As humans, we're so good at over complicating things, aren't we, we are more than ready to jump into that complicated. Tell me to eat this, don't eat that give me all the rules type of diet, when sometimes what we really need to do is get back to the basics and just focus on the simple things. So today, we're gonna talk about the philosophy of just doing the next right thing in terms of weight loss, and really, in terms of your life, and how to uncomplicate and get rid of the overwhelm, and just do the next right thing. Let's go. 

Before we get going, I want to remind you that you have just a couple days left to jump into the 12 weeks to weight loss and wellness program. We are starting April 27. So if you are listening to this the Friday before you've got the weekend to figure it out, look at the program ask all the questions. send me messages, get on a call with me if you have questions if you'd want to know if it's right if it's a fit for you. This program is not about eat this don't eat that it's not about calorie counting, it's a totally different way for you to look at health, wellness and weight loss. We're going to teach you how to retrain your mind. properly set goals. Achieve food freedom, give you all the tools you need to end emotional eating, create new healthy habits, how to understand your body and truly use food as fuel instead of an emotional crutch. And just really simple ways to incorporate this into your life not making your life fit your diet. Make your diet fit your life so that you get the results you want that actually stick. So if that sounds good to you head to Tara faulmann.com. The links are all in the show notes. So wherever you're listening, just scroll on down. Click the button, check out the information, ask all the questions and get yourself registered so that you don't miss this. I really want you guys to be a part of it. I think that this is something that could really transform not only your body, but your mind and the way that you see yourself and what's possible for you. So hop over there, Tara Faulmann calm Take a look. 

Okay, do you guys remember that movie? What about Bob? I love that movie. I think it's a hilarious movie with Bill Murray. So quick recap. Bill Murray is a patient, a mental health patient of a psychologist Dr. Marvin and Bill Murray is like terrified of everything. He has like social anxiety. agoraphobia, like he can't leave his house. He thinks everything is germs and he can't touch anything and he's gonna get sick, like all these horrible things are gonna happen. Right. So he's seeing this therapist, Dr. Marvin, and Dr. Marvin wrote a book called baby steps. And Bill Murray's character and what about Bob Bob? It thinks this is like the greatest thing since sliced bread and the rest of the movie. He's like, baby stepping everything. I'm baby stepping to the door. I'm baby stepping to the elevator. I am baby stepping on the bus. It's it cracks me up honestly, in large part because it's so true. Like if you really boil down behavior change. It's really baby steps. We're all just baby stepping baby, step away from the fridge, baby, step the vegetable into your mouth. Like that's really what we're talking about here. And it reminds me of this console. up that I want to talk to you today. And that is just doing the next right thing, like always just doing the next right thing, and then keep doing it. So your baby stepping. 

One of the reasons that we all get so caught up and so hung up and feel like failures is because we try to go from zero to 60. We try to go from doughnuts and fast food to broccoli and kale salads. There's like no middle ground, like we don't even sit and take time to understand the middle ground. We go from, you know, eating whatever you want to keto, or, you know, these really crazy restrictive things. And we don't take time to progress there. And the reason we do that is because most diets ask us to do that most diets on the market ask you to follow these rules, do these things, count these things, focus on these things. And what I really want to start changing your mind about is that if you want to get to this place, there's a progression. And if you want that result at the end to last, you have to go through the progression. There's always steps. And you gotta go through the steps. And sometimes it's two steps forward, one step back, and that's okay, it's a lot better than a leap forward, and then a fall flat on your ass and slide all the way back down to the bottom of the hill. That's worse, now you got to climb back up again. But if I take two steps forward, because they're small steps, and I just fall back one step, well, I'm still ahead of the game. Does that make sense? It's changing our perception, changing our psychology, changing our mindset, and understanding that weight loss, health, wellness, it's not a to z, it's a to b to c to d, etc, etc to Z.

