Have you ever wondered why you keep putting your health last, even though you swear this is the week you’ll finally make it a priority?

You start off with good intentions. You tell yourself this time’s different. You’ll eat better. You’ll get more sleep. You’re going to hit the gym. But somehow, life happens. Work ramps up, family needs you and plans change — and once again, your health slides to the bottom of the list, only to make way for things that are far less important.

If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. In fact, this is something that most people struggle with.

Most of the advice you’ll find online only scratches the surface.

“Wake up earlier.” “Plan your meals.” “Be more disciplined.”

But, that’s symptom-level stuff. And as with most things in life, if you don’t get to the root cause, nothing really changes. You just end up chasing your tail, time and time again.

The danger is, most people don’t wake up until they have to. Until they get a health scare or until they reach complete burnout. Only when something literally forces their hand.

If I can only get one thing across, it’s this. Don’t wait for that moment. By the time your health becomes urgent, it’s already costing you. And sometimes, the damage is irreversible.

The tricky part? Putting your health first actually feels instinctively wrong. It feels selfish. As if you’re taking time away from work, family, or other responsibilities. But it’s actually the opposite. It’s the foundation that makes you better for all of those things.

And that’s why it’s so hard to do — it’s counterintuitive. You have to fight your natural wiring to make the right choice.

I want to dig into the real reasons people keep putting their health last. tThe deeper psychological patterns that most people never even see or understand.

I’ve come to realise there are three big ones. They overlap in powerful ways. And, in many cases, it feels like they conspire together to hold you back.

But once you understand them, you’ll see exactly why you’ve been stuck, and how to finally break the cycle and start putting our health first.

1. Making the right trade offs in the moment.

It’s really, really hard to make the right trade-off in the moment

And that’s because health rarely feels urgent in the short term compared to everything else. Work, family, daily fires — they all demand attention now.

It’s always more satisfying in the moment to prioritise those things over your health. You get instant gratification when you fix the broken tap, reply to emails, or tick something off the list.

But, here’s the counterintuitive part again: putting your health first feels selfish. Like you’re taking time away from the things that matter more. But it’s actually the opposite. When you invest in your health, you multiply your capacity. You show up sharper at work, you’re calmer with your family, and you’re stronger for everyone around you. Being the best version of you is better for you and everyone else. Ironically, it’s the most selfless thing you can do.

Still, it never feels like the right trade-off in the moment. Going for a run or cooking a healthy meal doesn’t give the same hit. The benefits tend to show up slowly and quietly, while the cost of neglect builds silently in the background.

That’s why most people only wake up after a scare — a diagnosis, hitting burnout, or sometimes it’s just a surprise health issue that reminds you you’re not infallible. Now health becomes urgent. You don’t get to delay the cost anymore. You have no choice, you have to pay it now. And when that happens, everything else — your work, family, plans — they have to go on hold. Nothing matters more than getting your health back.

Now on one hand, a wake up call is a gift. But, you don’t want to wait until your back is finally against the wall and its panic stations.

So, if you’re going to make sure you put your health first, you have to fight your instinct that says it’s selfish, or optional, or that there’s always something else that must be done first. You have to rewire how you think. You have to see that prioritising health isn’t stealing from your life. It’s actually strengthening it. It’s mission critical that your health comes first.

Don’t worry, I’ll share some practical ideas for how to make the right trade off in the moment shortly. Let’s first dive into the second and third reasons people tend to put their health last.

2. Your relationship with discomfort

The second reason people keep putting their health last is that they have a poor relationship with discomfort.

Now, before we get into this, I want to sort out the difference between people who have a poor relationship with discomfort, and those that are plain lazy.

Plain lazy people will avoid anything that even feels like effort. Unfortunately, they end up having two hands behind their back. It’s impossible to help them. But, if you’re reading this, I suspect you don’t fall into this camp.

So, here’s what’s important to understand — even driven people avoid discomfort. It’s human nature.

You can’t get away from the fact that getting and staying healthy means consistently choosing some form of discomfort. Every single day. Multiple times a day.

You will more often than not have to train when you don’t feel like it. You’ll have to regularly say no to the easier food choice. Yep, you’re going to have to go to bed earlier instead of watching one more episode.

It’s a pain in the ass, I get it. But, there’s no way around it. You’re going to have to regularly feel discomfort if you want to put your health first.

