Three important things I’ve learnt about consistency from failing at it consistently

The urge to take action rushes in and you immediately give in! Like a kid with a new toy that excitement gives you all you need to dream, set out a plan and get ready to execute. One week goes by and wow! You did it. You actually stuck with the new routine and goals for a whole seven days. Let’s keep the momentum! We can do this!

Day eight, day nine, day ten, and then out of no where you crash into a roadblock. You give yourself a day or two to realign but you realize that your grip is weak now. The excuses always win. And now five days have gone by and you lost your streak. How did that even happen? It’s time to get back on the horse. And the cycle repeats itself but with a weaker comeback each time.

This is me. Fired up to start, a lot of energy for a few days and then a roadblock takes me back 10 steps. The problem I’ve found here is consistency. That’s it. The consistency to do a particular thing everyday without fail. Accepting one excuse at a time because if it’s coming from me it must be valid right? Wrong. Consistency doesn’t accept excuses. It doesn’t water down standards. It drills through the roadblocks and keeps going.

Here’s three important things I’ve learnt about consistency from failing at it consistently (ironically)

One: Understand the why

Why are you making this change? What is it that you want so badly that you need to fulfill this urge to be consistent at something? The why has to be a great desire or dream, the core of your existence or at least it has to tie to it in some way. That is all the motivation you need. Find a way to look back at the why as often as you can. A poster on the wall when you wake up, desktop photo on your laptop, screensaver for your phone, a picture on your desk, pick that one device or thing that you look at everyday. Let it be a visual reminder of the why every day.

Two: See Excuses for what they are: excuses.

Am I the only one who finds it easy to accept excuses from myself? To some extent I used to think that if I can rationalize an excuse and make myself believe it then it’s a valid reason to cut myself some slack. But I realised there’s always that thin line between giving in to the excuse and standing your ground, that spot where the battle is hardest. We need to start seeing excuses for what they are. No matter how much you rationalize it, if you’re not getting the work done, it’s an excuse. And that’s that.

If you really want to do something, you'll find a way. If you don't, you'll find an excuse.”

-Jim Rohn

Three: Set apart time in your day to do it

If you already have a routine, add a time slot for this particular activity. If you don’t have a routine you can just decide what time in the day will be best for it and stick to doing it at that same time. After a couple of months of consistently doing it, whatever “it” may be for you, it becomes a habit. It becomes a little less hard to do it every time.

The beautiful thing about consistency that I have seen in others is this: it makes you better at whatever it is you are consistently doing . It takes you a little less time to do it each time because you’ve “practiced” doing it many times. You tend to build a system around how you do it. You make less mistakes too.

Who’s with me? Let’s start this journey to consistency together. Identify the why, drop the excuses and stick to a routine.

All the best! I’m rooting for you 💪🏾