Welcome to afitnewyou! Today I want to help you feel a little less overwhelmed with all that you want to accomplish. As great as it may seem to want to make lots of changes in your life all at once, it is also very common for vast amounts of changes to lead to greater amounts of failure. There a number of reasons for this. So, a better approach to achieving all that you want to accomplish, is to actually start in small increments that will have a cumulative effect. My recommendation is to put all of your available energy and focus into achieving one daily goal.
Multitaskers are notorious for thinking that they can accomplish more than they actually can. Now while they may be able to get a lot done, they may not be doing as good a job at any one task if they were only focusing on just that one thing. This is where the saying "don't spread yourself too thin" is often used. You may think you can take on a lot, but it the end, you would have been better off with just focusing on one task at a time. Even within a single moment it is important to put your attention to what matters most. This is why you aren't allowed to text and drive...sure you might be able to do it, but you aren't able to do either one as well than when you are doing just the one; you need to focus solely on the driving because that is the most important task at that time. Making changes in your daily routine to help you achieve your fitness goals might not be the immediate life and death venture that texting and driving is, but it requires just as much focus and attention because it centers around doing something that you normally wouldn't do.
There is also a psychological component in play here as well. Our bodies have a physiological response to reward. And when we accomplish something that we set out to do, it "feels good" not just mental / emotionally, but physically as well due to the chemical response that our brain's trigger when we achieve something. Although it may seem that there is a higher potential for success if we set up 10 goals to accomplish within a day, the opposite is often the case because we may be trying to achieve too all at once. Instead, if we set up one goal, that we can put all of our effort and attention towards, it will be easier to achieve, allowing us to get that pleasurable sense from reward. Furthermore, there tends to be a greater sense of accomplishment going "one-for-one" over missing "nine out-of-ten" even though either way, you still "made one." People are funny; most will center their thoughts on what they had missed rather than what they had achieved. But when we feel accomplished, we are then geared up even more the next day to tackle something new.
Were you ever in a work situation, where you were asked specifically to do something? And after that initial task, more and more kept getting added to the list? Think about how that made you feel. Think about how each item that got added to the list made you feel not just mental / emotionally, but physically as well. Very quickly it can become overwhelming. So don't ask so much of yourself all at once either. Give yourself a simple goal, a daily one, that is achievable. One that makes you say "I got this!" When you are able to focus on that one goal, you are setting yourself up to achieve it. And that will make it easier to achieve the next one, and everyone one after that if you follow that same plan.
There are seven days in a week; 365 days in a year. You can accomplish all of your goals if you make a plan of attack for each one. Use all of the days in the week, or month, or even year to get you to where you want to go. Keep in mind that doing them all at once could be overwhelming and result in failure. Instead, give your undivided attention to one goal today. You will literally feel much better about yourself and your fitness goals when you accomplish even just that one goal. Ride that sense of success day-by-day to achieve a fit new you!