 In order to figure out what those steps are for you. I want to take you through an exercise today and help you decipher what your next right thing is. So that you always know what to do next, to get you to where you want to go. Does that sound good? Okay. So the first thing you need to do is identify where you are, identify where you want to go. And then you can start mapping out how to get there. And when I say how to get there, I'm talking like my new little steps, we'll talk about this. So the first thing you want to do is decide what it is that you want. Since you're listening to this podcast, I'm going to assume that what you want has something to do with weight loss, or health, or feeling better or more energy, whatever the case is for you. If you choose weight loss, as the thing that you want, as the thing that you're trying to baby step towards, I'm going to invite you to change the word weight loss to the word health. For long term weight loss, we must achieve health. So yes, there are things that you could do drastic, and slightly less drastic, that could make you lose weight real fast. Or there are smaller things we could do over time, that will create health in your body that will get your body working the way it's supposed to work. And then that will create weight loss that sticks. So I want to invite you to just start changing your mind about this a little bit.

 So if you chose weight loss is the thing that you want. I don't care how much weight loss just weight loss, I want to invite you to change that to health is the example that I'm going to use. Okay. So the first thing you're going to do, and you might want to take out a piece of paper and a pen, if you are somewhere where you can do that if you're not just listen, kind of go through it in your head. And then when you are at a spot that you could write some things down, do that. First thing you're going to do is describe yourself on a scale of one to 10. And so a 10 is where we're going to start. What is the 10 version of you healthy? Well, I'm just using healthy as an example, you could have used like a successful business person getting that raise, running a marathon like whatever it is doesn't matter. This is just my example. What is the healthiest version of you? And so start really writing down and get real specific get real granular with this one, the very best version of you the very healthiest version of you the very best version of you that can run a marathon. What does that look like? What is she doing? What is she eating? What is she saying? What is she thinking? Who was she talking to? Who she hanging out with? What's her daily schedule? Like? Where is she going? What is she doing when she's there? Like I want you to get granular What time does she wake up in the morning? What is she eating for lunch? How much is she cooking? Okay, I want you to get super super specific just do like a huge brain dump. Of all the things that the highest best healthiest version of you would be doing. Now this answer is different for all of us.

 So I'm giving you examples. But just know, your 10 is going to be very different than someone else's 10. And that's awesome. That is a beautiful thing, because we are not all the same. And that's great. So maybe your 10, your healthiest, best self, she gets up at six, and she does a devotional, and she works out for this many minutes, and she's doing these things. And then she eats this for breakfast. And then she is calm all day, and she has energy all day. And she feels really good. And she wore those cute shorts, and she took her kids to the park. And you know, you get what I'm saying like, I want you to get real detailed about the very healthiest, fittest, whatever version of you that you are trying to reach, that's your 10. 

And then I want you win, you got all that down, to take a second and realize what your zero would look like. Now, I don't necessarily need you to write down the zero, I don't even really want you to focus on the zero. But I do want you to have a concept of the zero on this scale. So zero is the least healthiest, least best, the worst version of you. Your zero is like unemployed, eating ice cream on the couch in a Cheetos stained shirt and hasn't showered or talked to anyone in three days, but has watched four seasons of whatever show on Netflix, right? That's the worst version of you. Okay, I'm assuming most of you are no one is really ever at a zero. If it always get a little bit worse, we'll never find hardly any of us find true rock bottom. So now you have a 10. And now you have a zero. And now I want you to rank yourself on that scale of where you think you are right now, between that zero and that 10. And just like there's no, we hardly ever reached that rock bottom zero, we hardly ever reach that ideal 10 either, I just want you to know that. That's your thing that you're striving for. But anything in progress towards that, I think is 10. That's amazing. And that 10 will keep moving. You know what I mean? So like, if you're 10 is run a marathon, and this is the type of person that I'll be when I can run a marathon. When you reach that it'll change. Well, now I'm the type of person who can run a marathon in under this many minutes. And so now this type of person is required to be that does that make sense? 

That 10 will always change. And that's okay, that's great. That's how it's supposed to be, there is no point in your life where you're like, I have achieved it. Oh, I'm done. You're never done. That's the beauty of life. You're never done, ever, no matter how good or how bad it gets, you're just never done. And I think that is a gift. Some people get freaked out by that. But I think that's a gift because it always leaves open the possibility for change for something new for something better for something different. Okay, side note. So you are now deciding where on your scale of zero to 10 you are. And just like you really got granular and describe that 10, I want you to really get granular and describe where you are. But I want you to do it in a very specific way. So in describing what number you chose for yourself, so let's just say you picked a five, you're a five on that scale of zero to 10. So I want you to draw a line down the middle of your paper. And on one side, I want you to write things that you do say think feel that gets you closer to your 10. And on the left hand side of your paper, I want you to write down the things that you do say think feel that gets you closer to zero. And write those on the left side of your paper. So you've got two columns, and you are categorizing things, things that are moving you closer to your goals, things that are moving you away from your goals. 

