- If you're here because you struggle
to wake up in the morning,
and you just can't seem to change your ways,
I have good news.
This is just a story you're telling yourself,
so I invite you to stop now,
please.
(gentle electronic music)
Good Morning Good Life, welcome back to AmyTV
where we come together to go after the life that you want.
I think we have a few new faces around here today,
so if indeed you are, thank you so much
for being around here, my little area of the Internet.
I would really appreciate it if you would subscribe
to this channel and turn on notifications.
That helps all of us out,
to make sure that you get all the things.
I make videos about getting more organized,
managing your time, and of course, morning routines.
So, hope to see you back.
If you're not new around these parts,
then you know that I'm working on my second book.
I'm actually done writing it,
and it is all about leveraging mornings,
and specifically the rituals that you have
throughout the morning to start your day on the right foot.
"Good Morning Good Life" is my little manual
that I'm creating just for you, and I'm so excited about it.
The interesting thing that I learned
as I was researching for the book and writing
was that most people who struggle with their mornings
are usually trying to do something
that's on someone else's terms rather than their own.
So whether they are waking up and in a rush
because they to go do something for someone else,
or if they're waking up and trying to have a routine
that somebody else suggested would be kinda cool,
but isn't actually customized for them
this is a complete and exact opposite
of what is effective for starting your day on your terms.
You should have the time that you've designed for yourself,
not what someone else has designed for you.
That is what I hope most people take away from this book.
You gotta do you and that's why I'm writing this.
But I wanted to talk about some of the basic principles
that I think will help you figure out
what are those things that I should be doing
to start my day right according to how I feel
in this video because I just can't wait
to talk about the book, even though the book's not out yet.
I just have to share all the things.
You know how I am when I have information,
I just have to get it out of me.
I feel I was put on this earth
to tell everyone everything I know.
Okay, maybe not everything.
Yeah, no, not everything.
But for now, let's talk about what the basics look like
for you to have a morning routine on your terms.
I actually think it's much more simple
than the Internet would allow you to believe.
The worst thing that you could do
is over-complicate your morning
with a bunch of stuff that just doesn't apply to you,
specifically if you try to give yourself too many things.
My morning routine, I'm not gonna lie,
it's got a lotta steps to it, okay?
We probably got about six to seven things that I do.
Sometimes it's a little bit more,
like on Mondays I like to do a little bit more
to start the week than I would
on the rest of the days of the workweek,
but there's still at least five things
that I do every morning to start the day off.
Starting out with all that stuff to do on day one
is a little overwhelming,
and is probably not a good enough reason to get out of bed,
especially if you don't really know the why
behind what you're doing.
I'm not gonna get into the why today,
but I think, I believe that if you fill
three simple buckets of things each morning,
and some of them could overlap, no big deal,
if you do these three things, cover these three areas,
I think that you've started your morning off flawlessly,
and it could take less than 15 minutes,
so it doesn't have to be super overwhelming.
It's not about how much time you spent on it,
it's about the fact that you gave yourself time at all.
So, without further adieu, may I introduce to you
my three Good Morning guidelines.
The first is mindfulness.
You've probably heard this term a lot,
especially in the last five to 10 years or so.
It's definitely hot right now,
but I actually believe this is hugely important
to starting your day.
If we wanna describe mindfulness very simply,
it's basically a state of awareness and consciousness.
So, you know what you're doing when you're doing it.
Right now, I'm making a video,
so right now I'm thinking about,
I'm not thinking about the words I wanna say,
I'm not thinking about you,
I am thinking about how I'm making a video right now.
Hmm, that's a little example of being mindful.
Probably the most obvious example
we hear of mindfulness is meditation.
Meditation is basically the epitome of mindfulness.
But there are also things that you can do
to be more mindful.
Morning pages is a great example.
Writing in morning pages means you are thinking a thought
and writing it down immediately.
That's something I do every morning,
and I'm a huge believer in it.
If you've been around here for five minutes,
you already know this.
But the goal is to be doing something
and thinking about what you're doing while you're doing it
and sort of reiterating that to yourself
so that you are completely grateful
for the state at which you are at that moment.
You're not thinking too far ahead,
you're not thinking too far behind.
So let's make it really easy on you.
Let's say you only have a 15-minute morning,
and sitting down to even meditate for five minutes
is gonna take a big chunk of time away.
What could you do instead?
Well, like I said before, you could simply do a task
and fully be doing that task by being present in it.
Here's an easy one, take your vitamins.
I know what you're thinking,
"Amy, why is taking my vitamins mindful?"
