Start with one day and start small

If you’re trying to make some new changes, please stop telling yourself,

“I’ll never eat sugar again.”

“I’ll never drink again.”

“I’m going to workout the rest of my life every day.”

“I’m going to read one book every week for the rest of the year.”

STOP.

These life-changing, permanent goals make you feel great while saying them, but you will fail.

It’s tough to give something up forever or to make a permanent life change like the ones above. It’s almost impossible when you frame it in that way.

So instant, start with today.

It’s easy to give up or do something for one day.

Write out a schedule of the day. What you’re going to do, what you’re going to eat, what you’re going to listen to and read. It will surprisingly take you 5–10 minutes.

Now, think about what is going to get in your way of hitting that plan.

How will you handle those situations? What emotions will you feel? Visualize. This will take you another 5–10 minutes.

Now go do it.

If it went well, ask yourself if you could do it again. If so, plan out tomorrow and execute.

If it didn’t go well, it’s ok. Just reflect on where in your preparation you went wrong. Can you prepare better next time? Is it a situation you just need to avoid totally? Can you start even smaller than what you planned?

10 minutes at the gym.

One more healthy meal than yesterday.

One more page than yesterday.

Saving $10 more than last month.

This is where the wins come in. You build momentum for your life by creating smaller wins every day. You need to see success to continue down the good path.

This shit is a daily battle. Even when you have it figured out something will come up and disrupt the status quo. Stop worrying about a year from now or even a week from now, focus on today.