You can look at your two buckets and see exactly which one needs more attention. It feels like progress, but it’s all still in your head (and starting feels like a risk).

Learning is one foot, and doing is the other foot. Step with just one and you walk in circles. How do you figure out your next step with Hashimoto’s?

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Health with Hashimoto’s is your free weekly podcast that sorts this autoimmune condition into thyroid or immune. Each episode is for informational and educational purposes. Please discuss any questions or concerns with your trusted healthcare professional. Some links may be affiliate links, marked as such, at no extra cost to you.

I love the learning part more than the doing part

I have this problem. I love to plan and dream, to sort and to learn. I love all of the head things, but not necessarily the doing part.

How about you?

I once heard somebody describe learning and doing like two feet. If you only learn, you’re only stepping forward with your right foot. And if you only step forward with your right foot, you go in circles.

You have to go right foot, left foot, right foot, left foot. Your left foot is the doing. So you learn and then do, learn and then do.

Why sorting your Hashimoto’s feels like progress

When you’re sorting, it feels so good. You’re thinking, “I am making progress. I am learning about my own health.”

“I’m learning about the immune side. I’m learning about the thyroid side. I have my health sorted into two buckets, thyroid or immune.”

You can look at those buckets and see which one is bigger and which one needs more attention. You are making progress.

But it’s all in your head.

A thinker, a doer, and a 300-hour senior project

Some people do the opposite. They just want to do. They don’t want to do the learning and the thinking and the planning.

My son who is in high school is supposed to be planning a 300-hour project for his senior year. I am in love with the planning stage. I pulled up Google Sheets, looked for templates, and found a project management template that was so pretty.

I told him, “You could use this to plan.” And he said, “Whatever. I’m building a paper bridge today.”

He’s a doer, and I’m a thinker. We need both, and each person needs to do both.

The trap after you sort

Hashimoto’s is an autoimmune condition. That means your immune system is attacking your thyroid. But knowing that is only the beginning.

Most women with Hashimoto’s have a lot of information. What they’re missing is a filter (a way to evaluate what applies to them specifically). I talk more about why knowing your Hashimoto’s root causes is not enough.

The trap is that you sort, you feel like you made progress, and starting feels like a risk. So you just sort, and that’s it.

Or you’re the person who wants to just do, but not sort. Either way, you need both feet.

Three filters for your next step with Hashimoto’s

Once you’ve sorted your symptoms, your root causes, and even your labs into thyroid or immune, there are still things to do. (If you haven’t sorted your labs yet, start with sorting your Hashimoto’s labs into thyroid or immune buckets.)

I don’t want to give you 12 different things to do tomorrow. We always want to make things simple and sustainable.

So use these three filters to pick your next step.

1. Choose something already on your list.
2. Choose something you’ve already started.
3. Choose something small enough to keep doing.

Filter 1 is something already on your list

Your next step should come out of your sorting. I’m not talking about something new you saw today while scrolling Pinterest or Instagram or TikTok.

I’m talking about something you already have on your list. You sorted it into one of the two buckets. Based on how you sorted things out, you know it’s going to be helpful for you.

Filter 2 is something you’ve already started

Look for something that is partially done. Maybe you’ve done it before, or you’re doing a version of it inconsistently.

Start there. Start with something you already know works, or a habit or routine you’re already working on building.

Maybe you tried it and you know it kind of works, but you didn’t put in a whole bunch of effort. Or maybe it’s kind of a habit, but not really a habit yet.

Filter 3 is something small enough to keep doing

Pick something small enough to be sustainable. I have talked about this since the beginning of this podcast.

Choose things that are simple and sustainable. It has to be simple enough to keep doing.

If you quit doing it, you just wasted all of that time and effort. It has to be sustainable. (If everything on your list feels urgent, I walk through what to focus on first with Hashimoto’s when it all needs attention.)

You already know enough to begin

You don’t need perfect labs. You don’t need a full root cause functional medicine lab workup.

Are those helpful? Absolutely.

But do you need them right now to take your next step? No.

You don’t need your doctor’s blessing to drink more water. You don’t need somebody to look at your labs to tell you that you need to go to bed earlier. You already know those things might be beneficial for you.

So pick one next thing and begin.

Say your next step out loud

When you share your goal out loud, you set some accountability. Just the act of making it public helps.

You might come back later and say, “I had a really good week. I said I was going to do this, and I did it.” Or you might say, “I really struggled this week. I said I was going to do this, and I did not do it.”

Whether or not you ever report back, stating your goal to others helps make it more real and actionable. So pick your next step with Hashimoto’s for this week, and say it out loud.

Pick one next thing this week

You already know enough to begin. Look at your own list and choose your next step with Hashimoto’s (the one thing you’ve already started and can keep doing), then take it this week.

If you haven’t sorted yet, Hashimoto’s Decoded: Thyroid or Immune walks you through the most common root causes in less than one hour and helps you identify where to focus. Grab Hashimoto’s Decoded for $27.