February 24, 2025 • 31 mins
In “Intend Your Day,” we reveal how small, intentional actions—like resetting your room or playing an energizing morning sport—can reshape your entire outlook. We highlight the value of gratitude, explore the influence of motherly selflessness on personal growth, and illustrate how prioritizing your own well-being fosters greater motivation and confidence.
We draw insights from Mel Robbins and "The Slight Edge" to show how simple changes in your routine elevate your life, creating a ripple effect of positivity. From daily affirmations to balancing family needs with self-care, this episode offers practical strategies to help you reclaim your mornings and maintain unstoppable momentum.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
Morning Motivation with Go-Go and Natasha.
(00:08):
Morning Motivation.
Morning Motivation.
Morning Motivation.
Welcome, welcome, welcome to another installment of Morning Motivation with Go-Go and Natasha.
We are back and so happy to be back, to be in the flow.
(00:31):
Yes, very.
So we just want to give thanks to everyone that's listening to the podcast, whether you've just discovered us today or you discovered us yesterday or you discovered us 25 years ago.
This is a new season. Yes.
(00:53):
Like how long they've been around.
That is beside the point. It's beside the point. Exactly. Time is an illusion. All right. We've been here forever. All right. We get way into it. We get we jump in straight into like the next level metaphysics.
Okay. Okay. I love how I just tease people in the beginning. I just dropped some bombs and we are going to move on to the next thing.
(01:16):
We have a wonderful topic today and it is getting ready for your day.
And it seems really small seems really simple.
But the first two hours of your day. What are you doing?
That's a question that I'm going to ask Natasha and I'm also going to ask of myself, but I'm also asking you the listener.
(01:40):
The first two hours of your day. What are you doing? And then the next question is what are you not doing?
Wow.
So Natasha. Yes. Can you be personal for a moment be vulnerable for a second.
(02:03):
Am I not always here with our morning motivation show. We are always vulnerable here. Any conversation that we have any show that we host together go go. I feel like we go in.
We definitely go in. That's a part of it.
And it is beautiful to see what actually transpires as a result of us just being truthful and living in the present moment living in our truth and just kind of knowing what what we've been through.
(02:33):
So with that Natasha.
What do you do in the first two hours of your day. Be honest.
Honestly, this is such a brilliant question and it actually this is a form of me being accountable. So I'm thanking you for asking me this question, because it's been a battle like there's been a process of me getting into a flow with what is going on in the first part of my day.
(03:02):
And it has not always been the same. So I'll start there. It has been definitely a process of me understanding. Okay, first of all, what serves me at the beginning of my day what fuels me what nourishes me.
And also on the flip side of that what depletes me what what really kind of moves me in a direction that I really don't want my day to be going and taking stock and taking notice and observing.
(03:32):
So there was two sides to that it wasn't just I knew what to do and I did these things. No, there was a many many mornings where there was not any process going on, it was literally the first two hours or me just stumbling around, I would get up, you know, maybe roll up out of my bed,
look around groggily, look at what clothes were left on the floor the day before go Oh no I didn't deal with that. And so it's already in a downward backwards spiral, because you're dealing with yesterday, instead of today.
(04:06):
You know, and so there was that and then so that's like getting up on the wrong side of the bed in the morning kind of thing, and it would just go from there, just kind of not intentionally taking any steps toward just kind of, I have to get dressed so I have to do that,
trying to find the clothes didn't lay them out the day before, just trying to find what do I wear.
(04:30):
I wanted to just interject here because you said something, getting up on the wrong side of the bed and until this moment.
I thought about that as just you just waking up angry.
I just mean the proverbial you not you yourself, because I never have never woken up angry or just in a negative space. But what you really are saying is because of yesterday's disorganization, because of yesterday's unproductivity.
(05:00):
I then now have to deal with this today. And I just want to segue in just for a moment we have a podcast that you can listen to called unfinished business remains unfinished until you finish it.
So go listen to that I'm plugging our own podcast episode. Go listen to that. And we will get into this even more so at a deeper level. But that is just amazing waking up on the wrong side of the bed, because you did some wrong things the day before.
(05:28):
Wow.
Yeah, you're just you're just catching up with what was already laid out from your previous actions, and you're dealing with the consequences in that moment, you're going to deal with it at some point, and usually the first time you see it is in the morning, right.
(05:49):
Oh, look what I did yesterday. Oh, wow. Right. So, and it feels like okay no I wasn't unproductive in my life I did accomplish a lot of things even with all this disorganization at the beginning of my day.
Because I was starting to notice hey I don't like that let me try to change and tweak and do these things. So, moving forward, a few years, decades, it took a minute but now I have a system.
(06:18):
So when I wake up, say something positive to myself, I say something about my gratitude what I'm grateful for in that moment, whether it's opening my eyes, being alive, being awake today, because that's not a given.
Hmm.
(06:41):
That's good.
That's good. Keep going.
And then just get out of my bed and sometimes this was something I had started to do which was to be thankful for each part of my body that I could see that I could notice observe my feet that were about to touch the floor, like that kind of thing.
(07:02):
Sometimes they slip in and out of the process of things but they'll come back in I just kind of allow myself to flow with it. The other thing that really stays concept for me though now is resetting my room.
Room reset means when I leave that room for the day. It is completely set back to step one where I would come in and get ready for my end of day process which is like getting ready for bed.
(07:32):
Wow.
You are you on on another level. I'm literally learning from you.
Because I definitely don't do any of that.
