One Small Step

Once upon a time, I decided to transform my life. I worked out a new healthy diet and a daily exercise regime, climbing a local hill every day. I was filled with motivation and enthusiasm. I stocked up with healthy food, got all my walking gear prepared and on the first day of the month I launched into it. The first day was good, I felt energised and positive. The second day went well too, but I was a little tired at the end of it. By the third day I was starting to feel the strain. My body wasn't used to this much exercise without rests, and the healthy food started to get a bit boring. I was craving the foods I wasn't allowed to eat. By the fourth day I felt shattered. My motivation had gone and my cravings got worse. I didn't last the week. I gave up, stopped walking and started tucking into the junk food again. It was too much for my body to take in one go.

Then I decided to try a different strategy. Instead of trying to change many things at once, I decided to change them one at a time. I decided to give up cheese. Gradually I cut down over a period of months, until I no longer ate it anymore. Then I tried the same thing with chocolate, which I thought would be impossible, having been a lifelong chocolate addict. I did the same thing, cutting down gradually. After a few months, I no longer ate chocolate anymore. In fact, a year later, someone bought me a bar of chocolate as a present. I put it on the table in front of me and it sat there for two weeks before I even felt tempted to open it. I ate a couple of blocks, then left it again. It took a further six weeks before I finished the chocolate! Clearly my addiction was broken. I still eat chocolate occasionally, and I still love the taste, but I'm no longer addicted to it.

I have many other examples I could share, but this lens would go on forever if I did. Suffice to say that the above proves my point. Changing a lot of things at one time is really hard work, and rarely sticks, but changing one thing at a time is easy. It's just a matter of phasing out bad habits and phasing in good ones. When you do it slowly it's easy. I've done the same with caffiene, a couple of times, but I keep starting again. I haven't beaten that habit yet.

Remember, most bad habits didn't start overnight, they developed over a long period of time, so it's impractical to expect to be able to change them overnight either. For example, gaining weight takes many years, so it's impractical to expect to lose it quickly, and even if you do, it's hard to keep the weight off. It's far better to tackle the problem in small steps. Increase exercise gradually, phase out bad foods gradually, reduce calories gradually, increase healthy foods gradually, and your weight will reduce gradually. It may not be quick, but it's not painful either.

The most important thing with any change, is to actually start doing it. No matter how slow or how small you start, gradually you pick up momentum and make good progress. But nothing happens if you don't even start, and that's often the hardest part. People have a habit of continuing to do whatever it is they're already doing. So once you start something, it becomes easy to continue.

There's a terrific quotation by Wolfgang Von Goethe, about the power of becoming commited and starting something:

"The moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occured. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one's favour, all manner of unforseen incidents and material assistance which no man could have dreamt could come his way. Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it, now!"