You have had it.

Finally.

Enough is enough.

From what is far more likely to be a negative catalyst - dissatisfaction or fear the more likely drivers than either desire or ambition - you have reached your tipping point.

But, of course, you know, it's not enough to be dissatisfied with how things are, you need to be committed to doing something about it.

And, this time, you are.

But, it's important to recognise the problem inherent to this situation. A problem that will lead to your undoing at the outset. Your motivation at this point, whatever the source, always comes with its own unique energy. The energy that has driven you to action. You are now going to do something about it and clearly that something needs to be different.

But, especially in the beginning, in spite of this newfound energy, you want that difference to be minuscule.

We are all at least familiar with the story. The best intentions channelled into restrictive diets, punishing workouts, or both. At the heart of too many false starts, is the search for overnight success.

Too much too soon.

And if we examine this a bit closer, we often find that the same behaviours that caused us problems in the first place are pulling the strings here too, only in a different guise.

Like immediate gratification - I want to look good now.

If you want to make changes that have any chance of being sustainable, then, without exception, your first consideration is not physical but behavioural - to grow and nurture an exercise habit that will see your continued success.

A habit begins as a tiny seedling. It needs consistent, but gentle, attention.

At first, just start, and that’s it. If it barely even warrants the terms start and finish, then you’ve got it right. Scale your beginning to your level. Not what somebody else tells you, what you read in a magazine or what you saw on TV - just whatever you think is appropriate to you. Trust yourself.

Walk, run, crawl, just move. Do something outside your normal life, something easy, ideally at the same time every day. Over time, scale it in the same way - incrementally.

The exercise at this point is almost irrelevant. Only when your habit of exercise is established will you start exercising for effect. In getting the habit onside first, almost anything will work. If you don't, nothing will. When most people begin a program of exercise or any other sort of change, they do this backwards.

And they do it many times.

Success means different things to all of us, but it will always retain one common thread - not giving up. Start slowly and gently enough, and you'll do it once. Is it going to get you ripped in the next week? No, but neither is anything else.

You can do hill sprints until you puke, you can do squats and pushups until your eyes bleed but the more you do now, the more you decrease your chance of success.

You don't water a seedling with a firehose.