20 Life-Changing Things To Do in the Morning

- Morning routines, the ideas are endless. And I have a few myself. (upbeat music) Good morning, good life, welcome back to "Amy TV" where we come together to help you go after the life you want.

I am a firm believer in the morning routine. I've got mine that I do every day, unless you know, life happens and then life happens and you miss your morning routine, but it's okay. I believe all morning routines look different.

It depends on who you are, and what you care about, and what's gonna be the best case scenario for you to own the day. But in the case that you need a few ideas to start fleshing yours out, I've got 20 to share with you today that are life changing for their own reasons if they're right for you, and none of them, none of them include social media or checking email, so keep that in mind. Before we get started I just wanna say thank you to everyone who has been supportive of this journey to a million, a million.

We're trying to help a million people go after the life that they want and you can help us by subscribing to this channel so we can see ourselves get to that goal. So thank you so much. If you haven't and are about to or you already have and you keep coming back, I appreciate you so much.

All right, here are 20 life changing things to do in the morning. Number one, my favorite by far, I can't stop doing it even when I'm like, "Uh, I don't feel like it. " I love it so much when I'm done, morning pages.

Julia Cameron, I'm clearly your biggest fan of all time, I don't know. Julia Cameron wrote about this in the book, "The Artist's Way". Basically stream of consciousness, writing for three pages so you can get all of the gross stuff off your brain.

Sometimes it's great, there's an epiphany in there somewhere. But it's usually just like grudges from the day before, bad dreams, things you're stressed out about, whatever's on your plate for the day. Just taking it out of your mind and writing it all down exactly as it comes out, as yucky as it is, and as not fun to read it back as it might be.

You will find it is life changing how you are able to dig into the next thing of the day, be more creative because you got all of this stuff out of the way. Number two, you've gotta hydrate, drink some water. I'm certainly a fan of lemon water myself, but it's not a requirement.

It is life changing to stay hydrated. It's actually not as hard as you might think to stay hydrated. I think that there's a certain recommendation of water you should have throughout the day, you should talk to a medical professional about that, or read up on that somewhere else.

To me, I know that my body is thirsty if I went all night sleeping and doing nothing else. So one of the first things that I do along with my morning pages is drink lemon water. I know that 16 ounces is in right away, and then I can go straight for the coffee pot after that.

Number three, gratefulness reflection. Something that's very easy to lose sight of as you start to interact with tasks, and emails, and people, and things throughout the day is what you're grateful for. Why you're happy to be doing what you're doing, even if it's just one thing in a really long day that you're grateful to be doing.

What are you grateful for? Who are the people in your life that you're grateful for? Even if they drive you a little crazy sometimes.

What are the little things, the things that seem stupid that you probably wouldn't go on Twitter and say, "I'm super grateful for envelopes. " But maybe you happen to be grateful for envelopes right now. Can you tell I just looked at envelopes when I was looking for a word?

(laughs) You can be grateful for absolutely anything but the more your life will change when you incorporate it into your life on a regular basis because that gratefulness is very important for seeing the big picture when things that are small are getting us down. Number four, skincare. If you're like me, you have like an 80 step process, no matter if it's morning or night.

You don't have to be like me, that's okay. We just wanna put our best and freshest face forward as much as possible. So even if you're just adding some moisturizer when you wake up just to kinda move the muscles around and get your face ready for the day, I highly recommend it.

It's so important to take care of your skin. It's something that's irreplaceable. You're kinda stuck with it and it's gonna be there forever, facing the people that you meet and facing yourself in the mirror.

So no matter how vain you happen to be, just take care of yourself and the skin is a really important organ to take care of. Is the skin an organ? Alexa, is the skin an organ?

- [Alexa] Yes, skins are organs. - Good, I knew that. Number five, goal review.

I personally have the memory of a pea. So I like to set lots of goals and have lots of touchpoints and milestones throughout the journey of reaching those goals, and then I'll just forget about them and I'll be like, "Ooh, shiny object syndrome. " And I know that a lot of us have that tendency.

So regularly looking at your goals, not only looking at them maybe even rewriting them, that's what I do, is a great way to never forget what they are and what you should be focused on. It is life changing when you are really good at saying no to things because you wanna say yes to something else. Specifically no to the things that maybe you've caught yourself saying yes to, too often but don't fill your cup.

Say no more often and feel better about it because you know what your goals are and focus on them on a regular basis. Even if you just reread them, say them out loud. That could be good enough for you.

It's just a matter of how you remember things, how you learn, how well you stay focused. Number six, read a book. If I do nothing else in the morning, I typically don't sit down with a chapter of a book and read, I like to just read something quickly and move on.

I try to read wisdom when this is the case. Everyone's probably fully aware of this if you've been watching my channel for a minute. I'm a huge fan of Ryan Holiday's "The Daily Stoic".

