosebumps because I didn't
actually equate it to thecompound effect.

Jason Shelfer (01:43):
But I did say in my mind I was thinking oh, you
know, nothing changed.
So when we didn't do ourroutine, I was so in the flow of
life.
I was like nothing changed.
I'm still good, everything isstill working out.
However, looking back, Irealized it was just a slow roll

(02:07):
down.

Jana Shelfer (02:08):
It really has been .
And again, like we, we thinkwe're doing the right things.
But then, if we really stop andanalyze it, my meditations have
become so loose that Iliterally do them in bed now,
and sometimes, if my body feelslike going back to sleep in the
middle of it, I just let mybrain do that.

(02:30):
That's not what my meditationis for.

Jason Shelfer (02:32):
It's almost like an ice cube melting in a
refrigerator.
You don't notice it until theice cube's gone.

Jana Shelfer (02:42):
My gratitude journal has literally become hey
, I'll just write down a note,or sometimes I'll just use that
gratituding to my mind startswandering and I start writing
down what I'm going to do forthe day.

Jason Shelfer (02:56):
Oh, the to-do list Right.

Jana Shelfer (02:58):
I'm like that's not gratituding.

Jason Shelfer (02:59):
I'm so thankful for these things to do.

Jana Shelfer (03:01):
See, and it's just because sometimes we need to go
back and get disciplined again,right?
We need to get a little strict.

Jason Shelfer (03:13):
And having the awareness around hey, what have
I changed that I need to bringback and what are some of the
things that I've been doing thatI might need to let go of?

Jana Shelfer (03:25):
So we like to follow the savers method.
This is from the book theMiracle Morning.
Hal Elrod is the author.
He's also a friend of Jason andmyself, and what he did was he
started to interview andresearch people that he thought
were doing amazing things in theworld, people who he thought

(03:46):
were extraordinary, and hestarted finding patterns among
these people.
They all did similar things,and the top six things that
these people had in common werehe put them into a morning
routine that takes one hour.
So he found six things and eachone takes 10 minutes.

(04:11):
So it's easy to remember, it'seasy to do no matter where you
are, and it will make all thedifference.

Jason Shelfer (04:19):
It really does.
And one of the things is, a lotof times people will say, well,
I don't have time for that, andif you don't have time for 10
minutes, that's a problem initself.
I'm going to say there needs tobe more examination of what
you're doing with your time.
But the other part of that iswe changed our lives back in

(04:40):
2015 or 16, where we startedwaking up at 4.30 in the morning
, or you started waking up atfour.
That's not my exact time zone,but you said I'm going to dress,
I'm going to change my life andI'm going to start making a
massive impact on what I'm doing, how I'm organizing my day and
what I'm going to do.

Jana Shelfer (05:00):
Well, what's amazing is, if you take that
first hour for yourself, so bigit tells your soul that you are
important.

Jason Shelfer (05:09):
That is monstrous .

Jana Shelfer (05:11):
And when you do something for yourself first
thing in the morning before youcheck text messages.
Emails Emails or start feedingthe dog or doing things for
other people, if you do thingsScrolling on the garbage zone.
For yourself.
Then, all of a sudden, you tellyourself that you're important
and there's no excuse.

(05:32):
It's prioritizing.

Jason Shelfer (05:34):
It is it's self-care at its highest Of our
dreams, our goals and all thisstuff, and we fall into this
mindless habitualization ofnothingness.

Jana Shelfer (05:46):
So let me go over the six things that you do in
this formula.
It's called Lifesavers becauseHal writes how these six things
saved his life.

Jason Shelfer (05:59):
After a horrible car accident where he really
should have died, Like that was,the prospectus was that he was
going to die.
And then the second after hewas not going to die.
It was like he's never going towalk again.

Jana Shelfer (06:10):
So the first one was an S?
S for savers, and that issilence.
To sit in silence for 10minutes Now, for me that means
meditation.
I like to sit and meditate for10 minutes.
Unplug my mind.
I just let my mind go intonothingness, go into the void,

(06:33):
kind of listen to the universe.
What is the universe telling me?

