0 (1s): Coming up on the, get lean, eat clean podcast. 1 (3s): And I say your three M morning routine. So if you have 20 minutes, cool. If you have an hour and a half, great, you can fit these three. M's really in any form that you like. So the three M's are mindset movement, and me time. So mindset is just like something that makes you feel like it gets your mind. Right? And I think we all have, you know, whether that's like a podcast, whether that's reading, whether that's meditation, whether that's prayer, whether that's kind of a mix of all of those things, super awesome movement could be anything dancing, dynamic, warmup. You're full on workout in the morning, whatever, like just get moving, get your body moving outside if possible is helpful. 1 (44s): Cause like the fresh air. And then also getting in like the natural sunlight in your eyes in the morning is really awesome for our circadian rhythms and other functions in our body. And then me time is whatever, like makes you feel the most time. And, and I say that like kind of chuckling because you have to think like, okay, what makes me feel like, oh, this is just time for myself. 0 (1m 7s): Hello and welcome to the get lean, eat clean podcast. I'm Brian grin. And I'm here to give you actionable tips to get your body back to what it once was in five, 10, even 15 years ago, each week. I'll give you an in-depth interview with a health expert from around the world to cut through the fluff and get you long-term sustainable results. This week I interviewed fitness and lifestyle, transformational coach and podcast host of the self-love and sweat podcast, London Souza. We discussed the importance of having the right mindset to succeed, making workouts fun, along with overcoming excuses, the importance of self-talk morning routines and ways to get energy throughout the day. 0 (1m 49s): I really enjoyed my interview with London. I hope you will too. Thanks so much for listening and enjoy the show. All right. Welcome to the get lean eat clean podcast. My name is Brian grin and I have a special guest London Souza. Welcome to the show. 1 (2m 4s): Hey Ryan. Thanks for having me. I'm excited. 0 (2m 6s): Yeah. Thanks for coming on. I was on London's podcasts. She's a podcast host and health coach, self love and sweat, right? 1 (2m 14s): Yeah. Self love and sweat. The podcast. We talked all about intermittent fasting with you, which is a really awesome topic. So yeah. Thanks for being there with me and thanks for having me here. 0 (2m 24s): Yeah. Well, before we jump into a bunch of different topics, perhaps tell the audience maybe a little bit about your background and how you got into health and wellness. 1 (2m 32s): Yeah. Thanks. I, yeah, my name's London Souza. I'm a life coach and NLP practitioner fitness and health coach. And yeah, I got started just through my own journey. So I definitely was in a space when it comes to fitness of being kind of that more is more mentality, pushing my limits, working hard all the time. And I realized that that is a surefire way to, you know, cause hormonal damage, a lot of other issues with sleep digestion and a lot of things like that. And I realized, okay, I'm looking at fitness as like the end all be all tool to like fix all the things. And there are so many other options, like, you know, mindset and nutrition and working in and like relaxation and just like so many different options that we can lean into throughout different phases of our cycle of our life, different seasons and things like that. 1 (3m 23s): And so, yeah, I just really realized, you know, a lot of people were trying to fix the, including myself, fix the inside by working on the outside and you can only do that for so long and you can really yeah. Cause a lot of damage to your mindset and also to your body. My hormones were out of whack. I had really bad acne. I just wasn't treating my body well because I didn't realize I had more tools. So now as a coach, I love helping my clients, you know, turn their perspective really into their super power and stop really looking outside of themselves for all these answers and what diet they should be doing and how they should be working out in and all those things. And instead slow down and kind of tune in which takes time. 1 (4m 4s): And it takes work to be able to say like, yeah, this is really what my body wants and needs. And I can't be, you know, going hard in the paint all the time. And there is value to the rest. There is value to the recovery and that downtime as well. So that's the, the coaching that I do, I have one-on-one coaching and also a group coaching and yeah, it's what I've been doing. It's what I love for the last about decade. And so, yeah, I really started just through my own journey. And when I say working on the rest and recovery and really leaning into the benefits of that, that's something that I'm really working on in my life too. And I love, I love helping people realize they can get in super good shape without, you know, going hard in the pain at the gym all the time without feeling like they have to meal prep and have everything perfect all of the time. 1 (4m 52s): And it's been yeah, a really fun, fun process and then doing the podcast and everything has just been a great outlet for yeah. Answering the questions that people ask over and over and over again. And those struggles that we feel like we're so unique in, but a lot of us have the same one. So I love podcasts and being able to talk about questions and concerns and things that people come to me with because we're in this together and we're a lot more similar sometimes than we than we think. And so, yeah, my coaching is very much geared towards fitness, but definitely not without the other end of like working in and that mindset piece and how we talk to ourselves and show up in the world. So, yeah. 0 (5m 33s): Excellent. And yeah, I love how you talk a lot about mindset and productivity. What are some of the principles that you work with your clients with when it comes to mindset? Because you know, we always talk about, you know, what should we eat and, and working out, but like if you're not, mind's not right. Then a lot of that's not going to work. And so what, what type of maybe routines or habits that people could get into the help them sort of get into the right mindset to, to be come a better version of themselves? 