SLUMBERS: Hal Elrod’s 8-Step Miracle Evening Routine

Hal Elrod’s SLUMBERS framework is designed to help you deliberately close out the day and prepare for better sleep. Learn the eight steps—from stopping late-night eating and mapping out tomorrow to reducing screen time, releasing stress, and reading something calming. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome back to Night Shift with Justin S. King, How to Transform Your Life One Night at a Time. Tonight I'm going to circle back to the Miracle Morning book and specifically focus on the Miracle Evening chapter. While previous episodes I talked about applying the Miracle Morning concepts to your evening, HAL has his own miracle evening routine with the acronym slumber. It's designed to help you close your day and prepare your mind and body for sleep. First S stands for stop eating three or four hours before bed. Heavy food too close to bedtime can keep your body working when it should be winding down. O means let go of stressful thoughts and emotions. You do not need to solve tomorrow's problems tonight. Write down what is bothering you, pray, breathe, or remind yourself that the day is finished. U stands for use natural sleep aids if needed. Keywords are if needed. A supplement should support a solid routine, not replace one. And one supplement that works for others might not work for you. M means map out your next day. That's where you write down your priorities, appointments, and first tasks for the morning. This gives your brain permission to stop rehearsing everything while you are lying in bed. One of his community members does this on a legal notepad. He likes to write it all out. How himself uses a digital calendar because most of his tasks are repeating. B stands for boycott blue light. Put away your phone, computer, and other stimulating screens. This is not only the light that keeps you awake, it is also the scrolling notifications and constant input. So boycott blue light 30 minutes to an hour before bed. E means enter a blissful state. Use gratitude, prayer, calming affirmations, or slow breathing to shift your emotional state before sleep. And he does a callback here to the emotional optimization meditation. R stands for read something that makes you feel good. Hal recommends something peaceful and familiar. Not a book that makes you want to study, work, or keep turning pages. Keeps a stack of books he's already read next to his bed, and specifically ones he's highlighted so he doesn't have to think about what he's reading. He'll just go and review things he's already read. And the final S in sleep like a baby. Slumbers is not about performing a perfect eight-step ritual every night. It's about creating a clear transition from doing planning and reacting into calm, closure, and sleep. So for tonight's night shift, choose one step, either one you are already familiar with or a new one, and make it a part of your evening shutdown routine this week. That's it for tonight's episode of Night Shift. My name is Justin S. King, and I help entrepreneurs find peace tonight, tomorrow, and for the rest of their lives through sleep optimization, emotion regulation, and discovering their purpose. Good night.