It took a minute, go go like this this didn't happen overnight you know I had parts of that I had pieces of it here and there and I was like, kind of, trying to get it to all work together and it just took persistence on my part, saying no, we absolutely this is
(07:58):
non negotiable, I need to figure out how to reset my room, so that when I come into this space. It feels like it's ready for me it's inviting it's inviting me to now be in this space ready for bed at the end of the day, not, oh it's in disarray.
I have to look at this mess. Oh my gosh I didn't deal with that, and just feel that upset. It feels like upsetting to me to see that dis disarray. So I said no more I don't need to feel upset, I want to be uplifted and feel positive about myself.
(08:31):
So this first step of just, I'm going to make my bed. I'm going to set all the things back to where they're supposed to be in my room. And then that's it. Once my room is reset that took me maybe five 10 minutes, and I do that every morning without fail.
Now, wow, that's amazing. My hands are clapping silently because I don't want to ruin the audio quality by actually clapping my hands. Wow, that's amazing so we've talked about this in different ways I'm on the completely other side of that, I do live in chaos.
(09:06):
So, my morning, and the first two hours of my day so because of my currently this is now I'm just going to speak to what I do now, because of my schedule with the voiceovers, my voiceovers are due in the morning, 7am or 9am.
So that means I'm up early recording. So a lot of times I wake up in that first hour, I'm on TikTok, while I'm on doing some social media stuff which I should not be doing this is just what happens, I'm just being transparent.
(09:33):
And so then I'll nudge around in the bed for a while and I look at the time okay I need to actually go do something, so I have voiceovers to do so then I'll you know make my water, or do hot water and honey, and then I'll start getting ready.
Now I don't necessarily do my affirmations in the morning, I actually, they, they just happen when they happen. But usually, when I am in front of the mirror, I'll say some stuff, or I'll get really excited or I will say, I'll start saying some thank you stuff.
(10:05):
I was just, thank you. Thank you for these auditions, I'll do a little bit of that. It varies every day so the process is not like I don't have a process straightforward like you do, and I'm learning from you so thank you for sharing that.
So now, you just hit about coming in and your room being reset and ready for you to come in at night. So because I live in chaos, I'll leave, come back, and I'll be in the same position.
(10:28):
But the difference is, I don't mentally care. So I don't actually feel any negativity towards it that is affecting me to a level for me to change it until it gets to a point where it's almost uninhabitable it's like okay you need to get this together.
I have a level of peace that just kind of exists in my life. So like I'll see chaos forming. All right, this thing is growing there. And so what happens is it becomes a bigger problem like right now 100% right now at this moment.
(11:00):
I have so much laundry to do right now this moment that I you know how people pay check to paycheck. I'm living underwear to underwear. Okay.
You know, that's what that's where I'm at right now like I need to do a load of laundry so I have some underwear to wear tomorrow. I'm this close to being commando for the rest of this week.
I live life on the edge in that way, but that means is I didn't have to go to the laundry and like do all of my laundry and like a two hours time span to get it all done and then to be reset.
(11:30):
That happens in a major way, which you know there is a better way to do it if you do a little bit every single day, then you don't have to do a lot in just one day, because then they can feel overwhelming when you have 18 loads of laundry to do.
I'll just hop in here and say yes I mean absolutely all of that is moving into even some more topics that we can discuss, because that's, that's even its own thing, but just acknowledging and thanking you for noticing the learning lesson that you're getting but know that I am still in my own process
(12:03):
like I'm not done with figuring out what the first two hours is going to look like that was just the first five to 10 minutes go go that I explained, and that took me a minute to figure out like it wasn't an immediate thing so yeah, I mean I totally get that and one thing I will say.
I work better with activity. When I have things to do that are like planned, I become more productive, then I have to get things done when I have more time, I waste more time.
(12:34):
I'm more productive with the time. And that's something I've learned about myself, a lot of people are really good at just being free floaters with a bunch of time and being very productive with it. I'm not one of those people I need to have stuff going on in the schedule.
I don't execute, I do work well under pressure. I'm one of those people was like, okay, we're down to the wire, and I'm about to explode with drops from amazing this. And that's just kind of how I operate. So, is it, I think it's really good to know what makes you operate efficiently,
(13:06):
what you can deliver effectively, there's that and there's also always the possibility that at different points of your life the way you operate may shift, because at an earlier point in my life I would have agreed with you wholeheartedly and said, Oh yes, I work well under pressure,
this is absolutely where you'll get me to produce diamonds out of coal. Whereas now, I, that is not my optional level of operation. And really getting into the readiness, the preparedness of the day is what is going to set me up to perform well, not just,
(13:47):
okay, something's due right now. Oh my gosh, I got to get it done. I can't do that anymore. I think, talk to me a few years back, I could have but now I'm absolutely like a no for that.
And I see where I cut it too close. And then my performance decreases, while missing things. And so lately I've been making a shift of doing things, not so last minute, and it's been cool. I'm excited to, to make that shift, because I don't necessarily want to be operating in the last minute like that.
(14:21):
Because when it comes to other things that involve other people, I'm very on time and before time, when it comes to me, I tend to not necessarily put myself first, and I'm doing all these other things that push things back, which is an interesting point that I wanted to talk about
is putting yourself first. Yes, I was going to say that like we were going to get into talking about putting yourself first and what does that mean? Right, go ahead.
(14:48):
And there's a lot to unpack there. What you're talking about, Natasha, is you've put yourself first, you've put your mental health first. You said this is how I operate. This is what's going to help me. Let me do this thing and put myself first.
I've seen in the past, there are times where just culturally where people aren't necessarily putting themselves first, especially women. Women are known to be caretakers and putting everybody else first, except for themselves.
