255 | You Don't Need a 20-Step Morning Routine to Be Productive

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Do you really need to dunk your face in ice water at 3 AM to be productive? Absolutely not. This episode takes aim at those viral, over-complicated morning routines flooding social media and offers a refreshing alternative: doing what actually works for you.

After sharing some updates about the podcast's upcoming name change to better reflect my focus on busy women's fitness needs, I dive into why trendy, one-size-fits-all routines often fail the women I work with. Those 20-step morning rituals might look impressive on TikTok, but for most busy women in their 30s-50s, they create unnecessary barriers to productivity rather than enhancing it.

The truth is, personalization matters more than following trends. Whether it's creating ADHD-friendly systems like designated "dump spots" in your home, eating the same satisfying meal for years without changing it up, or developing routines that others might find strange but work perfectly for you – you have full permission to prioritize effectiveness over trendiness. What works for your unique body, schedule, and lifestyle will always outperform what's currently viral online.

Your fitness journey, morning routine, and productivity systems should serve you, not the other way around. Listen to your body's feedback, simplify where possible, and remember that consistency with something sustainable will always beat perfection with something unsustainable. Ready to ditch the ice baths and create routines that actually fit your life? This episode is your permission slip to do exactly that. Subscribe now and join our community of busy women designing fitness and wellness approaches that actually work!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 0 (00:00):
Hey friends, welcome back to the podcast.
A couple little housekeepingthings before we dive into
today's episode.
I'm going to be changing thename of this podcast.
I'm not 100% sure what the nameis, but I have a general idea
it's going to be something aboutthe Busy Women Fitness Podcast,
because my Facebook group isBusy Women Fitness Driven and I

(00:21):
love it.
And over the years, as a traineryou kind of start out just
training everybody, because youknow, when you work in gyms you
generally just train the generalpopulation, which encompasses
everybody.
I've worked with, you know, 90year old men.
I've worked with 13 year olds.
I've worked with collegeathletes, I've worked with moms.
I've worked with everybody andyou know, as the years have gone

(00:44):
, I've definitely refined who Iwork with.
And I do love in working withbusy women, particularly
somewhere in their 30s to 50s.
But you know you don't have tofit that mold exactly.
But that's who I genuinelyenjoy helping, because I think
there's just this need the womenare busy, they're stressed out
and I think they need a littlebit of a different approach than

(01:06):
the traditional fitness way, um, for it to work for them and to
get the best results.
So that is where I'm at, and soI'm going to be probably
renaming this podcast.
I have been um, having somethoughts on how to work this
into my schedule, because I havedefinitely been reworking my
schedule.
Maybe use this as a little umway.

(01:27):
Relate to yourself.
I love when people talk about,like, what's going on behind the
scenes because it makes methink about my personal routine.
Like I felt really overwhelmedand I like cut back to just the
necessities, like serving myclients and everything.
And it was weird because Ididn't even like I haven't
really been posting on socialmedia either.
Like, and I was really on agood streak there for a couple

(01:48):
years and I felt very inspiredand I don't know if it was just
the turn of events that happenedon social media Like everything
just got crazy.
Like it was more about likelikes and getting numbers and
who has the you know mosteyeballs on their content versus
is this content actually good?

(02:08):
So I've been trying to navigatethat and try to show up in a
way that feels good to me,without feeling like I'm just
posting for attention to get thelikes per se.
I want to make stuff that Igenuinely like but also people
will see.
So I took a step back really tothink about that and that's
been simmering in the backgroundum, coming up with new systems,

(02:29):
and same thing with the podcast.
I also want to put some loveinto my email list as well.
I've been thinking behind thescenes of something that is
enjoyable, other than just likerandom emails going out every
now and then, like I want it tobe something.
So there's definitely beenthought in that, um, but yeah,
I've been essentially serving myclients in the meantime and

(02:51):
working hard behind the scenes.
I got certified in Pilates,certified in yoga, uh, right
before the new year, so that wasfun.
And I'm teaching a Pilatesclass now, so that is fun.
So we're doing all the things.
But now let's get into thepodcast topic.
This was kind of somethingrandom, but it struck me and I

