How do you start? You just start!

We all want to be better. We all want to improve our lives. We all know we should eat better. We all know we should exercise. But it is just so damn hard to get started!

I can procrastinate with the best of them. I had been meaning to start this blog for months. I got hung up on what I was going to call it. Where would register the domain. Who I should host my site with. I spent two weeks looking at different themes. I nearly bought a new laptop. That could have wasted another couple of weeks! There were lots of things I thought I had to get right before I could start. There wasn’t. I just needed to start.

So, what do you do about this? How do you get started?

What I have found is……. there is no secret, there is no special app, and there is no life hack that is going to get you going.

Now, that is not what you really wanted to hear, is it. I’m sorry. You do have to do one small thing.

What you have to do is to make a decision about what you want to change. Do it today, not tomorrow. That is the biggest challenge. To make the initial decision! Sticking to the decision is also hard, but there are things and people that can help you out with that.

One of the best things I have found to do this is to write it down. This may be exercising more, eating a better diet or taking that language class you have been talking about for years. Writing it down, really does help. It helps you commit. Committing your goals to writing is not the end-game. But it is the beginning.

What to do once you have made the decision and goal setting is a blog post its own right. I am not a life coach, so I am not going to list 5 things to get you to your goal; I just want to give you some inspiration to get started.

So what is it that I really want to do? What do I want to start?

What to start running? Did you watch the London Marathon this year? That is what motivated me to get running. You have 12 months to get there. The ballot opens on Monday 2^nd May until 17:00 on Friday 6^th May. What’s the worst that could happen? At least you entered!

Don’t fancy that? You have not run since cross county at school. Find a pair of trainers and get out the front door (again this is the hard bit) and run between two lamp posts and then walk between two lamp posts for 5 minutes. Try and go a bit further the next time. Try the NHS Couch to 5km app and podcasts. If you don’t want to do it on your own. Sign up to parkrun (free 5km run in a park near you). Actually, you don’t even have to sign up, just turn up. I find my local parkrun very inspirational.

Do you want to improve your diet? Do you want to eat my veg? Try making a vegetarian meal for dinner two days in a week. Swap the lunch time chocolate for some fruit. Have a green smoothie in the morning.

Do not let the fact that you do not have a blender stop you. I had been saying I wanted to start making green smoothies for a year or so. I procrastinated again by saying I had no space in my kitchen and I had to research it to find the best one at the best price, but I finally just stopped messing around and just bought one. It was a great decision and I should have done it much sooner! Too expensive? The Breville VBL075 Blend Active Blender is around £20 (that’s a round of drinks for 4 people in London) and has great reviews. It’s not a Vitamix, but it looks like it does the job.

Do you want to read more? Why not read on your commute to work. Go to bed 30 minutes earlier. Have you tried audiobooks? You can get a free book on the Audible 30 day trial (NOTE – this is a subscription service. You will need to cancel it, otherwise you will be charged). Then you can listen to books when you are working around the house or cooking. More information about Audible is here. A great tip is to become a member of your local library. The books are free and you don’t clutter your house up with unwanted books.

I am not saying that making a change is easy, I struggle with it myself. I would much rather eat chocolate than an apple. There is no truer saying than “It’s supposed to be hard. If it were easy, everyone would do it”. If it was easy, no one would have invented personal trainers.

Yes, you are going to have to carve a bit of time out. If you want to start exercising, it’s going to hurt a little bit, but sore quads are better than that feeling that you should have really gone for that run this morning, but didn’t!

You just need to start! You won’t regret it!