(15:21):
And I know that for you, I mean, you grew up with your mom, was she the type of person where she was putting herself first? Or was she doing everything for everyone else? Or was it a mixture? Like, how was that dynamic? What did you like pick up on? I guess growing up with your mother and seeing how she operated.
It's really interesting growing up, you get these cues from the people you're raised by, right? You see how they treat themselves, how they behave towards others, how they behave towards you, and you get all these different cues. And one thing I really recall is my mother's great care of herself every morning before she left her room for the day.
(16:01):
So one of those activities was making her bed. Her bed was always made before she left her room. And she would make sure she was dressed, put her room back to zero as well. So it was a sense of she's spending at least this specific amount of time caring for herself, getting ready for the day, choosing her clothing, and really taking that moment to really notice how important she is.
(16:30):
How important she is in her own life. Before she steps out of the room into helping me or my brother. And it didn't feel like it was in any sort of a selfish way. It felt like it was nurturing for herself, so that she could be present for us.
Wow, that's amazing. And what an example. And you talk about how parents impact their children. Your mom literally showed you like this is how it's done. I'm still going to raise my kids, I'm still going to take care of what needs to be taken care of. And that includes myself. That's amazing.
(17:05):
And I think what I'm noticing in the culture, because there's been a very push for women in the workplace, what that really is, is women putting themselves first. I have been at home with the kids or I have been tending to my partner or whatever has kept them out of the workplace to do what they actually want to do.
And now there's been a cultural shift of I actually do enjoy working and I want to work. Not that there's anything wrong with being a housewife, but that's just not necessarily what I want to do. And that's how some women feel. And so we're seeing that cultural shift happen.
(17:40):
And I know that for me growing up, my mother, she was the caretaker. So much so that when my parents got a divorce when I was younger, she allowed my dad to really have the majority custody of me growing up. And I could go back and forth between both homes and everything.
But she put me first in the sense of I'm going to allow my son to be in this kind of stable space and I'm going to sacrifice me spending time with him so that he can have this cultivation. And I'll still impart knowledge when I see him.
(18:15):
And I saw that my mom was always caring for other people. She's been that type of person, especially working in education as well.
And then lately now there's been, of course I'm an adult, so there's been a shift where she's putting herself first and really working to do more things that bring her joy.
And so she's picking it up later on in life and like, okay, this is what brings me joy. Or I've, you know, when she's tired now, she doesn't, it's like I'm tired. I'm not doing it anymore. That's it.
(18:45):
I can go wash another dish. I'm good. I'm going to lay down. I'm going to chill out. She's noticing where her limits are now, whether she would push herself to the extreme. Now it's like, okay, I need to take a rest.
So now seeing the shift is really cool for her. And I'm just like, yeah, do that. Okay. Whatever you need to do. Because that ultimately will then set you up to be even more productive because you've taken care of you.
(19:12):
Yes, to all of that. And it's interesting looking at everything from the perspective of the children of mothers, because I'm personally not a mother. You're not a parent as yet.
You raise the point about the care that women place for themselves when, especially at the beginning of the day, where it can be, if you're a mother, you put that attention on your children, making sure that they get up, that they get to school, that they have what they need before you take care of your own personal needs.
(19:48):
And I don't have that experience either from watching my own parent. And I don't have that experience in my life currently. So it's just noticing that we all have different ways that we're getting ready for our day and paying attention to what is important to us.
And paying attention to what's important to you, because that's what's going to bring you joy because you need your joy cup to be as full as it can be in the beginning of your day because life is going to happen.
(20:20):
Yes, it does. It keeps on happening and it's great. It's wonderful. It's a miracle that it's happening for us.
And so when life is happening, you need to also be happening to life. And so what that is, is I'm going to do what I'm going to do first and fill my cup up first.
And that is going to bring me joy to make it through the day because you don't know what is coming, whether it's good or bad. And that's all a matter of perspective. But you are just going to be prepared.
(20:50):
You're going to be mentally, emotionally, physically prepared. And that comes from working out and making your bed. And one of the things that I do pretty consistently now, lately, I've been playing a lot more tennis and that's my physical self.
In the morning when you wake up?
Like 10 a.m. or the other day I played at 830 in the morning. I've been playing tennis in the morning.
So it would be after my voiceovers. Like during the week at 10 a.m. I've already completed my voiceovers for the day. That's not within the first two hours. That's probably hour five or six into the day.
(21:20):
But that's another thing that physical pieces that's important to me to keep that instrument healthy.
Absolutely.
And that's another thing that I love about tennis and other activities that and tennis brings me so much joy that fills my joy meter. Like today I played tennis today and I literally was on the court being so dramatic because one of my friends I play with, he gets so angry and frustrated.
(21:43):
If he misses a shot, he literally will throw his racket and start speaking in French because he's a French man.
I don't speak French so that's all I got for you. But it is so I would take that same energy and I would just be acting angry because I'm an actor. I'm not angry at all.
I'm just enjoying impersonating this person and as I'm hitting shots, you know, come on.
(22:05):
And I'm really getting into it. And that brings me joy because it's all I'm doing a play and having a good time.
And that's something that brings me joy. So I think the takeaway is in the first part of your day doing something that brings you joy before you have to do things that you are responsible for.
Oh, yes, that that is actually that is something right there. Before you have to do something you're responsible for.
(22:34):
Yes, that's the key. It's not necessarily the time frame of, okay, it's the first two hours getting ready for your day may take longer for you.
It could take several hours before you're ready for the things you're responsible for. Right. So I like that point.
I just wanted to hop back in and say something I do. And this might be something that you also do.
