Aubrey Marcus Quotes

“A healthy body can come in all shapes and sizes, but it does have a certain set of characteristics:
- the joints are mobile and fluid;
- the muscles are strong and flexible enough to perform a variety of tasks;
- the frame is capable of carrying weight, a little more, or a little less, without unnecessary strain;
- the tissue is healthy and supple.

If you meet all or most of those criteria, you are what is called, in evolutionary terms, 'fit', and in Aubrey Marcus terms, 'sexy AF'. I don't care about your BMI or whether you look like an Instagram model. Healthy is sexy.”

“As humans we desire to apply our force — our work — to the maximum effect possible. Our mission is what we want that force to accomplish. While the meaning of life might be complicated, your mission in life should not be complicated. What are you, in this lifetime, on this planet, in this body, here to do? What do you want more than anything else?”

“Before you eat, prepare the very best bite on your fork. Take a moment to look deeply at all the food on your plate. Think about where it came from (a reinforcement to eat food sourced in a healthy manner). Think about the energy required to grow that food – the nutrients, the sunlight, the other plants and animals ingested by your food. Take time to bring yourself to a state of mindfulness and reduced stress. Think about how that energy will translate to energy in your own body and what you are going to need that energy for (a reminder about portion control and that you're about to bone down!).

As you put the bite in your mouth, if the food is lacking in any of these categories, forgive it. You never want to think that what you're about to eat is poison, or bad for you, or will ruin your diet. Instead, tell your body that what it is about to eat is nourishment. Then look at the food, smell the food, and savor it. When you taste it, chew it until there is nothing left, and your tastebuds have flirted with every ingredient in this orgy of flavor. That should be your first bite, and how you say grace: it's a piece of mindfulness, a nutrition reinforcer, and a way through the placebo to ensure that your food will be digested and absorbed optimally.”

“Breakfast is not mandatory, and in fact you might just be better off without it altogether.”

“Breath is the rudder of life. We have the choice to either take over conscious control or let ourselves wander aimlessly. If you are going to own the day, you must own your breath.”

“Build upon your successes rather than complain about your failures.”

“Chronic stress is literally killing us, and the traditional medical model offers us very little help to deal with it. Counterintuitively, one of the best ways to deal with chronic stress is to seek certain forms of acute stress. Through a process called hormesis, acute stress will help you adapt and become stronger.”

“Dinner should be a celebration of a day fully owned.”

“Do it well, or not at all.”

“Don't confuse owning the day with figuring out ways to squeeze out more and more productivity in less and less time. Owning is not about working more. It's about living a full and fulfilled life – one that speaks to what our bodies need most, which, yes, includes meaningful bursts of productivity, but also includes the rich and joyful connection that other people give us. If you don't connect with others, then you can't own the day. Plain and simple.”

“F*ck exercise. Exercise is for puppies and babies. We need to train.”

“Flexibility of thought is one of the greatest attributes any human being can have, scientist or otherwise. It's the ability to take those deeply engraved opinions, and overwrite them with new and better information. Our brains are malleable enough for that task; you just have to bring the goal into awareness.”

“Focus on the micro and the macro takes care of itself.”

“For overall health and optimal mood and physical performance, you need to pair any sugar you consume with something that slows its absorption into the body – and the two things that do that are fat and fiber.”

“Ginger has the ability to speed up the time it takes your stomach to pass food to your digestive tract by up to 50%.”

“Have you ever gotten up from the toilet after a bowel movement and inspected your work? Have you ever been able to tell, by its contents, exactly what you ate a few hours earlier? Maybe some corn kernels. Some threads of spinach. Some almond slivers or carrot chunks. If you can see it, it means you didn't digest it, which usually means you ate too fast.”

“Here are some foods with high dietary nitrate levels that are easily converted into the biological signal of nitric oxide: beets, pumpkin seeds, Swiss chard, arugula, watermelon, red wine, and dark chocolate.”

“If time be of all things the most precious, wasting time must be the greatest prodigality.”

“If we allow the inner critic to punish us every time we fail to meet the standards of perfection, we'll stop trying altogether. We'll decide that it is better to pretend that it's someone else's fault, hiding behind excuses and rationalizations.

If we know that when we fail, we will forgive ourselves, then we get to play from inspiration rather than fear. We'll be able to look our mistakes in the eye, take the medicine, and move on.”

“If we tell our body something is poison, it becomes more poisonous. If we convince ourselves that it is healthy, it becomes more healthy. This is not to say that the reality of a food or situation doesn't matter. Molecular biology still exists – it's a real thing – but the mind isn't a passive bystander.”

“If you are into alcohol and marijuana, you aren't breaking the law, and you still want to own your day, after your workout is the perfect time to have a drink or smoke a little of the sticky icky... The key is: a little.”

“If you don’t eat fat, you’re probably fat.”

“If you start a book, and you don't like it, do not continue to read it just because you bought it.”

“In 1822, according to Dr. Stephan Guyenet, people consumed on average the amount of sugar currently found in a single can of Coke or Sprite every five days. Today, we consume that amount every seven hours.”

“Know the plants, know yourself, be honest, and decide the terms of your relationship with them. If it can be healthy, it will enhance more than just your performance, and you'll have an advantage in everything you do for as long as you live.”

“Morning Mineral Cocktail:
- 12 ounces filtered water
- 3 grams sea salt
- 1/4 lemon, squeezed”

“My favorite study is a 2008 British experiment in which they compared a nap, a cup of coffee, and more nighttime sleep, to see what would happen to people's afternoon energy levels and concentration. The nap – yes, the nap! – won.”

“No sugary stuff for breakfast. Period. Instead, we need to add fats back into our diet in sugar's place. Yep, you heard me, fats. Fats fats fats fats. Get used to the word, because you are going to hear it a lot.

Make this simple substitution – fat for sugar – and you will have the sustained, balanced energy to power you all the way up to lunch. And if you can't find a way to make this happen, then skip breakfast entirely.”

“Once you embrace the grind, whatever your grind may be, all of the sudden it isn't so bad. It is never pain that is the problem; it is the suffering caused by the resistance to that pain.”

“Our entire culture is built on the elimination of the difficult and the pursuit of the comfortable.”