How to overcome barriers to better health
This is your ceiling.
Now that you’ve identified your “floor” and your “ceiling,” you’ve defined a flexible range of actions that can adapt to your fluctuating, unpredictable, real life.
But applying this range requires a paradigm shift:
Your health habits aren’t an “on” or “off” switch; they’re on a dial.
When life is sweet and smooth, you can turn your exercise, nutrition, and sleep dials way up—if you want. Bust through your PRs at the gym, eat all the arugula, meditate like a monk.
But if life gets nuts, you don’t have to switch off completely.
Just turn the dial down a little.
The below is a visual representation of how this might work for exercise, but you can apply this same thinking to your nutrition, sleep, stress management, or whatever you’re working on.
The important part: Even if you do your “floor” or “dial level 1” action—even if it’s for days on end—it still “counts.”
You still get the gold star.
Doing the bare minimum isn’t failing.
It’s succeeding, in the context of a real, messy, beautiful life.
Step #4: Create an ecosystem that supports you.
Health and fitness professionals often forget how different their lives are from their clients.
For example, many coaches work at gyms, enjoy being physically active, and hang out with other active people. Exercising regularly is almost easier to do than not do, because, as Coach Kate says, “they’ve built a life that makes that habit seamless.”
So if you want to make your health goals more likely, Coach Kate offers this advice:
“Build an ecosystem that makes failing nearly impossible.”
