We Know What To Do - So Why Is It So Hard To Follow Through?

“I Know What to Do, I Just Have to Do It”

It’s one of the most common things I hear from patients and clients:
“I know what to do, I just have to do it.”

When it comes to nutrition and health, most people already have a decent understanding of what’s “right.” Eat more vegetables, get enough protein, cut down on ultra-processed foods, move your body, get better sleep.

The problem isn’t knowledge. It’s execution.

And execution is hard when your environment is working against you.

The truth is, our surroundings shape our behaviors far more than motivation ever will. We live in a world that constantly nudges us toward convenience and instant gratification. Drive down any main road and you’ll see it — fast food on every corner, billboards for energy drinks, and convenience stores filled with processed snacks.

At work, there’s usually candy, cookies, or takeout around. Even our social lives revolve around food and alcohol. It’s not that people don’t care about health — it’s that the modern environment doesn’t make it easy to care consistently.

So when someone says, “I just have to do it,” what they’re really saying is, “I haven’t learned how to set myself up to make it easier to do it.”

That’s where manipulating your environment comes in.

When I first started prioritizing my health, I didn’t just focus on what to eat. I focused on what surrounded me. I started listening to health podcasts whenever I drove somewhere. I followed people online who actually inspired me to grow. I spent time around others who valued self-improvement — not just in health, but in all areas of life.

Over time, those changes began to shape how I saw myself. I wasn’t just “trying to eat healthy” anymore. I started to see myself as someone who cared about health, someone who made decisions that supported long-term well-being. It became part of my identity.

That’s the real shift people are missing. Change doesn’t start with willpower — it starts with identity and environment.

If your environment is constantly triggering the old version of you, it’s going to take an exhausting amount of effort to stay on track. But when you manipulate your surroundings to reflect your goals, your choices begin to feel natural.

Put healthy foods where you can see them. Keep your kitchen clean and organized. Listen to something motivating when you drive. Surround yourself with people who challenge you to be better. These are small actions, but they completely change how much resistance you face.

And when you combine that with a growth mindset, everything starts to click.

Being growth-minded means you want to improve, learn, and evolve. You want to look back a year from now and say, “I’m a different person than I was before.” That could mean better health, more confidence, a new job, or simply more consistency. Growth-minded people don’t settle for staying the same — they shape their environment to match the future they want to live in.

So if you find yourself saying, “I know what to do, I just have to do it,” take a step back and ask:
What’s in my environment that’s making it harder to follow through?
And what can I change to make doing the right thing the easy thing?

Your environment will always win — so make sure it’s built to support the person you’re becoming.