I spent at least five years of my life very overweight.
During that time, I experienced repeated emotional swings surrounding weight loss. I would have some experience which made me feel terrible about myself and would vow to do whatever it took to lose weight. I ate very little for a few days, and then without fail I went back to my old ways when I didn’t see an immediate drop in the scale.
Over time, this approach created the false belief that I was completely stuck and nothing I did would ever make a difference. I stopped trying to improve my health in any way.
When I was 19, I had a big health scare which made losing weight immediately very important to me. However, I approached this experience much differently than my past “attempts” to lose weight. Instead of trying to do everything at once and expecting immediate results, I picked just two things I felt would make the biggest impact: I started exercising almost every day and I started tracking my food.
After taking these two simple actions consistently for a month, I finally achieved the progress I had been unsuccessfully chasing for years. This small taste of success got me out of my rut and helped fuel me during the many months and years of change that followed. Taking a few small but important actions got me moving toward my goal, even though I didn’t have all the answers at the start or know where I was going to end up.
Action can bring you out of a slump.
We all go through periods in our lives when the world seems to be conspiring against us. We may be wrestling with overwhelm and uncertainty at work, grieving the loss of a loved one or a failed relationship, struggling with our finances, dealing with the impacts of health issues, or some combination of other stressors. Perhaps our lives are generally okay but we haven’t made much progress in the gym or with our weight loss goals. It’s tough to find the motivation or inspiration to change when we feel as if nothing is making much of a difference.
One of the best things we can do if we feel stuck is to take action. Action has a way of improving our mood and motivating us to do more than we thought we could. Taking the first step forward is usually the hardest part.
Think of the principle of inertia, which states that an object at rest tends to stay at rest and an object in motion tends to stay in motion, unless acted upon by an outside force. Doing something is the outside force which pushes us out of a stationary position. After the initial action, it’s much easier to keep moving.
If you’ve been feeling down in the dumps, your first step could simply be pulling yourself away from Netflix or social media and getting out of the house. Knock out some errands that have been piling up. Make plans to grab coffee with a friend. Do something fun you haven’t made time for in a while. Bonus points if this is something physical, like bowling or rock climbing, as physical activity has a powerful mood-boosting effect.
If you are feeling stuck in regards to your health and fitness goals, pick one thing you can do today you know would move you closer to your goal. This may mean dialing your efforts back if you have been trying to do everything at once and aren’t able to stick with it. Choose something you know with absolute certainty you can do, even if it seems ridiculously small or easy. I elaborate below.
Action can combat information overload.
Sometimes we have too much information about how to move forward and it paralyzes us. We wonder which first step is the “best” and will get the fastest results, or we read too much conflicting information and are confused about how to move forward at all. Our fear of making mistakes keeps us stuck in place. This is especially true in health and fitness, where everyone has an opinion and contradictory information abounds.
Recognize there are many paths that will get you to your destination. Instead of wasting time looking for the best way, choose a way that seems clear and reasonable given what you know right now, and act on it. You will be much better off if you are farther down the path and have to make some changes than if you stay where you are and do nothing out of fear.
Another helpful action to take to limit information overload is to go on an information diet. Instead of reading anything you can get your hands on about your goal, choose a small group of thought leaders, coaches, and experts whose work really resonates with you and ignore everybody else.
Start with no more than 5 people. If you find the messages of these people conflict, cut some out until you have a core group whose work compliments each other and seems most relevant to you and your goals. It can be tough to ignore all of the noise and shiny objects floating around on the internet, but cutting down your information intake will give you much needed clarity on the actions that will have the most impact for you.
Action can be small.
The Japanese principle of “kaizen” values small, continuous improvement to foster positive growth and change. Adopting this mindset is one of the most powerful things we can do to grow as people. Rather than waiting for the big, life-changing moments to catapult us forward, we empower ourselves to grow a small percentage every day. In time, this continuous investment in ourselves adds up.
Focus on small daily actions. You don’t need big leaps forward to improve yourself or reach a goal. In fact, you will likely experience more success if you focus on small changes which compound over time. Learning to trust and love the process makes it more likely you will build long-term, sustainable healthy habits and won’t just go back to your old ways when you achieve your goal.
Set big, long-term goals and then break them down into stages, levels, or parts. Brainstorm all the little things you need to do to achieve each step. Then, take action. Start working on mastering the daily and weekly practices and “forget” about your bigger goal.
A tactic you can use to take action today.
“Five, three, first” is a practice you can use to determine which action step to take right away. Here’s how it works:
- Make a list of five actions you can take that will move you toward your goal. These should be specific – think “three strength training sessions per week” vs “exercise more.”
- Next, narrow this list down to the three things you think would make the biggest difference for you right now.
- Finally, pick the one item from this list you are most confident you can do right away. On a scale of 1-10, you should be at a 9-10 that you can handle this one thing. Get started as soon as you can. Focus on nailing just this one action step for a couple of weeks before adding more to your plate.
You will, of course, get to all five changes on your list (and more) eventually. Selecting one task doesn’t mean those other things aren’t important. Instead, you are simply choosing to narrow your focus and eliminate overwhelm so you can act right away. This builds positive momentum and makes it easier to take more action and make more changes down the road.
If you’re feeling stuck, pick one thing to do today. Get out of the house, connect with other people, knock some things off your to-do list, or take the first step toward building healthier habits. There is tremendous power in taking action, and I guarantee taking this small step will help you feel at least a little bit of forward momentum.
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