It’s very likely that you have wellness activities you are planning to start with one day soon. It may be cutting down on smoking, drinking less alcohol, starting a workout program, cutting out red meat, or ice cream, potato chips, French fries – or whatever weakness is holding you back from being fit and having the body nature intended you to have (fitter, leaner, more definition, more energetic, vibrant – being at the top of your game). The best advice I can give you is: Start Now. It’s not about starting next Monday, or next month, or when the kids go back to school, or after your daughter’s wedding, or once your new job begins, or after the summer holidays, etc.

The way that it really gets done is by starting right now. Start the new habit now. Discard the idea of starting tomorrow or one day soon. That is known as “tomorrow’s logic”. The truth is, you will be the same person tomorrow with the same challenges you have today. The notion that somehow magically tomorrow it will be easier to make all these changes, and it will be smooth sailing after that, is nothing more than a little psychological trick people play on themselves. It doesn’t work. It’s a myth. Real change happens by starting now – by starting today.

You can start small, but start. A body in motion tends to stays in motion. A body at rest stays at rest. The most important step is the first step, and it can be the toughest. Remember things often get harder before they get easier. This is very true regarding starting an exercise program and consistently making dietary changes, but eventually it does get easier and becomes a habit.

But you have to start now. It’s not about tomorrow. Tomorrow logic wastes time and creates the illusion that magically on Monday you will be this completely new person. You won’t be (the same temptations will exist). The trick is to start right now and don’t look back.  keep And keep adding every bit of new wellness information that makes sense to you, like news about a healthy food that compliments your diet, to what you are already doing. I recently added walnuts and other nuts to my daily checklist. The emerging evidence now shows that they play a key role in preventing heart disease and possibly cancer.

The truth is, everybody plans to work out and eat healthy tomorrow… and tomorrow… and tomorrow… just not today. That is the problem. Tomorrow quickly becomes today, and tomorrow logic continues to trick you into thinking you’re going start tomorrow, but tomorrow becomes today, and it’s not yet tomorrow, so you don’t start. “Now” is an unpopular time to start, but it is the best – and most effective time.

So, go on to the Dashboard of the Meschino Wellness Platform and click on the Daily Wellness Checklist. There you can set out the exact wellness strategies you plan to start implementing immediately. Start small. Remember that you can always add things to it later as you gather momentum. But right now start with foods, beverages, exercise and supplement items you know are the key things to address for you. Then check them off at the end of each day to keep yourself compliant and accountable.

One last thing: You’ll notice that you might feel anxious on a day when you haven’t started your exercise program yet, and you know you planned to, which can make you more reluctant to start. The feeling of anxiety can actually lead you to procrastinate further. The trick is to just start the process. When you do, the anxiety disappears and you accomplish the goal. Don’t let that feeling of anxiety hold you back. The solution is to take the first step. Put your gym clothes in the bag, drive to the gym, get on your exercise bike and start, even if you have to tell yourself I will do less today. Just get started and see where it takes you on that day. With exercise, success is simply taking the first step, over and over each day. Just getting to the gym and changing clothes and getting on to the gym floor is often more challenging mentally than the workout itself. That is why having a ritual and making it a habit (which uses minimal mental energy) is so vital.

So if you haven’t done it yet, click on the Daily Wellness Checklist and identify the food, beverage, exercise and supplement strategies you intend to start following each day. And guess what – Start Now, Start Today (not tomorrow). Tomorrow logic doesn’t work. Starting now does.

Eat Smart, Live Well, Look Great

Dr. James Meschino
DC,MS, ROHP