Now these are going to be there might be some neutral ish things. And maybe you just don't even put those down if they're not there. But I'll guarantee there's not very many neutral. Most things that you do, say think feel choose, they're going to be one or the other. They're either pushing you forward or pushing you back. Okay, let's get some examples here. So if your goal is health and you've lined out your 10 person, and you think you're a five because of these things, because on the right side of your paper, the things that are moving you closer to attend, you take a walk every day, and you get at least 5000 steps every day and you eat a really great breakfast with protein and vegetables and it's really good for you and you also get outside you always Get outside and do something every day. Usually your walk, okay, those are all great things moving you towards the 10 version of you. Things that you maybe are doing that are moving you towards the zero version of you would be, you are having a drink every night while you make dinner. Or you eat a giant bowl of ice cream every single night or you get a doughnut from the break room every day at work. Or you are only getting about four or five hours of sleep every night. Do you see what I'm saying? So those are the things that are holding you back from attend the other side of the things that are pushing you towards a 10. 

Now, those are all actions that I listed off, the thing I want you to not forget here is that thoughts are also things that are pushing you forward or pushing you back. So not is it's not just like I took a walk today, checkbox moving forward. I want you to think about things that I told myself, I was fat today when I looked in the mirror, I got really down on myself because I was worried about what this person was thinking about me and it likes I spun out for like an hour with anxiety about what they thought about me. Like, I want you to start paying attention to the thoughts that are pushing you forward to your 10 are holding you back. Think about your emotions. What are how are you spending your day? emotionally? Was I depressed all day? Am I depressed most days? Am I just kind of whoa home? Am I kind of complacent? Am I kind of apathetic? Or did I feel energetic today? Did I feel excited today? Did I feel confident today. So I want you to start paying attention. And putting those things on the list how you mostly feel, how you mostly act, what you mostly do what you mostly eat whatever are the things depending on the goal that you chose for your 10 does that all make sense? Now you've got a clear idea of what ideal you 10 version of you would look like, who she is what she does, what she thinks, how she acts, how she speaks, who she hangs with where she goes, what she does, you've got the zero version of you, and you've got the you where you think you are right now. And you've got a real clear idea of the things that are moving you towards the 10 and the things that are moving you towards the zero, okay, we've got all these written down. 

Now we're going to use all of this information to decide what our next right thing is. So that next right thing can be something that you're just going to do once, for example, the next right thing for you might be, I need to get into the doctor and finally get that blood test so that I can see where my hormone levels are and get my thyroid tested. Because I've been wondering if that's an affecting me, maybe that is the next step that is done right next right thing for you to do get into the doctor, get the tests done, get the results. So you have a baseline you know where you're at. That might be it, that might be the one next thing for you to do to move towards a 10. Or it might be something that you need to do more than once, and you need to start seeing if you can do it consistently. So an example of that would be the ideal version of me drinks a gallon of water every single day. So in order to start moving towards that little piece of that 10. Right, that's just one tiny thing. But I'm going to commit to drinking 12 ounces of water right when I wake up. And that is the next right thing I could do to keep me moving towards a 10 you might be thinking terror. I mean, honestly, how am I gonna lose 20 pounds by just making a doctor's appointment, or drinking 12 hours 12 ounces of water when I get out of bed? And my answer to you is you're not you're not going to lose 20 pounds doing either one of those two things. 

