Here's My Secret Sauce on How to Be Consistent

Consistency is one of the most undervalued skills for any individual. It is nothing but something done ritualistically. Yet, it is essential for establishing yourself in this information-loaded world. Many people have put their feet into creative fields but failed, even though they are good enough. More often than not, the reason for this is not being consistent.

In this post, I will share a few tips I use to maintain consistency regarding the things that matter to me.

These tips have helped me to:

• Write a 70,000+ words manuscript for my first book
• Have Social Media content ready for months at a time
• Maintain my mental health properly
• Separate my work/studies with personal projects
• Have a steady but healthy social life
• Tackle my emotions in a healthy way
• Define goals better
• Leverage technology efficiently
• Learn continually

I believe these tips have the power to bring consistency to your life as well.

Disclaimer: None of these tips are novel, I have accumulated them in my life over the years. This post is a concise compilation of such tips

Consistency in a Nutshell

You will see a bird's eye view of the tips that can bring a semblance of consistency to your life. Then, moving forward, I will explain each tip in detail for better incorporation into your life.

1. Having a Morning Ritual
2. Bringing Discipline to Your Life
3. Setting Boundaries
4. Setting Goals
5. Planning Things
6. Using Technology
7. Never Stop Learning

Let's dive into each tip individually.

Having a Morning Ritual

Let's address the question first, What is a Morning Ritual?

→ A Morning Ritual is something(s) that you do every day in the morning after waking up to get your mind and body ready to tackle the rest of the day.

Here's how you can create your own morning ritual:

Do not allow external stimuli early on

• It means not checking your phone first thing in the morning.
• Allowing your mind to swim in your own thoughts

Fixing a few waking up habits

You can meditate, water your plants, have a coffee in peace, etc. It entirely depends on you. It would be best to look for things you do in the morning that rejuvenate the entire day.

Journaling

There are a plethora of ways to journal. That said, it is entirely dependent on the individual in regards to what they want to journal. Furthermore, it is not limited to a written journal; it can be a drawing journal or an audio journal, for that matter.

I maintain two journals. These both are inspired by a video from Tim Ferriss.

• 5-Minute Journal
• Morning Pages

→ 5 - Minute Journal

It consists of two parts:

Before the day starts - I ask myself 3 questions every day

a) What is it I am grateful for?

b) What will make today great?

c) Daily Affirmations. I am…

After the day finishes - I ask myself 2 questions here every day

a) What are the amazing things that happened today?

b) What could I have done to make today better?

→ Morning Pages

This way of journaling is all about the Idea / Emotional Vomit.

Put whatever is going on in your head on the paper regardless of it making any sense. Put unfiltered thoughts on the paper so that you don't overthink them.

I personally meditate first thing in the morning even before having my coffee, followed by Journaling Morning Pages first and then 5-Minute Journal.

Bringing Discipline to Your Life

Discipline comes when anything is done regularly without interruptions. Discipline is a crucial factor in being consistent. I like to divide bringing discipline into three steps:

→ Step 0

• Fix your sleeping cycle. Wake up and go to bed at similar times every day. You can decide it based on your preference of being a night owl or a morning person.

This allows the body to get into a natural rhythm, which helps maintain a proper distribution of hormones within the body. This is crucial to not feel tiredness, sleepiness, or exhaustion (mental or physical) during the day.

→ Step 1

• You must figure out the things that you enjoy doing. Then, divide your daily tasks into things you enjoy particularly and things that you don't enjoy particularly.
• This step also includes recognizing your most and least productive times of the day.
• Put tasks that don't require much mental energy, such as checking emails during least productive times, and engage your mental faculties more in tasks during the most productive times.

This will help maintain your energy by the time you arrive at un(less)enjoyable tasks.

→ Step 2

• Start doing your tasks at the same time and same place to create a muscle and mind memory.

When it comes to being disciplined, if anything becomes second nature to you, then you don't have to spend any mental energy while doing a task. It also allows your brain to get ready for the task you are about to undertake.

Example: I have two desks in my room. I use one for university work, and I use the other for writing blogs, book, etc. I never switch their roles. The way this works is, whenever I am sitting on my writing desk, my brain is aware that this desk is analogous to go into the creative mode. Whereas, when I sit on my university desk, my brain is aware that I will do some analytical work.

Setting Boundaries

Boundaries play a crucial role in the habit of consistency. Boundaries allow you to have mental sanity and peace. They are vital because they set up basic guidelines for you and other people on how to treat you.

Distinction

• It would be best if you separated your creative, work/academic, and personal lives.
• Learn to say both Yes and No.

It would be best if you had crisp solid differentiation in all the above parts of your life. You will not bring work in your creative space and your personal life and vice versa.

My Take:

I am currently a student. I focus on my university-related work on weekdays before 8 PM. I don't schedule any meetings (related to assignments, projects, etc.) after 8 PM.

I focus on my creative endeavors primarily on the weekends. I don't schedule anything regarding university on the weekends.

I don't work after 8 PM (FYI, I wake up at 6 AM). I keep 3 hours 8–11 PM every day for personal life. It includes socializing, reading, relaxing, etc.

Criticized Feedback

• Listen to feedback from everyone but keep in mind always that you can't make everyone agree with you. If the feedback is mindless criticism, let it go. If it is positive, try incorporating it into your work.

Appreciative Feedback

• Don't let appreciation stop your wagon. Be happy about it but never stop the hard work.

Setting Goals

Vision is necessary to be consistent. You should be aware of the fact that where are you heading before you start your journey. Hence, setting the goals becomes crucial.

Define Your Goals

Long Term Goals

• Have a long-term goal that you want to achieve in the next five years.
• The most important goal is to define your success.

Examples:

What is your definition of living?

How much do you want to earn in the next five years?

Short Term Goals

• Have a short-term goal that you want to achieve in the next few months.

Examples:

How to bring in discipline/consistency?

How to make your work accessible to more people?

Planning Things

Planning Things don't mean that you should plan every waking minute of your day. Instead, it means that you should have a rough structure on how you want to achieve your goals.

Divide Your Work

• Work enough to not face burnout. Don't overwork yourself.
• Take time to recharge your creative energy.

Mistakes

• Don't stop if you make mistakes. Everyone is prone to making mistakes.
• Differentiate yourself from others by taking lessons from your mistakes rather than regrets.

Rewards

• Reward yourself for your hard work and small achievements.
• Take yourself out for a nice dinner or a movie when you accomplish your small goals.
• Don't be too critical of yourself.

Using Technology

Technology is both a boon and a curse. You are the decision-maker on how it will be for you. However, if used correctly, it can assist you in fulfilling your dreams by reducing some effort and increase your focus.

• Use Reminders to remember the important stuff.
• Use Calendar to schedule your days.
• Use To-Do Lists to prioritize your tasks during the day.
• Use Time tracking apps such as rescue time to know where you spent your time during the day.
• Use apps that block distracting websites for you while working, such as Freedom.
• Turn Do Not Disturb on when you don't want to be distracted by your phone.
• Use Pomodoro Technique to have intense concentration sessions.

Never Stop Learning

Always look to fill your skill and knowledge reservoir.

• Read as many books as you can. It need not be confined to any specific genre. Instead, pick what your heart tells you to.
• Watch and Listen to Podcasts about people's life experiences.
• Read Blog Posts like this one. 😉

Thank you for reading. I hope these tips help you achieve your consistency goals.