1 (6m 4s): Yeah, definitely. Great question. And it's like, I guess it's become a little bit more popular for people to actually say like, oh, I need mindset work, but that's generally not what people come for. It's like, they're trying to work something out or their things are kind of all over the place. And when they realize, oh, wow, that was such a major piece of the puzzle. I love that because it really is. There's so much going on in our mind all the time. And you know, there's a lot happening I say between our ears. So the first thing that I love to help my, my clients become aware of and take control over step-by-step is self-talk. So when it comes to our mindset, it's like we're talking shit to ourselves all the time. 1 (6m 46s): We are, you know, telling ourselves I'm a procrastinator, I'm lazy. I can't do this. Like even when we don't realize that we're really talking to ourselves, like not nice at all. Like not in any way you would talk to a friend or anyone, even an acquaintance sometimes I'm like, you wouldn't even, you know, talk crap to the person, you know, standing next to you in line at the store, like you're really, you know, beating yourself up. And so it could be like limiting beliefs or self, you know, depreciating thoughts. It could even be just like words and labels that we put on ourselves that like, if we stopped to ask ourselves, it's like, we don't really want to be that. But we keep saying like, that's what I am, right. Like I am a procrastinator. I am lazy, a big one for me. 1 (7m 26s): And a lot of the women I work with is like, I am so busy. And so it's taking one word at a time, one phrase that we are aware now that isn't serving us, flipping it and choosing different word choices and kind of rewiring different pathways because I really believe when you can change your words, you can change your world. And so instead of saying busy, I say full and abundant, like today is a full day. Brian, for real, it is, I have it's seven o'clock in the morning when we're talking today, I have a couple other podcasts recordings for other people and myself too. I just shared a story with you today about the dog, my dog, the family that I live with their dog and how it just like tore the planner up. 1 (8m 7s): So I need to like, you know, get all this dirt and gear and do that. I have, you know, a group meditation that I do in the evening. I have a full day when you look at it. But for me, it's kind of like when I say it, I have a full day, I have an abundant day. My schedule is blossoming. Like all of the, I don't know, somewhat annoying words you could say to like, describe that is so much better. It's such a better feeling than being like, oh my gosh, I'm so busy. Like my day is so crazy busy. Like that just feels more like, I don't know, like the Tasmanian devil, you know, just kind of spinning around with no method, no intention. And so self-talk is a huge one when it comes to mindset. And a lot of people like, I, I do this with a lot of my clients. 1 (8m 51s): I have them like write down a lot of the things we say to ourselves. And I'm definitely not surprised anymore with the things that we say and how like, sometimes we're just like, oh my gosh. But a lot of people have that awareness where they're like, oh my gosh, as I'm writing this, I know I say this to myself, but like, I almost can't believe it. Like that's kind of jacked up, you know? And so it's a great aha activity to be able to like really take a moment to like check yourself and check your speech. And it really does change the way you feel and change the way you show up to a full and abundant schedule versus a busy one, trying to get everything all together. So that's one of the keys for mindset and self-talk 0 (9m 31s): And then, oh, go 1 (9m 32s): Ahead. 0 (9m 32s): No, I was just going to add, I love that you bring up self-talk I actually, I coach golf and I coach kids and I talk about self-talk because I don't think it gets talked about with kids enough and when you're golfing, it's like you have, it's not like other sports where you're like, have all these fans cheering and, and, and trying to push you on, or you didn't have teammates that are with you that are cheering you on you're by yourself. And it's like, you can be your best friend or you can be your worst enemy. And so you have to learn how to sort of talk yourself into having a good round. But so anyways, I think that runs through, like you mentioned in life and in health and everything else. 0 (10m 13s): And a lot of times we don't realize, you know, even in like golf, you'd be like, oh, you know, in your mind, like, I'm, I'm shitty. Like I can't, I, you know, I can't hit this shot or, well, no, you gotta sort of turn that around. And, and, and it's just the small little tweaks that you make, but they can make a big difference. 1 (10m 31s): Yeah. And I'm by no means a golfer. My dad is I'll go with him to the driving range every now and then to hit some balls. And yeah, it's one of those sports where you're like, everyone's super quiet. Nobody's there pumping you up. And like, no matter how hard you try, I can't like, you know, aggression my way to a better shot, which I tried. And I would like miss the ball or go crazy. And my dad would just be like relaxed, you know, focus, like just focus on what, you know, the different movements that I showed you. And so definitely I definitely have that visual of how a self-talk would be helpful during a golf game. Absolutely. Absolutely. 0 (11m 4s): Okay. So yeah. So you were saying after self-talk then. 1 (11m 9s): Yeah. So self-love, I feel like that's such a complicated, you know, it's kinda like saying mindset or whatever, and a lot of people will have yeah. Various versions of what self-love means to them. But what I often ask my clients is like, what are you doing? Or how are you feeling when you feel like you're loving yourself the most, you know, what are you doing? What are you experiencing? Where are you? Who are you with? You know, what feels like the most love of self and I'll have them describe it and get really, you know, descriptive. And I'm like, okay, cool. Now go do more of that, you know, like go out and do more of what you know is already helping you feel most love and your best. 1 (11m 50s): And sometimes it's challenging and we have to work through like, you know, some other barriers and roadblocks and things like that. But like, for example, one of the clients, I had a, one of my group coaching programs, she's a single mom. She is a volunteer and like everything with her church, like she's super active, she's in the healthcare space. And she had this moment where she was like, oh my gosh, I kept telling you, I wanted to just like, create more moments for myself. Like even just at home, I felt like, you know, I hadn't done that enough for myself. And I just felt like that would be a really great way for me to love on myself. And she's like, I filled up the bath, I put some essential oils in it. I put some candles, I put us a song on my phone that was like really mellow and chill. 