One Step Challenge

You might have heard of the 10,000 step challenge (to get people off the couch and more active). Perhaps even the seven steps to success (a process for goal setting and maintaining momentum). But what about the one step challenge?

The one step challenge is really simple: Make one small change right now that will take you one step closer to your goal.

Easy huh? Here are some guidelines to make it work:

Make it small - don’t try to change the world.

Choose something small and achievable.

Make it sustainable - choose something you know you can do now, and that you’re ready to do.

Don’t try to change things you’re not ready for.

Make it permanent - build that change into your life and routine so it become a permanent part of who you are and what you do.

Here are some examples of 1 step changes in action:

Gavin now makes his lunch three times a week

Gavin used to buy his lunch every day.

Sometimes he made good nutritional choices, but often he got tied up at work and didn’t get out for lunch until mid afternoon by which time the fast food cravings had got hold of him.

By making his lunch Gavin has better food choices available, and it’s on hand to grab when he needs it rather than having to wait Gerrard Smith until he can get out of the office.

Gavin decided to make lunch three times a week because that was achievable to start with.

The reality is he often makes it five days a week now, but three is still the absolute minimum.

All it took was to decide and to buy a few extra things at the supermarket each week.

Petra now has two dedicated stretch sessions per week

Petra has a history of injuries and was a regular customer at the local physio.

When the physio asked how much stretching she did the reply was always “not as much as I should”.

Petra knew stretching was important to her rehab and maintenance, but was often unmotivated to do it on her own.

To get over this Petra joined a Yoga class where she made new friends who helped keep her on track with regular stretching.

As well as attending the weekly Yoga class, Petra now gets together with her friends another night each week for “stretching and dessert” which has been a great incentive to make the second session happen.

Pete does not drink on a Friday night

Friday night was always a social night for Pete.

But a few beers after work with his mates on a Friday night usually turned into more.

As a result he would often skip swim squad on a Saturday morning, and be a bit “under the weather” for the ride that followed.

Pete’s one step challenge was to not drink on a Friday night.

He still meets up with his mates on a Friday night, but by not drinking that night he’s now also making better decisions about what they do for dinner, and getting to bed at an appropriate time so he can train the next day.

Pete hasn’t given up alcohol.

He still enjoys a beer on other nights of the week, but he made the decision that Friday nights were ruining his weekend training so that was one small change he was prepared to make.

So what’s the 1 step change you can make right now?

Don’t put it off and think about it tomorrow.

Within the next 10 seconds I bet you can come up with a handful of small simple changes you can make that will take you one step closer to your goal.

Nutrition? Bed time? Training habits? There’s all sorts of options.

Pick one right now and put it into action.

Do it for three weeks so it becomes a habit, then pick another one and do the same.

Take one small step towards your goal now.

Then take another step towards it soon.

Keep taking small steps and very soon you’ll reach that goal.