If you’re anything like me, you may find yourself feeling anxious from time to time, wishing you could accomplish things faster. Whether it’s a health and fitness goal, work task, new athletic skill, or waiting for something to come in the mail, it’s easy to get caught wishing all of it would happen more quickly. 

While instant gratification is a trap that seems to catch us all at some point, moving as fast as possible is not always an effective way to create lasting change.

One of my core beliefs is that in order to see lasting changes, we must build our habits on a strong foundation. Imagine you’re building a house. It’s easy to get caught up in the finishing touches, paint colors, door handles, and move in dates. While all of those things are incredible and are what make your house feel like a home, you will not have any of them for long if you rush the process of creating the plans, preparing the ground, and laying the foundation. 

In order to have a home that is standing tall for a long time, we must ensure we do not rush the foundation. 

The same is true when it comes to our health and fitness goals. While it can be tempting to rush to the finish line of whatever it is we’re trying to accomplish, if we skip the steps that allow our foundation to be strong, our achievements won’t last long. 

The best way to move quickly toward our goals while creating lasting results is to slow down now so we can speed up in the future. 

The pressure and desire for instant gratification will not disappear, but we must realize that those thoughts and feelings of needing to get there as fast as possible don’t have to take over our actions just because they are present at the moment. There are ways we can quiet and settle our minds to focus on building a strong foundation of healthy habits.

In practice, moving slowly to build a strong foundation of healthy habits looks like breaking down our goal into steps, or processes we can take action on and build upon. 

For example, if our goal is to lose ten pounds, we would need to identify what actions we can take to help us achieve that goal. Losing weight doesn’t just happen on its own, we must make adjustments to our diet, exercise, sleep, and water habits along with our stress levels. 

While it may be tempting to overhaul every single one of those categories at once, doing so will most likely lead to possible “success” in the short term, but gaining the weight back again in the near future. 

In order to accomplish our goal and have it last, we must change those habits in ways that are sustainable and not fueled on willpower alone. Slowing down and mastering a few habits at a time is what will allow us to build off of those and speed up in the future. 

Once we build our strong foundation, we can move forward more quickly through all of the steps that follow. If we move too quickly in the beginning, we will have to go back and start over when it all comes crashing down. Don’t be afraid to slow down now so you can speed up later.