Two days ago a friend asked me for advice about how to get started on their fitness journey. The short answer is to just start - the only thing that is doing the thing is doing the thing. Beyond that, I have found two approaches that work best for me: starting small or going big.

Starting small

Small actions taken consistently over long periods of time lead to big changes. That's the best formula for success that I have found. Start with small actions. Actions that you can take daily. The actions have to be sustainable. For example, sticking with fitness, start with a 10 minute walk each day. Make that a habit. Then you add on some pushups at the end of the walk. Then the walk turns into a jog. Before you know it, you're running 5 km and cranking out 50 pushups like it's nothing. The idea is consistency over intensity. This is the way to create lasting change; performing actions routinely leads to an identify shift.

Going big

On the flip side, you can go big and commit to something that scares you. Use the fear of failing as your motivator. I find this works but only in the short term. Typically the amount of effort required to prepare for an intimidating goal is not something that can be sustained for the long haul. So after the goal is completed, you'll probably fall back to your old ways. That said, there are other benefits to this approach. Mainly that there is also an identity shift in that you have now become a person that can accomplish hard, daunting tasks.