I am rereading the same copy that I read a page a day of last year. I'm reading a page a day again. Because guess what?

There's a different lesson for every day, a different lesson and a theme for every month and it's just so great to go back and reread them and remind myself of those principles. I'm actually going up a notch with this reading process and taking notes to myself on what I really learned so I can go deep with the knowledge rather than just read 20 pages. I would rather read something and really take it in.

Whatever you choose to do, whether you're reading something you need to do research on, reading something for pleasure, or you just don't like to read and are trying to figure out why this is important and life changing, well guess what, people took all their ideas that they took forever and a whole lifetime to learn and they put them in like 200, 300 pages for you to pick up and skim through so you don't have to make the same mistakes and you can go and do the things that worked for them. So take that silver platter, would ya? Number seven, meditate.

The more and more I talk about meditation, the more of a fan I am of it. I am not very good at it, I sit down and I can do it for five to 10 minutes. And I'm not doing it daily.

But I do notice the days when I really need it. So if you're somebody who's thinking, "I don't have time for meditation," I totally connect with you, I relate to that, but I recognize the times that I do it, suddenly my mind clears on many other levels. Like, "Oh, I thought I didn't have time to meditate, "but I just had a realization during that time "of stillness and mindfulness just now that I now don't "have to do those other 50 million things I've been trying "to convince myself to do.

" And that is a revelation I'll take any day of the week. That would be life changing. Get me out of the busy work, please.

Number eight, do a workout. This is great for your movement category of the morning. If that's a real exercise routine, whether it's like weightlifting, or you're gonna go see your personal trainer, or you're gonna go take a class, cool.

Or it could just be a walk. Could be really simple. Do something that moves the body, obviously the more you do this, the more habitual it is, the more life changing it is, because your life just might get a lot longer because of it.

Number nine, visualization. I love this tip and it's something I do in sort of tandem with my goals. Because when I look at my goals, I'm looking at a year, and the quarter, and the weeks in front of me.

But I also write down sort of my really big picture. You know, where would I like to be in three, in ten years? I don't have it completely figured out, I don't have the exact things figured out, but I let my mind get creative on it when I do visualization.

Just sitting there with my eyes closed, thinking about what it would mean to reach one of those goals. What would happen? How would I feel?

What would be some reactions around me? How would my life be a little bit different? How would it be the same?

What are those things and how can you visualize them? Because the more you see them in your mind come to life, the more they might actually do that. Number 10, write something.

I personally love to sit down when my mind is completely clear, I did my morning pages already, I've done some goal setting, and actually write something that's gonna move the needle in my life or in my career. So it could be as simple as a fun Instagram caption, it could be a blog post, it could be an email letting somebody know I appreciate them. Write something, it's the easiest form of creation, I feel like, for most people and if you can get a little bit more creative than texting then that would be awesome.

Like with the Instagram caption I guess you could call that the same thing but I try to get a little bit more microbloggy with my Instagram captions, so maybe that's a tip that you can try as well. But writing is really interesting because a lot of us probably wouldn't call ourselves writers, but when we write, when we create, when we allow ourselves to have an opinion and to get it out there, even if you don't publish this writing, it feels really good to get it out of you and that's, I think, a liberating feeling that compounds over time. Number 11, eat the frog.

If you don't know what this phrase means, it's essentually the way I've always known it to be, it's frogs aren't cute, and they're not fun and they're usually gonna take some effort to deal with. And that's usually that big, hairy task of your day. If it's possible for you to do it as early on as possible, then amazing.

The thing is you do all the mind clearing, you take care of your body, you drink some water, you kinda get the day going on your terms and then you attack the thing that you're totally in charge of doing that needs to get done. It is such a better time to do that than a more distracted period of time, maybe in the afternoon when you've got people pinging you, people walking into your cubicle, whatever the case may be. Eat the frog, change your life.

You'll make bigger, faster, longer strides and it'll be really amazing to see how that pays off. Number 12, research your passion. If you're somebody who's been thinking about doing something new, or leaving your job, or just wanting to get better at what you do, when are you gonna have more time to do that?

It's usually not when you're about to have dinner with the family and trying to squeeze something in. Or in the middle of a workday when you have a load of things to do. Doing that research, really refining your skills, and developing your expertise is an amazing thing to do in the morning.

And it certainly fits into that mastery category. Number 13, practice a foreign language. This is usually the only reason I will grab my phone during the wee, wee hours of the morning.

I'm not trying to look at social media, I really do a good job of staying away from all of that stuff and only pulling up a foreign language app so that I can practice my Italian words, okay. I am practicing as best as I can and I need an app to do that. Now if you know that the phone is a trap for you, and I have done this as well, just use regular flashcards.

