Consistency Works But Sounds So Dull and Boring
It’s Also The Perfect Excuse When I Fall Off My Unicorn
It feels a bit counter-intuitive to be talking about being consistent in the same headspace as trying to make a lot of small changes in your life. How can you be consistent if you’re going through a radical re-vamp?
“It’s not what we do once in a while that shapes our lives. It’s what we do consistently” — Anthony Robbins
At the moment I feel like the only thing that I am consistent about is not maintaining all the small changes I set out to.
The really stupid thing is that I know I won’t get where I want to be unless I stick to them. I’m not going to flog myself over it though because I know that some of the small habits have started to stick. And some of the others are just suffering a blip for a few days and I will get myself back on track. It’s normal to have some fall-back. It’s the fight for equilibrium going on in my brain wanting me to stay in a safe place.
There are a couple of strategies I’ve started to use to help me keep working on my goals:
Write it Down
The first one is to journal about how I’ve done every day, even if I had a shocker.
Writing it down in black and white keeps me accountable.
I can forgive myself and move on so that tomorrow I just try a bit harder.
Go Smaller for a While
Another one is the five minute rule.
One of the changes I’ve been making is to walk an hour a day. Recently that’s been a bit challenging because of poor time management on my behalf and a dodgy hip. What I’ve done rather than not go at all, is just go for a bit less time on super busy days or when I was in a bit more pain than I could handle for a whole hour.
Sometimes you just have to allow yourself a bit of wriggle room and just do what you can rather than nothing at all.
So if your goal is to do half hour of yoga and you just don’t feel motivated just settle for 5 minutes and see how you feel after that. Sometimes you’ll feel inspired to do more and some days you’ll just do 5 minutes. The important thing is you are still being consistent.
Quit Distractions
I have stopped watching what I consider to be shit TV (this is my own definition no one else’s and I’m not sharing my list). I just watch a lot less TV than I used to.
This has given me so much time back to focus on my goals.
If you can, give yourself some dedicated time each day/week to really focus on what’s important to you.
Get Back On It
It can be really frustrating, painful even, when you’ve been making really good progress and then all of a sudden for whatever reason you falter.
Just remember that everyone has a blip once in a while, the most important thing is to not let it phase you.
Don’t let a small setback completely derail you or all your plans.
If you manage to stay on track most of the time you’ll only take a little bit longer to achieve your goals.
Even if you only manage a few small steps today that still takes you closer than you were yesterday.
It’s the long term consistent actions that are the key to success.
“Consistency is the path that makes the accomplishment of your success, inevitable” — Dexter A Daniels
It’s All Part of the Plan
Consistency does sound a bit dull and boring.
“Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative” — Oscar Wilde
No one wants to be thought of as unimaginative, I’d far rather be creative and imaginative any day. So this will be my perfect excuse when I fall off my unicorn. It’s all part of the plan darling, just doing a cha cha.
I’m on my 365 day journey, #365small changes, what difference are you going to make in your life?
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