Hey everyone, it's Lucie Fink. Welcome back to my channel. With the whole Coronavirus
quarantine, I've been getting a lot of requests to create content that's
relevant to you right now and that can help you out while you're at home. I did
come into this quarantine with a lot of pre-shot content that I'm looking at now
and it's just not necessarily relevant to share at the moment... so I'm holding a
lot of my old videos that will be going up in the future at some point... but for
now I want to create some content for you that is going to be helpful while
you're sitting at home and that can really just inspire you to live your
best quarantine life. It is really okay right now to be uncertain and to grieve
with what's going on around us. Personally I've been feeling a lot of
anxiety. I feel like my heart is racing really fast every night, and when I
really think about what's going on in the world, it's devastating and I feel
like I could just sit on the couch all day and eat chips... but I've been really
pushing myself to keep moving, and to keep myself in good physical shape and
in good mental shape throughout this, and I really hope that you're doing the same.
The first thing I want to call out is PLEASE STAY AT HOME. It's really
important right now that unless you are actively doing something on the front
lines... and bless those people who are out there every single day risking their
lives... but if you are not one of those people, the best thing you can do is stay
at home, donate your money, and be patient. So, on to morning routines. If you have
followed me for a while, you know that morning routines are something that I'm
personally obsessed with. I'm fascinated by morning routines and how everyone's
is different and I think it's an incredible way to just totally transform
your day based on how you set up your morning. So throughout these difficult
times, no matter what your current situation is, I think we can all agree
that our mornings are currently a little bit slower than they were before the
quarantine happened. So I'm going to show you what I've been doing every single
morning. And, for me, the morning is really the time when I'm setting my intention
for the day and I'm figuring out how my day is going to flow and the energy and
focus that I'm gonna have. I'm in the midst of reading this book, The Miracle
Morning by Hal Elrod. I have heard this guy on multiple podcasts, I am incredibly
inspired by him... He has kind of a really crazy story about his life where he has
gone through incredible hardships. Just to give you a
couple examples, he was hit by a drunk driver on the side of the highway, and he
actually died on the side of the road for six minutes before his heart started
beating again! He was hit incredibly hard throughout the financial crash of 2008,
and as he wrote this book he was battling cancer... So this guy has had a
lot of ups and downs in his life. But what is amazing about him is that he was
able to take all of those horrible experiences in his life and transform
them to be "the best thing that's ever happened to him". He has the best
attitude ever. He always emerges from a hardship in a better state than when he
went into it, and he has this book out right now that is basically helping
people live their best life by establishing a great morning routine. So
he breaks down his miracle morning into six parts, and he uses an acronym S.A.V.E.R.S.
to determine what each of these elements is. The first S stands for silence. So
that's his meditation time. A is affirmations. V is visualization. E is
exercise. R is reading. And S is scribing. He really means by that "writing" or
"journaling", but he needed an S so he made it scribing... So here are the steps of my
miracle morning routine that I have been doing in quarantine: First things first, I
wake up and I just do a little bit of light stretching in bed. And then I
immediately get out of bed and I go to the bathroom and brush my teeth, splash a
little bit of water on my face, put my contact lenses in so that I can see. Hal
suggests putting on your exercise clothes right here so that you are kind
of out of your pajamas and ready for the day... but my pajamas are so comfy, so I
keep them on for the first five steps and then I only change into workout
clothes for the exercise portion, which I do at the end... My first step in the
ritual is Silence. So this is where I go through my morning meditation. I have an
entire YouTube video about how I meditate every morning. I talk you
through some of my strategies. Recently, throughout this week I have been doing
this new meditation technique that's really just a breath count routine... and
essentially what I do is I sit in silence and I breathe in... that's one. And
then I breathe out... that's two. When I first did this I was trying to challenge
myself, so I basically asked myself "If I sit here for 10 minutes and I breathe
in and out as slowly as possible, how many breaths will I have taken at the
end of ten minutes?" And I estimated that it would be... I don't
know, hundreds of breaths... because I didn't really have any concept of how
fast or slow my breathing was. But I shocked myself and I discovered that the
first time I did this I only took 20 breaths in ten minutes... Which means I got
to 40 in my counting... That was pretty amazing, and I decided that for the rest
of the week I was going to continue to do that and basically challenge myself
to make my breaths longer and deeper and to have a lower number of breaths in the
10-minute time span. So, if you're looking for something to do during your silence,
consider doing that. Or check out my other video for some other meditation
strategies... Or just do nothing. Think about what you're grateful for...
Pray... I don't know, you can really do anything in these 10 minutes of silence.
