HOW TO STAY CONSISTENT? (even when you don’t feel like it)
Let’s be real, consistency is a struggle for most people and today, we’re going to look at how some individuals and companies stay consistent for years at a time if not for a lifetime.
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Whether you’re seeking discipline and consistency in achieving your goals, being consistent in your business, developing and maintaining certain habits, or you just want to be generally more consistent in how you show up in life, stay tuned!
STEP #1 IN BEING CONSISTENT WITH ANYTHING IS CHECKING AT WHAT DOES CONSISTENCY MEAN TO YOU?
We are all different and one thing is for sure, the higher you are on the perfectionist scale, the harder it will be for you to hit your standard of consistency.
For example, if your new goal is to run a marathon, but you haven’t run even 2km in 10 years, setting yourself up with a goal to run 10km, 7 days a week from right now won’t really set you up for success, at least not consistently.
STEP #2: TEST YOUR COMMITMENT
DO YOU REALLY, I MEAN REALLY WANT TO GET TO YOUR GOAL? ARE YOU WILLING TO GIVE SOME THINGS UP IN ORDER TO ACHIEVE IT? WHY DO YOU WANT IT SO BADLY? DO YOU EVEN KNOW YOUR WHY?
A lot of times we make a wish list of nice to have’s but in order to make a wish into reality we need to go a step further.
STEP #3: MAKE IT SIMPLE TO FOLLOW
As soon as we make this big deal out of how much and how hard something is going to be, we instantly reduce our chances of making it happen.
AVOID ANALYSIS PARALYSIS AND RATHER START WITH ONE SIMPLE STEP THAT YOU CAN TAKE STRAIGHT AWAY.
Focusing on one thing at a time can help maintain your focus hugely although I understand that life usually requires our focus in several areas. So how does one maintain their focus and keep direction? This brings us to
STEP #4: SCHEDULE YOUR MUSTS
Make sure you take advantage of all the technological advances that can help you keep on track, from productivity apps to simple reminders, it doesn’t matter whether you use your laptop, your phone or a regular paper planner, just make sure you SCHEDULE your MUST ACTIONS.
One huge downfall however of ALWAYS being super consistent is the threat of becoming RIGID and even inflexible.
Change really is the only constant in life and the last thing you want to do is obsess over how things need to be done every minute of every day. Being rigid or consistent to a point of becoming a control freak to everyone around, leaves people lonely, miserable and very often burnt out.
To avoid this outcome, make sure you
STEP #5: PLAN FOR TIME OFF, FUN and SPONTANEITY
I know this might sound counterintuitive or even strange to some people, thinking, fun is supposed to be spontaneous, why would I have to plan for it?
But I know too many high achievers who simply love to be challenged and work is actually really fun for them. They immerse and lose themselves in it every day and breathe with it happily.
So a year goes by and they forget to take time for vacation or they carry on working in the evenings or during the weekend and all of sudden they start noticing changes in their energy levels or they find themselves thrown off course easily, having arguments with loved ones.
These are usually early signs of burnout and to prevent it, make sure you create a plan that’s flexible and counts in time for rest and play also.
This next step might be one of the most important ones:
STEP #6: TREAT TIMES WHEN YOU FALL OF COURSE AS TEMPORARY RESET DAYS NOT AS THE END OF THE WORLD
The quicker you are forgiving yourself and not beating yourself over not being consistent, the faster you’ll get back on track.
I know this would be more difficult for someone who has extremely high standards BUT perfection can often be the distraction to execution.
You might want to follow DONE IS BETTER THAN PERFECT on those days, when you are just not meeting YOUR OWN version of a 100%.
Another thing good to remember is that it’s your life and your business, so you get to set the pace of how fast you want to go and how consistent you want to be.
If you’d like to hack your own consistency habits why not consider coaching as your support tool to make it happen?
Being coached doesn’t mean you don’t know how to do something, on the contrary, it simply means that you’ve scheduled and prioritized your thinking time to tackle and solve those big-ticket questions that will help you govern strategically and think outside the box.
If you’re interested in executive coaching or know someone who is, let’s connect on Linkedin or check out our services here.
Now it’s your time to shine — share with us your top hacks for staying consistent in the comments below.
Sources:
- Coleman J., (January 2017), The Best Strategic Leaders Balance Agility and Consistency. Harvard Business Review in Leadership.
- Skinner W., and Sasser, W. E., Versatile and Inconsistent. Managing People, Harvard Business Review.
