Little Steps Add Up

A Chinese proverb says, "The march of a thousand miles begins with a single step." The same may be said about taking care of your health. As with that march, there are many things we can do, but often only a few we can do right now.

When we are eating, stop a little sooner or make one (or more) better choices than you would have in the past. When you are driving your car, slow down a little. If you're running late, that extra 5 or 10 mph won't get you where you're going meaningfully faster, but may increase the likelihood of an accident. If you're exercising, try to go 3 or 5 or 10 minutes longer. These little things make a world of difference over the long-term.

Many years ago, I was at a YMCA, and heard an instructor respond to a question as follows: "How long will it take me to lose the weight?" and the reply was, "How long did it take you to put it on?" The message was that short-term fixes usually don't work, but long-term can, and often does work. You must learn different eating patterns. It's easy and painless, but you must learn and live with the things you've learned.

If you do this, you can succeed at getting your health under control.