Its not what we do once in awhile that shapes our lives, but what we do consistently.
Many of us can set goals and create a plan of action to achieve them. Some of us also start taking actions. However, most of us stop after a while.
Familiar story, isn’t it?
For example, If I have a goal to get strong and healthy. I choose to get up early, go for a walk every morning, exercise in the gym and start eating healthy. I may even begin these activities but then something happens, and I am not able to continue. Maybe I get busy, something important comes up or I simply lose interest. I may start with the whole cycle again, till the time I again remember to do it, but there is really no consistency.
Consistency is key
This makes one realise, consistency is important.
To achieve the desired goal of becoming strong & healthy, I need to exercise regularly and not once in a blue moon! This is true for almost every other goal or outcome you wish to achieve. Doing something consistently and not just when you feel inspired and motivated to do it, is extremely important.
You might have heard the famous Hare and Tortoise story, where the hare could not win, despite having a lead on the tortoise. On the other hand, the tortoise, with his persistence and consistency, carried on and gave his best. Imagine if tortoise would have stopped in the middle without finishing the race! What do you think helped the tortoise win the race?
Making a consistent effort is what helped the tortoise eventually win the race.
Consistency means focusing on the task at hand in the present moment while maintaining a long-term vision.
When we do something regularly, we get feedback. This feedback helps us to change course when required.
Consistency, in other words, is therefore all about repetition. It’s about repeating the same actions (habits and rituals) repeatedly; gaining feedback from these actions and adjusting them accordingly to help stay on track as we work towards our goal.
Being consistent can be very hard. And if you want to achieve anything, be it in your school, work, or personal life you need to be consistent. Sticking through is required if you are running your own company. On most of the days, you must push yourself to do things which you don’t want to do or feel bogged down with. Nothing is exciting about them, and you are not confident if they are leading you anywhere. This happens to everyone. Though we know somewhere in the back of our head that these things are useful and will help us in the long run.
Principles on which consistency is based.
The idea of consistency is based on three underlying principles.
- Patience: Patience is the key to consistency. We must be patient and focus our efforts diligently in one direction to produce quality, lasting, tangible results. One of the main reasons people don’t stick with what they’re doing, whatever it might be, is simply impatience.
- Belief: Likewise, failing to believe in what you’re doing will kill your consistency in doing it.
- Value: The perceived value for a particular thing, which results from the action you need to take should be taken into consideration. Everything that we do is generally motivated by one of two things: fear and desire. In either case, you take action based on perceived value: running from a bear has the value of saving your life, while running as a form of running has the value of maintaining your health.
I have put together 6 simple actionable tips to develop consistency.
- Reminders
Sometimes it is easy to forget goals, habits, commitments especially when we make these to ourselves. To remind yourself throughout the day, put messages to yourself in visible areas such as around home, workspace and surroundings helps a lot. Placing reminders at a particular place such as mirror, computer, car dashboard and planner. You can also put a reminder on your phone, using a reminder app can also be helpful. - Reward yourself when you get even a small task done
Evan small goals deserve rewards it can be anything that makes you happy and not necessarily a big thing. Rewarding yourself acts as a kind of reinforcement. A behaviour rewarded has a high chance of being repeated. Because you are acknowledging and appreciating yourself which makes you feel good, and to feel good you continue repeating that behaviour. - Mistakes means correcting them
Sometimes despite our best planning, due to external factors we make mistakes. In a way mistakes give us feedback of how we can improve things we are doing. But we take mistakes as a message of discontinuing the whole thing halfway and starting something completely new. Don’t beat yourself up if you make a mistake along the way. Consistency doesn’t equal perfection. - Use motivational tools to keep going
When one is stressed or tired, it can be very easy just to let the goals slide for a day, but these actions can quickly cause you to get off the track. And when you feel in a similar way or kind of lazy to keep going, try to find new sources of motivation. It can be reminding yourself importance of long-term goals. - Give yourself time to see changes
Whenever you try to do something understand that it can take time. Instead of trying to do it only once or twice do it every day. Repetition is the key here, when we do it again and again, we start getting results. - Seek out a Coach
Coaches are trained professionals who understand that consistency is the key to success. If you are an individual who is not able to develop consistency, reaching out to a coach can be extremely beneficial and can keep you accountable to yourself.