(22:57):
Audience listeners, if you use a calendar or scheduler to schedule the different parts of that getting ready for your day, I would love to know what that looks like for you.
If you could pop that down into the comments and let us know, because that's a piece that I'm currently working on.
Go, go. That's the part that I'm in my process with trying to tighten it up. I have scheduled.
(23:23):
It's on my calendar clarity. So like I have 15 minutes where I meant to meditate.
I meant to think about my intention setting for the day. So I have that getting my sort of mental space aligned.
Then I have body awareness. That's another like 20 minutes or so scheduled.
And it's not necessarily moving around as vigorously as go go like doing tennis.
(23:47):
It might just be like some stretching or some simple yoga positions where I'm just getting my spine moving or what it is. I haven't been able to do it yet.
That's the intention. It's on the calendar. And then the next piece I have is then from there doing a little bit of exercise.
And that's where I would get a little bit more movement and just getting the oxygen flowing through the blood and get the body moving where you're now connecting your body to your mind and everything sort of integrating.
(24:15):
And now, yes, I think I'm ready for my day. And that schedule is about just under a two hour process that that would be ideal for me.
I would love that to come true in my lifetime. I can barely get up at the time that I'm supposed to be doing the first part of this at the moment.
So that's where I'm at. I met before step zero. I can't even get to that. So what I've been doing to get ready for the day.
(24:42):
This is where I'm at right now is getting ready the night before. And this is something I heard about from Mel Robbins. I don't know if any of you are familiar with that. Have you heard of Mel Robbins?
Is that the blonde lady with the glasses? Yes, that's Mel. I love her. I love her. The five four three two one. Yes. Yeah, that's Mel.
(25:03):
So I watched her video about well, how do you get ready for a great day? So I was getting some tips about this because I really want to improve this section of my life because I feel that in that piece that's going to unlock the next level for me personally.
That's where we're getting back into our favorite book. The what? The slide edge. The slide edge.
(25:25):
So we're back to the slide edge where you're just incrementally 1% 2% shifting shifting shifting. It's not like huge jumps and leaps all the time. It's those little shifts that are what make up you having that great day.
And her whole point, spoiler alert, tell you her whole point of having a great day great morning is about having a great night before. That's where I'm at right now. So I'm just raising my hand let you know, hey, I'm still walking this path with you. I'm nowhere near having a perfect morning or a perfect start to my day.
(26:03):
I don't know if I will ever and I don't need to be perfect. I love the way go go sorry to just like I love the way you describe your morning you're like I'm kind of in the flow. I'm I may do this I may do my affirmations I may do something else but it's more like you feel your way through it and it feels good to you.
And I think that's also that to be so rigid about K it's like for 15 minutes I'm doing this and for 20 minutes I'm doing that. I don't think that's the point. And what you said is so profound for male of getting ready, having a good night before.
(26:35):
So very recently, I have all these sense analogies and they're going to keep coming. I very recently I had to go play tennis, had to go, I chose to go, I did choose to go play tennis, but I scheduled for 10am. And my hit partner.
She texted me she's like hey can we play at 830. Now, the night before, I had plans to go out. And so then it became if I'm going to show up at 830 to play some tennis, then that means I need to really prepare the night before.
(27:07):
However, I just went out anyway, and partied until late into the night, and I still got ready to do what I had to do actually played really well in the morning, but what it made me think differently, because it's like I knew what was coming.
And that goes back to scheduling for me having something to do. And when I schedule my day when I put stuff for me to do that brings me joy. I'm going to make sure I show up for my joyful things.
(27:34):
I'm not going to miss my joyful moments, where I'll get up early for is tennis and acting. I play tennis at 630 in the morning. I will do it, because that brings me joy. That's the key part right there so even though my night was a little cray cray.
I also was doing stuff that was bringing me joy that night so it was just joy on top of joy. Okay, I was like literally like holding all I was getting ready to go.
(27:56):
Yes, yes to all of that. I love that image of you getting up, because it's time for the joy. It's time to do something joyful to me. And you're passionate about those things you're passionate about acting you're passionate about playing tennis, and it makes
sense that when you're starting, for example, if you're also starting a new habit like I'm trying to with getting up in the morning to do these different activities that maybe they don't feel like I don't feel passionate necessarily about them I know they're good for me.
(28:31):
I know I enjoy them. I know they nurture me, and they nurture my spirit and my being in a way that is necessary, but am I passionate about being having clarity, am I passionate about doing a little bit of stretching and doing some exercise like these things I've
scheduled and going back to those. No, I'm not honestly I'm not passionate about that yet because with that said, with that said, now we're going into welcome to therapy with go go Natasha said, do you think that's why you have not fully incorporated yet.
(29:04):
Yes, yes, I think this is the key. It's not in my joy wheelhouse yet. Yeah. Yeah, that makes sense. I mean because the stuff that you're talking about will benefit you for sure.
But it does not necessarily fill up your joy meter. As of yet. So, one thing that you are doing is making up your bed, and that joy you get of when you come back, and this room is together is like, yes, joy right there.
(29:38):
Exactly, but it was a long term process for me to get to that point to see that. And that's why I'm hopeful, because I know that those things when I do them in combination, they have definitely improved my day.
I've done at different times to know, hey, these things work, and they really, they fill me up and make me feel so good about my life about myself, but to commit and say I'm going to lose some sleep in the morning to do these things.
(30:08):
And that's where I'm having some trouble because losing sleep is not something I really get happy about doing. And that goes into the balance. We are always trying to find the balance and we won't ever really ever find the balance because we're always changing
every single day, incrementally.
