How To Take Action When it Feels Overwhelming
There are a lot of hurdles to overcome on your way to achieving a healthy lifestyle, but one of the biggest ones that a lot of people never overcome is to simply start.
Today, I’m going to unpack this hurdle and show you a simple way to “just do it” and start building momentum toward success!
Why is starting so hard?
Deciding to undertake a complete lifestyle change can feel so overwhelming, and for good reason! These are just a handful of reasons why starting your health and fitness journey is just so hard:
Conflicting Information: There’s a lot of helpful information that is instantly accessible on the internet, but a lot of it is conflicting, confusing or downright bad! We get it; it’s hard to know who to trust. After all, not everybody has your best interests in mind and are just trying to sell you a product so they can make money. Others might mean well, but without knowing your specific situation, body, and medical history, some otherwise good information might be harmful to you! This overload of information in itself can be paralyzing!
Lack of direction and guidance: To go along with the first point, if you don’t have a clear plan or direction, it will be easy to fizzle out and wonder if what you’re doing is actually working. In the same way, without proper guidance from a professional, it’s hard to know if you’re doing the right things to get to where you want. After all, everybody’s body is different and following generalized advice on the internet might not be the most efficient way for you to achieve lasting, sustainable transformation!
Mental energy: Doing something new takes an immense amount of mental energy. Your brain automates a lot of your every-day habits and actions to conserve energy, which is why it feels so much harder to try something new. For example, I bet it doesn’t take you much energy to make a meal that you’re familiar with, like spaghetti. You could probably cook it in fifteen minutes or less while still thinking about the laundry, answering questions from your kids, or talking on the phone with a friend. In contrast, if you try cooking a new recipe like honey garlic shrimp with sauteed vegetables and quinoa, it will take an enormous amount of effort compared to spaghetti. This principle applies to everything that a lifestyle transformation entails: going to the gym and learning new movements; going grocery shopping for new ingredients; establishing a new morning schedule; learning to meditate and reflect on your mindset. All these things take an enormous amount of mental energy up front before your brain can begin to automate them.
All-or-nothing mindset: Oftentimes when people make the decision to transform their body, they adopt an all-or-nothing mindset. They might try seven new recipes every week, promise to workout every day, drink a gallon of water, and give up their soda addiction all at once. With all the mental energy required to maintain these new actions, it’s nearly inevitable that they won’t tick all of the boxes they set for themselves. They might oversleep their alarm and miss their gym workout, or cave at the grocery store and buy those donuts. When that happens, they label themselves as a failure, and since they’ve already messed up, there’s no point in trying anymore. This leads them in a downward spiral of guilt, shame, and over-indulgence, followed by a promise to themselves to “get back on the wagon” next week or next month.
With all these obstacles, it’s a wonder anybody starts at all!
So, how can you take positive, sustainable action when it all feels so overwhelming?
How to Take Action
“The man (or woman!) who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.”
I love this Chinese proverb because it reminds me that in order to do the BIG thing (like kicking my alcohol addiction or starting my business), I really only have to focus on the small thing right in front of me.
It may feel like doing the small things (like drinking an extra cup of water each day) don’t amount to anything, but if you don’t focus on the small stones in front of you, you’ll never move the whole mountain.
Here’s now to leverage these ancient words of wisdom to help you overcome the hurdle of starting:
Find Your Mountain
Before you can start, it’s crucial to identify what your mountain is.
What’s your biggest goal? What’s that one thing that you’ve always wanted to be able to do? Maybe it's to lose weight. Maybe it's to run a marathon. Maybe it's to improve your overall health so you increase your chances of sticking around to watch your kids and grandkids grow up.
Whatever it is, it’s big and you want it.
Find Your Stone
Now let me ask you this: what do your stones look like? You know, the small, actionable, measurable steps it will take to reach your goal.
If you’re not sure yet, that’s okay! These are a lot harder to identify sometimes. Too often we think “I know what I want to do, I’ll just do it” without actually figuring out HOW we will do it.
Here are some tips for choosing your stones:
1. Make it Small: Don’t make it too complicated, or it will be difficult to do consistently!
2. Make it Measurable: Make sure it’s something tangible (like drink 64 oz of water a day) so you know for sure if you hit that step or not. If you choose something impossible to measure (like drink more water) you won’t be able to tell if you’re succeeding or not, and you won’t be able to build momentum!
3. Make it Fun: I’m a simple creature, so I love rewards! When you meet your measurable goal, celebrate! Treat yourself to a coffee date with a friend, an adorable plant for your desk, or get a mani-pedi. Whatever you choose, pick something small that will be sure to bring you joy (without negating your achievement, of course. If you’re quitting alcohol, maybe don’t celebrate by going to the bar.)
Find Your People
Our culture seems so bent on making us believe we have to do it all ourselves. We need to be mothers, have a career, volunteer, bring our kids to enriching activities, cook healthy meals 24/7 and keep a spotless, Instagram worthy house. All on our own!
But the truth is, nobody was meant to journey through this life alone, especially not when you’re undertaking a significant change! One of the biggest pieces of advice I can give you is in two parts:
1. Get a Guide: This goes back to our very first point of a plethora of conflicting, confusing, or downright unhelpful advice. Get a guide that you trust to work with you, learn about your life, and teach you how to work WITH your body and not against it.
2. Find your Tribe: This journey is not for the faint of heart. You will feel like giving up. You will cry and curse and wonder if it’s worth it. And when that happens, having a healthy support group can make or break your success! Find a tribe of people who support you, understand what you’re going through, and encourage you to never give up on your goals.
Your Choice
Now that you’ve read this blog post, you have a clear choice in front of you: you can continue in the endless cycle of trying to do it all yourself only to fail and spiral back to square one, or you can find your people, start by moving one small stone at a time, and watch as you scale that mountain once and for all!
What will it be?
Need help starting? Our coaches are ready to help you!
If you want to experience permanent transformation and feel like you could use some guidance on next steps, contact us and talk to one of our amazing coaches today for free. We help busy, hard-working people like you achieve freedom with food and sustainable success – for LIFE!
