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Just as a well-organized office or home can help you stay on top of bills, projects and to-do lists, taking time to organize your health can help you make healthy changes. Try these four steps to rein in runaway habits and bring order to your health goals.

Step 1: Take stock.

Before diving in, it’s a good idea to start off by taking stock of your current health status. Think about all aspects of your health—sleep, exercise, diet, emotional health. What’s working? What’s not? Maybe you’ve really got your healthy breakfast and lunch routine down, but you tend to start slipping as the day wears on. Or perhaps you’re rocking your cardio health, but haven’t quite found time to work in strength training. Try to be honest with yourself, without judgment.

Step 2: Prioritize.

Now you should have a nice list of things that are totally working in your favor healthwise, as well as things you could improve. Of the “things to improve” list, which is the most important to you? Alternatively, you could prioritize the thing that seems easiest. When it comes to making behavior changes, small steps matter, and they don’t need to be hard. Giving yourself some easy wins can help build your confidence to make more healthy changes.

Step 3: Make a game plan.

You’ve picked a goal to work on; now it’s time to map out your plan for success. The key here is to get both realistic and specific. For example: you know you need to eat healthier dinners, but cooking at home nightly just isn’t going to happen. Rather than setting yourself up with a goal you’re unlikely to reach, think about how to adapt your current habits to meet your goal. In this example, that might mean identifying the healthiest options at your favorite take-out spots and committing to order them twice this week. While it’s tempting to think of health goals in black or white, you’re way more likely to follow through and stick with it if the goal is“gray.”

Step 4: Keep up the momentum.

Once you’ve experienced success with your goals, keep it up! If the initial behavior-change goal you made is seeming easy and doable, you’re ready to tackle a new goal. Work your way down that initial list of health goals you made. You might notice that your priorities have shifted since you initially evaluated them—that’s OK. Figure out which change you’re ready to tackle at this moment. Keep working your way through your list of priorities, and bask in the satisfying glow of having gotten on top of your health goals.

As previously posted on Health.com