Maybe you made the list (every should from podcast episodes, books, and YouTube videos) until everything on it looked urgent. So you froze, or you started five things at once and lasted about three days.

That’s not a discipline problem. It’s a structure problem.

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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.

Hashimoto’s is two things, not one

You might have gotten a prescription and a follow-up appointment six weeks later. Or you were told your numbers are fine for now and you’ll just keep an eye on things.

Either way, your provider probably didn’t tell you that Hashimoto’s is two things. It’s a thyroid that can’t keep up. And it’s an immune system that is attacking that thyroid.

Medication can help handle the first one. The second one is all yours to work on. You are the CEO of your own health.

You can start working on the immune system side before your labs say you have to. (For the bigger picture, read why Hashimoto’s is more than a thyroid problem.)

Why a long list of “shoulds” makes you freeze

I never want you overwhelmed. An overwhelmed person freezes. You don’t do anything, or you try all the things, get more overwhelmed, and quit.

And I understand. This podcast has more than 200 episodes, and all of that put together can lead to overwhelm.

A woman who recently joined the Health with Hashimoto’s community said she can’t listen to too many episodes in a row or she gets overwhelmed. I am so proud of her for realizing that about herself. You have to learn AND do.

The hard part is that it all legitimately needs attention. Your thyroid needs support, or you don’t have the energy or brain capacity to live life the way you want. Your immune system needs support too, because as long as it’s attacking your thyroid, things are going to keep getting worse.

(If you’re not sure where to begin at all, I also walk through where to start with Hashimoto’s before you add anything else.)

Three rules for what to focus on first with Hashimoto’s

I’m a registered nurse, and I have Hashimoto’s. I’m always looking at what’s going on in my own body, so I’m doing this right along with you.

This season I’ve been redoing my entire website (every page, every menu, every picture). I could give it 24 out of 24 hours and still not get it all done.

So I had to go back to basics. When life is overwhelming and I can only focus on a couple of things, what comes first?

1. Steady your thyroid side first.
2. Pick the cheapest, most repeatable thing (not the most dramatic one).
3. Do one thing at a time, long enough to learn.

Rule 1 is to steady your thyroid side first

When you’re deciding what to focus on first with Hashimoto’s, look at how your brain is working. If you can’t think well enough to get through a day at the level you’re used to, the thyroid side comes first.

For the thyroid side, there is medication. Talk to your provider.

Do you need a T4 medication? Do you need a T3 medication? Do you need liver support and gut support so your T4 is converting to T3?

If you currently take medication or feel like you might need to start, that is mainly a conversation with your doctor or provider. You can’t listen to a podcast and change your medication dose. Dosing, adding a T3, all of that belongs between you and your provider.

Get a handle on the fatigue, the brain fog, and the thyroid-related mental health stuff first. Because that will make everything else easier.

I’m not saying you’ll start Synthroid and suddenly feel like a brand new person. For some people, that happens. For a lot of other people, there are still other things to work through.

Steadying the thyroid side helps you see those other things more clearly.

Rule 2 is to pick the cheapest, most repeatable thing

An elimination diet, the AIP, a huge supplement protocol, or a detox can be awesome. I recommend a lot of those things, and we’ve talked about them on the podcast. But they aren’t necessarily simple.

When you’re overwhelmed and looking at a list of 20 things you feel like you should be doing right now, pick something doable. Something simple. Something sustainable.

Most of us also need something that fits our budget. If you can do something expensive right away, awesome. More power to you.

A lot of the women who listen aren’t in that category. So focus on something that can survive a bad week.

The simple habit that survived my busiest season

During this website season, I could have spent every spare minute fixing things and still not finished. I knew I needed habits simple enough to last through a crazy busy week.

For me, that’s gentle exercise for at least 10 minutes after each meal. I’ve stuck with this goal through this whole website launch. It makes me feel really good, because I set a small goal and I’ve been able to hit it. And on days when I don’t hit it 100%, I’m still doing far more than I’d be doing without this simple goal.

