I know you’ve heard it a million times: “It takes 21 days to form a habit.” It is true, but how can you make sure you’ll make it through to the other side of those 21 days? I’ll teach you how right now, but you need to humor me and take the following (seemingly ridiculous) exercise seriously.

Go ahead and have a daydream about your fit, healthy, happy future. Literally close your eyes and picture it for a few minutes. Mentally, take down every single detail of your daydream. What you’re wearing, what size you are, how you feel, what your daily schedule is. How big your smile is. Who you associate with.

For example, one might picture themselves waking up early, going for a jog or doing some yoga on the porch with the rising sun, and eating a healthy breakfast. It looks like a happy, shiny life for yourself! Keep daydreaming, and walk yourself through an entire day, as you see it taking place in your future fit, healthy and happy life.

It’s natural for most people having this daydream to picture themselves as looking quite differently than they do in the mirror today. Maybe you’re smaller, have more muscle tone, your smile is more genuine. Your hair is longer? You get the idea.

Now I want you to re-live that daydream again. Except this time, change just one thing. I want you to replace your future self with your current self. So go ahead and close your eyes and insert TODAY’S you into that daydream. At your current size, wearing whatever clothes you actually have on right now, living in your current home, etc. Remember, it’s the exact same daydream, except you’re picturing TODAY’S you waking up earlier. Today’s you going for that morning jog. Today’s you walking through that future life of health and happiness.

The truth of the matter is that you can daydream about your future fit and happy self all day long. And that’s great. But until you make a little switch inside your brain, it’s only going to be daydreams from here on out. Flipping that switch requires the knowledge that achieving health and happiness requires living today as if you are already healthy and happy.

Flip the switch. Stop thinking about yourself as wanting to get fit. Don’t try to become fit. Instead, start living a fit life.

Very soon, the two different “YOUs” you just dreamed about will begin to morph together, until you will no longer be able to tell the two apart.

Take confidence in this: As long as you’re facing in the right direction, all you need to do is keep on walking.

I prefer to dance my way there (albeit clumsily). But whether it’s dancing, skipping, cartwheeling, or, on some days, army-crawling, you know that you’re headed in the right DIRECTION.

(Which is the only thing that matters.)