Health and fitness has become this giant thing looming over all of us. There is a never ending stream of gyms, diets, supplements, workouts, etc. All of which are accompanied by articles, blogs, podcasts, videos, and more. Everything is geared towards getting things done fast. How to quickly lose weight, how to quickly put on muscle, how to quickly workout in such a way that you get taller, tanner, and reduce your car insurance. It’s all a bunch of bull-shit.

Well folks, I’m here to add one more thing to that steaming pile. The difference is, my advice isn’t going to specify any gym, diet, supplements, or workouts. It’s not going to work quickly, and it’s not going to reduce your car insurance payments. It’s not glamorous or fun.

My advice: take small steps towards being better.

That’s it.

The biggest mistake I see people making when it comes to health and fitness is trying to drastically change the way they live overnight. For some people that works, but for the majority of us it doesn’t. Don’t try to go from no physical activity to working out every day. Don’t try to go from eating whatever you want to only eating healthy food. Don’t quit habits cold turkey, and don’t try to pick up new ones at full speed.

The thing is, health and fitness is being botched by everything and everyone who comes up with quick and easy ways to lose this, or gain that. Health and fitness isn’t going to be accomplished by one-off tasks. They aren’t something you check off a list and then stop worrying about. Being healthy and fit are lifestyles. If you want to be healthy you need to live healthily. No amount of “quick and easy steps” are going to make that happen.

If you want to be healthier and get fit make small changes. If you drink three sodas a day, cut back to two. Do that until it’s a habit, then think about cutting another one out. If you don’t eat enough salads try adding a salad to a meal once or twice a week. Find a type of salad that you enjoy. Try adding it to more meals over time. Before you take another step to change something, make sure the changes you’ve already made have become part of your norm. It’s not about cutting things out, or adding them in for a certain amount of time, or weight loss, it’s about conditioning yourself for the long haul.

Adapt the same strategy to working out. If you don’t work out then don’t start by trying to go to the gym every day. Start small. Add in a walk in your afternoon or evenings. Try jogging on a set day every week. If you do start going to the gym experiment with lifts and workouts. Don’t put yourself in a box and make yourself do things that you don’t enjoy. Again, the goal is to change your lifestyle. If you don’t enjoy what you are doing for fitness then you’ll never make it part of your normal behavior.

You can apply this to more than health and fitness. Work on making chores a more habitual behavior. Apply it to social interactions. Find a way to use it to lower your car insurance. The point is, stop thinking about changes as having end goals. While there may be people out there that couldn’t eat any healthier if they tried, or couldn’t workout any more than they already do, for most of us we can take those small steps and create habits forever and still have room to improve. Remove the idea that one day you’ll be done, and instead think about it as everyday you are getting better and there is no limit to your success. Take a small step, let it become part of you, then take another.