It is so nice to talk to you here in my office.

It's been a little while since we've done something

like this, so it feels great, especially during my

favorite time of year, which is the New Year.

Out with the old, in with the new.

Love an arbitrary date on the calendar

for a fresh start, are you with me?

I think so.

Since we talk a lot about productivity, efficiency,

and beautiful mornings, we are going to discuss,

today, some ideas for your

morning routine going into the New Year.

(gentle rhythmic music)

OK, I'm not gonna lie, this is a little bit weird for me.

I'm definitely in a great mood.

I'm so excited to be sitting down

with you, especially on a Sunday.

I know Sunday videos have been greatly missed,

especially by me, as well, and so, I just feel like this

is the perfect video for us to chat today.

I don't know the state of me at the moment.

This is not my normal setup, I know it kinda looks similar,

but I'm using a new camera, I'm using a new microphone.

I don't know that I fully completed my hairstyle,

but I just was so anxious to chat with you.

So, let's get into it.

First, I wanna do something a little bit different,

and I'm hoping to do this again in the future,

so let me know what you think.

But I love everyone who hangs out with me here

on the YouTube channel, but also those who hang out with me

on my other social networks, mainly Twitter and Instagram.

And so, I thought, today, I would start

something called the Twitter shout-out.

Very, very scientific name, Amy, very good job.

Shout-out to my friend, Laurie Burkett, for retweeting

my last video, I appreciate your support so much.

And if you would like a shout-out in the next video,

make sure you follow me on Twitter,

and be sure to retweet my video when it comes out.

Alright, on to your New Year morning routine.

First thing's first, let your phone sleep in.

I can now tell you with the greatest of life experience

that there is a chance that someone will need to reach you

while you are sleeping, by phone,

and if you have do not disturb on

and have it tucked away in another room,

so that you can sleep soundly, you may not get this call.

However, because of technology and emergency situations

breaking through do not disturb, it is very likely

that you will still be able to be contacted,

and/or even if you get that call,

you may not be able to do anything about it.

Because the worst of the worst of this has happened to me,

I can now say that every night, you need your sleep.

You're going to need to wake up the next day and proceed

with life at your highest productivity and capability.

So, for the most part, it is very wise and important

for you to leave your phone asleep in another room.

And then when the alarm goes off and you have to wake up

and turn it off and all that fun stuff,

let that phone stay tucked in,

in its special little home, for a little while.

Waking up in the morning and starting

the scroll process is a terrible idea.

It's a complete waste of any waking up early things

if you plan to do something like that,

or even when you wake up at all, it's your time.

So, don't spend it trying to figure out

is there something I should have checked,

especially if it's Twitter or Instagram.

That can absolutely wait.

So, how can you prepare for letting your phone sleep in?

Choose that special place that is not next to your bed

where your phone will get tucked in every night

when you go to sleep, so that is has a place to stay

while you're doing your morning routine.

Keep do not disturb on for a little bit,

until it's time to get back on your phone,

so that you can go about your routine without distractions.

Knowing that the phone is right over there

and will just ding you whenever it feels like

is not the same thing as letting it sleep in.

Do not disturb is sleep-in mode

for the phone, so leverage that.

The second idea is to get your water drinking on.

If you start your day with water,

then you're much more likely to continue

the theme of drinking water throughout the day.

I can tell you this because I do not like drinking water.

But when I start with it, I am much

more likely to have a lot more of it,

especially if I have some other things encouraging it.

There have been a lot of myths and misconceptions

about the benefits of water for us.

I would like to say that water will clear your skin

right up, but that's not always true.

Skin care does its job on that front.

But your body does need to be hydrated,

if for nothing else, flushing out the toxins that you know

you welcomed into your body over the holidays, OK?

So, how do you prepare yourself to drink

more water throughout the day?

I recommend buying a dope water bottle

that you know you're going to like.

For me, it has to have a straw attached

or I will not drink it.

If it's one of those big water bottles

and you have to guzzle it, I'm not into that.

Whether I have makeup on or not, I'm not into guzzling

water, it just doesn't sound like fun to me.

I need a straw when I'm at the gym,

I need a straw in the morning,

I need a straw throughout the day.

It causes me do drink a lot more.

So, my water bottle is equipped with that,

and it's also very big, it's at least 32 ounces,

so I know I've got a solid amount of water

intake just from one water bottle.

And my next tip to prepare would be to start

with something else other than just basic water.