Next step is Affirmations. So affirmations is basically speaking out
loud to yourself and affirming to yourself a belief. I usually choose an
affirmation that is related to something I'm trying to work on for that day, so if
I'm feeling a little scatterbrained I might speak aloud an affirmation saying:
"I'm focused, I'm organized, and my brain is in order." This book actually gives
some examples of affirmations, but I think affirmations are pretty much the
easiest thing to find on the Internet. The best place to look, I would say, is
either just Google Images or Pinterest and just type in "affirmations for XYZ"
and you will always be able to find some affirmation that fits with what you're
looking to do that day. Throughout this time, I actually speak out loud... I know
that in quarantine you might be in close quarters with
other people, and it might be a little bit embarrassing... but get used to
speaking out loud. Get used to having other people hear you stating what you
want to be. "I have the knowledge and skills to make smart decisions for myself. I'm in control of my business
and my finances, and make smart decisions every day. I let go of any negative feelings and accept all that is good."
And there have just been so many successful people that say that affirmations have
really helped them get to the next level and achieve success... so follow in their
footsteps and try affirmations for yourself. Next is V... Visualization. So
this is actually something I haven't done before reading this book... But
visualization is the process of closing your eyes and actually visualizing your
wildest dreams coming true. Hal suggests that you actually
choose something that is the craziest thing that you would dream to achieve in
your life. Something that maybe right now you can't see how it could possibly
happen... but it's something that would be your lifelong dream that would change
your entire life. For me, the visualization I've been focusing on is
hosting my own TV show. So the way I did this visualization method is I actually
typed in "live TV show set" to Google, pulled up a photo of a talk show set, and
I basically sat there and I envisioned all that I would have to do to get to
that step... which for me is creating new video content all the time, and
continuing to take meetings with production companies and talent scouts...
and then I visualized the experience of walking onto the set and thinking to
myself "This is my set. This is my show. I finally have my own show..." And it's not
just about visualizing it, but it really is about feeling the emotions that are
associated with it. So I was doing my best to kind of think how would I
actually feel if this was my reality RIGHT NOW... and I was starting to get the
chills... I was kind of starting to smile unwillingly... and it really is an amazing
way to feel that your dreams have come true before they come true, which a lot
of people say is a great way to manifest something into reality. Hal actually did
that while writing this book. So, he used a visualization technique of envisioning
himself writing the book with ease... So he would envision himself sitting there and
smiling and typing, and loving the process of writing the book... and then he
would envision the book being printed, and it becoming a number-one bestseller...
and he would even envision people reading the book and enjoying reading it,
and sharing it with their friends... And similar to affirmations, there are loads
of successful people who claim that they use visualization as a technique for
success... So try it out. I'm gonna go out of the S.A.V.E.R.S. order now to tell you the
order I've been doing things in... So I do Silence, Affirmations, Visualization, and
then I move on to Reading. Personally, I've been reading this book throughout
this time because I'm still not quite finished with it yet... but ten minutes of
reading in the morning is just an incredible way to achieve your goal of
reading more. Hal suggests reading a self development, or growth, or business book
that's related to some goal you want to achieve. If you want to enhance your
financial situation, he lists a whole bunch of books on money mindset. He also
lists a whole bunch of books about relationships if your primary goal
is enhancing your relationship. One stat he gave that I thought was incredible is
that... you know, a lot of people seem to have a goal of reading more, but not
everyone achieves that goal... and it's because we always say we don't have
enough time in the year, or in a day, to actually read enough to achieve a goal...
but he says if you read 10 pages a day... This is math I've never done, and it blew
my mind... If you read 10 pages a day, that will come out to 3,650
pages in a year. Which equates to approximately 18 200 page books. That's
crazy. I've never read 18 books in a year! I
think my max is, like, maybe 10 if it was a good year... But I always get to the end
of the year and wish I read more. So if you just dedicate time to read 10 pages
a day, you will read way more than you thought you could. The next step of my
morning routine is Journaling. And this is something I've been doing since, I
think, October... or even a little bit earlier in 2019... And the last journal I
used is the first journal EVER, in my entire life, that I filled up cover to
cover... And that is my goal with every single journal that I use from here on
out. I don't ever want another journal that I just write in the first two pages,
because that is the story of my past life. I used to have so many journals
that I never finished and it always made me feel really sad to see the pages go
to waste... But then when I wanted to start journaling again, I convinced myself that
I needed a NEW journal... So, this year I've been using this journal from ban.do. It's
a really big journal with lined pages, and it's pretty thick and I'm basically
halfway through it right now... And it's not even halfway through the year... So I
think I'm gonna finish it before the year is up... But, when it comes to
journaling, you don't even have to use an actual notebook if you don't like
writing by hand... There are tons of journaling apps, or you can even just
type into a Word document... And there are no rules. You can write stream of
consciousness, you can just use some online prompts like: What are you
grateful for? What do you want to improve upon today? Anything like that.