Those 3x5 cards at the you used to use in school, they sell those on Amazon, they're really great and easy to find and use. And just practice writing things, maybe that's the writing thing that you do is just writing the words and what is the translation on the back. If you're like me and you've always wanted to be better at foreign language, other than the seven years of Spanish that I took, you could do this in the morning as well.

And being able to communicate in more than one language is certainly life changing. Number 14, rewrite passages from books and quotes that you like. This is something I actually talked about in my video about "The Commonplace Book".

I will link to that and not go on forever about it so if you wanna go find out more details, but this is how I keep a database of all of the things that I have pulled from books, all the knowledge, all the wisdom, all the really good ideas and put them in one space. You can do this a multitude of ways, you could do it digitally. I happen to use those 3x5 cards I was just talking about and file them away, but this is a really fun practice because it's a lot of mindfulness in reflecting on what you've picked up.

Number 15, plan your day with calendar blocking. Another video that you could check out, we're gonna link to the calendar blocking video. But this has been the time batching sort of technique that I have done to be able to be the most productive person I can throughout the day.

In the morning I'm just trying to own it. And part of owning it is planning what the rest of the day is that I can control, and some things that I can't. When am I gonna fit in the things that matter to me throughout the rest of the day?

Calendar blocking is a really great technique for making this happen. It has been life changing for me for going on 10 years now. I would definitely recommend it to most people who have a lot of things on their to-do list, which does not emulate how much time you actually have.

Move that over to the calendar and figure out how you can actually make these things happen. Number 16, write a thank you note, like a real thank you note with a stamp on it and everything. I'm sure somebody's done something cool for you lately, and you know what is going outta style?

Making a real connection, getting attention in somebody's regular mailbox. Emails, that's not difficult. Also, very easy to get lost in.

If you actually want someone to feel the gratitude that you feel for them, then hand write a thank you note and drop it in the mail today. It'll make you feel like, really cool that you did. Also, pretty nostalgic.

Number 17, be present with someone. If there are people in your life, in your house, or in your environment that are a part of your morning routine, make the time to make it the best time with them. Not passive, not just focused on a million other things.

Really sit down, if it's with your child, or if it's with your significant other and just say, "Hey, my attention is on you. "I'm not looking at devices, I'm not watching television, "I'm not trying to multitask. " Even if it's five, 10, 15 minutes that you both have, make it present.

Number 18, do some stretching. This is my personal form of movement in the morning because I don't like to do a workout until a little bit later, but stretching is so good. I always feel so much leaner, so much more healthy if I've actually given my muscles the time that they need to wake up.

I actually just talked to my friend, Chris, recently and he actually has a foam roller that he rolls around on every day. And he actually has one that he can travel with too, and it really helps him. He's got some back issues so that really helps him out.

If that's something that speaks to you, that's pretty easy to find on Amazon. And we will link to it on shine. squad.

secrets as well. By the way that's a secret Instagram account I just told you about, you need to make notice, okay. Number 19, write ideas down.

Something that happens to me when I'm doing all my fun morning routine things is that an idea will pop into my head. This is not something you need to do right away, although this might be the perfect time for it. It's still just an idea.

It's something that might need to simmer, it's not something that needs your distraction at that moment. The difference between ideas and shiny objects syndrome is that ideas can get written down, and assessed, and researched, and made time for at the right time. Write them down.

You don't want to lose them, you don't want them to fly out of your head and be gone forever. And number 20, decide on one thing you're going to improve on today. Maybe you've been a little bit quick to the temper lately.

Can you be better about that today? Can you notice when those things are happening and improve? Maybe you need to drink a little bit less soda pop?

Okay, well then have less of it today. It's pretty easy situation. Just how do you want to improve, write it down, set the intention, and say, "This is what I'm going to do today to be better.

" If we can do just one thing to be more positive and improve today, we will be better tomorrow. Question of the day, what are your ideas for things to do in the morning? I just had 20 of them that I personally find to be life changing but maybe you have one of your own.

Share that in the comments below. Don't forget to subscribe to this channel, if you have already and haven't picked up the book, "Good Morning, Good Life" is your good morning routine guide. It is the manual for how to figure out what that looks like for you.

It's not gonna tell you exactly what to do, it's gonna give you your options so that you can have a well-rounded start to the day and master your life. The link to that is in the description below. 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 you want. Cheers. (upbeat music) Hey, are you struggling to find time for the things you love?

Feel like you're constantly on the go but taking care of everyone else first? You are not alone, and you deserve so much more. Not only are you capable of taking on this challenge, you already have all the tools it takes to make it happen.

That resourcefulness is all you need to get activated by your new daily mantra. Good morning, good life. It's my new book and it launches on Amazon on December 10th, more details at goodmorninggoodlife.

com. (clapping) Yeah, that's another video. I believe all my (tongue rolling).