I'm glad you asked.
Think about the last time you took your vitamins.
What were you doing while you took them?
I know, you're probably thinking like,
"Well, I was just taking my vitamins."
Yes, but were you just taking your vitamins,
or were you also driving to work,
or planning what you're gonna wear that day,
or thinking about what the next steps are,
or already stressing out about somebody
you might see that day?
You weren't actually seeing anyone,
you weren't actually driving a car,
you weren't actually dressed yet,
but while you were taking your vitamins,
you were not thinking about taking your vitamins.
You were doing something else entirely.
Your brain is powerful.
Whatever you're doing with it
when you're doing something else is what you remember.
The next time you take your vitamins, try just taking them.
Like it's really simple, right?
Okay, I'm taking my vitamins now.
I'm opening the package, I feel the package in my hands,
I feel the vitamins in my hands.
Now I'm grabbing a glass of water
and I'm going to chase my vitamins with that water.
I'm gonna feel the vitamins on my tongue.
I'm gonna feel the water going down my throat.
And then you've actually taken your vitamins
while taking your vitamins.
Boom, mindfulness.
These little things can just be the 30-seconds to a minute
of mindfulness that adds up over the course of a day.
I take them a little bit more seriously,
and that is why I'm so excited
that my favorite vitamin company
is partnering with me on this video, and that is Care/Of.
The reason I particularly like them
is they have these individualized,
personalized compostable packets,
and they hold your daily dose for your vitamins that day,
but also have a motivational tip or a quote on the front
that you can read every day when you're doing this ritual.
I feel like that little thing, that little note,
is something I enjoy reading so much,
because it's setting the tone for the fact
that I could just take my vitamins,
or I can take my vitamins.
And whatever is written there
just feels like this special little message just for me
in order to set the tone for that action.
I'm now much more appreciative of this thing
that I've done for myself,
for this thing that I've done for my health and for my body.
Everyone's packet is different, obviously,
and it's so great that they're personalized
and really easy to personalize your own.
All you have to do is head to their website
and take a short five-minute quiz,
super easy to answer questions about your diet,
your lifestyle, and your health needs.
These vitamins are going to be based
on your own quiz results,
so everybody's are going to be different.
I think that's so important because, again,
your mornings are different,
your vitamins are different, too.
Everyone's health is different for a reason.
We have different needs, we have different wants.
Whether you're like me and you want some hair,
skin, and nail help, or you wanna decrease stress,
or you wanna increase energy,
there are going to be perfect options here for you
with the Care/Of vitamin selection.
Like I said, I absolutely love these
for that helpful mindful moment to start my day,
but it's also super convenient
that I don't have to think about it.
They just show up to my door personalized and ready to go.
I just set the box up at my sink in my bathroom
and I remember to take them every day.
So if you wanna have a very easy mindful moment
at the start of every day,
then I highly suggest you go ahead
and check out that quiz at takecareof.com.
It's five minutes, super simple and easy,
and you don't have to start doing things
like meditation or all these other things
that might not be comfortable for you yet.
You could just take your vitamins
while you take your vitamins.
And also you can get 50% off with my code,
AMYL50, in the checkout.
Find out more details in the description below.
The bottom line is you can choose a simple task
and choose to simply do that task,
and you have checked off bucket number one of your day.
My second Good Morning guideline is movement.
Now you're probably thinking, "What?
"I have to exercise?"
Yes, I mean, that's what all the peoples would tell you,
start your day with exercise.
It's a great idea, get it out of the way,
your body's ready to do it, awesome.
But that may not be the only thing
that qualifies as movement for you.
Sometimes I actually consider my skincare to be movement,
because it's the first thing I actually do to move
at the beginning of the day.
I get outta bed, if I could make my bed, I would,
but my husband's usually in it, so I don't.
I go to the bathroom and I immediately wash my face.
When I say wash my face,
I don't always use cleanser in the morning,
'cause that's a whole different skincare topic,
but I wet my face, I use some toner,
do the moisturizer, brush my teeth, the whole thing.
Just that little bit of movement,
moves my face around, moves my facial expressions around,
gets me started on the day,
and I start to feel more like myself.
So it doesn't always mean that you have to go to the gym,
you have to do this whole workout,
you have to go meet the trainer.
If that's right for you, then do it.
You've gotta incorporate it at some point in your day,
at least three to four times a week
if you wanna be living your longest life, like I do.
But you could also do something like take a walk
if it's not too early in the morning,
and it's light outside, go walk and get a coffee,
or maybe even just taking a huge drink of water
could be considered movement for your body.
