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From Knowing to Doing – The Art of Prioritising

By Jiri Kaloc

We all have big goals when it comes to living a healthier lifestyle. We can do all the things, just not all at once. Trying to juggle every possible healthy habit simultaneously leads to frustration, burnout, and ultimately, quitting. The key to success lies in prioritisation: identifying the most impactful actions and focusing on what truly moves the needle.

Choose an area to focus on

Rather than attempting to overhaul everything at once, identify which area needs the most attention right now. This can often be the hardest step. It may feel like you could improve in all aspects of healthy living, and neither immediately stands out. If that’s the case, you can start by exploring your “why”. The reason why you want to make any change is going to be the key source of motivation. To find your original why, try asking yourself a few questions like:

Why do I want to make a change?

Why is that important?

How serious and urgent is this for me?

Why not continue doing what I’m already doing?

Why will that make a difference?

It may seem like a series of similar questions, and they kind of are. But by answering them honestly, with curiosity and compassion, you will be surprised how deep they allow you to dig.

Decide on a skill you want to improve

Once you find the area to focus on, you have to narrow it down. For example, if you want to improve your nutrition, don’t start with an extreme diet overhaul. Choose one habit or skill that will be most impactful, for example, eating more protein. That already sounds a lot more manageable and specific. To narrow this down, it helps to go over a few key questions again.

What are my most common shortcomings in the area I chose?

What trade-offs am I willing to make?

What’s realistic given my current lifestyle and commitments?

These questions should guide you towards a meaningful skill that you’re most likely to stick with. A big part of this process is to set yourself up for success. That will fuel you going forward.

Pick a daily action you’re going to take

Now that you know what skill or habit you want to work on, the next step is to zone in on specific actions that deliver the best results. Even eating more protein can be a bit vague and hard to see if you’re succeeding or not. That’s why you have to ask yourself: What’s the simplest action I can take that will lead to noticeable progress?

A practical example of prioritisation

Let’s see what this could look like in practice:

Doing the “why” exercise, I realise that I want to change because I’ve been getting sick or injured much more often recently. This is important because I missed several fun group rides with friends, was unable to follow a training plan, and had to cancel participation in several races and events. The area I need to focus on is recovery. I could improve my sleep, nutrition or my training plan. But, being honest with myself, nutrition is something that I’ve been neglecting the most. I tend to go for quick rather than healthy options because I’m lazy, often pressed for time and I don’t enjoy cooking.

There are so many things I could improve about my diet. But I know that one of the biggest issues is the lack of protein in my diet. Building up the skill of getting more protein in my meals is likely going to help me recover better.

To be specific, I’m going to buy a protein powder and have it every day to boost my protein intake. This is realistic for me because it doesn’t take too much time or skill and it will significantly increase my protein intake.

Build momentum

As you can see, there’s a world of difference between knowing you should change a lot of things about your lifestyle and having a protein shake once a day. Sure, it’s unlikely that it is going to make everything better, but there’s a good chance it can improve recovery and, therefore, contribute to the overall goal. But even more importantly, it sets you up for success.

After a month of doing this every day and experiencing the feeling of accomplishment, you can decide to add another daily action. Maybe you commit to having your protein powder in a shake with spinach, banana, and some berries. You’re now building on an established habit and making an even more positive impact on your diet. Your confidence grows and you’re more likely to make even larger changes.

Of course, we all have bad days and we fail even when set up for success. And that’s the final piece of the puzzle, knowing how to deal with these bumps on the road is what keeps you doing instead of just knowing in the long term. And that will be the topic of our last article in this series.

Next up in From Knowing to Doing series