So, you are going to have to build a relationship with discomfort. You have to deliberately expose yourself to small, controlled doses of it — again and again — until it becomes normal.

It’s really just another version of delayed gratification. You trade a little comfort now for a bigger payoff later. And the more you do it, the easier it gets. Not because discomfort disappears, but because you stop fearing it.

That’s the muscle you’re building. The ability to lean in when every instinct tells you to pull away.

When you nail your relationship with discomfort, you slowly become the sort of person who takes the stairs instead of the lift — because it’s good for you. You walk instead of drive — because it’s good for you. Even when it’s cold and dark outside, you put on your running shoes and step outside — because it’s good for you.

You become the type of person who picks the harder choice by default, safe in the knowledge that every small moment of discomfort compounds. It starts to become part of who you are. That’s the kind of relationship with discomfort you need to build.

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Even if you get great at making the right trade-offs, and you build a strong relationship with discomfort, it can sometimes still feel like you’re fighting an uphill battle. And that’s because for most people, there is also a third obstacle in their way — their environment is completely stacked against them.

3. The environment is stacked against you

We live in a world optimised for convenience and consumption. Instead of walking, we can just tap a button and a car arrives in minutes. If you’re even slightly hungry, food can show up at your door with another tap of the screen. You don’t even have to get off of the sofa!

Even when you do have good intentions, the odds are stacked against you.

Have you ever tried to walk into a petrol station and make a healthy food choice? Good luck with that, it’s virtually impossible. Ultra-processed food is everywhere. And even the supposedly “healthy options” are just processed foods disguised by clever marketing. Yep, you heard it here first — a protein bar isn’t healthy, it’s just a chocolate bar with cheap protein sprinkled in.

Try ordering healthy food at a restaurant. Not only are the genuinely healthy choices limited, but again, it’s easy to get fooled by things that sound healthy but really aren’t.

I know this one will resonate. You sit down to watch just one episode before bed, and before you can even think, Netflix auto-plays the next one. Somehow, you’ve been pulled into another hour of stimulation you didn’t plan for.

Look around the average home. Cupboards and fridges full of ultra-processed snacks. Screens are within reach at all times. It’s like the whole system is designed to make the unhealthy choice the easiest one.

If you want to put your health first, you are going to have to design your own environment to support your goals. You have to make the good choices obvious, and the bad ones harder.

It won’t happen by accident. No matter how good your intentions are, or how much discomfort you can handle, the wrong environment will eventually beat you. Your willpower is a finite resource. And it runs out fast when you’re constantly surrounded by temptation.

But, if you set your environment up for success, everything gets easier. Exponentially easier. You stop relying on willpower and start relying on design. It becomes natural, even effortless, to make the right choices.

How each of these three things conspire together

When you look at these three things together, it’s no wonder people struggle to prioritise their health.

To start with, you’re constantly tempted to choose what feels good now — the quick win, the easy option, the short-term hit of gratification. The wrong trade off is just waiting to be made.

Then layer on the fact that the things you should do and will actually make you healthier, are often hard and uncomfortable. If your relationship with discomfort isn’t great, that alone can stop you in your tracks.

And just when you think you might be making progress, your environment quietly pulls you back. It’s full of temptations, shortcuts, and easy ways to slip off track.

These three forces don’t just exist separately — they overlap, they reinforce each other, and together they make it genuinely hard to put your health first.

So if you’ve struggled with this, don’t beat yourself up. It’s not because you’re weak or undisciplined. It’s because the odds are stacked against you — psychologically and environmentally.

But the good news is, once you see these forces for what they are, you can start to design around them.

Alright, so now you know why it’s so hard to put your health first. Let’s talk about what you can actually do about it. I want to share a few simple ways to start tipping things back in your favour.

And if you think I’ve been a bit doomsday so far, please know, you can absolutely win against these things. You just need to have some self awareness of what’s happening, and fight back.

The Practical Tips

1. Making the right trade-off

Most people struggle to make the right trade offs because their why isn’t strong enough. They know they should do it, but they’re not emotionally connected to why it matters.

So first, it helps to find a good way to tune into your why. And then dial it up to a 12 out of 10.

For me, the long-term stuff like living longer and being healthy in my seventies doesn’t light a fire under me. Yeah, it’s important and I care about it, but it’s too far away.

