Morning Routine 3M Formula

What do many high performers have in common? They have a SOLID morning routine to set themselves up for the day. Lunden shares her 3M Formula to help you go from MADNESS to MAGIC in the morning. If you don't have a morning routine, or yours needs a little refresher - listen to this!

Timestamps to help you navigate this episode:
(0:00) Intro

(1:02) The best morning routine formula - 3M Formula

(3:45) Do you need to be a "morning person"?

(6:02) Me time

(8:51) Mindset & your 3 words

(11:38) Movement)

(14:00) If you don't where to start...

(15:15) Untested expectations

Chapters

• 0:00 Intro
• 1:02 The best morning routine formula - 3M Formula
• 3:45 Do you need to be a "morning person"?
• 6:02 Me time
• 8:51 Mindset & your 3 words
• 11:38 Movement
• 14:00 If you don't where to start...
• 15:15 Untested expectations

Transcript

Lunden Souza: [00:00:01] Welcome to Self Love and Sweat the podcast, the place where you'll get inspired to live your life unapologetically, embrace your perfect imperfections, break down barriers, and do what sets your soul on fire. I'm your host, Lunden Souza. Hey, friend, it's me, London Souza Online Lifestyle Transformation Coach. I help people all over the world just like you who know they are meant for more. Get their mind right and their body tight and go from crazy busy to crazy happy. And hey, if it's our first time meeting, welcome. So happy to have you. And if you've been with us for a while, it's so great that you're here too. I'm really excited to share this episode of The Self Love and Sweat podcast with you.

Lunden Souza: [00:01:06] Morning routines. That's what we're talking about today. And I'm going to share with you my three m formula to go from madness to magic in the morning. And this is one of the most important things. And it's actually one of the first things first we start with the why, as you guys probably heard in episode number one, but it's one of the first things that I work on early on with all of my clients, setting up a morning routine so that way you can execute your day with purpose and clarity and intention and go after those goals and those dreams and show up as your best self. So many people come to me and they're like, London, Yeah, I want to have a morning routine, but I have to wake up super early in the morning. I need to prepare breakfast, get all my stuff together, get ready for work, get myself ready, get the kids ready, make sure everybody has what they need. Grab my coffee and like right now it's just a win. If I can get out the door on time, if I can get out the door on time, that's a win. And quite frankly, like you should demand more of yourself. You don't want to just get out the door on time. Don't you want to get out the door set with having set yourself up and the best way that you possibly have could so that you can go out and serve and go out and be that person that you want to be around.

Lunden Souza: [00:02:37] Quite frankly, if you're just main goal is to wake up and get out of bed and get out the door on time. Like how? What what kind of way is that going to set you up or how is that going to set you up to provide that value to be that best mom, best coworker, best employee, you know, best partner. It's not trick question. It's not going to set you up to show up in a way that you're proud of, period. And that's why this three M formula. That's why I want to share this three MB formula with you, because it's really, really easy to remember. You'll really be able to make it your own and you can really be flexible with it depending on the season, the time of year where you are, or are you at home? Are you traveling for business? This three m formula is so, so important, and that's what I want to share with you guys today. So I've been implementing these three M's for. Over a decade. Over a decade for sure. I realize the value and importance of a morning routine. Really, really early on when I was in college studying, I was going to school full time. I was working seven days a week and I grew up in a family where, you know, whether you're I grew up in a family of morning people, My mom and dad are morning people.

Lunden Souza: [00:03:58] They wake up early. We start our day early and take time for ourselves. And so I was surrounded by that early on. But this is critical whether you're a morning person or not. I don't want to hear you say, Oh, London, It must be easy to have a morning routine because you're a morning person and mornings are easy. But whether you are a morning person or not, you have ten or 15 minutes for yourself. And if you don't, and if you continue to make those excuses for yourself, then it's no wonder why you don't you know why you're not showing up in a way that you're proud of. Starting your day in the morning with these three M's is going to make a huge difference. You don't have to be a morning person and it doesn't take a lot of time at all. Okay. And once you kind of figure out, okay, that's what this m is for me and this is kind of what it looks like and feels like for me, it's just going to be like clockwork. It's going to be automatic and it's going to automatically make you feel freaking amazing and go after your day. Och, it's not that. Every day I wake up just jumping out of bed, you know, ready to rock it. You know, some nights I didn't sleep very well or I got to bed a little bit late or, you know, I had to wake up a bit earlier than usual and it might be, you know, a little bit more of like, okay, I'm going to implement these three M's and, you know, and then some mornings and I'm going to be honest, most mornings I wake up just super excited about life.