You're moving the inside of your body to get started.
You could stretch, you could make your bed
when your husband wakes up, you could also sing,
whatever is your thing.
That was annoying.
That rhyme was annoying.
What could qualify as movement,
if you wake up at the last minute, hit your alarm,
and run out the door because you're late for work, sure,
but then it's not on your terms, it's on someone else's,
and quite frankly, that kind of movement doesn't feel good.
That's not an exercise you're excited to brag about later,
like, oh yeah, I exercised this morning
by being 15 minutes late for work when I woke up
and throwing clothes on and running out the door
as fast as I could.
No one is proud of that exercise, okay?
I mean, you did burn calories, check your Apple Watch,
but it's not cool.
So find your own way to do some movement,
do some stretches, do some walking,
if you don't have time to go to the gym.
I personally think 16 ounces of water and skincare
is a little bit of movement for the morning
before I actually have time a little bit later in my morning
for a real workout.
I don't choose to do exercise first,
first thing in the morning.
And my third and final Good Morning guideline is mastery.
This one I think is the most important
because if you're sitting here and you're saying,
"I really wish I had better mornings,
"I wish I could optimize my mornings,
"I wish my mornings felt more like mine
"and not someone else's,"
it's usually because you're aspiring to something
and you want to achieve something,
and so with that being the case,
making time to work toward mastery in that thing,
even if it's not totally possible,
it's okay if you just wanna learn a little bit of Spanish
and not necessarily be fluent,
but working toward that mastery
is something that you can do in the morning.
So it is probably my most favorite of all the guidelines
because I look the most forward to it.
I do the mindfulness and I do the movement
so that I'm not just starting my brain up on something
without a lot of notice first thing in the morning,
but the mastery is what I get so pumped about.
Getting able to sit down, maybe I'm taking an online class
because I need to learn a trade,
or doing some creative writing,
something particularly for me.
When I write up an Instagram caption, it's not on the fly.
I like to write those in advance.
I like to put thought into them,
and so I'll wrote those out.
These videos are also not on the fly.
I'm sure that you could have guessed that by now.
I like to write them out.
I like to put a lot of thought into them.
These are the mastery moments that happen
in the beginning of my mornings usually.
But a couple of others that could be applicable to you
could be reading, maybe you need to read up on something,
maybe you need to read up on some motivation.
You're mastering a better mindset in your life.
Or you're goal setting or goal review,
something I also do in my morning
is rewrite my goals every day
just to not forget what I'm working toward all the time.
That could be a part of your mastery as well.
So when you think about a goal that you might have,
or a thing that you're hoping to achieve,
or something that feels really far off and away from you,
but you wish were happening,
what could you incorporate into the mastery bucket
in the morning that could help you get closer every day,
even if you only have five minutes.
If you have five minutes to read a book on it,
if you have five minutes to watch a YouTube
video tutorial about it,
what can you do in your mastery bucket?
So those are my three Good Morning guidelines
that I'm writing about in my book,
"Good Morning, Good Life."
you have mindfulness, movement, and mastery.
Hopefully, pretty easy for you to remember
and maybe something that you can start
incorporating tomorrow.
Choose just those three things to start,
three things that feel good to you,
three things that you think that no matter what time
that alarm clock went off tomorrow,
you would wake up and you would feel pumped
to just do those three things, knowing that you decided.
And that is your question of the day,
just thinking from a gut instinct,
what are your mindful, your movement,
and your mastery moments that you would do tomorrow morning?
Leave that in the comments below.
I'm so excited to share this book with you
when it finally comes out.
Again, if you want a little bit of access and info
on the book, join my Good Morning Good Life access list
that is in the description below, so check that out,
just a couple of emails every now and again
to let you know what's going on with the book.
By the way, if you're not already hanging out with me
on my other favorite place on the Internet
over on Instagram,
then definitely go check that out over there.
I love to share behind the scenes of all the things
that I'm up to, including videos, podcasts,
Shine Squad, the book, all the things.
You can search for Amy Landino
or schmittastic in the search bar.
That's all for today, thank you so much for tuning in.
I appreciate it, as always.
Make sure you subscribe for good vibes,
kiss the ones you love
(lips smack)
and go after the life that you want, cheers.
Clink, sip of coffee.
(vocalizing) (lips rippling)
(laughing) Let's take out the hamminess.
That feels horrible, please.
Blah, blah.
I can't.
(laughing) I can't, but I will.
(snapping)