199 Learn How To Know Yourself Better With 5 AM Miracle Author Jeff Sanders

Jeff Sanders is an author, keynote speaker, and founder of the Rockin’ Productivity Academy. Jeff is host of the 5 AM Miracle Podcast and author of a book of the same title. He’s a marathon runner, passionate raw vegan and all-round mindfulness kind of guy. Jeff has a degree in Theatre and Psychology and lives in Nashville Tennessee with his wife and their pet Pug, named Benny.

Contact Info

• Website: www.JeffSanders.com
• Book:The 5 A.M. Miracle: Dominate Your Day Before Breakfast by Jeff Sanders
• Podcast: The 5 A.M. Miracle 

Most Influential Person

• Dean Karnazes (Ultramarathon Runner)

Effect on Emotions

• Mindfulness has made me less overtly emotional. Less angry and less extreme. If anything, it has emotional. It calms me down and allows me to be more rational.

Thoughts on Breathing

• Breathing's a big part of [my mindfulness practice]. I think especially as an athlete and someone who likes to have a lot of good oxygen to live and to do things well. I find that also breathing a lot or breathing really intensely also calms me down and prepares me for an event; before a speaking engagement for example. I do a lot of breathing techniques to give my self-confidence a boost and to physically feel better.
• One of those breathing techniques is from Wim Hoff who is very famously known as The Iceman. I do a lot of intense breathing where you inhale more than you exhale over and over again, basically until you feel light-headed. You are kind of oxygen packing your body for a few minutes and it really does give you this strong sense of confidence and you feel very awake and alert. It's pretty cool.

Suggested Resources

• Book: The 5 A.M. Miracle: Dominate Your Day Before Breakfast by Jeff Sanders
• Book: Running With A Mind of Meditation by Sakyong Mipham
• App: Nozbe (A Task Management App based on David Allen's Getting Things Done System)

Bullying Story

When I was younger, in elementary school aged 7 to 10, I was not quite confident as a kid yet. I was still trying to find out who I was.

For a lot of my years growing up, I viewed myself as a follower. I would find other people who I thought were a strong personality or someone who could hold their own and I would follow them around.

In the process of that, I got a hold of some fairly difficult friends or friends who were not genuine. They were bullies, and tough guys. I was a small, scrawny little kid and I didn't have a lot of self confidence. It wasn't bullying in the traditional sense, but it definitely was this sense that I felt inferior to them all the time and it took a long time before it wasn't the case any more.

For many years I was in this position of, I don't know who I am yet, so I'm just going to follow someone else until I figure it out eventually.