Jason Shelfer (06:38):
Yeah, and this has been around for thousands
and thousands of years.

Jana Shelfer (06:43):
This goes back.
We're not making this up.

Jason Shelfer (06:44):
Even in biblical teachings there's the be, still
and know.

Jana Shelfer (06:48):
Yeah, so the first S is silence, a affirmations.
Sometimes we have to tellourselves wonderful, beautiful
things, compliment ourselves.
Sometimes we need thatpositivity in our mind and we
need to do it intentionally.
For me, it's beautiful andbright.

(07:11):
You're a radiant being of life.
You're beautiful, you're bright, you're a radiant being of life
, and I say that over and overto myself.
That's something that I love tosay.

Jason Shelfer (07:22):
It can even be like affirming how your day is
going to be, affirming yourconfidence.
It's all these things about.
It's positivity.
It's creating the energy withinyourself that you're going to
surround yourself with thisshield of positivity and
uplifting energy that's going toshield you and protect you and

(07:44):
also kind of guard you from whatmight be coming at you during
the day.

Jana Shelfer (07:48):
Now I like to incorporate little sing-song
tunes, little cheers chants.
I like to do incantations.
For me it becomes almost like atribal ceremony, almost like a
summer camp.
You know how you would singsongs and do cheers.

(08:08):
For me it's like a little peprally, for me.

Jason Shelfer (08:12):
That's huge Because it's an energy builder.
It is, especially when you putit to song.
That's a new rhythm, that's anew cadence to life.

Jana Shelfer (08:22):
Yes.
And that's massive a newcadence to life.
Yes, and that's massive.
The third thing is a Vvisualization.
Now, if I can sit and visualizewhat it is I want to accomplish
that day, maybe it's a goal.
This morning I literallyvisualized my slalom course on
my ski competition coming up.

(08:44):
I was visualizing gettingaround every single buoy and
visualizing success.

Jason Shelfer (08:50):
Yeah, this is what all athletes do.
All exceptional athletes willvisualize the successful success
, completion of whatever theirroutine is, whatever the game is
or the play is Like.
I visualize a successfulmeeting with clients.

Jana Shelfer (09:07):
I was just going to say it doesn't have to be an
athletic endeavor, it can alsobe.
I visualize a conversationgoing a particular way.

Jason Shelfer (09:16):
I visualize Even when I was in sales, I would
visualize how the sales callgoes, and it doesn't always go
as you plan, but it gives you anintention that you can put
attention towards.

Jana Shelfer (09:31):
I visualize money showing up in my mailbox.
The fourth letter is E, andthat's exercise.
It doesn't have to be go to thegym and work out for an hour.
It's 10 minutes, 10 minutes ofexercise.
It doesn't have to be go to thegym and work out for an hour,
it's 10 minutes, 10 minutes ofexercise.

Jason Shelfer (09:48):
Get your body moving, get your blood flowing,
get your energy up, get thatkinetic movement and flow going
in your life.

Jana Shelfer (09:57):
Let's do a little jumping jack, let's do a push-up
, that's the whole.
I'm a live awake alert.

Jason Shelfer (10:02):
Enthusiastic, I say, it's singular, let's do a
push-up, that's the whole, I'malive, awake alert enthusiastic,
I say it's singular.
Let's do a jumping jack, apushing up.

Jana Shelfer (10:07):
Let's do a push-up .

Jason Shelfer (10:09):
Right.

Jana Shelfer (10:10):
Let's go for a little trot around the pond.
That's what I like to do.

Jason Shelfer (10:30):
That's why I really like that incantation or
that little sing song I'm alive,awake, alert Enthusiastic
because it comes with kind of alittle calisthenic oh arm
routine, yeah, and it's crazyand it's fun.
It's very kindergarten-ish butit gets my energy up.
It's exercise, it's movement,and you can do it while you're
walking the dog around the pond.
We also like to do ourgratituding while we walk the
dog around.

