How do you jump the hurdle of self-doubt? If you do not believe a goal is achievable it will appear to be a wall rather than a hurdle. For my friend staying away from fast food seemed to be an impossibility. Fast food is readily available, easy, and relatively inexpensive. To avoid it might require him to spend more, drive further, learn to cook, or depend on others. It might also require some advanced planning to purchase and prepare food before one wants to eat. Beyond all that is the familiarity and comfort derived from such options.

He could have resolved one day not to eat fast food ever again, looked up several new healthy recipes, gone to the grocery and bought all the ingredients; however, my guess is that after a week or so he would be looking for a break from all that cooking or disappointed in his skill or time management. Going to the grocery may seem overwhelming when you don’t know where everything is or even what you really want.

Changing your life is a process, undertaken one step at a time. I have written previously about why drastic changes like New Years Resolutions fail. Some steps toward change are too big to maintain. Lifestyle and dietary habits are often so ingrained that it can require a redefinition of yourself to make that change. It is important for success not to jump in over your head, but to consciously walk through each step of your journey.

Even when we take each step individually, some steps can feel like a longer reach than others. A friend who has been reading my posts at Diets In Review shared with me recently that in his struggle to lose weight the biggest hurdle was not finding new information on nutrition and exercise that could help direct his behavior or modify his metabolism or even avoiding the temptation of his comfort foods, but rather the most difficult part for him was believing that he could actually make it over those hurdles. Self-doubt is a hurdle in itself.