1 (12m 33s): And she's like, that was so amazing. Like, I can't believe she's like, I feel like I haven't taken a bath since I was like a baby. Like someone was giving me a bath. And now as an adult, I'm choosing to be in this space. I was in there for 15 minutes. It wasn't like this whole, you know, I didn't have to go to a spa and get a, you know, crazy massage and all these different things and spend a ton of money. Like I could really find that, that love and that peace and that solace and that kind of, you know, self hug for myself right at home. And so I love, you know, and that really alters our mindset when we realize like, oh my gosh, I can find pockets in my day to like boost my mood, boost my energy, refocus, get clear, you know, hone in on my purpose and just keep on like fueling the fire. 1 (13m 14s): If that makes sense. People get super creative in the way that they show up for themselves. And I just love bringing that to the table too, and a very, very powerful tool for mindset. 0 (13m 25s): And I was going to add to that just made me realize that an interview that I did this Dr. Brad Campbell, he's like a local holistic physician, but I asked him at the end, like what, you know, you talk, you hear all this stuff with like longevity and, you know, how can we age gracefully and live longer? And, and what he said, and I thought it was w runs true is like finding something or an activity that like, you have fun with that. Like, almost as like a, some type of a play mentality, like when you were like younger and you were a kid, you, you know, you go rollerblading or, you know, certain things you can't do as you get as an adult. But I think you lose that as you get older, you don't have that play mentality that, okay, I'm going to go have fun doing this. 0 (14m 6s): And I think it's important to, to dial in and find something that like, you know, like, I mean, for me, it's probably golf, you know, just being outside and doing that, but not everyone plays golf. So I think it's important to find something that, you know, you can have fun with. 1 (14m 19s): Yeah. Fun is huge because funding you're going to keep doing, you know, it's unlike people. I don't know. Like, I don't know if people have talked to you about like, you know, fitness and workouts and what they think they're expected to do, but I have so many people who have like, like, yeah, I want to work out, but I just don't want to run. And you're like, oh, so in your head, you're focusing on not running, instead of all the other options of cool things you can do to be active. And I find for myself, especially like that variety is really cool and important and fun for me. So it's not just any one particular thing it's like throughout the week, you know, running biking, doing kickboxing lifting weights, like just that variety for me is super, super fun. 1 (14m 58s): Trying something new sometimes can be really fun. Or like you said, just some sort of play or, you know, being active in a way that you're not yeah. Fighting and resisting so much. I think fun is a huge pillar of consistency of what you're actually going to stick with. And so sometimes people, when they just get in that tunnel vision of like, oh, I don't want to run, or I don't want to be in the gym. It's like, oh, there's so many options. And you get to kind of choose and, you know, as long as you're moving, that's great. And then of course, as you start moving and you start learning about your body and how it's changing and moving and whatever, then I feel like sometimes I'm more inclined to do the stuff that's like, not fun, but I know it will be helpful. Like, I don't know, planks and core exercises and the stuff that like, I don't know, sometimes it burns and it's annoying. 1 (15m 41s): I don't really want to do it, but I know it's going to help be helpful for when I'm running, when I'm biking and just like my back and just feeling good. So it's like, I think you become more as you start having fun with movement and start seeing the changes and capabilities in your body, then I think you become more willing to do the thing you might not have wanted to do before. Cause you're like, oh, I know the benefit of it. It takes like 20 minutes and I just need to like stretch out my hips or do that yoga flow or do that core work. Cause I know it's going to be helpful, but yeah, definitely have fun. And like, I dunno, maybe this is similar for you too. I don't know with golf, maybe you're always having fun with it. But sometimes the fun stuff is like comes in phases for me, it's like different seasons. 1 (16m 21s): What might be fun in summer is different in winter or spring or whatever. So for anyone listening, it's like, whatever's fun now. You don't have to be like, you know, stagnant set in stone. It's like, ask yourself, what's fun today. What's fun this week, what's going on this weekend. What's going on next month and what can I try or kind of flow into. That's kind of how I am with running as well. So I'm, I'll run a lot. And then sometimes I'll go through phases where I'm not running very much. 0 (16m 47s): Yeah. I was just going to add to that yet. I, I don't from an early age, I didn't love running. So I was like, how can I do some type of, you know, activity cardio where I can sweat. And I got really involved with like Moya Thai and kickboxing. So I've done that on and off for like 20 years and I'm bringing it back and it's nice. Cause when you, when you, you know, you don't have to do it all, like you said, you, you can switch, you can do it. You know, you don't have to do it all the time, but you just because you don't like the run or even if you don't even like to lift, you can find alternatives, at least start with that. Start with something that maybe you enjoy. Whether it's like tennis or pickleball or people are in the pickleball now. So, 1 (17m 26s): Oh my gosh, it's a crate. It's here in my neighborhood too. I, yeah. I realized everyone's like on pickleball and pickleball apps, you know, to figure out how they can find players and teams. It's a thing I have not tried it yet, but like 0 (17m 39s): It's fun. It's fun. It's like a, it's like ping pong, but in a bigger court. 1 (17m 44s): Yeah. Yeah, totally. And my uncle is super into it. I just remembered he was like all excited about it and we're walking around, he'll be like, oh, a pickleball court would be perfect. Right. We were looking at Christmas lights. I remember over Christmas. And he I'm like, man, this is really a thing, but that's cool. People are staying active and having a lot of fun. That's for sure. 0 (18m 1s): Yeah. Yeah. So I just think that's important. Like, yeah. And really it's only one piece of the puzzle. Like you talk about all these different aspects. It really is only one piece. So yeah. I just wanted to add that. But what else, as far as like, I know you talk a lot about it w with, with your youth on your YouTube channel about like taking ownership, I think excuses come up for a lot of people and like you talk about self-talk, how can people overcome the excuses that keep just coming back in their lives as far as, you know, if they want to get healthy, but then they just, it just, they can't sort of, I don't know how to explain it. They can't get over that, that they have a tough time overcoming excuses. 