- Waking up early is so awesome
unless you have nothing to do.
(upbeat contemporary music)
Hey there, welcome back to Amy TV.
You know around here we talk a lot about optimizing time,
waking up early, all that super fun stuff
for you to go after the life that you want.
One example in particular
is a video I made earlier this year
called How to Wake up at 5 am
Even If You Don't Feel Like It.
You wanna stay awake at 5 am and actually do something,
then don't fight the thing you need
and that's probably coffee.
If it's not coffee, bless you.
This whole conversation is inspired
by finding the time to be able to do anything you wanna do.
But who actually wants to wake up early?
Like, most of the time it's not coming from a gut instinct.
Like, I just think I'll wake up at 5 am every day,
that sounds amazing.
We don't think like that, I don't think like that.
I struggle with how many people ask me
if I just have these perfect 5 am mornings every day
even on weekends.
I'm like, girl no.
I am sleeping in on the weekends, thank you.
But if I'm trying to be productive in my most everyday life,
I love waking up early.
It's such a sense of accomplishment,
I know that my brain is at its best at that time.
But it doesn't mean I'm perfect at it.
It doesn't mean when that alarm goes off,
and yes I definitely use an alarm, that I pop out of bed
at 5 am smiling, ready to take on the world.
That Amy does not exist.
In fact, waking up at 5 am
hasn't been the easiest thing for me
in actually that last few months,
or waking up early let's say.
It doesn't have to be a specific time
if 5 am is way too ungodly for you, but that's fine.
So yeah, even I have moments where I'm like
why in the world would I wake up early today?
Like I genuinely don't have the drive or ambition to do it.
I've been working on that quite a bit
and I wanted to share some ideas with you
that have worked for me in order to get back on track
with my early morning routine.
If you're not an early riser
and it's because you think it's ridiculous
or you've been trying and it's just not working,
it probably has a lot to do
with the fact that you don't have a purpose defined for you
by waking up early and making the most for that time.
Interestingly enough, you're catching me
on a perfect week of 5 am, not just 5 am but 4 am
in some cases because the purpose in the morning
has been very real.
So I'm excited to share what I've been doing
to make that happen.
So that's what I'm really excited to talk about today.
Before we get started,
make sure you're subscribed to this channel.
I make new videos every Sunday and Wednesday
and I'd love to see you back for the next one.
My first big idea for your 5 am wake-up routine
is to drink and/or jump into lots of water.
For some people it's and.
I personally don't wanna shower first thing in the morning
but if that is what gets you going, then do it.
But my version of that, as soon as I wake up
is drinking a lot of water.
I have a minimum of 16 ounces of water
usually with lemon, as long as I have it with me,
and that is that natural jolt to the system
that's like, hey girl wake up, you can't go back to sleep,
let's get the internal organs going,
including your brain.
Clearly if you've felt refreshed after a glass of water
or a shower or just rinsing your face off,
whatever the case is, you know that this works.
It doesn't matter what time of day it is.
But if you need something
to really get your body to agree with the fact
that your feet and legs are considering
continuing to stay upright out of bed
at such an early hour then do everything
that is in your favor.
Water, just drinking water works well enough for me.
My second idea is to write.
Now, I know that a lot of people
don't necessarily enjoy this
and I'm not even a natural writer.
As much as I'm like, I wish I was like a blogger,
like an everyday blogger.
It sounds so sexy to me.
I don't know, and maybe a blogger would think
I wish I could make a video more often
or something like that.
We all kind of want what we don't necessarily do.
But what I like about writing
is it gives me an opportunity
to at least have a conversation with myself
and get whatever is top of mind out of my head.
For the 50-leventh time, I'm going to mention
my favorite book and that is The Artist's Way
by Julia Cameron who talks about morning pages,
which is the concept of sitting down first thing,
doesn't matter what time, but sitting down first thing
and just writing anything that comes out of your brain
for three pages straight.
There's no better time to do this
than right after you wake up
because you get a lot of other things in your way
if you wait.
Let's say if you check your phone,
which I do not recommend at all in this list of things
I'm going to tell you today.
Or if you happen to listen to someone talking
or if you read something,
you're really not coming up with your own ideas
out of your head for this and I think that's why it pays off
is if they are your ideas.
So even if you find yourself talking about something
that's not necessarily super important on these pages,
it doesn't matter, it's just what's on your mind
and you might find, maybe not day one, maybe not page one
but you're gonna get to a point
where you do end up having a breakthrough
and maybe an idea you've been thinking about
but haven't gone in depth on is finally,
sort of coming through your brain
as something that you can pursue and start working on
in all of real life instead of just like keeping it up here.
If we keep everything up here and it never comes out,
we never make it real.
So make it real first by just simply writing it down.
My third idea is to move your body
and that is the workout of course.
I actually have gone to the trainer
almost every day this week
because I wanted to get into a routine
of doing a serious workout for at least four
of the five workdays that I had.