• After breakfast, I go out for a quick walk.
• After lunch, I hop on a rower or a bike, or I go for another walk.
• After supper, same thing. My husband can often join me, so I get that community and bonding too.

I haven’t been doing long workouts this season. I’ve been doing short things that help balance my blood sugar. It helps me work on a lot of my own triggers all at once.

I’m also getting outside in the sunlight, especially the early morning sunlight on that breakfast walk. I have a whole episode on morning sun exposure and brain fog.

Pick something that will survive a hard week, because getting started does feel hard. If you want to do a dramatic thing next, awesome.

But pick something simple first. Something that can survive everything.

Rule 3 is one thing at a time, long enough to learn

I have run the Simple Habits Program five or six times. On Sunday, participants get one simple habit and a theme.

One of the first weeks is usually diaphragmatic breathing. It lowers your stress response. It moves you out of fight or flight and into rest and digest (your parasympathetic system).

I recommend doing it before each meal, so you’re in digest mode. I also recommend it before bed, so you’re in rest mode.

I only have the space of a text message to explain the habit. Then each participant figures out what it will look like for her. How can she make it simple and sustainable?

One woman might take 10 deep diaphragmatic breaths before she eats. Someone else might do diaphragmatic breathing before bed. Either way, I have everyone pick a trigger (the thing that reminds you to do it).

What one week with one habit looks like

• Sunday. You get the habit and start figuring out what it looks like for you.
• Wednesday. We check in. How is it going? Do you need to make it easier?
• Friday. We celebrate.

A lot of people start out really big, which I understand. By Wednesday, you may already see that you need to cut it back so you keep doing it. Remember, simple and sustainable.

There is always something to celebrate on Friday, even if you fell off the habit since Sunday. Maybe you had a horrible, rotten week, nothing went according to plan, and you’re still standing.

That is worth celebrating.

One week is long enough to learn something. You keep doing that habit, and the next week we add something else.

The first time I ran the program, I wondered if it was too simple. It’s not. We all know we should probably be drinking more water and getting more sleep.

Actually doing it, with a cheerleader in your corner, is way different from watching a YouTube video or reading a book. So we do it together.

Some things take much longer than a week to learn. When I first shared my Hashimoto’s story, I started out looking at stress and sleep. Over the years, I’ve discovered that winter (the cold) is one of my biggest triggers.

You can’t figure that out quickly. It takes another full 12 months to know if what you changed actually worked.

Why doing everything at once hides what worked

Even in the Simple Habits Program, you don’t get all 12 habits on day one. Nobody can do that.

Maybe you could for one day, but for a week, two weeks, three weeks? Probably not.

Think about 75 Hard. It has huge dietary changes, reading, education, and two workouts a day (one of them outside). That is a whole lot of things all at once.

I don’t feel like that is sustainable or even doable for a lot of people with Hashimoto’s. It’s a lot of mental stress and physical stress.

People who do 75 Hard can get really good results. But at the end of the 75 days, there’s not one thing they can point to and say, “This really worked for me, and I’m going to keep doing it.” If they don’t know what one thing helped their health the most, they may feel like they need to do all the things in order to maintain results and most people don’t have the capacity to do 75 Hard for 365 days.

That is why you pick one thing at a time. So you know what’s working.

Ask which one you’ll still be doing in three weeks

If it helps, reframe the question. Not “which one should I do first?” Instead, “which one, if I start today, will I still be doing three weeks from now?”

Our habits shape our days. I think it’s something like 75 to 80 percent of your day that is built on routine and habit.

You don’t even think about it. You just do it.

We practice our way into habits. Then we practice our way out of them as we build new ones.

Start with one simple thing this week

You already have the list. Now you know what to focus on first with Hashimoto’s. Steady the thyroid side with your provider, then pick one cheap, repeatable habit and give it long enough to teach you something.

Pick the one you’ll still be doing three weeks from now, and start it this week. If you want one simple habit at a time with a cheerleader in your corner, that’s what the Simple Habits Program is for. Enroll in the Simple Habits Program.