The “go big or go home” philosophy might sound motivational, but it’s often the very reason people fail to reach their health goals. According to a fitness professional with nearly two decades of experience, the key to progress isn’t a new, intense plan; it’s a new mindset. This mental shift away from “all or nothing” thinking is the most critical and overlooked part of a successful fitness journey. Without it, even the most well-rounded diet and workout plan will eventually collapse.
The first part of this new mindset is to slow down. It’s the opposite of “going big.” When we start a new journey, we are tempted to rush at hypersonic speed, expecting to see results immediately. This leads to crash diets and overexertion, which are fundamentally unsustainable. A veteran coach explains that this rush is a trap. It makes you sloppy, you deprive yourself, and you make consistency impossible. You end up frustrated and right back where you started.
The smarter, more effective approach is to be deliberate. When you slow down, you become more careful. You make fewer errors, you learn your body’s cues, and you build a routine that you can actually stick with. This slow and steady consistency is what builds momentum. It may not feel as dramatic as a 30-day “shred,” but it’s what leads to permanent results, allowing you to “progress a lot faster” in the long run by eliminating the setbacks.
The second mindset fix is to focus on your efforts, not the results. We get obsessed with the scale, the measuring tape, and the mirror. But a fitness authority reminds us that we cannot directly control these outcomes. This obsession just creates anxiety. The only thing you can control is your effort. Put your energy into the practical, controllable aspects of your journey: how many steps you take, how much sleep you get, what food you choose to eat, and how often you move your body.
This focus on process leads to the third and most important fix: choose small, consistent changes over big, intense ones. The “go big” approach—like cutting out all carbs cold turkey—is too overwhelming. You will eventually crash, overeat, and find yourself at the starting point again. A smaller, more manageable change, like adding a vegetable to every lunch, is something you can do forever. These small, consistent improvements are what compound over time to create massive, lasting change.