We all know someone that seems to get everything they want, right? Life seems to flow seamlessly with little to no effort. Aren’t they lucky? They always appear to be in the right place at the right time, they’re abundantly talented and everything seems to go their way. It feels frustrating, even though we are happy for them. So what’s their secret?!
The answer? CONSISTENCY!
That is right. It’s one key ingredient towards building success in anything you’re willing to master.
The good news? We can all achieve consistency, yes!
It’s not always sheer luck or being in the right place at the right time. We hold the power to change the direction of our lives.
Every day is a combination of little increments of effort that mount up over time. Before we realise it, five years have gone by and we are looking back from the top of the mountain and gazing upon how far we have come since the beginning, one step at a time, always moving forwards. It is what we do in those small minutes each day that matters most. To coin the old phrase, “Rome wasn’t built in a day!”
Think about it you will never see a change in your body if you spend 3 hours on a Sunday in the gym working out to then spend the rest of the week eating junk food and sitting on the sofa. However, if we broke it down and dedicated 30-60 minutes per day either going to the gym or moving our bodies, we will see a change. That 30-60 minutes per day becomes 3.5 – 7 hours per week which is 14 – 28 hours per month, and so on…
This is mind-blowing! It is easy for us to put aside time each day, to find 30 minutes to move our bodies or 30 minutes to work on that business we have wanted to start for months. However, it is easy NOT to do.
Change doesn’t happen overnight. I am sorry to break it to you but it takes time…
We live in a culture where we desire instant gratification and if it isn’t received then we give up. It obviously isn’t working! It is working, we just haven’t given it time. It’s important to chip away, day by day, knowing that each day is a step closer.
In today’s world, we are overwhelmed with distractions. Before we know it, we have fallen into the social media trap, looking at cat videos, finding out Karen has been arguing with her neighbours again and the online quiz we took tells us we are in the wrong profession. Isn’t it crazy how quickly we can find ourselves in those doom scrolls (myself included). Imagine if we added up all our doom-scrolling time in one week? How much spare time would we have?
The question is, what would we do with that spare time?
I do not have the willpower
It is not about having willpower. It’s deeper. We often feel that we aren’t consistent because we have no willpower and except that this is how we are. The truth is there is often a deep-rooted trauma or belief that is causing us to procrastinate, get distracted, and/or self-sabotage.
How can we find out what it is and overcome it?
Many practices can help us find our deep-rooted limiting beliefs. We will discuss these in more detail in future blogs but below are a couple of practices to look at and try when you are ready to commit to a goal or a life-changing commitment:
- Meditation
- Journaling
- Gratitude
- Affirmations
These practices help us uncover the subconscious habits holding us back. Putting aside time for yourself to tune in, write down your thoughts, find gratitude in the mundane and choose the words you speak to yourself to rewire your brain patterns.
So how else can we stay consistent with our goals, whatever they may be?
Why are you doing this?
Whatever our goal may be, whether it is to lose weight, start a business, become a good runner or learn a language, we need to know why we are doing this. Finding the reason why we are doing this is what is going to pick us up and put us back on track on the hard days, so it has to mean something to us.
When will you do it?
It is essential to allocate time to our goal, whether it be an hour on your business or half an hour a day of moving our body. Whatever it may be, if we don’t allocate time to work on our goal, we will never achieve it.
But I don’t have the time…
Let’s be honest with ourselves, how much time do we spend on social media scroll? How much time do we spend watching Netflix?
We mentioned this earlier, if we add up the time, I’m sure we can allocate some of that time to our goal. It doesn’t have to be hours or a full day. Ten minutes per day will have a compound effect; an everyday discipline can become a life-changing success.
Our daily actions can seem insignificant at times. We go through our day-to-day life sometimes on autopilot. However, every action we take has a compound effect. We have a choice every day to snooze our alarm or wake up early to start our day. We can choose to order a takeaway or cook up a healthy meal. We can choose to scroll through social media or read a self-development book.
All our past habits have got us to where we are now. Think about it, we are here because of our daily actions compounded over time. If we want to see a change in the future, we must start changing our daily habits, as small and insignificant as they may seem.
In Summary
We have the power to change the direction of our lives, no matter how big or small. We must be prepared to change the daily habits we have been living out every single day of our lives. Change doesn’t happen overnight. Introducing new habits will compound over time and eventually create ever-lasting change. We must understand that this is a journey, not a destination.
It is time for us to be more consistent in our daily habits to create success! The power of consistency is on our side; it is up to us to make the choice!
If you would like to explore this further, we highly recommend reading The Slight Edge by Jeff Olsen. This book had a life-changing effect on us and helped change our mindset toward our everyday choices. If you are serious about learning about the power of consistency then this book is a must-read!
Seek and Discover
Click below for a link to a favourite read of ours, ‘The Slight Edge’
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