Now, I'm typically thirsty for just straight-up water,

but I like to start my day with lemon water,

so I have a really great little lemon squeezer.

I was using a different one, and then my mom gave me

this little gadget, and it's my favorite

lemon squeezer I have ever used.

It really gets a lot of the juice outta there.

And that adds so much flavor to your first water

in the morning that it makes it a little bit

more interesting than just your basic H2O.

My next idea for your morning routine is to read 10 pages.

If you're the type of person that wants to read more,

and we will definitely be reading more on this channel

as we talk about book club throughout the year,

I know that I'm even trying to read on a more regular basis.

I tend to wait 'til before bed,

which, I think, is so bad, because when I'm in bed,

I am ready for bed, and that book just puts me to sleep.

So, I ultimately end up reading for only

about 15 minutes, and that is not enough,

'cause I can't read as fast as I would like.

So, I'm not reading as much as I would

if I was doing it when I was wide awake.

So, reading 10 pages a day and trying to lead off

with that in the morning will give you that intention

of getting in your reading time every day

and knocking it out before the rest

of the world comes in and takes over.

How do you prepare for this?

I would choose your reading spot.

So, I have one specific place on the couch

that I love to just curl up, make sure I've got

my lemon water or my coffee, and start to read.

If I don't have that spot, I'll just be like,

oh, I'll just read in bed, and then I fall asleep;

or I'll just sit in my office and read or something.

No, I'm not gonna sit here and read.

That's not what I do here, that's not my mode.

So, find your place where it is reading mode.

Another thing I recommend, and I do both,

I like to read out of a book, but I also like audio books.

And if you're an audio book person

because you're like, uh, I hate to read,

but everybody tells me I should, do the audiobook thing.

It's fantastic, especially if the author

read the audiobook theirself,

(laughs) like someone I know.

Hint, hint, get yourself a copy.

My advice for the audiobook thing

is it's easy to just invest in an Audible membership,

and I will link to that in the description,

because I highly recommend Audible,

it's a fantastic service for audiobooks.

But then you'll sometimes forget about it entirely

if it's just an app on your phone, so pair the act

of listening to a book with one specific activity.

So, if you like to do cardio at the gym,

then just say, OK, every time I do cardio at the gym,

which is at least five days a week,

then I'm going to pair my audio listening

to the treadmill moving around.

And that way, you're more likely to do the thing

because you've decided what tasks are gonna get paired

together instead of, again, just an arbitrary,

oh, I'll just get my audiobook time in at some point.

I don't know about you, but I actually don't find

there are many opportunities while I'm working

on the computer that it makes sense

for me to listen to something else

because I will find that my brain is having

a hard time processing one or the other.

So, when I really wanna read a book,

I need to be doing something totally mindless,

like being on the treadmill, bored,

in order to absorb an audio book.

And my last tip for preparation is choose

something you're excited to read.

We might choose something here for book club

that you're that into, or if somebody recommends

something to you, and you're like,

mm, I'm not really into nonfiction,

then just don't do it, don't waste your time.

I'm one of those people that feels like they

have to finish everything, like I have to get the last drop

of shampoo out of the bottle, give it to me now,

I will not, I am, it's so weird.

So, I always feel like I have to finish a book,

but one of the biggest things that I learned

is that I don't, I absolutely do not.

If I don't like how it's going, I can stop.

And there was a book I really, really wanted to love

in the last couple of months,

and I was like, I am not into this.

And it could've been what I was going through,

and it just wasn't a good time.

Regardless, don't waste your time.

Stop, move on to the next one.

Pick something you're excited about,

and then quit if it's not the right fit for you.

My fourth idea is to just write something.

I know this might sound crazy if you're not a writer.

I'm not a writer, I just think it's great

to get ideas out of your brain.

So, this could be a number of things.

You could do something like morning pages,

which we talk a lot about around here,

which is basically just brain dumping for three pages.

You could write a list of ideas,

you could just write down what your dream was

from the night before, you could have a gratitude journal.

Just write something first thing in the morning.

Get things out of your brain and onto paper,

so that they are not just sitting

there and bogging you down.

How do you prepare for this?

Well, one thing that you can do is get

a specific journal for your everyday life,

your tasks, your ideas, your brain dump, whatever it is.

I highly recommend the Bullet Journal.

I have stuck with the Bullet Journal

for two years now, it's been 2017, 2018.

My 2018 journal was a little shaky, I'm not gonna lie.