Lunden Souza: [00:05:20] I have my y. I know I'm alive. I'm excited about that. I'm ready to serve. I know that it's my main mission to continue to provide value for you guys, and that makes me excited and that gives me energy. But I also know that if I start my day on Facebook and start my day checking emails and start my day pressing the snooze button and start my day without these three M's, that I'm not going to be able to provide value in a way that I'm proud of. I'm not going to be able to serve at the level that I want to and that I know that I'm capable of. And that's why I want to share these three M's with you guys. Take a sip of water there. So the first M is me. Me. I hear so many people say, Oh my gosh, I think if I had a penny, a penny, like literally a penny for every time someone told me, I don't have time for me, I don't have time for me, I never get to do the things that I want to do.

Lunden Souza: [00:06:21] I'd be rich. So how many of you guys say, Oh, I never have time For me? That's where this m first this first M comes into play. What is mealtime look like for you? For a lot of the people that I work with and a lot of the people that I hear from, it's just like having that time for me to drink my cup of tea, my cup of coffee, just be in silence, just kind of be present in my body with my breath. And this can be whatever you want it to be. All these M's can be whatever you want them to be. You can make these unique for you. Okay, so the first step is me. What does that mean time look like for you? I was on a call with one of my VIP coaching clients last week, and she said we were really talking about her morning routine, and we've been working together for a little over or just about a month now, and we're really trying to nail down her morning routine. And she was like, I don't know if this is right or wrong. This is what she said, but nothing that you guys will do or right or wrong or I don't know if this sounds weird, but my time is like being in the shower and just having that water kind of run over me and just kind of closing my eyes and being a little bit more slow and kind of meditative in the shower and just kind of relaxing and like starting my day, you know, a little bit slower and waking myself up with the water.

Lunden Souza: [00:07:45] And I'm like, there's no right or wrong. And that sounds freaking amazing. You know, for the most part, a shower is pretty uninterrupted time. I mean, when you get in the shower, there's only, you know, people can yell at you maybe through the door or whatever. But generally, if you're like using the bathroom or in the shower door is shut, that's kind of like your me time, you know. So whatever that looks like for you, whatever feels good for you is what works for this first. M So what does that me time look like for you? Maybe like a lot of people are drinking that cup of tea, like I said, that cup of coffee and just kind of closing their eyes, focusing on that. And I mean, how long does that take? 3 to 5 minutes. It's not that long at all. Okay. So that's your first m me focusing on me. That doesn't mean scrolling through social media. That doesn't mean going through your emails. That doesn't mean asking other answering other people's messages, other people's requests. It's like, what do I need in this moment? Even if that's some silence and some quiet time, a nice shower and just chillin. That's the first.

Lunden Souza: [00:08:50] M The second.

Lunden Souza: [00:08:52] M is mindset. Mindset, setting your mindset up for the day. Okay. And this can be reading. This can be a spiritual practice or a devotional. This can be some meditation even for 3 to 5 minutes. Just kind of thinking about how do I want to show up today? What is my mindset going into this day? And one of the things that I like to do is I have three words and I always encourage people that I'm working with and I encourage you guys to do this, too, is to have three words that represent how you want to show up in this world. And my three words are positive present, barrier breaker. Those are my three words. Everybody that I come in contact with, I want to bring that vibrance and that positive energy. I want to be present in that moment. I don't want to be thinking about the next thing and the next thing and the next thing and what I need to do here or there or when this day is going to be over. I want to be present in this moment because quite frankly, that's the only moment that's guaranteed. It's this moment right now, you know, and barrier breaker. I want to break down barriers. I don't want anything to stand in the way of me and my goals and my me reaching my goals.

Lunden Souza: [00:10:12] Point positive. Present. Barrier breaker. Positive. Present. Barrier breaker. Those are my three words, and that's what I repeat to myself in the morning as part of my mindset. So I do. I didn't say what my mea time was, but my me time in the morning when I wake up is I put essential oils on. I inhale them. That's my first em. I put on some of my favorite good smelling, elevating, uplifting, essential oils. I put some essential oils in my water. I drink that. That's my me time in the morning. Then I move into mindset and I do a daily devotional. I have a spiritual practice and then I just take a few seconds to focus on my breath and I repeat my three words positive, present, barrier breaker to myself. And I think about what's going on in that day, kind of what do I have planned for the day, and how can I make sure that I show up using those three words. Now, that doesn't mean that I like, go through my calendar and say like, okay, what's going on today? But I really like think about when I show up for my my calls with my clients, when I show up for these meetings, when I, you know, am I'm going maybe I'm meeting some people in person, which doesn't always happen because I do like 99% of my work online.

