Starting can be the biggest challenge for any of our undertakings. We think about it, we talk about it, but sometimes we simply don’t do much. Yet overcoming this inertia is much easier than we might think. The secret is to change something that’s part of our inbuilt day-to-day living. The next question is: What should I change first? The answer: The easiest thing.
For you, that might be simply drinking more water. Put the amount of water you want to drink that day into a container (or more than one if you need to) and plan to drink as much as you can as early in the day as possible. If I’m not more than halfway through my water by morning tea time I find it a real struggle to consume my planned quota. My way of dealing with that is to drink water first thing in the morning. Sometimes I have a cup of tea first, but often the first glass of water is drunk even before I’m properly awake. A mug of hot water instead of tea some time during the day is another way to get the pure water down.
Or if you decide you want to eat more fruit, perhaps you’ll decide to have a piece of fruit instead of baked goods with morning tea. Morning tea then becomes the trigger for eating fruit.
Decide what you’re going to change first and do the one thing that’s required before the action can take place. If it’s to drink more water, find your container now, fill it and put it in a designated place that will remind you to do some serious slurping during the day. If it’s taking fruit to work, pack it in your bag or make a trip to the store to buy a supply.
Doing the simple things to set yourself up for putting your decision into action makes the action itself easier and more intuitive. Simple changes can be powerful. So it comes down to three steps: Commit, prepare, act. And of course, start now.