0 (18m 44s): What, what do you recommend for them? 1 (18m 47s): Yeah. You know, that's really the name of the game there. I mean, we will talk ourselves out of anything. If we let ourselves, you know, or talk ourselves into a reason or an excuse complaining and blaming is like the default and just, you know, and I hear it all the time. It's like, oh, but I, you know, I'm at the office and there it was someone's birthday. So I had to have like two slices of cake or, you know, I got home and it was like a super long day and my boss was rude and like, dah, dah, dah, dah. So when I got home, I just like wanted to go to bed and like not do my workout. And there's so much like, oh, because of you, or because of that, I acted a certain way or that affected my actions. 1 (19m 29s): And I'm like, that is a surefire way to never, you know, be happy or feel like you're in control of your emotions or just anything, because you're always waiting for somebody else's actions to then impact how you're going to show up. And I'm just like with ownership, it's like, no, no, no, no, no. Like if that's the story and let's why, like, how do people realize it as like listening to podcasts, like us sharing stories in situations where it's like, yeah, maybe you heard one of your excuses in what I just said, you know, in the sense that it's, it's the awareness of like, okay, I'm the common denominator, like in this situation with work at home, whatever another common one is like, I've tried everything and nothing's working well. It's like, if nothing's working, you haven't tried everything and you're not, you know, figuring out like really what works best for you. 1 (20m 14s): And yes, it might be a longer journey and it might take more tools and more time and whatever, but like, ultimately like it's a me game. It's me versus me. I versus, I, I, I say to like, look to other people for like motivation, you know, like they're in their lane to like, I'm like, yeah, cool. Brian's over there. Crushing it on his podcast. Yeah. It's like, let's keep going. Like, I'm going to do my thing keeps showing up for me, not like, why is that working for him? Or what's he doing? Should I be doing that too? Should I try that? It's like really, you know, stepping into that ownership space is saying like, I'm the denominator. I can't control what other people are doing. I can't control what's happening in the environment, but I can choose how I react and respond. 1 (20m 57s): And that's really the, you know, the ultimate, the ultimate thing and what I, we work on with my clients, one-on-one all the time. It's like, how am I responding to this situation? Okay. Is this congruent with who I want to be and how I want to show up? Yes. No. Okay, cool. Let's go into this area, you know, and it's like, it's really fun to be able to navigate the space of finding your excuses, looking in that damn mirror and like knocking it down and being like no self. You're not going to get in the way of this person. I know I can be, and I can become. And like it is with the self-talk or that's like one thing at a time it's like, sometimes people will say they, a lot of things I'm like, no, no, no, no. Let's try us out. They more, I-statements more statements. 1 (21m 38s): So that is kind of the self-talk or the way we talk out loud about the world and others like that internal representation is then choosing words that are more ownership related and then help us, you know, be more in control of our perspective, our perspective and our perception and how we react, because like waiting for the world or someone else to do something different or show up better in order for us to be some type of way is just like such a waste of time and not why we're here, you know? And I think it's easier to interact with people. We have better relationships when we just kind of go about our lives, like doing me and taking care of what's good for me. And then like, you know, being an active participant in other people's lives, as they're doing that too, and having good relationships with other people that are going to help foster a more ownership kind of related lifestyle and yeah, overall just like less complaining and blaming, like put the finger down, you know, point at market or point at, just back at yourself. 1 (22m 31s): Like every time you find yourself blaming an outside situation, a person work, whatever, or lack of resource, whatever, try to figure out how you can flip it to be more in that driver's seat and that ownership position. And then you have so many more options, which I think people don't realize, but you have a lot more options and you can kind of weigh them out a little bit. And that's really what life coaching is. It's like, let's try it on. Let's try on this situation, like pay now, now kind of how does that feel for you? Okay. Which decision do you want to make moving forward so that you can get closer to your goals? And there are so many more options when you are in that ownership position. 0 (23m 11s): Yeah. I love that. And also, like you mentioned surrounding yourself with the right type of people, it just can go a long way. I think when you're younger, it's maybe even more important because I feel like, I don't know, at least for me, like, as I've gotten older, you have, like, you have like your it's family, you have less friends. I feel like, you know, less sort of influences perhaps obviously your significant other can make a big influence on you and you can make a positive influence on them. But yeah. Especially like with kids, it's like, I always tell the kids, like you want to surround yourself with people that you really want that make you feel like important and, and help lead to like healthy habits. 0 (23m 52s): So I always find that's like important. Is there anything that you wanted to add to that? 1 (23m 58s): Yeah. I love that. And I love that you're sharing that with your kids. My dad used to always tell me the five most important words are surround yourself with good people. And he told me that from a very young age and what I've got out of it now as an adult where I am now is like through every different phase of our life. What's good for us is going to be different. So good. Doesn't always mean, you know, I can in school, it's like good. Or the kids who are, you know, showing up to school on time, who aren't ditching, who are doing pretty well, who are like, you know, treating their teachers respectfully and not getting like, I don't know, sent outside or suspended. Like, and then as you get older, it's like, okay, in college it was like, okay, people who are actually going to school and sticking with it and not, you know, delving into, you know, a lot of like, you know, parties and drugs and all that type of thing that we're exposed to then. 1 (24m 47s): And I just started, like, he would always tell me it and I would just kind of reflect through different phases of my life and being like, yeah, sometimes I didn't choose good. You know, I'm not a Saint for sure. I didn't choose good people a lot, you know, but I came back to that a lot where I'm like, oh, that's why you found yourself