Lunden Souza: [00:11:21] But I do see people live and I do create content and things like that. And so I just really think, okay, what's happening today and what would it look and feel like for me to show up positive, present and as a barrier breaker? And I just kind of think about that for a few minutes and then the last M is probably one that you expected coming from me is movement. Movement. Get your body moving. Okay? This doesn't mean that you need to do a workout, even though I would highly, highly suggest that you do a workout in the morning if you if that's like something that you want to do, get it over with in the morning just because it's done and you'll you'll feel more energized, you'll feel great. But some people are like, you know what, London? I'm more of like an afternoon or a lunchtime or an evening worker outer or workout person. Like that's totally cool. Whatever gets the job done is important, but move your body in the morning, generate energy through movement, even if that's just kind of making some arm circles, maybe reaching down for your toes, maybe reaching side to side and doing some side body stretches, Maybe it's just like making some circles with your ankles and with your wrists and maybe even with your hips.

Lunden Souza: [00:12:36] Maybe it's turning on some music and dancing a little bit, getting in some movement in your body. Okay. So many people and especially now, you know, a lot of us are in quarantine at the moment. We're working at home or doing home office. That's the you know, right now when I'm recording this on March 28th, 2020, that's kind of the circumstance that we're in at the moment. And so a lot of people are spending a lot of time at home. And it's like if you've been laying down all day and you don't really move your body and then you go and sit down and maybe have your cup of coffee and then sit down and go to work without moving your body, It's just like, Come on, friends, move your body, generate energy, even even if it's just. For like 5 to 10 minutes. So we have these three M's. Even if you spend at a minimum, I would say 5 minutes on each of them at an absolute minimum. That's 15 minutes, friends. 15 minutes. And if you say you don't have 15 minutes, you're lying. You can find 15 minutes, you can wake up 15 minutes earlier, you can do this. And it's so critical. The top performers in the world, the best of the best, the elite athletes, all of.

Lunden Souza: [00:13:43] These high performers.

Lunden Souza: [00:13:44] Have a solid morning routine, you know, So if you keep pointing the finger and say, like, oh, I can't do this or I can't reach this goal or I can't get here, I can't do that. I can't you know, I don't have energy, I don't have time. You know, my schedule is all over the place. You know, I don't feel great. And you don't have a solid morning routine. Start there. If you don't know where to start, start there. If you don't know where to start, when it comes to your health and fitness and you want more energy and you want more vibrance for life, start with a solid morning routine. Start with a solid morning routine. And I would go as far to say, like, to be honest, I spend about an hour, sometimes a little bit longer, to be honest, on my morning routine, because it's really important for me to have that time for myself, because then I'm on calls with clients throughout the day. I'm making video content, I'm making podcast content, I'm writing blog postings, I'm creating social media postings. You know, I'm meeting up with I'm listening to a lot of people, you know, share and unload with me, and I'm trying to help them strategize and find ways. And if I don't take that time in the morning for me, I can't serve at the level that I want to and I know that I'm capable of. And that's really, really important.

Lunden Souza: [00:15:01] So think about those three M's and how you can implement them into your morning. And here's the thing. Sometimes we're like, okay, I'm going to wake up in the morning and my MI time is going to be this. I'm going to have a nice warm shower, then I'm going to make my coffee and I'm going to drink it slow and then I'm going to have my mind set and I'm going to meditate for a half an hour and then I'm going to do yoga for a half an hour. And we make some of these I don't want to say unrealistic expectations, but let's call them like untested expectations. So maybe you have a plan of like, okay, this is how I want to do it, and you test it out and you try it out and you're like, you know what? This is causing more stress than success. So what I need to do is I need to cut it down a little bit. I need to figure out, okay, what's the most important, What's the things I can for sure do? What are the things that make the most difference for me and kind of test it out, make adjustments and kind of go from there. And I don't mean test it out for one morning. You don't just get to wake up on a monday and be like, I tried this morning routine thing and it just didn't work. And so it's not for me, you know, test it out.

Lunden Souza: [00:16:08] Test it out for a week, test it out for two weeks, see how you feel, you know, And it's ever changing and it's dynamic. You know, sometimes I'm reading my for my mindset. I always read like a my daily devotional. But, you know, right now I'm reading a series of really good books and kind of I'm like, okay, after my devotional, I really want to read like ten or 15 pages of this book because this is like really important for me. And I want to read in the morning because I know later on, you know, I don't have time to read. And when I try to read before I go to bed, I just fall asleep, which is like a good way to fall asleep. It's a good tactic to help me kind of get relaxed and fall asleep. But then I'm kind of like, okay, if I want to read, you know, for ten or 15 minutes or 20 minutes and that cuts into my movement time, then maybe I won't do a morning workout. I'll just dance it out a little bit. I'll just move my body and stretch it out a little bit so you can, like, change it. It's not set in stone. And maybe, you know, it's different when you're working at home versus when you're in the office versus when you're traveling for work versus, you know, right now, I know a lot of people have their kids at home, so it might be a little bit different.

