I’ve shared a lot on the blog this year about follow-through and habits. Consistency is something that I’ve struggled with a lot (and TBH still do daily) in certain areas of my life. I’ve always had all of these grand goals and “to-dos” I wanted to accomplish, but would find myself never doing any of them. It became a constant cycle of wanting to move forward but being stuck in the same place. I was tired of feeling that way so I challenged myself to really hone in on becoming more disciplined. I still have a LONG way to go, however I’ve made a lot of progress and strides this year. Here are a few things I’ve learned along the way that have made things easier + help me to build new habits:
+ To just start. Whatever it is you want to do, just starting doing something for it now. Nothing will usually start off being exactly as you want it to be or will feel like the "right time." Whether your goal feels super simple or insurmountable, it doesn't matter. What does is that you start taking action now, even if it's a baby step.
+ Realizing consistency is hard. I’ll even go so far as to say that this applies to everyone. For the longest time, I felt like I was a failure for not doing everything I wanted to do. It’s easy to perceive that everyone else is doing everything while you're not. In reality, most of us don’t have the energy or motivation to do it all every day. The difference lies in the ones who do it anyways. It’s difficult to make a change or better yourself which is why they call it discipline. If it was easy, everyone would do it, right? For me, acknowledging that it’s suppose to be hard + that everyone deals with their own version of the same struggles at some point seems to help. You aren’t the only one out there in the world not getting what you want done or facing challenges. We're all on our own journeys and it isn't a competition on how much you're doing versus someone else. The only comparison should be that IF everyone else is doing it, there's no reason why you can't too.
+ You can do anything you want to do, just not all at the same time. Starting with one new habit or change at a time has been a game changer for me. Let’s say you want to start going to the gym everyday, eating healthy, reading one book a week, the list goes on. It’s great to be ambitious and have goals, however it’s extremely difficult to start them all at once. From personal experience, that’s a recipe for disaster that ultimately isn’t sustainable. I’ve found starting with ONE goal and breaking it down into easy steps is the key. Once you nail that one down, start slowing working on another one.
+ Having a set schedule helps. Scheduling a task or habit on a certain day or at specific time helps to hold me accountable. A basic example of this is with my supplement routine. This year I started taking new vitamins everyday. In the past, I always struggled with being consistent on this so I made it a goal to stick with it this time. We all know you're suppose to take vitamins once a day so I try to streamline this by taking them around the same time everyday. Just like you brush your teeth in the morning and at night, having a set schedule starts to train your brain to expect the habit. After awhile it will start to become a regular step in your day to day and will eventually become automatic.
+ If you mess up, start over again tomorrow. This concept took me some warming up to this year. I tend to be an all-or-nothing person so missing a habit or messing up has always been an automatic failure in my book. It’s also probably part of why I’ve always had terrible follow through in the past! I’ve recently learned to start giving myself a little bit of grace and if I do mess up, I just start over the next day. I recently read an article on this that said “never miss twice in a row” which I think is a great rule of thumb. Things can happen and instead of being discouraged or letting it derail you, just move on and start over again tomorrow.
+ Consistency builds confidence. Once you show yourself you can do something, you’ve won half the battle. Instead of all the excuses on why you can’t do something, all you’re left with next is just whether you want to do it or not. If you prove you CAN do something, that's no longer a reason to not do it. This is where starting small comes in-- if you can do something once, for a minute, a day, etc., then you can do it again for a second time, two minutes or two days in a row. Then a third, a fourth, and on and on. Building a track record of consistency boosts that confidence and also feels SO GOOD. For me it's empowering to keep the promises you make to yourself. Overcoming the challenge of discipline also feels way better than tapping out because it's hard.
+ Consistency builds confidence. Once you show yourself you can do something, you’ve won half the battle. Instead of all the excuses on why you can’t do something, all you’re left with next is just whether you want to do it or not. If you prove you CAN do something, that's no longer a reason to not do it. This is where starting small comes in-- if you can do something once, for a minute, a day, etc., then you can do it again for a second time, two minutes or two days in a row. Then a third, a fourth, and on and on. Building a track record of consistency boosts that confidence and also feels SO GOOD. For me it's empowering to keep the promises you make to yourself. Overcoming the challenge of discipline also feels way better than tapping out because it's hard.
I could go on and on but I'll leave you with these for now. I always say that I'm just a work in progress, figuring it all out as a I go. Hopefully if you've dealt some of these similar struggles, you'll find some inspiration from these posts to keep on going. Remember that Rome wasn't built in a day!