in that predicament or that situation. Because look who that was like, look, you were hanging around, look what they do. Look, what's important to them. Look at the way they're acting and showing up in the world, look at their core values, you know? And so that quote, you know, is like, you're the average of the five people that you hang around. And so I would also advocate to you. Like I still have, obviously my friends, you just don't spend a lot of time with them. So it's like, at least the quote is not your average of the five people you spend time with all the time. 1 (25m 29s): You know? And I think that there is, you know, your partner and family and people that you find yourself interacting with regularly, which is so important to cultivate a air quotes, whatever that means like good environment. And then the friends I choose to spend time with every now and then when we get time are definitely good people. And what that means for me now is like people who are ownership oriented, who are growth oriented, who yeah. Just have big hearts and love and want to give their gifts to the world and have cool passions that sometimes I'm like, one of my friends is like so into animals and loves animals. And I love dogs and cats and things like that. But she rescued a pigeon last week and she was just like distraught. 1 (26m 10s): Cause this pigeon had a broken wing in San Francisco. I'm like the pigeon in San Francisco pulls at the heartstrings of somebody. Okay, cool. Like it's not me, but it's my friend and that's her superpower. And she like met this girl who's in the pigeon society where they rescue them all the time and it's in like her neighborhood and all this stuff was like showing up for her. And when she was talking about it, I'm like, yeah, those are the type of people I want in my life. I didn't get it. It wasn't my jam, but my friends have their jam and they're showing up for, you know, what I'm doing. And I'm showing up for what they are doing with the utmost love and respect and just wanting each other to be uplifted and like feel supported. And so that's what it means for me now. You know? And so I think that we have to continue to check our squad and check our circle and 0 (26m 55s): Check your squad. 1 (26m 56s): Yeah. Check your squad, your circle. And like, I mean, our friends are that circle supposed to challenge us to, you know, we might feel kind of irked or triggered a little bit. And sometimes I like to see certain situations with friends who I know are, you know, ride or die, who are not, who I know are great. Who will maybe say something or call me out or call me in as I like to say. And I'm like, oh yeah, you're right. Or like, that's something I want to work on. So it's like people that are available for that too is super cool. Like friends who like allow you to make mistakes or you're like, wait, I reacted in a way that was weird. That triggered something in me. And that, that type of growth that happens there is super helpful. So yeah. Check your squad. And you know, sometimes you have to, you know, trim things away and spend less time with certain people. 1 (27m 39s): And it's not easy. So sometimes I've, I've coached this in the past too, which I don't even think I wasn't, I didn't do a bad job at it, but I can do a better job now is I would just be like, yeah, cut the toxic people out of your life in LA. Well, it's not easy. And like, sometimes it's 0 (27m 55s): Right 1 (27m 55s): Next to you at work or family or something. So instead of getting rid of sometimes, which we can sometimes, if it's someone where you're like, oh, we just, you know, meet here and this is not good where, you know, it's not a good vibe, not whatever, but you don't have to. What was I gonna say? Yeah, I was going to, sorry. I lost my train of thought 0 (28m 17s): You were talking about, you don't have to necessarily, 1 (28m 20s): Oh, cut them out. Yes. But you can, that ownership piece is you can choose how you show up to them. And sometimes there's like mental rehearsal that needs to happen where you're like, okay, I'm going to see this person. I don't want to show up like this. I don't want to engage in this behavior. Let me like, that's another mindset piece is like that visualization. Let me like mentally rehearse how I'm going to show up. How would my best self show up? I don't want to get flustered and all, you know, stressed out when I'm around them. And I don't want what they say to impact me as much. So I'm going to do like the groundwork before I show up to them. That's very helpful. But sometimes it's just like, you know, by, but before I used to be like, you know, these people are toxic and you don't need them in your life and goodbye. And it's like, there were also human there's emotional components to it. 1 (29m 1s): Sometimes it's challenging with, with challenging friends. So it is work, but it's important work because we need to be mindful of who we're surrounding ourselves with. 0 (29m 10s): Yeah, totally agree. And I, I was thinking on that point, what, what type of routines could we get into shifting a little bit here that can sort of set us up for success? I'm, I'm big into routines and I know we, we talked or early morning here for you, but you've been up for a while now. What is your, what are your morning and evening routines like to set you up for success? 1 (29m 32s): Yeah. I love routines and habits. I feel like they keep me in flow even on the days when I'm not feeling motivated or not feeling like I'm consistent. It's just like, this is what I do. And it makes you feel good. You know? So I do like to have my time in the morning, I wake up at five 30 most mornings, sometimes a little before my alarm and I'll just kind of like stay in bed and just kind of focus on my breath and kind of take a moment. But for the most part, I just really love that quiet time in the morning. I love the time to, to meditate and to pray and to sit in front of my red light and to journal a little bit and to get on the bike. I have a Peloton in the other room that I really find supercharges. 1 (30m 16s): My morning, I'll get on there for like 15 to 20 minutes, all fill out some mindset, questions that I like to do in the morning and just kind of prepare, not necessarily my to-do list, but like prepare myself physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually to then go in and be like, okay, what are the, like the to-do is like, what actually needs to be done today. So in the morning I often, or what I coach on, I say your three M morning routine. So if you have 20 minutes, cool, if you have an hour and a half, great, you can fit these three. M's really in any form that you like. So the three M's are mindset movement, and me time. 1 (30m 56s): So mindset is just like something that makes you feel like it gets your mind. Right. And I think we all have, you know, whether that's like a podcast, whether that's reading, whether that's meditation, whether that's prayer, whether that's kind of a mix of all of those things, super awesome movement could be anything dancing, dynamic, warmup your full-on workout in the morning, whatever, like just get moving, get your body moving outside if possible is helpful. Cause like the fresh air. And then also getting in like the natural sunlight in your eyes in the morning is really awesome for our circadian rhythms and other functions in our body. And then me time is whatever, like makes you feel the most me time. And, and I say that like kind of chuckling, because you have to think like, okay, what makes me feel like, oh, this is just time for myself. 