Lunden Souza: [00:17:13] So don't feel like just because, okay, I made this morning routine. It's not like you have to be in this plastic bubble of a morning routine, you know what I mean? But at the same time, I want you to protect that time. I want you to wake up earlier if that's what you need to do. You know, I work with a lot of moms and they say like, yeah, I've been trying this morning, routine thing. But like, you know, the kids are awake and they're demanding my attention. And so what we found with a lot of the moms that I work with is like, Oh, I need to wake up a little bit before the kids wake up. If I'm really going to do this morning routine thing and I'm going to take it seriously and I'm going to test it out and figure out what works for me and I'm actually going to make it work and make it a thing that I need to do it before those kids wake up. Like, that's just that's the reality of it, you know? So figure out how to fit in at least. At bare minimum, friends. 10 minutes. 15 minutes. At the very least, if you can take a full half an hour to an hour, try to do that. It's just it's game changing. It's life changing, it's mood changing. It's everything changing, It's relationship changing.

Lunden Souza: [00:18:24] It's just it changes how you show up in the world. And so these three M's are so critical. Make them your own OC and feel free to share them with me. You can send me a DM on Instagram, on Facebook, wherever you can find me, everywhere as life like London, at life, like London on all social media. Send me a tweet. Let me know what you're working on. Let me know how it's working for you. Let me know the strategies that are working for you. One of my clients told me She's like, Yeah, my meet time, like she said, is taking a shower and like, just having that time for myself. And then she's like, I really like to brush my hair. That feels so amazing. And I was like, Huh, I really like that idea. I should probably brush my hair more often. And so I've actually kind of incorporated that a little bit more into my morning routine too. So vibing off of each other, asking other people, you know, Hey, what do you do for your morning routine? What's your morning routine like? You know, especially people that you admire, especially people that are living a life and exuding an energy that you're like, Oh, I want more of that. I guarantee almost with absolute certainty, if not with absolute certainty, that if there somebody out there that you really admire how they're showing up in the world, that you really admire, you know, their energy and their vibrance for life and they're super in your eyes, successful and just killing it.

Lunden Souza: [00:19:41] Ask them, first of all, do you have a morning routine? I bet you they'll say, Oh, yeah, and that's my time. And then ask them what it is, what does it look like for them? And you can implement some of those strategies in there too, right? You're not in this alone. We're all in this together. We're a community we can share. You know, we can if we're not in this together. What are we here for? Right? We are really in this together. And it's important that we kind of ask and kind of, Hey, what are you doing? It seems like your life, you got it together. And I mean, with that being said, we all have rough patches and we all have tough times and we're all going through something, you know? But for the most part, you know, maybe there's that colleague at work that's just like, dude, she's always coming into meetings like super prepared. She always has he or she always has, you know, great energy at work. They just never really seem stressed, you know? And they're, you know, they have a husband or a wife and they got kids and they have, you know, a lot of demands to what are they doing, you know, and ask them about their morning routine. What are you up to in the morning? What does that look like? And just kind of try to do a little bit of research, figure things out and see what people are doing and then say like, huh, I want to try that.

Lunden Souza: [00:20:48] Maybe that'll work for me, too. Right? So I'm always going to share with you guys what I'm doing. But that doesn't mean you guys got to do what I'm doing. Your three M's don't and probably won't look like mine. Right? But you need that time for yourself. You need that me time. You need time for your mindset to set up. How am I going to show up today if I don't show up for me right now? You know, what is that going to look like later on throughout the day when you know something changes and I freak out, you know, and move your body, get moving, moving your body generates energy, getting your body moving generates energy. I'll say this again. Getting up and getting moving generates energy throughout your whole day. We'll talk about that, too, on a different podcast episode. But getting up and moving is just so important, so critical for our body. Move your hips, move your joints, move, you know, bend your arms, make circles with your wrists like just get your body moving. Do some head circles, dance it out like nobody's watching and just really, really make sure that you incorporate those three M's in the morning and you will definitely notice a major difference in your life.

Lunden Souza: [00:22:01] Thank you so much for listening to this episode of Self Love and Sweat the podcast. Hey, do me a favor. Wherever you're listening to this podcast, give us a review. This really helps a lot and share this with a friend. I'm only one person and with your help we can really spread the message of self love and sweat and change more lives all around the world. I'm Lunden Souza, reminding you that you deserve a life full of passion, presence and purpose fueled by self love and sweat. This podcast is a Hitspot Austria production.