(30:29):
So, we're always going to be adjusting, accepting that but knowing that you're trending up and not trending down. And I think that is, that's the goal there. So just keep going in the direction that's bringing you more joy, look for the joy and go for the joy.
Thank you so much everyone for listening to another edition of Morning Motivation with GoGo and Natasha.
Morning Motivation with Go-Go and Natasha.
(00:08):
Morning Motivation.
Morning Motivation.
Morning Motivation.
Welcome, welcome, welcome to another installment of Morning Motivation with Go-Go and Natasha.
We are back and so happy to be back, to be in the flow.
(00:31):
Yes, very.
So we just want to give thanks to everyone that's listening to the podcast, whether you've just discovered us today or you discovered us yesterday or you discovered us 25 years ago.
This is a new season. Yes.
(00:53):
Like how long they've been around.
That is beside the point. It's beside the point. Exactly. Time is an illusion. All right. We've been here forever. All right. We get way into it. We get we jump in straight into like the next level metaphysics.
Okay. Okay. I love how I just tease people in the beginning. I just dropped some bombs and we are going to move on to the next thing.
(01:16):
We have a wonderful topic today and it is getting ready for your day.
And it seems really small seems really simple.
But the first two hours of your day. What are you doing?
That's a question that I'm going to ask Natasha and I'm also going to ask of myself, but I'm also asking you the listener.
(01:40):
The first two hours of your day. What are you doing? And then the next question is what are you not doing?
Wow.
So Natasha. Yes. Can you be personal for a moment be vulnerable for a second.
(02:03):
Am I not always here with our morning motivation show. We are always vulnerable here. Any conversation that we have any show that we host together go go. I feel like we go in.
We definitely go in. That's a part of it.
And it is beautiful to see what actually transpires as a result of us just being truthful and living in the present moment living in our truth and just kind of knowing what what we've been through.
(02:33):
So with that Natasha.
What do you do in the first two hours of your day. Be honest.
Honestly, this is such a brilliant question and it actually this is a form of me being accountable. So I'm thanking you for asking me this question, because it's been a battle like there's been a process of me getting into a flow with what is going on in the first part of my day.
(03:02):
And it has not always been the same. So I'll start there. It has been definitely a process of me understanding. Okay, first of all, what serves me at the beginning of my day what fuels me what nourishes me.
And also on the flip side of that what depletes me what what really kind of moves me in a direction that I really don't want my day to be going and taking stock and taking notice and observing.
(03:32):
So there was two sides to that it wasn't just I knew what to do and I did these things. No, there was a many many mornings where there was not any process going on, it was literally the first two hours or me just stumbling around, I would get up, you know, maybe roll up out of my bed,
look around groggily, look at what clothes were left on the floor the day before go Oh no I didn't deal with that. And so it's already in a downward backwards spiral, because you're dealing with yesterday, instead of today.
(04:06):
You know, and so there was that and then so that's like getting up on the wrong side of the bed in the morning kind of thing, and it would just go from there, just kind of not intentionally taking any steps toward just kind of, I have to get dressed so I have to do that,
trying to find the clothes didn't lay them out the day before, just trying to find what do I wear.
(04:30):
I wanted to just interject here because you said something, getting up on the wrong side of the bed and until this moment.
I thought about that as just you just waking up angry.
I just mean the proverbial you not you yourself, because I never have never woken up angry or just in a negative space. But what you really are saying is because of yesterday's disorganization, because of yesterday's unproductivity.
(05:00):
I then now have to deal with this today. And I just want to segue in just for a moment we have a podcast that you can listen to called unfinished business remains unfinished until you finish it.
So go listen to that I'm plugging our own podcast episode. Go listen to that. And we will get into this even more so at a deeper level. But that is just amazing waking up on the wrong side of the bed, because you did some wrong things the day before.
(05:28):
Wow.
Yeah, you're just you're just catching up with what was already laid out from your previous actions, and you're dealing with the consequences in that moment, you're going to deal with it at some point, and usually the first time you see it is in the morning, right.
(05:49):
Oh, look what I did yesterday. Oh, wow. Right. So, and it feels like okay no I wasn't unproductive in my life I did accomplish a lot of things even with all this disorganization at the beginning of my day.
Because I was starting to notice hey I don't like that let me try to change and tweak and do these things. So, moving forward, a few years, decades, it took a minute but now I have a system.
(06:18):
So when I wake up, say something positive to myself, I say something about my gratitude what I'm grateful for in that moment, whether it's opening my eyes, being alive, being awake today, because that's not a given.
Hmm.
(06:41):
That's good.
That's good. Keep going.
And then just get out of my bed and sometimes this was something I had started to do which was to be thankful for each part of my body that I could see that I could notice observe my feet that were about to touch the floor, like that kind of thing.
(07:02):
Sometimes they slip in and out of the process of things but they'll come back in I just kind of allow myself to flow with it. The other thing that really stays concept for me though now is resetting my room.
Room reset means when I leave that room for the day. It is completely set back to step one where I would come in and get ready for my end of day process which is like getting ready for bed.
(07:32):
Wow.
You are you on on another level. I'm literally learning from you.
Because I definitely don't do any of that.
It took a minute, go go like this this didn't happen overnight you know I had parts of that I had pieces of it here and there and I was like, kind of, trying to get it to all work together and it just took persistence on my part, saying no, we absolutely this is
(07:58):
non negotiable, I need to figure out how to reset my room, so that when I come into this space. It feels like it's ready for me it's inviting it's inviting me to now be in this space ready for bed at the end of the day, not, oh it's in disarray.