1 (31m 42s): And often for a lot of the women I work with, it's just like that time in the morning, just like sipping their coffee or their tea and just things being quiet and slow, or like doing that particular morning thing. But just like in peace and or some what a client she's like, yeah. It's taking my coffee out to my patio. Just like sitting on my chair out there and like grabbing my blanket and just having 10 minutes to like, enjoy my, my tea or my coffee or whatever. So make it your own and then take the time that you have for your morning and chop it up and say like, okay, I'm going to make 10 minutes for movement. 10 minutes for mindset, 10 minutes for me, time and rocket, you know, show up for it because it's like the bookends to our, our morning and our, and I'll talk about evening routine too, but it's like the bookends to our day. 1 (32m 32s): And in the morning, you know, I feel like our morning routine should encompass as many of the like dominoes that are going to knock down other dominoes, you know? So it's like when we're moving, we're getting energized, we're getting more focused clarity when we're mindset. You know, sometimes I come up with, you know, some awesome things. I'll write down to share on social media for future podcast episodes. It's just like, what's going to be like, I'm doing this movement right here, but it's like, what's the going to do that in the morning to get the engines running, you know, for those of you listening, I'm just like, I don't know, moving my shoulders and my arms in a, in a way of like generating this like energy. And, and I think that's super important to do that. And to take that time, if not, we just wake up and like roll over, look at our phone, get on our laptop, start working. 1 (33m 15s): Haven't even like stretched or opened up our hips yet reached our arms up overhead. Like a lot of people check in with what the world is doing before their feet even hit the ground. So that's actually like a rule of mine. I'm like, you can look at your phone to like turn off your alarm, but no checking messages or anything. I even have some apps in my phone that are part of my morning routine, but like no touching the phone or engaging with that until like feed her on the floor. Like, I'll just like sit up in bed, put my feet on the floor. And I'm like, okay, cool. Let's, you know, I'm alive and my feet are on the ground. I'm going to stand up and like, you know, get started into my day. So just having like some of those little rules too, are nice, like, you know, no phone until your feet are on the floor and gratitude. That's what I tell myself. It's just like setting up your little rules to your game so that you can play a game. 1 (33m 58s): You can win, you know, but we can't have like no rules and no boundaries and no like core values that we're bringing to the table. So very important. Nighttime sleep is super important. I went through a phase where I think like, I don't know, I was team no sleep or wanted to work hard and just like, you know, do the thing that I wasn't really paying attention to sleep that much. And so over the last, like, you know, five years or so, I've just been really like prioritizing sleep, like making it super important because our body needs it. It's like, you talked about longevity. Of course, it's just like recovered, re regeneration of our whole entire body, all of our cells, everything. And so in the evenings, I just try to do things that are gonna help me sleep better, which is like not drink alcohol. 1 (34m 44s): Unfortunately I realized that that's drinking alcohol does not help me sleep actually contrary to the belief I wake up like in the middle of the night and I don't get good sleep. I'm taking Epsom salt baths helped me get better sleep. I love that I'm opening up my window and getting fresh air when the weather permits and I can do that. I'm not being on my screens super late, not working super late, getting outside to do like, even just like a quick walk, like just taking the dog out for a second, 10 or 15 minutes, just getting out in some fresh air, moving a little bit is helpful, not eating too late. So just eating, you know, I think I ate dinner last night, about five 30 and then I went to bed about nine 30 or so. 1 (35m 27s): So just trying to keep a bigger gap between dinner and going to bed is super helpful. So I share all of those things because those are things we kind of have to figure out for ourselves of what's helping our sleep. And there is, you know, of course, rules of thumb, like no technology and don't eat super heavy, super late and a lot of things, but until we actually do them and then also do a little bit more, I felt like that's when my sleep was getting really good. Cause I was like, okay, I'm doing a lot of things to support good sleep, and I'm gonna, you know, take a bath and I'm going to use some essential oils and I'm going to like do some, you know, two minutes of breath work in addition. And a lot of that, you know, small little tidbits compounding effects really sets you up for some good quality sleep. 1 (36m 8s): And that for me is what's important about the end of my day is just, you know, not having late caffeine, like all the things after probably like 3:00 PM need to be conducive to just being like a little bit more relaxing, a little bit more like closing the ties for the day. And I know that about myself and that's really helpful. So also keeping a journal like right next to my bed with a pen, just so that way, any crazy thoughts that might come out. Cause I hear that a lot. It's like I go to bed and a lot of things are dancing. I will write, you know, jot things down there just so that I don't forget. And I prefer to have the paper and pen instead of the phone. Cause it's like, I don't want to be like always attached to being on my phone, especially when I'm in bed. 1 (36m 48s): So that's helpful too. And I think what's most important and I kind of share like my personal examples, but what's most important is to set up your core values and the person you want to be and then be like, okay, what's that person do? Okay. Where am I going to fit that throughout my schedule? And throughout my day, when am I going to, you know, do my workouts, what am I going to do in the morning to set myself up? If I'm a, I don't know, a writer or a fitness coach