By: Geoff Borro
Last Updated: 7/12/2026

One Day at a Time: A Simple Mindset for Long-Term Health

Recently, I’ve found myself revisiting the concept of One Day at a Time (ODAT) in both nutrition and fitness sessions. These conversations have left clients feeling recharged and ready to recommit to the process, and they’ve reminded me how powerful this mindset can be when life starts to feel overwhelming.

It’s easy to let our minds jump weeks or months ahead. We worry about upcoming vacations, busy schedules, family gatherings, or whether we’ll be able to maintain our progress for the long term. Before anything has even happened, we’ve created obstacles that don’t yet exist.

We don’t have to solve next month’s problems today. Instead, we can focus on making the next right choice and trust that tomorrow will take care of itself.

The post below, originally shared in our Take Charge Forum, is a reminder of why this principle continues to be such an important part of our philosophy.

“In both the Take Charge and the Fitness program, we approach our commitments “One Day at Time (ODAT).” Why is this important?

ODAT is not just a mantra to give you a mental boost when you have a challenging day – it’s a path to building an upward spiral of motivation and preventing feelings of failure and frustration.

 When you focus on your good nutrition decisions today and avoid ruminating on tomorrow’s challenges, it’s easy to stay motivated. We can stay true to any commitment for a day, even if sticking to it for a week, month, or year seems daunting. With each daily success, we build energy to meet our commitments the next day. Before we know it, we’re riding an upward spiral of motivation and are on our way to achieving our healthiest weight and happiest self.

While preparation for the next day, like planning meals and snacks for on-the-go, is a healthy strategy, focusing on every upcoming challenge to our commitments is a recipe for frustration and feelings of failure. There’s a reason we don’t approach our commitments “One Week at a Time:” we would create seven days of scenarios in our heads where we might fail to make good choices or could feel challenged beyond our abilities. We’d cease to be present in the moment and lose sight of the fact that we always have choices. Ruminating on potential problems in the future not only steals from our happiness and success today, but it sets us up for disappointment tomorrow.

So, embrace ODAT with your nutrition and fitness commitments, be uplifted by your good choices right now, and get motivated to succeed tomorrow!”