And that worked out really nicely.
I had to work a commute into that,
so that's what I didn't necessarily like about it.
I didn't go to my own home gym,
but I definitely wanted to try something
completely different so that I would motivate myself
in a new way and attaching that to the early morning
was helpful for me to kind of get back on my game.
Most people will have a hard time
choosing an ambitious new fitness goal
with an ambitious wake-up goal
so I don't necessarily always recommend pairing the two
at the same time,
but I'd already kind of been waking up early
in the last few weeks, earlier and earlier and earlier
trying to get myself back to my normal time
and so it was a little bit easier for me.
But the big thing here is just moving your body, right?
Like if you just start to sweat some calories
but it doesn't have to be something so significant,
it can just be moving your body.
You could take a walk if you really want to at 5 am.
I wouldn't, but you know that's up to you.
You could just go do it on the treadmill
or something like that but just get the body moving
'cause first of all, you get it out of the way,
that's personally my favorite part about working out
in the morning.
Nobody wants to workout in the afternoon or the evening.
Your body certainly doesn't.
Your body is just as tired as your brain.
So yes, definitely try to get this out of the way
and it will make you feel so much more successful
first thing in the morning.
I mean who doesn't feel good after their workout
that they did that and imagine doing that also
during your morning routine
when you're trying to make the most out of every day.
That's amazing, because that hour or half hour
that you would have done it during your normal day
that wasn't including an early-morning routine
now cuts into that valuable time
that could have been spent with others
or doing other things.
My fourth idea is to meditate.
Now this is not always gonna be for you
or maybe you have your own version of what meditation
could mean to you and I will admit
that this is still something I'm working very hard on
to fully appreciate and to fully get into a ritual with.
It does help me some mornings
to look forward to the fact that hey,
I'm gonna sit here and just be serene,
and that sounds like a great way to start my day.
Other times it's like,
I don't really want a quiet moment right now,
I'm really excited to go do this other thing
so I'm gonna go do that other thing.
So I personally think if having this moment of silence
in the morning is really important to you
then definitely include it in your early-morning routine.
But you should also be thinking about things
that get you excited
so that you're actually motivated on a daily basis
to get out of the bed early.
If you're just gonna get out of bed to do things
that people have been trying to tell you to do
but you aren't necessarily on board with yet,
then who knows.
But clearly that clarity of mind,
just that practice in getting into the swing of things,
I know if I've done it three, four, five days in a row
I see the value more than if I'm going through
like a meditation dry spell and I'm like,
eh, I don't really need quiet time right now.
So think about that, what does it mean to you?
Is it important to you and how can you include that
in your morning routine, when it is the quietest, ideally
for you to actually be able to accomplish great meditation?
My fifth idea is for you to think about your idea.
Brainstorm around something new or something different
that you've been pondering.
Now this might come to light during morning pages,
during your writing practice if you decide to do that,
but let's just say that's not for you.
Maybe you just wanna focus on something
that you've been thinking about,
that you have been excited about,
that you see other people doing and it gets you excited
but you haven't done anything about it yet.
Can you make time to get out of bed, drink your water,
do whatever you're gonna do and say
it's time to work on my project?
And by work on it, simply brainstorm.
Simply make a list of the things
that you think you would need to do
in order to be able to go after it.
Think about the things that you haven't done yet
if you've already started this kind of a project.
Kind of like the morning pages and the meditation,
this time of day is perfect for keeping it to yourself
and allowing you to just think about an idea
that you wanna work on
without letting outside sources interrupt that.
So spend some time in the morning
when you are at your best in your own mind
to think about that idea
that you haven't moved far enough on yet.
My sixth idea is to read
and of course this is a great idea.
I personally don't prefer to read first thing.
Like I said, I want my own ideas
before I want someone else's,
but other people's ideas are a great idea.
This video is just full of ideas.
Ideas, ideas, ideas, I can say this word 80 million times.
The bottom line is,
let's say maybe we're not in a great mood.
At least we got it out of our heads and on paper
but then we can pick up a book
and read somebody else's mantras or stories
and that could potentially motivate us even greater
into the day.
So there's that balance, right?
You can decide what's right for you.
Maybe you need to start with somebody else's words
before you dig into your own.
But reading can definitely accomplish that.
One thing I'll do if I'm like,
I don't feel like sitting on the couch and reading a book
that doesn't feel like where I'm at right now,
I just have like a daily calendar of quotes
that motivate me and I love reading the quote of the day
because to me I can start thinking like,
does this resonate with me?
What does it mean to me?
And I can just start having an internal dialogue about it
that will help me move forward into the day a lot better
because ideally I'm learning something
from someone's great quote
that teaches me how to have a better day,
be a better person, go after the life I want.
So reading doesn't have to be
this big philosophical commitment.
It can be your speed.