or a mom or whatever, like what is a morning routine that gets you like revved up to do that look like and actually try it on. I talked about, try it on, see, does it fit? Does it feel good? In theory, it's great to say like the 3m morning routine and these are the things I'm going to do, but if it doesn't work for you and you're not doing it and you're not being consistent, then it doesn't work for you and you need to try something different, try something else on and see what works best for you. 1 (37m 38s): And I think that's really what works best with habits and routines is, you know, trying one thing at a time seeing if it works and then letting it become a habit and an introducing that, you know, next little thing there. But I think those are some really good general rules of thumb for both ends of morning and evening. And you're unique and there are unique tools that will work specifically for you that will help you get from point a to point B. There'll be a certain domino that knocks down all your other dominoes that's unique to you. And so it's kind of up to ownership piece again for you to find it and figure it out with coaching to coaching is very helpful. 0 (38m 17s): Yeah. Thank you for sharing that. A lot of great tips that we could definitely delve into. One of the ones that you mentioned first and foremost was just making sleep a priority. I think just if you have that sort of mindset from the start, we talk about mindset that it's a priority. Then you can sort of tailor your day around that and find out what works best because excuse me, without quality sleep. A lot of the other things that we talk about with exercise and eating or whatever it is, it won't fall into place. So I think, I feel like as you grow up, like you lose sight of it a little bit. Like I think as a kid, you sleep and then you go through this like middle parent, maybe it's psychologist where people are like, oh, you don't need to sleep. 0 (39m 2s): And, and then 1 (39m 4s): Hustle hard. 0 (39m 5s): Yeah, exactly. And then as you get a little bit older, like that I'd need the sleep to be productive and to do the things I want to do. I noticed we talk about on your YouTube channel energy boosters. And I thought that would be a fun topic to talk about just, you know, having a routine I think can, can help. Right. Obviously, cause if you're getting quality sleep, you're gonna have good energy throughout the day. What are some of maybe your top energy boosters that, that people could take away and apply to their lives? 1 (39m 37s): Yeah. Great question. So I think that focusing on quality sleep is a huge one, right? A lot of coaches or not even a lot of coaches, I should say I've heard before said that like your morning routine starts the night before. So that's super important. Another one is I read this book one time, my dad recommended to me called the energy bus and it's like a short read. It's actually really awesome. I highly recommend it's like a little, you know, just like an easy read it's fiction, but it's about this bus driver. Who's driving a bus and it's telling these different stories of interactions between people, but highlighting, like who's on your bus, who is taking your energy, who are you allowing to, you know, your fingers to be pointed out that are taking a lot of your, you know, your energy and focus and clarity and a lot of those things. 1 (40m 21s): So check your bus to make sure that you, yeah, there's no energy leeches there, 0 (40m 29s): Energy sappers that are taken 1 (40m 31s): And energy sappers. Yeah, absolutely. So that's a great one, you know, a lot of times and myself included and I have to be mindful of this because I mean, it's a, it's a good thing, but in moderation, so like caffeine and coffee, I try to just have my cup of coffee in the morning, which I love. And I enjoy, that's like part of my me time, but I really enjoy taking like beats like beet juice. I use this beet powder that I really like. So beets are a great source of nitric oxide, which helps our body pump more blood through our body, like opens up our blood vessels. So it's like more oxygen, rich blood is coming through our, our, our body. And so I really like that. That gives me a good natural energy, a nice pick me up. 1 (41m 14s): I'll sometimes have that with like apple cider vinegar and some fresh lemon and mix that beet juice kind of together and have it like around one or two o'clock when I'm feeling a little, I don't know, in a little slump. So I think that when we reach for, you know, too much caffeine and things like that, it can be something that, you know, kind of makes us crash or stay up late and interrupt our sleep there. So that's something that I feel like is super helpful for energy hydration. I think people underestimate this for energy. We walk around chronically dehydrated and are just like not drinking enough water and myself included sometimes. So just remembering to stay yeah. 1 (41m 55s): Adequately hydrated and continuing to give yourself like water, because sometimes you want a little drink, like in our coffee drinks or, you know, even like having my beet juice, whatever, it's like, I have to remind myself like drink water London because you're working out, you're staying active. And sometimes I realize like, oh, I have like a mental fog or this feels funny. Or I feel like low energy. And really it's just like a matter of making sure we stay hydrated. So a lot of the times it's like back to the basics, you know, it's not like a bunch of these like crazy secrets energy that I'm like letting out of the bag, you know? Oh, sorry, go ahead. 0 (42m 32s): Oh, great. Go ahead. I'll I'll add L at on it once you'd say 1 (42m 35s): I was just going to say movement is a great one. Like going for a walk dancing, sometimes just standing up where I'm at right now sitting as a standing decks. So sometimes I'll stand up or even just like walking out of this room, doing some arm circles, reaching for my toes. Like just kind of moving through my joints a little bit. A movement can be very, very energizing. And yesterday was such a great example because I was working on a lot of just, yeah. A lot of work and a lot of things. And before I knew it, it was like three o'clock. I was like, oh my gosh. And I'm like hunched over sitting here. Like all the things I know I shouldn't be doing. And I just forgot to like set an alarm on my phone or I was just so inflow. I just, you know, kept going. But I got up, went for a walk and just like felt, I was like, oh my gosh, this feels so good. 1 (43m 20s): And it was the perfect yeah. Way to kind of boost my energy to finish a few other things I needed to, and then kind of wind down for the day. So yeah. Movement is huge too, but I don't know what you were going to add to that. 0 (43m 32s): Well, I was just gonna say for me, and for a lot of my clients, I know we talk about fasting and people think, oh, if I fast, I'm not going to have energy, but I find, especially once you've been doing it for awhile, that food is the, is the biggest like depletion of energy. A lot of times, a lot of times people think they need to eat that energy. But I find that like, especially for me, if I eat, if I break up my fast around, let's just say two o'clock. I like to go to, to try to stick to a, more of a protein fat meal. And then if I'm going to have carbs, I'll have it towards the end of the day. Cause I find that they sort of, you know, it, they bring me down a little bit a sense and they might even help with sleep too. 0 (44m 16s): Sometimes people like to carb load in the back end of their day just to help with sleep. So I was just saying for me, I like to do all of my energy tasks, remind tasks when I'm in a fasted state. And I find that I have the most energy. 