I have to look at this mess. Oh my gosh I didn't deal with that, and just feel that upset. It feels like upsetting to me to see that dis disarray. So I said no more I don't need to feel upset, I want to be uplifted and feel positive about myself.
(08:31):
So this first step of just, I'm going to make my bed. I'm going to set all the things back to where they're supposed to be in my room. And then that's it. Once my room is reset that took me maybe five 10 minutes, and I do that every morning without fail.
Now, wow, that's amazing. My hands are clapping silently because I don't want to ruin the audio quality by actually clapping my hands. Wow, that's amazing so we've talked about this in different ways I'm on the completely other side of that, I do live in chaos.
(09:06):
So, my morning, and the first two hours of my day so because of my currently this is now I'm just going to speak to what I do now, because of my schedule with the voiceovers, my voiceovers are due in the morning, 7am or 9am.
So that means I'm up early recording. So a lot of times I wake up in that first hour, I'm on TikTok, while I'm on doing some social media stuff which I should not be doing this is just what happens, I'm just being transparent.
(09:33):
And so then I'll nudge around in the bed for a while and I look at the time okay I need to actually go do something, so I have voiceovers to do so then I'll you know make my water, or do hot water and honey, and then I'll start getting ready.
Now I don't necessarily do my affirmations in the morning, I actually, they, they just happen when they happen. But usually, when I am in front of the mirror, I'll say some stuff, or I'll get really excited or I will say, I'll start saying some thank you stuff.
(10:05):
I was just, thank you. Thank you for these auditions, I'll do a little bit of that. It varies every day so the process is not like I don't have a process straightforward like you do, and I'm learning from you so thank you for sharing that.
So now, you just hit about coming in and your room being reset and ready for you to come in at night. So because I live in chaos, I'll leave, come back, and I'll be in the same position.
(10:28):
But the difference is, I don't mentally care. So I don't actually feel any negativity towards it that is affecting me to a level for me to change it until it gets to a point where it's almost uninhabitable it's like okay you need to get this together.
I have a level of peace that just kind of exists in my life. So like I'll see chaos forming. All right, this thing is growing there. And so what happens is it becomes a bigger problem like right now 100% right now at this moment.
(11:00):
I have so much laundry to do right now this moment that I you know how people pay check to paycheck. I'm living underwear to underwear. Okay.
You know, that's what that's where I'm at right now like I need to do a load of laundry so I have some underwear to wear tomorrow. I'm this close to being commando for the rest of this week.
I live life on the edge in that way, but that means is I didn't have to go to the laundry and like do all of my laundry and like a two hours time span to get it all done and then to be reset.
(11:30):
That happens in a major way, which you know there is a better way to do it if you do a little bit every single day, then you don't have to do a lot in just one day, because then they can feel overwhelming when you have 18 loads of laundry to do.
I'll just hop in here and say yes I mean absolutely all of that is moving into even some more topics that we can discuss, because that's, that's even its own thing, but just acknowledging and thanking you for noticing the learning lesson that you're getting but know that I am still in my own process
(12:03):
like I'm not done with figuring out what the first two hours is going to look like that was just the first five to 10 minutes go go that I explained, and that took me a minute to figure out like it wasn't an immediate thing so yeah, I mean I totally get that and one thing I will say.
I work better with activity. When I have things to do that are like planned, I become more productive, then I have to get things done when I have more time, I waste more time.
(12:34):
I'm more productive with the time. And that's something I've learned about myself, a lot of people are really good at just being free floaters with a bunch of time and being very productive with it. I'm not one of those people I need to have stuff going on in the schedule.
I don't execute, I do work well under pressure. I'm one of those people was like, okay, we're down to the wire, and I'm about to explode with drops from amazing this. And that's just kind of how I operate. So, is it, I think it's really good to know what makes you operate efficiently,
(13:06):
what you can deliver effectively, there's that and there's also always the possibility that at different points of your life the way you operate may shift, because at an earlier point in my life I would have agreed with you wholeheartedly and said, Oh yes, I work well under pressure,
this is absolutely where you'll get me to produce diamonds out of coal. Whereas now, I, that is not my optional level of operation. And really getting into the readiness, the preparedness of the day is what is going to set me up to perform well, not just,
(13:47):
okay, something's due right now. Oh my gosh, I got to get it done. I can't do that anymore. I think, talk to me a few years back, I could have but now I'm absolutely like a no for that.
And I see where I cut it too close. And then my performance decreases, while missing things. And so lately I've been making a shift of doing things, not so last minute, and it's been cool. I'm excited to, to make that shift, because I don't necessarily want to be operating in the last minute like that.
(14:21):
Because when it comes to other things that involve other people, I'm very on time and before time, when it comes to me, I tend to not necessarily put myself first, and I'm doing all these other things that push things back, which is an interesting point that I wanted to talk about
is putting yourself first. Yes, I was going to say that like we were going to get into talking about putting yourself first and what does that mean? Right, go ahead.
(14:48):
And there's a lot to unpack there. What you're talking about, Natasha, is you've put yourself first, you've put your mental health first. You said this is how I operate. This is what's going to help me. Let me do this thing and put myself first.
I've seen in the past, there are times where just culturally where people aren't necessarily putting themselves first, especially women. Women are known to be caretakers and putting everybody else first, except for themselves.
(15:21):
And I know that for you, I mean, you grew up with your mom, was she the type of person where she was putting herself first? Or was she doing everything for everyone else? Or was it a mixture? Like, how was that dynamic? What did you like pick up on? I guess growing up with your mother and seeing how she operated.