My seventh idea is to savor that first cup of coffee.
You know how we just kinda grab the first cup of coffee
'cause we need it desperately.
I'm on an I love you relationship basis
with coffee right now and not I need you.
But, we tend to under appreciate it.
So what if you just had a few moments in the morning
where you got to sit down with your coffee
and to enjoy those first couple of sips?
Or, if it's tea for you or if it's hot lemon water,
whatever the case may be.
What could you savor?
What could you spend five minutes savoring
in the morning?
Dessert at 5 o'clock in the morning?
Hey, do you boo.
My eighth idea is to dig into something simple
that you never seem to make time for.
I have so many of these.
Okay so I have a little folder in my phone called Self Love
and it includes some things that I want to make time for
but I don't always do it.
One is the Shine app.
It's such a great little check-in app
that motivates you every day and lets you,
you're basically texting a computer
but you're having a really mindful and grateful conversation
so I love it, absolutely love it.
You probably have seen it on my Instagram,
if you follow me there.
Also, I have an app in here called Elevate
and this is an app that my husband told me about,
a really, really great like brain challenging app
so it's kind of like games
but you're doing simple math or like organizing words
or reading something to make sure you understand it.
Super nerdy but very cool for like making sure your head
is like working properly.
And I also have the Five Minute Journal in here
because who doesn't love to five minute journal?
But I have to be able to remind myself to make time for it.
I don't like notifications so I don't let the apps notify me
but I will write them down
as things I like to do in my morning routine
that I can actually make time for
because I am in complete control,
no one is bugging me in the morning.
And another good example is like are you using a app
like Duolingo to learn a foreign language?
You could make five, 10, 15 minutes of time in the morning
to just go through your foreign language practice.
I always tell myself I'm gonna do that
like before I go to sleep, and it never happens.
So I've been trying to reprioritize that
in the mornings too.
Kinda fun to be like speaking a different language
first thing in the morning, not gonna lie.
My ninth idea is meal planning.
Now I kind of say this generally
and I don't think it's the greatest idea
first thing in the morning.
It's probably better for like a whole week
on a Sunday night.
However, if you didn't have the luxury
of getting around to it, maybe you wanna make sure
you don't have bad snacking moments
or Uber Eats moments that you really are not hoping for
throughout your day and you wanna plan your breakfast,
lunch, and dinner.
This is something that you could do
first thing in the morning.
I at least like to write on my refrigerator whiteboard
this is what I have, this is what we're making for dinner
because this is what we have.
So I'll look and I'll be like okay, I have salmon
and I have sweet potatoes and I have Brussels sprouts.
Cool, we're having the same thing
we had for dinner last night, great.
And I'll write it down
because then when I get done with work
or come home from work I see that
and I'm like, oh cool, I already have a game plan.
I'm gonna make that.
Prep your salad for lunch, prep your snacks for work.
What are you gonna have first thing in the morning?
Are you gonna make your smoothie now.
Is it too early to have it
and you wanna have it in a couple of hours?
Stick it in the freezer.
Like, just maybe going through what that's going to be.
I personally like to do it on a weekly basis
but worst case scenario, if you couldn't get to it
and that's a little bit too ambitious for you,
just do it first thing in the morning.
And my tenth idea for you can do at your 5 am wake-up call
is to make your connections list for the day.
Now what this is is a list of people that you just,
let's say you're savoring that cup of coffee.
You're sitting down, you're thinking to yourself,
who have I not spoken to in a while?
Who do I wish I could talk to?
Who do I wish knew I existed?
Make a list of five people that it would be great
if you touched base with them today.
What I like about this is instead of just hopping on Twitter
and then getting lost in that ecosystem
too early in the morning or checking your email
to see if there's someone
you're supposed to be connecting to there,
you're making a list according to what your mind desires
of who you wanna reach out to.
And having those moments where you just drop a text
to somebody you haven't talked to in a while
or you start thinking about an email
you're gonna send somebody that you admire
and you wanna reach out to because you've always wanted to,
it's just a different way of thinking in the morning
and it definitely gets you excited
because you think it'd be really great
if I could hear back from that person today or tomorrow
but it starts with me starting the conversation.
So I challenge you to think about
who do you wanna talk to today
instead of who is social media gonna dictate
that I speak to today?
Those are my 10 ideas for waking up in the morning
and actually having something great to do with that time.
Hopefully those were useful for you.
Maybe there's a couple in there that you haven't tried yet.
I'd love to hear your ideas.
You know I love new ideas.
I am all about it, I wanna know what you do,
what has worked for you?
What gets you excited to get out of bed earlier
than you typically would
so that you can make more out of your day?
Share that in the comments below.
That is all for today.
Thank you so much for tuning in, I appreciate it as always.
Make sure you subscribe for good vibes
and remember to continue to go after the life
that you want, cheers.
(upbeat contemporary music)