1 (44m 30s): Yeah. I agree. I love that. You brought that up. I know that's your, your specialty too, but that is a big contributor to energy level, at least from my experience in my life. Because yeah, like you said, being in that fasted state offers a different type of clarity and focus. And then also I'm just not thinking about, because I spent so much time in the fitness industry in the beginning eating every like two to three hours and now I don't have to think about it and I like to eat like bigger meals. So it's nice. Cause I'll eat my I'll eat like two big meals a day, maybe one snack and it's nice. Cause I feel like, oh, I'm actually eating substantially. I'm actually like, you know, fueling my body with, it's not like, you know, a little salad or something or like a small meal, a little bites, every three hours. 1 (45m 15s): I did that. Cause I thought that's what I was supposed to be doing until I learned better. For me personally, that fasting was a better option and I didn't realize that's what I was doing. But what you mentioned about having more of like protein and fats and then have your carbohydrate meal in the evening is what's been pretty working well for me too, it's usually my first meal is like some sort of scrambled eggs, like with eggs and vegetables and whatever. And maybe I'll have like a corn tortilla or a couple of them. But then for dinner, it's usually something much more hardier with potatoes and rice or last night I had lentil pasta and that feels good too. Cause it is like a heavier meal, but like I said, I'm not eating super, super late and my body just kind of gets to relax and come down after fueling there. 1 (45m 59s): So I get to kind of rest and digest. So that's something that works for me too. And if anyone listening wants to try that on to see if that works. Yeah. It works for me too. 0 (46m 9s): Yeah, no, I love that. Well, this was great. I feel like we could keep going. Where can people find you London? 1 (46m 20s): Just kidding. Yeah. 0 (46m 21s): You're everywhere and I love, I love your name. What's your, I'm just curious. What's your background? Your heritage. 1 (46m 27s): Okay. So first of all, the name London has nothing to do with background or heritage. And I only say that because when I lived in Austria, they'd be like, is this the Hungarian name? Or like, where are you from? I'm so London just comes from my mom. She was a aerobics instructor. That's how she met my dad. Right? Surprise, surprise that what I do, what I do now. And there was a lady who would come to, I hope I'm not butchering the story. There was a lady that would come to the aerobics class that would bring like her daughter there in a, like a little car-seat little bassinet thing. And she would just like, the baby would just like sit in the corner, relaxed, chill, not cry while the rest of the class was doing aerobic. So my mom was like, oh, that daughter she's so sweet. 1 (47m 7s): She's so quiet she's so, you know, easy, her name's London. And I wanted named my daughter that one day. So of course she got the quiet, relaxed doctor lunch that she always wanted. And I'm just being sarcastic because I'm a little bit crazy, but she, yeah, just got that name from that. And then she spelled it L U N D E N just because I guess she wanted to be different. And I like it. I think it's, I didn't like it when I was a kid. Like, to be honest, like I didn't, I wouldn't, I don't say, I don't want to say I like got bullied, but like London bridge is falling down was like an Anthem all the time. Or like, why is your name Len? And where'd that come from? You know? So that was kind of annoying. And I remember my dad wanted to name me, Amanda or Jessica, and I would come home and be like, why didn't you name me that, because then I wouldn't get teased, but I'm Portuguese and Italian. 1 (47m 53s): That's where my family comes from. But the name is not, is not related to that. It was just what my mom liked. 0 (48m 1s): Yeah. And now it's great. Cause like, I, I feel like, especially as an entrepreneur, right. You try to stick out a little bit. Cause obviously there's a lot in our space and no one's got that name so 1 (48m 13s): Well. And when you said your name to Brian grand, when we first talked for my podcast or like Brian Green, like the smile and I'll never forget that. So now it's like Brian Green, like the smile and that's a, a standout part of your name, but yeah. I mean I'm everywhere pretty much. We were just talking before this that I need to get better at being on LinkedIn. But other than that, I'm on Instagram and YouTube. Facebook at life-like London. L I F E L I K E L U N D E N. And yeah, my podcast is self-love and sweat. The podcast available everywhere too. And yeah, life-like london.com is my website. There's some free, cool stuff. I send out a monthly calendar every month with like a podcast to listen to a workout, to do a little mindset activity for free. 1 (48m 57s): So if you go to my website, you'll find that. And yeah, that's it send me a DM. I want to connect. 0 (49m 2s): Awesome. Yeah. London, London's everywhere and she's got a lot of great, I know she's got like an eight week fitness and mindset plan and does one-on-one coaching. So definitely check her out. She's everywhere except LinkedIn, but she's going to work on that, but 1 (49m 18s): We try to be everywhere, but 0 (49m 20s): You can't be everywhere. You just got to stick to the platforms that you enjoy interacting with. So He does and you do a lot of great like videos and reels and stuff on like working out. So if you need to work out tips and stuff, definitely check that out and thanks again for coming on the show. 1 (49m 37s): Thanks for having me 0 (49m 39s): Enjoy your day. Thanks for listening to the get lean, eat clean podcast. I understand there are millions of other podcasts out there and you've chosen to listen to mine. And I appreciate that. Check out the show notes@briangrin.com for everything that was mentioned in this episode, feel free to subscribe to the podcast and share it with a friend or family member who looking to get their body back to what it once was. Thanks again, and have a great day.