It's really interesting growing up, you get these cues from the people you're raised by, right? You see how they treat themselves, how they behave towards others, how they behave towards you, and you get all these different cues. And one thing I really recall is my mother's great care of herself every morning before she left her room for the day.
(16:01):
So one of those activities was making her bed. Her bed was always made before she left her room. And she would make sure she was dressed, put her room back to zero as well. So it was a sense of she's spending at least this specific amount of time caring for herself, getting ready for the day, choosing her clothing, and really taking that moment to really notice how important she is.
(16:30):
How important she is in her own life. Before she steps out of the room into helping me or my brother. And it didn't feel like it was in any sort of a selfish way. It felt like it was nurturing for herself, so that she could be present for us.
Wow, that's amazing. And what an example. And you talk about how parents impact their children. Your mom literally showed you like this is how it's done. I'm still going to raise my kids, I'm still going to take care of what needs to be taken care of. And that includes myself. That's amazing.
(17:05):
And I think what I'm noticing in the culture, because there's been a very push for women in the workplace, what that really is, is women putting themselves first. I have been at home with the kids or I have been tending to my partner or whatever has kept them out of the workplace to do what they actually want to do.
And now there's been a cultural shift of I actually do enjoy working and I want to work. Not that there's anything wrong with being a housewife, but that's just not necessarily what I want to do. And that's how some women feel. And so we're seeing that cultural shift happen.
(17:40):
And I know that for me growing up, my mother, she was the caretaker. So much so that when my parents got a divorce when I was younger, she allowed my dad to really have the majority custody of me growing up. And I could go back and forth between both homes and everything.
But she put me first in the sense of I'm going to allow my son to be in this kind of stable space and I'm going to sacrifice me spending time with him so that he can have this cultivation. And I'll still impart knowledge when I see him.
(18:15):
And I saw that my mom was always caring for other people. She's been that type of person, especially working in education as well.
And then lately now there's been, of course I'm an adult, so there's been a shift where she's putting herself first and really working to do more things that bring her joy.
And so she's picking it up later on in life and like, okay, this is what brings me joy. Or I've, you know, when she's tired now, she doesn't, it's like I'm tired. I'm not doing it anymore. That's it.
(18:45):
I can go wash another dish. I'm good. I'm going to lay down. I'm going to chill out. She's noticing where her limits are now, whether she would push herself to the extreme. Now it's like, okay, I need to take a rest.
So now seeing the shift is really cool for her. And I'm just like, yeah, do that. Okay. Whatever you need to do. Because that ultimately will then set you up to be even more productive because you've taken care of you.
(19:12):
Yes, to all of that. And it's interesting looking at everything from the perspective of the children of mothers, because I'm personally not a mother. You're not a parent as yet.
You raise the point about the care that women place for themselves when, especially at the beginning of the day, where it can be, if you're a mother, you put that attention on your children, making sure that they get up, that they get to school, that they have what they need before you take care of your own personal needs.
(19:48):
And I don't have that experience either from watching my own parent. And I don't have that experience in my life currently. So it's just noticing that we all have different ways that we're getting ready for our day and paying attention to what is important to us.
And paying attention to what's important to you, because that's what's going to bring you joy because you need your joy cup to be as full as it can be in the beginning of your day because life is going to happen.
(20:20):
Yes, it does. It keeps on happening and it's great. It's wonderful. It's a miracle that it's happening for us.
And so when life is happening, you need to also be happening to life. And so what that is, is I'm going to do what I'm going to do first and fill my cup up first.
And that is going to bring me joy to make it through the day because you don't know what is coming, whether it's good or bad. And that's all a matter of perspective. But you are just going to be prepared.
(20:50):
You're going to be mentally, emotionally, physically prepared. And that comes from working out and making your bed. And one of the things that I do pretty consistently now, lately, I've been playing a lot more tennis and that's my physical self.
In the morning when you wake up?
Like 10 a.m. or the other day I played at 830 in the morning. I've been playing tennis in the morning.
So it would be after my voiceovers. Like during the week at 10 a.m. I've already completed my voiceovers for the day. That's not within the first two hours. That's probably hour five or six into the day.
(21:20):
But that's another thing that physical pieces that's important to me to keep that instrument healthy.
Absolutely.
And that's another thing that I love about tennis and other activities that and tennis brings me so much joy that fills my joy meter. Like today I played tennis today and I literally was on the court being so dramatic because one of my friends I play with, he gets so angry and frustrated.
(21:43):
If he misses a shot, he literally will throw his racket and start speaking in French because he's a French man.
I don't speak French so that's all I got for you. But it is so I would take that same energy and I would just be acting angry because I'm an actor. I'm not angry at all.
I'm just enjoying impersonating this person and as I'm hitting shots, you know, come on.
(22:05):
And I'm really getting into it. And that brings me joy because it's all I'm doing a play and having a good time.
And that's something that brings me joy. So I think the takeaway is in the first part of your day doing something that brings you joy before you have to do things that you are responsible for.
Oh, yes, that that is actually that is something right there. Before you have to do something you're responsible for.
(22:34):
Yes, that's the key. It's not necessarily the time frame of, okay, it's the first two hours getting ready for your day may take longer for you.
It could take several hours before you're ready for the things you're responsible for. Right. So I like that point.
I just wanted to hop back in and say something I do. And this might be something that you also do.
(22:57):
Audience listeners, if you use a calendar or scheduler to schedule the different parts of that getting ready for your day, I would love to know what that looks like for you.
If you could pop that down into the comments and let us know, because that's a piece that I'm currently working on.
Go, go. That's the part that I'm in my process with trying to tighten it up. I have scheduled.