Jana Shelfer (10:42):
Yes, yes, I love that R is reading.
Read for 10 minutes.
You will be surprised what youlearn If you read for 10 minutes
every morning at the end of theweek.

Jason Shelfer (10:56):
You may have a chapter, you may have more than
a chapter, you may have a bookunder your belt and all of the
knowledge that comes with that,yeah, and what's funny is so
we're reading something that islike personal development,
something that's going to makeyou better, and 15 or 14 minutes
a day is 1% of your day.

(11:17):
There's an old Japanese Kaizenthat's like 1% better is more
than most people are focused onthroughout their day, and that
compounding effect of 1% betterevery day is insane.
So when you combine the saversmethod, all these little efforts
, six of them is going to beincredible for the specific day

(11:39):
is going to be incredible forthe specific day, but over the
compounding effect of a week, amonth, a year, it's a life
changer.

Jana Shelfer (11:49):
The last S because savers is plural.
The last S is scribe.
I love to journal.
I love it.
I make it into an artisticlittle fun thing for myself.
I love to gratitude.
I love to write down mythoughts.
I love to write down myfeelings.

(12:11):
I love to try to describe themin pictures, words, color.
I love to journal.

Jason Shelfer (12:20):
You are an amazing and incredible journaler
, thank you.
Journaling for me was astruggle.
I used to like to journal, Iused to like writing creative
writing and I got discouragedwhen I was very young, so
getting back into it was alittle bit of a challenge for me
.
However, it has been a gamechanger once you got me started.

(12:41):
Just gratituding, gratituding.
Gratituding is simple Findingsomething to be grateful for and
not repeating.
That was a little bit of achallenge.
However, it was the mostworthwhile challenge that I've
ever had in a journalingexercise.

Jana Shelfer (12:57):
I think scribing is I mean that's the word they
use because it fits into theacronym.
I think scribing is I meanthat's the word they use because
it fits into the acronym.
However, for me that's been asigh.
That and meditation have beenthe two things that have really
really taken my life to adifferent level.

Jason Shelfer (13:20):
And for me.

Jana Shelfer (13:20):
The scribing is just getting feelings out that I
didn't even know I had.
I didn't even know I wasfeeling, didn't even know I had,
I didn't even know I wasfeeling.
If you put it into a diary orsomething that is just you and
the paper, for some reason itgets you out of your head and it
allows you to release emotionsand you think, wow, I didn't
even realize that that was goingon inside me.
I knew I was feeling something,I was aware of that, but I

(13:43):
didn't know exactly what.

Jason Shelfer (13:46):
I've got a theory on that because I had a
conversation with a client acouple of weeks ago about it and
I think because in our headsexcuse me, we have this in our
bodies we have this feeling anda word soup that's happening in
our heads, but when we put it onpaper it makes us articulate
the thought and then we get toexplore, or feeling.

(14:07):
And then we get to explore itand say, OK, where might that
have come from?
Is this really what?
Like, how did I get here fromthere?
And then we get to say, OK,what might a new story be?
Or where do I want to go fromhere, Like if I'm writing the
book of my life, what's the nextchapter going to look like?

(14:27):
And then I get to say, and howdoes that feel?

Jana Shelfer (14:30):
And for some reason, when I scribe, it allows
me to just let go of anythoughts at all.

Jason Shelfer (14:36):
Oh, that's pretty nice, that's good.

Jana Shelfer (14:38):
Yeah, so again, let's recap S silence.

Jason Shelfer (14:42):
Silence A.
Affirmations V, visualization Eexercise R reading.

Jana Shelfer (14:49):
And.

Jason Shelfer (14:49):
S scribing.

Jana Shelfer (14:51):
Savers.
It's a one-hour routine and itwill change your life.

Jason Shelfer (14:57):
Yes.

Jana Shelfer (14:57):
Thanks for joining us.
Keep Living Lucky®, bye-bye.
If the idea of Living Lucky®appeals to you, visit us at www.
LivingLucky.
com.
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