Why making your lifestyle changes simpler may help you rely less on willpower and more on intentional choices
Usually when people hear the phrase “taking the easy way out,” they expect me to disagree. As a health and lifestyle coach, let’s clear something up: I am not against making things easier. It really depends on what that looks like. When I talk about the “easy way out,” I’m not talking about a magic pill, lotion, or potion because those often come with another side of the story. I’m talking about making informed choices and balancing any quick solution with the lifestyle habits that support your bigger goals.
What I mean when I say “the easy way out” is this: No one wins by making their health journey the hardest version possible. I believe one of the biggest tricks to creating lasting changes is finding ways to make them easier.
For example, during a recent coaching call, a client told me she “just needed to do it.” Whether it was eating better or exercising before work, she felt like she “just needed to do it.” This is where I think people can get stuck. They hold tightly to their plans and feel like they are failing when life does not go exactly as expected. Willpower can be unpredictable and unreliable. Yet when the entire plan is based on “just doing it,” willpower becomes the only tool available.
Instead, I encourage this approach: Identify something you want to do, maybe moving your body before answering emails, and ask yourself, “How can I make this easy?”
Maybe easy means setting an alarm so you have extra time before work. Maybe easy means letting your coworkers know you will be away from email for a specific hour each day. Maybe it means putting a Post-it note on your phone reminding you to move first. What about setting your workout clothes out before bed? You may even need to place them right beside your bed so your feet land on the clothes before the floor. Whatever easy looks like for you, that is the direction to go. There is no reason to make it harder or put pressure on yourself to “just do it.”
Whatever your goal is for 2026, or anytime in the future, you can use this strategy. Going for a walk after dinner may offer benefits for blood sugar, metabolic health, and more. Maybe making this habit easier means eating dinner while already wearing your sneakers. Small, simple reminders can make a difference. If you set an alarm, consider adding a label so you remember exactly what the alarm is helping you do.
Here’s another example: vegetables. People often come to me and say, “I need to eat more vegetables.” Great! Love this! So, how can we make that easy? The answer is not simply telling yourself to eat more vegetables. It starts with buying them at the grocery store. Then maybe you put a Post-it note on the fridge that says “veggies first!” Maybe you wash and cut them ahead of time so they are easier to grab when you are busy, like one of my listeners mentioned during my podcast’s 300th episode.
It could also mean finding recipes you enjoy that use the same vegetables. Yes, this health coach is encouraging you to take the easy way out so you can rely less on how you feel in the moment and more on the systems you create ahead of time.
Simply telling ourselves “to just do it” is not always helpful. The easy way out means reducing the amount of thinking and decision-making required when the moment arrives. As you move toward your goals, I encourage you to ask yourself how you can make your lifestyle choices easier so the actions that support your health can happen more naturally.