Because your goal right now is not to lose 20 pounds. Remember, you just wrote out all those things that the 20 pound lighter version of you would do. There's so many facets of that, that makes sense. It's not just about losing 20 pounds. It's not just about getting healthier. It's about all of those parts coming together. So you can chip away at every single one of those things a little bit at a time. Now, if you start a habit of drinking 12 hour 12 ounces of water right when you wake up, well, you're closer to that habit of health, you're closer to that goal of health. If you start that habit, well now you might feel a little better and Maybe you get up 15 minutes earlier and you do 10 setups and 10 push ups and drink 12 ounces of water. Or maybe because you feel good in the morning, now you eat a healthier breakfast, and that's your next right thing. You see how this, it's it's habit progression, it's, it's tiny steps through time to get you to where you want to go. Now, when you're deciding and kind of going through and deciding what your next right thing is going to be, I want you to consciously make it extremely small, extremely small, so small, that if I suggested that you go do this, then you would be like, Oh, my gosh, that is so easy and dumb. Like, of course, I can do that. That's how small I want this to be. Right? We are not trying to go from burgers to broccoli, we are trying to go from zero water in the morning to 12 ounces of water in the morning, right? I want these changes to be so super duper small that it feels like it's no big deal at all. 

This is doing several things for you. First thing it's doing. And the most important thing it's doing is psychological, because you're teaching yourself that I can commit to this thing. And I can follow through. And I can do this thing, you are teaching your brain that you are someone who keeps her word to herself. That is so important. Because how many times have you been on a diet, you did it for a while then you didn't do it. And you gave it up because it was hard and it sucked and it was stupid. And you taught yourself I committed to this, this was going to be it, this was going to be the thing, and then you didn't do it, you didn't lose the weight or you gained it all back. You taught yourself you don't keep commitments to yourself, you're probably really good at keeping commitments everybody else. But we need to teach ourselves that we keep commitments to ourselves. So choosing the next tiny thing is psychologically going to help you feel more confident that you can do the things that you say you're going to do. Now physiologically, doing these tiny steps are training your body that we are going through a progression towards health. 

If you didn't listen to the calorie episodes, or the diet episodes before, go back and listen to those because this concept we talked about on a more physiological level about why diets generally don't work, why you always kind of yo yo from them. And it's because physiologically your body doesn't like major change like that. Your body likes homeostasis. So if we can just implement these small things piece by piece by piece, your body will just adapt, adapt, adapt, adapt, and change, change, change change over time. Does that make sense? If I try to do all these things at once, it's like a shock to the system. And your body's like, whoa, hey. And sometimes that shock to the system will lead into an aftershock that's way worse and takes you right back to where you started. And you know, your mind does the same thing. your mind and your body do the same thing on that one. So these small incremental steps are so so important for your long term success. Now, here's one of the things you got to check your thoughts on. Because the thing you're going to choose gonna be real small, and you're gonna have doubts, and you're like, this is dumb. This is not even gonna work this tiny, making a doctor's appointment is not going to make one damn bit of difference. Right? Drinking 12 ounces of water in the morning. Not gonna be one, damn that a difference. But you need to check your thinking. Because if you can change that thinking, check your thoughts and change that thought to look at me go. I committed and I'm doing it. I already feel better. This is already working. What could I do next? That's how you do the next right thing. That's how you just keep doing the next right thing. 

And you have to change your mentality from short term quick results to long term lasting results. I don't teach short term tricks. It's not who I am. It's not what I'm about. And I don't think it's the best thing for you. For anyone. What I teach is long term strategy for long term results. And that's what this is, if you want lasting change, you have to make small incremental changes, period, end of story. That's just how it works. We're just so quick to thinking that we need like this complete overhaul that we need this elaborate plan, we need this to just change everything we're doing. But that thinking like really sets us up for failure. 

