Brush your teeth right after you finish dinner if your health goals include avoiding desserts or late night snacking. It’s a decisive action that signals you are done eating for the night, and the minty toothpaste flavor helps make food less appealing for a bit.

This is a small example of a significant principle – make good decisions in advance. Make decisions when timing is on your side, prior to facing the moment. Then in the moment all you have to do is follow through with what you predetermined.

I take cold showers. It’s not a negotiation every morning – it’s just what I’ve decided that I do. We choose what we eat at the grocery store, not the dinner table. That’s an opportunity to make great choices in advance.

Decide now – or place your hopes in the uncertainty of an unplanned moment then.