One thing I do want to say is: I was incredibly resistant to journaling in
the beginning, because I was convinced that my hand started to hurt as soon as
I started writing... and that was true. I would write and my hand would get really
tired... and so I hated journaling. But once I did it for about a week, my wrist
strength improved, and now it does not hurt me at all. So, if you're one of those
people who says that your wrist hurts, just keep doing it and you will
build the muscle. And then my final activity is Exercise. So, at this point in
my morning routine, I change into my workout clothes. And I have been
following some online workout videos from Obé. I've also been watching some
YouTube videos, but Obé Fitness is one of my favorites. They have on-demand
videos, and they're amazing. So I put on either a 10 or a 20 minute dance cardio
video... which is my favorite type of workout... and I basically just dance, and
move my body, and start sweating first thing in the morning. And as soon as I'm
done, I shower, and I go downstairs for my morning coffee. Morning coffee is my
favorite part of the day. Actually, just morning in general is my favorite part
of the day. I love when the sun's up. I am really energized, and excited, and happy
every single morning. So I pour my coffee, I add my milk... It makes me so happy to
see the swirling milk and coffee... That's like my favorite thing. If you follow me
on Instagram story, you know this already. Recently I've been stepping outside to
get a breath of fresh air with my coffee, and it's just been great to be able to
get outside in a private space and get some fresh air during this time. I know
not everyone has outdoor space where they can go right now, so even just
opening the window and getting some air on your face I think is really important.
We don't want to be breathing in all this stale air of being inside all day...
So... fresh air. And then I make my breakfast. When it comes to breakfast I
really like having something savory and something a little bit sweet... but I cut
out processed sugar throughout some of this quarantine, so what I've been doing
is one of my morning toasts is an avocado toast with, like, salt, pepper, red
pepper flakes, and paprika... and the other toast is just butter and cinnamon. And
I've been loving that as a breakfast. I feel like the avocado gives me some nice
satisfaction that keeps me full for a little bit of time.... And then I just get
to work. And I start doing what I've got to do... Which includes shooting this video
right here. The idea of the miracle morning does not have to be 60 minutes
of these activities... It can be as short as six minutes of all these activities.
He even gives in the book how to do the miracle morning in six minutes... which is
pretty crazy. But I have preferred to do it for 60 minutes, and the way I've been
doing it this week is breaking each of the activities into 10 minutes which
comes out to 60 minutes or one hour... But if you only want to do, say,
affirmations for five minutes... then you could tack an extra five minutes
somewhere else. And you can kind of just adjust it so that whatever you're doing
adds up to one total hour. His version of the miracle morning is waking up really
early. So, it says right on the book "before 8:00 a.m.",
and he actually encourages people in the book to wake up at 6 a.m. or even 5 a.m....
He seems to think that the morning, and particularly really early morning... is the
best time for this routine. I am NOT a morning person, and even though this book
is kind of all about how anyone can be a morning person...
I haven't actually felt the need throughout this week to push myself to
wake up at 6 a.m.. Throughout this time, sleep is really
important for me, so I've been sleeping until about 7 or 8. But I'm doing this
hour-long morning routine every single morning, which is enhancing my morning,
and because I don't have to kind of snap right to work... and things are a little
slow... I have the luxury of taking an extra hour in the morning to do all of
this. Another reason that I don't have to wake up incredibly early is that my team
that I work with is actually in Los Angeles, which is three hours behind New
York time, so I have the luxury of kind of waking up at 7 or 8 taking a nice
hour to go through this morning routine and then still having a little bit of
time for breakfast before I sit down at my computer. And even by the time I sit
down at, say, 10... 11... even sometimes noon... my team in LA is not even awake yet. I'm
really hoping this video inspires you to take your morning routine to the next
level, to use that little bit of extra time we have right now to your advantage,
and to make sure to keep moving, and keep active, and keep flexing your physical
muscles and your mental muscles, and to not remain lethargic and in bed all day.
Comment below, let me know if you have any questions about what I've been doing
in my morning routine. I really hope that this helps kickstart you to just improve
your life right now, and make the best of your circumstances. I do not want any of
you out there spending the time during this quarantine just sitting on the
couch and doing unhealthy things like scrolling through social media for no
reason, or starting to compare yourself to others, or even putting too much
pressure on yourself to do too much. It's also okay to rest and relax! But I would
HIGHLY encourage you if you have the ability to do so,
to just push yourself a little bit to create a beautiful morning routine that
will really, really enhance your day. I am sending you
so much love from where I am. And I'm actually not with my family... My parents
or my siblings... I'm with Michael's family. So I'm missing my family like crazy
right now, and I'm so excited for this all to be over. Sending you all so much
love, and I'll see you soon.