Keywords: Mental health, nutrition, physical activity
Author: Gabe Rummel
Introduction
One step at a time can have many meanings. It is very important to consider for your life.
Everyone living life can utilize using one step at a time in their daily life.
In this post, we’ll define what one step at a time actually means, show how it is used related to nutrition and physical activity, and how you can utilize it today.
What is it?
One step at a time is a saying that is sometimes thrown around. It is very useful when considering what people go through in their daily life; day to day, week to week, or year to year.
One step at a time can help ease your mind by not stressing about everything you have to get done or have planned over the next days, weeks, or even your plans for the next years!
What is the problem?
Thinking about these events that are in the future is very problematic and can turn into a negative feedback loop. These are events that you can not control.
These events are in the future, and you can not do much about them. Of course, you can plan how you will tackle the event, and you can prepare for the event, but until the time comes that it is time to work on the event, you can not do much.
This overthinking is generally the cause of the problem. Instead of doing events in the current moment, people worry about and strive for the events far down the line.
This overstriding does not have to be a problem, but it is when you let it stress you out, let it take over what you think and do.
Thinking you can take five huge steps and reach your goal instead of one step at a time may be the biggest dilemma in the nutrition and exercise realm. It is a big cause of mental health for those two reasons and others.
What is a solution?
Focusing on objectives one step at a time! What this means is instead of striving and stressing about that goal that is a week from now, think about what you can do now to help aid the goal for the future.
A great example of this being very literal was my marathon training. When I was training for the race and had to run 16, 18, or even 20-mile runs, I could not think about the 16 miles or two and a half hours I had left to still run when I was four miles or 30 minutes into the workout.
Instead, I had to think about taking, literally, one step at a time. In the end, I will still finish the workout, so instead of stressing about how much longer I still have to go, I just focus on the next step and then the next.
Eventually, one mile will be down, then another, eventually I will have run ten miles, etc.
It is the same for other real-life events. Instead of straining your mental health to try and tackle the hard project that is weeks out, or the end goal of five whole years down the line, just take it one step at a time.
When you do this, you can figure out what you are capable of doing in the present moment to aid the future. You also do not, and should not lose focus of that long-term goal or event, just do not let that be the only thing your attention is on!
How is this related to nutrition?
Everyone wants to eat better. Everyone wants to hop on the newest “best diet ever” because it will get them to lose thirty pounds in thirty days, and then the diet will change their whole life.
Not exactly. This strategy is how it goes south, fast. The individual has their long-term goal of losing X amount of body weight. A better solution would be to just focus on the now and lose the one pound of weight for the week.
Or even better, do not necessarily focus on weight gain, loss, or even the fad diet. Focus on changing your overall eating pattern and adding healthier foods to your eating pattern that may start to substitute other not-as-healthy foods.
How is this related to physical activity?
Physical activity is another kicker. Everyone sees the Instagram model or the Instagram fitness influencer posing for a picture. But fewer people know that they have been working out to reach that physique for years.
The Instagram fitness influencers also have the perfect lighting, angles, and great cameras. These excuses are not to say you can not reach that level, but it is to say it takes time.
Instead of trying to get six-pack abs in a week, or becoming more flexible in a month, realize it will take time!
Instead, just strive for small behavioral goals that will help you stay motivated to keep performing the tasks at hand to reach those long-term goals (more on this later).
What to do now?
Now it is time to figure out how to implement this strategy. Figure out what in your life stresses you out, and think about why. Are you stressing over an obstacle that you can not control at the moment?
If so, figure out what the best thing, if anything, you can do at the moment to make that task easier. Maybe there is nothing you can even do for that task at this time.
However, there probably is something you could do now to make the time for that stressful event easier.
For example, if you have a big speech due at the start of next week, some tactics you could do to make it less stressful and take it one step at a time could be:
Getting a time-consuming task that is due around that time done now so you can put more attention to your speech
Practice your speech in front of other people
Make sure you have freed up time closer to the end time to prepare more by working ahead in areas that you can
Other useful things for you to consider in taking daily life one step at a time would be to consider the things you are doing through a positive lens rather than a negative, like keeping the glass half full.
Hopefully, if you can do this, you can keep yourself in a positive mindset to tackle the little detailed events that will help the big picture.
Closing
Implement taking events and goals one step at a time rather than focusing on the overarching big picture. It is good to do that too, but do not let it be a burden.
If you can figure out ways that are individualized to your skills of taking events one step at a time it can help you in the long run.
Keep a positive attitude, especially when it comes to nutrition and exercise. These will take time to change, but if you take it one step at a time, then before you know it, you can look at the big picture and see how much you have progressed.
That is a goal of The Athletes Health, to help people change their behaviors to aid in their psychological well-being with nutrition and exercise. That is why this new relationship of health is being formed.
Call to action
Big pictures can be motivating but scary and stressful!
Keep the overall goal in your vision, but figure out small goals to get there.
Focus on just taking one step at a time in every event you do.