So here's another example of maybe a small progression, you could start making your next right thing your next right thing. So let's say every night on The left hand of your paper you have written eats giant bowl of ice cream every night. Okay? This is one of the things that are not moving you towards the 10 best version of yourself. So the first thing that you choose that is the next right thing for you is to eat a smaller bowl of ice cream every night. And let's do that consistently for an entire week. Or maybe two weeks depends on how long you need it to be, how long it takes for you to do it consistently. But we're going to shoot move from a salad bowl to like a cereal bowl. Right? And now, a week later, you're like, Okay, that was great. I got this. I did just a cereal bowl of ice cream every night instead of my giant salad bowl. And this is awesome. I got this. Okay, so next right thing, what's the next right thing? Well, I'm gonna go from that cereal bowl to just like this small condiment bowl. And I'm going to move just the little less. And so now I got this smaller bowl. I'm going to consistently do that for a week. smaller bowl. I'm still eating ice cream every night. I you know, that's great. I love ice cream. And I but I'm just doing it from the smaller bowl a little bit smaller. I do it for a week. Awesome. Good job me like, look at me go. Well, what's the next right thing that I feel like I got this down? What's the next right thing? Okay, well, the next right thing might be to switch from the ice cream you're eating to maybe a different ice cream with maybe less sugar or more protein. Or maybe add protein powder to your ice cream or whatever, a little trick to make it a little bit healthier. Maybe it's a little slightly healthier version. So now, for a week, you're doing that little condiment bowl with your healthier version of ice cream. Okay? Cool. commit to that for a week. This is good. I can do this. No problem. Do that for a week or two, however long it takes for you to be consistent. And I'm still eating ice cream every night. And then two weeks later. I'm like, Okay, I'm feeling great. Like I really got a handle on this. Like, I'm getting ready to switch the next right thing. What's the next right thing for me? Well, maybe the next right thing is filling that condiment bowl with some frozen fruit instead of ice cream. Cool. Okay, so now I'm eating fruit every night instead of ice cream. So what you did was go from eating a giant salad bowl of ice cream every single night to now eating a condiment bowl full of frozen fruit every single night. Now, did that progression move you towards the very best, healthiest version of you? Yep, didn't happen overnight. Nope. But will you ever go back now to eating an entire salad bowl full of ice cream every night? Oh, now you're a fruit girl. And that's who you are. That's who you see yourself as now. Because now you're a girl who makes commitments and keeps them. Now you're a girl who doesn't need ice cream every night? Because that doesn't fit into who she wants to be? Do you see the difference? 

Instead of me telling you tomorrow, no more ice cream, you better stop eating that's gonna make you fat. All that does is make you want to eat more ice cream, because now you're depressed. And now you're fat and nearly anything, oh, it's gonna suck. Oh, this is horrible. But when you took an entire month, four weeks and progress yourself from a salad bowl of ice cream down to a bowl of fruit. That's a lasting change that's going to stick with you. That's a commitment you're going to keep because now you are a fruit person, not an ice cream person. Are you seeing how this is working? Because all you did was the next right thing. And once you do enough of the next right things, they all just start falling into place. All the dominoes start falling down. Right, everything just starts working a little bit better. It's all just becomes a little easier to do the next right thing and the next right thing and then you can do multiple next right things at the same time. Because you start changing who you are you start changing from Fatty, fatty eating ice cream, because that's how you see yourself too. I'm a fruit girl, look at me go. I keep commitments I'm getting there. I'm going to be my my version of 10. And no time. You see the progression that's so important. It's so important that you don't skip the steps. You have to just keep doing the next right thing, the baby step. Not the big step and then the slide back the baby step. Making changes in these super small, manageable chunks that don't feel like torture, but feel super duper doable. Does that make sense? I really hope that you guys start to put this into action. So this is one of the underlying concepts that I teach in the 12 weeks to weight loss and a wellness program. This is what I'm sort of walking you through, what's one of many things walking you through. 

But this concept of strategic change over time, so that you have long term results. That is what I want for you. No more diet, no more bullshit, no more Yo, yo, no more up and down, no more, torturing yourself, no more, putting yourself through things that you don't have to that aren't even good for your body anyways, and certainly aren't good for your mind. We're done. Done with all of it. I want you to have lasting change, I want you to get to all your 10s whatever those are for you. That's one thing that I'm really proud of in this program is it's very customizable, right? It's because we're all different. I'm not going to give you one diet because that one diet doesn't work for everybody. It's a matter of figuring out what your next right thing is, what your next step is, and giving yourself time and space and grace to accomplish it. You guys, I want the very best for you. So if you are interested in making some lasting change hedge Tara faulmann.com check out the program. I want you in there with us. I want you to go on this journey with us. I want you to walk this path because you deserve it. And you're worth it. Alright my friends until we talk again. Be well.