There will always be something….

There will always be something that can derail you, distract you, stop you, hinder you, be a reason to put off starting. Always. The thing is, if there is always something, you might never start.

Sometimes we have to learn to adjust to these derailments, get back on the horse and keep going. Of course, you do need to assess the derailment and adjust accordingly – a broken arm would be a bigger derailment than a cold. But ultimately, whatever gets in the way will be handled better, will be absorbed better, if we are healthy in body, mind and spirit.

People often have goals that they want to achieve and they make a start and then something happens and it throws them off track, back to where they started. If this happens enough times, we lose momentum, or worse, we think we weren’t meant to achieve those goals, or that it is too hard, and we give up.

There will always be something to get in the way of you achieving your goals. There are the big things: a deadline at work; a family member that needs your help; a bug doing the rounds in your household.

There are smaller things too. You might have found yourself thinking you’ll join the gym when you’ve lost a few kilos, you’ll go out for a walk after you’ve done the washing, you’ll start after the weekend because you’ve got a party to go to.

The thing is, if you keep putting it off, you’ll never get there because the next project will come up at work, someone else will need your help, you’ll catch another cold – or have to care for a family member whilst they have one. There will always be housework to do and unless you become a hermit, there will always be social events on your calendar.

Try thinking of it this way: you don’t have to do everything, hit all the targets, be perfect, to make a start. Making a start is taking just one step, and then you don’t have to break into a run, imagine you’re on a rickety wooden bridge, or a tightrope, you don’t run, you take your time, you find your balance, and you take the next step when you’re ready.

I’ll be honest with you that most big health and fitness goals involve taking those steps at a run, you have to hit the targets of getting your steps in, doing your resistance training, getting your nutrition right, drinking enough water, getting enough sleep, managing your stress levels. But every run starts with a first step, and if you aren’t used to running, you start off with walking and you build up to the run.

If you adopt the same principle to your health and fitness goals, start with small steps, start with something simple, and build up from there. Every person who looks like they’re achieving their goals with ease, started with one step. Take your first step, take the pressure off yourself with regards to ever running, and just see what you can achieve by walking.