Meet Andrea Marcellus
and the 5 Life Strategies
behind every AND/life™
product and service!
15 years ago, Andrea began tossing out shoulds, conventions and expectations to develop a more rewarding approach to both fitness and daily life. The Result?
5 Life Strategies that level up your life as a whole by cultivating
strength and calm – both physically and mentally.
The opposite of a one-size fits all approach to wellness, Andrea's strategies are designed to help uncover YOUR BEST SELF and put you on YOUR BEST PATH forward and upward.
Practice Personal Authenticity
Getting more out of life means knowing who you are, what you like and how you excel so you can use your strengths unapologetically and to your greatest advantage. But personal authenticity isn’t just about who you are... it’s also about who you are not. Life gets cluttered by others’ expectations, creating confidence- eroding areas of supposed “lack” or “shortcomings” in our minds about ourselves.
While continuously working on our “less than best” qualities is a must, true freedom comes from creating positive parameters through self-knowledge. The key is to check in daily about your true nature and desires: how did you spent your time, what made you feel happy, when did you feel most like yourself, when did you feel like you were trying to be someone you’re not? Recognizing and then honoring the patterns that emerge from your daily answers will help power your life forward.
Andrea Marcellus
Fitness & Wellbeing Expert and Author
Andrea’s mission is to help you climb out from under your to-do lists to discover what you’re truly capable of becoming – and have the time to make it happen.
I was a life strategist and fitness expert with 25 years’ experience and clients on a waitlist, and also a writer, actress, parent, friend and person just like everyone else who struggles to be and do all that they feel capable of… and still have a respectable social life. In other words, I get it.
By the time I’d finish each day, I was pretty drained. Seriously, where does the time go? Not to mention energy, money, and our waistlines the morning after we eat a bowl of pasta or indulge in a brownie (or three) which used to be not a problem… I know you hear me on this.
Daily life has a way of becoming more of a workout on a treadmill than a walk on the beach. Even if you enjoy both, too often you don’t get to choose. And you find yourself doing the “big sigh” at the end of every day – that unconscious, deep breath our body forces us to take to try to lighten the weight. And yet still we feel tethered. Unable to dream big anymore because of practicalities and honest exhaustion.
The code I developed to lift myself -- five learnable principles – moved me beyond a “to-do list” life to a “what do I want to do” lifestyle. And that idea – that our lives are still in our own hands, a matter of choice, and that we are, in fact, in charge – is the first step to feeling lighter both physically and mentally.
– Andrea Marcellus
Live The Rule of Awesome
Do what’s awesome... and if it’s not awesome, don’t do it. (Unless it’s for your family or you kids, in which case we gladly do all sort of sacrificial anythings and everythings!) But when it comes to yourself, whether it’s chocolate cake, new shoes, a potential new client, a social event... if it doesn’t make you feel fabulous, don’t do it.
A truly profound concept, this life rule is all about becoming more discerning and economical in terms of choices. Not only is it a great strategy for avoiding “what should I wear” moments and handling a buffet while you’re trying to lose weight, it establishes a technique for making decisions with clarity and purpose. The Rule of Awesome helps maximize your time and resources while also diffusing the potential for energy-sapping resentments and regrets in life.
Strategizing Habits
A major life de-stressor and time-preserver is learning to cut daily decision-making in half, if not more, by narrowing choices wherever possible. Indecision equals wasted time. With daily life already moving at lightning speed, the cost of time not well-spent is steep.
It’s the difference between going to sleep every night feeling content about today and prospective about tomorrow... or waking up in a panic in the middle of the night wondering where the time went and feeling like life is passing you by.
Meals you eat alone, go-to outfits, exercise regimens... you can significantly enrich your life by turning not-so-consequential tasks into habit instead of decisions that suck up precious time, energy and mental bandwidth you could be spending on things that are more exciting and fulfilling.
Develop Oppositional Stablity
Stress and conflict management strategies are essential to getting the most out of life – and efficiency in doing so means more time to spend more time on things you enjoy. Rooted in the Pilates concept that, for your body to bend freely in one direction, energy must first initiate in the opposite direction to establish a solid base from which to move, this principle helps you find solid, unemotional, middle-ground from which to operate during life’s stressful moments.
Obstacles present the greatest opportunities to strengthen. Rather than being feared, they are to be welcomed and embraced.Whether our challenges come from spouses, children, colleagues, pants you’re trying to squeeze into, a second glass of wine calling your name, that trip you want to take but don’t think you can afford... we run into stop signs every single day. And when we are struck by a “no” in life, instinct tells us to do one of three things:
1) Run
2) Become immobile
3) Look for something heavy to throw at the offending party. (Just kidding.)
But there is a very effective fourth option: moving your mind in the opposite direction first. The approach is simple: start by saying yes. Agree with every part of the other person’s side so you can focus solely on points of difference and get to resolution faster. This “bend so you don’t break” strategy allows you to first develop empathy for your adversary and understanding around the subject, diffusing your own emotional pressure. Logic then has space to exist, providing balance and allowing you to move far more efficiently, freely and painlessly... and oftentimes in the direction you most want.
