We’ve all been there: a new year’s resolution to eat more healthfully, exercise more, lose weight. And yet changing our eating and exercise habits is extraordinarily difficult. I’ve only managed to stop eating cheese for six months at a time before it gradually slips back into my meals. Not the most unhealthy food choice you might be thinking, but eating it at almost every meal isn’t the best thing for my health. The challenge we face to change and stick with more healthy behaviors is one of the reasons personal trainers are so popular even though they can be relatively expensive. If we have a session on the calendar, that has cost us money, we’re a lot more likely to show up at the gym than not.

Life coaches take up a similar role in helping people choose and stick with more healthy behaviors. It may sound surprising but one of the most common requests a life coach hears is “I want to get up earlier”.

Here’s five questions you can use to help you kickstart your more healthy behavior, whatever it may be:

1. What’s one thing  you can do tomorrow to start on “X”.
2. What will make you do that one thing?
3. When will you do that one thing?
4. What do you need to believe to do that one thing?
5. What do others need to believe to support you in doing that one thing?

It’s best to be practical and specific when you answer these questions. Don’t be afraid to keep it simple. I like to keep my answers to these questions to myself (peer pressure isn’t always helpful) and writing down the answers works too.

Just in case you need one more question in your kickstart toolbox, you can ask yourself: What’s it like to believe in yourself 100%? If we can do this, we can do anything!