So I tap into something more immediate. I connect with how I want to look and feel now. I connect with how great it feels to be known for someone who pushes hard and stays consistent.

And then I feed that fire. I listen to people who spark it — Goggins, Jocko, Josh Bridges, Chris Bumstead. These people embody discipline and live it every day. They look great and are in the peak health of their life. Whatever gets me into that headspace where I want to do the hard thing, I use it.

Don’t overthink this one. Just find whatever fires you up and lean on it.

Then comes the second part — catching hesitation.

There’s always that tiny moment before you do the hard thing. The pause, the negotiation, the “maybe later.” That’s the moment you either win or lose.

You have to interrupt it, and you have to do it fast.

For me, that means saying “screw it” and moving before my brain can talk me out of it. If I don’t feel like hitting the gym, I shut the thought off and just go straight to putting on my gym kit. NOw I have momentum, the resistance then starts to fade. At that point, it almost feels stupid to back out.

2. Building your relationship with discomfort

The best advice I can give here, is start small and build the muscle

When it comes to getting comfortable with discomfort, most people go too hard, too fast — and then burn out. You don’t need to throw yourself into brutal workouts or eat insanely clean meals overnight.

Instead, just start small. The goal is to build the muscle of experiencing tolerable discomfort, not break yourself.

Take the stairs instead of the lift. Just once, and notice how it makes you feel. Wake up fifteen minutes earlier. Don’t overthink it. Just hit the alarm and get out of bed.

Each small moment matters. Every time you lean into a bit of discomfort, you train that part of your brain that says, “I can handle this.”

And when you feel that hesitation (and you will), use it as a cue. Remind yourself of the person you’re becoming. You’re someone who takes on difficult things. Remind yourself how good it’ll feel afterward, and that the discomfort is only temporary.

For me, even now, I’ll be warmed up and will catch myself thinking about the brutal workout that will follow . I immediately feel that pull to back off. When I feel this, I grab my phone as quickly as possible and start the count down timer — from ten to zero. That’s my pattern interrupt. It gets me moving before my brain can negotiate. Now I have no choice.

The more you do this, the better it feels. And over time, it becomes part of who you are — someone who doesn’t avoid discomfort, but instead leans into it. You might even start to enjoy the challenge, even when it’s hard in the moment.

3. Designing your environment for success

Everyone’s environment is different, but the goal’s the same: make living healthy easy.

You want as little friction as possible between you and the right choice, and as few temptations as possible pulling you toward the wrong one.

For me, one of the biggest game changers was building a home gym. It’s now literally only twenty seconds from my kitchen. I used to hate the thought of driving to the gym — getting in the car, parking, waiting for equipment. It would be enough to stop me even making the trip. Now, I just walk into my garage and everything’s ready. No excuses, no wasted time, and hardly any friction. That one change made a huge difference to my consistency.

The other one’s a bit extreme, but it works for me. I’ve got a black toolbox in my kitchen. It’s locked with two padlocks, and only my daughter knows the code. That’s where all the junk food lives. When she’s with her mum, I literally have no access to bad foods in my house. It sounds silly, but it keeps me on track. My cupboards and fridge only have foods I’m not tempted by.

Now, here’s the thing. Everyone’s life and environment are different. You don’t need to copy anyone else, including me (although I think the locked treat box is a classic!). You just need to design yours in a way that supports your goals.

Look for anything that adds friction to good habits. And then remove it. Find what tempts you into bad ones. And then make it harder.

The key is self-awareness. Once you see how your environment is shaping your behaviour, you can start fighting back and shaping your environment to support your goals.

Wrap-up

So that’s it, three things that make it hard to put your health first, and some ways to start tipping the balance back in your favour.

• Make better trade-offs by finding what truly motivates you
• Build your relationship with discomfort, one small step at a time
• And design your environment so the healthy choice is the easy one

Because here’s the truth. You will regret it eventually if you don’t solve this. There’s no escaping the bill that comes due when you put your health last.

So you have to take responsibility for this and solve it. You have to learn how to put your health first. Not just for you, but for everyone who depends on you.

If any of this message hits home, please do share it with someone who needs the reminder. Also, feel free to message me and tell me what you’re working on. I love hearing how people are putting this stuff into practice.