(23:23):
It's on my calendar clarity. So like I have 15 minutes where I meant to meditate.
I meant to think about my intention setting for the day. So I have that getting my sort of mental space aligned.
Then I have body awareness. That's another like 20 minutes or so scheduled.
And it's not necessarily moving around as vigorously as go go like doing tennis.
(23:47):
It might just be like some stretching or some simple yoga positions where I'm just getting my spine moving or what it is. I haven't been able to do it yet.
That's the intention. It's on the calendar. And then the next piece I have is then from there doing a little bit of exercise.
And that's where I would get a little bit more movement and just getting the oxygen flowing through the blood and get the body moving where you're now connecting your body to your mind and everything sort of integrating.
(24:15):
And now, yes, I think I'm ready for my day. And that schedule is about just under a two hour process that that would be ideal for me.
I would love that to come true in my lifetime. I can barely get up at the time that I'm supposed to be doing the first part of this at the moment.
So that's where I'm at. I met before step zero. I can't even get to that. So what I've been doing to get ready for the day.
(24:42):
This is where I'm at right now is getting ready the night before. And this is something I heard about from Mel Robbins. I don't know if any of you are familiar with that. Have you heard of Mel Robbins?
Is that the blonde lady with the glasses? Yes, that's Mel. I love her. I love her. The five four three two one. Yes. Yeah, that's Mel.
(25:03):
So I watched her video about well, how do you get ready for a great day? So I was getting some tips about this because I really want to improve this section of my life because I feel that in that piece that's going to unlock the next level for me personally.
That's where we're getting back into our favorite book. The what? The slide edge. The slide edge.
(25:25):
So we're back to the slide edge where you're just incrementally 1% 2% shifting shifting shifting. It's not like huge jumps and leaps all the time. It's those little shifts that are what make up you having that great day.
And her whole point, spoiler alert, tell you her whole point of having a great day great morning is about having a great night before. That's where I'm at right now. So I'm just raising my hand let you know, hey, I'm still walking this path with you. I'm nowhere near having a perfect morning or a perfect start to my day.
(26:03):
I don't know if I will ever and I don't need to be perfect. I love the way go go sorry to just like I love the way you describe your morning you're like I'm kind of in the flow. I'm I may do this I may do my affirmations I may do something else but it's more like you feel your way through it and it feels good to you.
And I think that's also that to be so rigid about K it's like for 15 minutes I'm doing this and for 20 minutes I'm doing that. I don't think that's the point. And what you said is so profound for male of getting ready, having a good night before.
(26:35):
So very recently, I have all these sense analogies and they're going to keep coming. I very recently I had to go play tennis, had to go, I chose to go, I did choose to go play tennis, but I scheduled for 10am. And my hit partner.
She texted me she's like hey can we play at 830. Now, the night before, I had plans to go out. And so then it became if I'm going to show up at 830 to play some tennis, then that means I need to really prepare the night before.
(27:07):
However, I just went out anyway, and partied until late into the night, and I still got ready to do what I had to do actually played really well in the morning, but what it made me think differently, because it's like I knew what was coming.
And that goes back to scheduling for me having something to do. And when I schedule my day when I put stuff for me to do that brings me joy. I'm going to make sure I show up for my joyful things.
(27:34):
I'm not going to miss my joyful moments, where I'll get up early for is tennis and acting. I play tennis at 630 in the morning. I will do it, because that brings me joy. That's the key part right there so even though my night was a little cray cray.
I also was doing stuff that was bringing me joy that night so it was just joy on top of joy. Okay, I was like literally like holding all I was getting ready to go.
(27:56):
Yes, yes to all of that. I love that image of you getting up, because it's time for the joy. It's time to do something joyful to me. And you're passionate about those things you're passionate about acting you're passionate about playing tennis, and it makes
sense that when you're starting, for example, if you're also starting a new habit like I'm trying to with getting up in the morning to do these different activities that maybe they don't feel like I don't feel passionate necessarily about them I know they're good for me.
(28:31):
I know I enjoy them. I know they nurture me, and they nurture my spirit and my being in a way that is necessary, but am I passionate about being having clarity, am I passionate about doing a little bit of stretching and doing some exercise like these things I've
scheduled and going back to those. No, I'm not honestly I'm not passionate about that yet because with that said, with that said, now we're going into welcome to therapy with go go Natasha said, do you think that's why you have not fully incorporated yet.
(29:04):
Yes, yes, I think this is the key. It's not in my joy wheelhouse yet. Yeah. Yeah, that makes sense. I mean because the stuff that you're talking about will benefit you for sure.
But it does not necessarily fill up your joy meter. As of yet. So, one thing that you are doing is making up your bed, and that joy you get of when you come back, and this room is together is like, yes, joy right there.
(29:38):
Exactly, but it was a long term process for me to get to that point to see that. And that's why I'm hopeful, because I know that those things when I do them in combination, they have definitely improved my day.
I've done at different times to know, hey, these things work, and they really, they fill me up and make me feel so good about my life about myself, but to commit and say I'm going to lose some sleep in the morning to do these things.
(30:08):
And that's where I'm having some trouble because losing sleep is not something I really get happy about doing. And that goes into the balance. We are always trying to find the balance and we won't ever really ever find the balance because we're always changing
every single day, incrementally.
(30:29):
So, we're always going to be adjusting, accepting that but knowing that you're trending up and not trending down. And I think that is, that's the goal there. So just keep going in the direction that's bringing you more joy, look for the joy and go for the joy.
Thank you so much everyone for listening to another edition of Morning Motivation with GoGo and Natasha.
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