(03:12):
wanted to chat about it.
I've been seeing these trendson social media of these people
that have their morning routinesand there are people making fun
of them.
But there was definitelysomeone who started it and was
dead serious about it, and thisis what I'm talking about when I
say my demographic does not fitthe trendy.
You know everybody like populartrends of fitness, like they

(03:37):
talk about this guy who wakes upat like 3 am and he fills his
bowl with water and puts icecubes in it and he dunks his
face in it and he's like youknow they make fun of it and
saying, like pretty much he doeseverything within like an hour.
Like he gets everything donebefore like 5 am.
It'll get ridiculous like andover exaggerated with some of
these uh videos, you see.
But and it got me thinking,like I was like it's kind of

(04:01):
stupid, like listen, I'm notnecessarily bashing the ice bath
itself, like if that'ssomething genuinely that you
enjoy and you feel like itmotivates you, like by all means
, continue to do it.
But like I feel like 99% ofpeople do not need to get a bowl
out every single day filled upwith water, um, empty out their

(04:23):
ice cube tray or, you know, yourautomated ice machine on your
fridge.
Like this just sounds so stupid.
Now I'm thinking about it anddunking your face.
I get it's like there's there'slike an idea behind it and I'm
like, oh, it wakes you up andthe this and that.
But I'm like do we really needto do all of this extra shit to
be productive or do we just likeneed to actually just do it?

(04:44):
Like why do we need this fancylike 20 step routine to get to
the actual thing we need to do,when we could have probably
already just gotten a head starton that thing instead of
feeling like we need all thesesteps right?
And I feel like sometimes weget caught up in that when it
comes to morning routine,nighttime routine and again,

(05:06):
don't get me wrong, everybody isdifferent, but I've found that,
for me at least, when youovercomplicate things, it
doesn't go well.
That goes in fitness as well,like with workouts and things
Like.
It's one thing like I alwaysthrow in some fun moves that are
maybe not textbook science-y,but they're fun and you feel
them because it keeps thingsinteresting.

(05:27):
But I also do keep the basicsin there and foundations to make
sure that you're getting alegit workout.
So I encourage you to do thatwhen you create a routine for
yourself and this can beanything, like I said, a morning
routine, a nighttime routine, aworkout routine, just your
general week.
This always goes back to myoverarching theme of knowing you

(05:48):
, paying attention to your bodyand what feedback you get.
Like when you try somethinglike just because everybody else
is doing it and you fuckinghate it does not mean that you
have to do it Like.
That has been me my entire life.
I've always been like, well,everybody else is doing it, but
I hate it and it's like okay,I'm giving you permission today
that you do not have to do whatis trendy right now.

(06:11):
If you have a weird way that youneed to come up with your own
system, your own routine, thatis fine.
I'm a part of a lot of, likeADHD groups and one thing they
were talking about was like youknow, when you have ADHD, it's
hard to like put something awayright, like when you come in the
door to hang up your keys, sothey literally have a designated
dump spot like, which is weirdto people who don't have ADHD

(06:35):
right, it might be like, oh myGod, you're just dumping
everything in one spot in thehouse, but for their brains
being able to do that is likeamazing and it just works for
them.
So like if it works, it's yourhouse.
Nobody's like the police aren'tcoming over and being like, wow
, you have this pile of randomstuff I have to find you, you
know, like that's not happening.

(06:55):
So why don't you just do itlike, as long as you're not
hurting anybody and it's helpingyou do what feels good for you.
Even people like I was justtelling some of my clients today
I'm like you have permission toeat the same meal as many times
as you need.
Like some people feel like theyneed to change up things just
for the sake of changing thingsup, and like there's some fit

(07:18):
people.
You know they're like I've beeneating the same meal for like
five years, like I just haven'tbeen sick of it.
Yet it works for me.
It's like if it's not workingor if it's not broken, don't fix
it right.
If it works for you, keep withit.
So that is going to be mylittle short message for today.
So a little quick personalupdate with that New podcast

(07:39):
name coming soon I don't knowhow soon, but soon it's on the
to-do list and continue to tuneinto your body, listen to your
body, see what your body needsin regards to schedule and flow
and how things work to createthe best routines for you.
And with that I'm going topeace out.

(07:59):
Chat with you soon, guys.
Bye.