Trailblazers and game-changers in any industry share one thing in common: they know how to stay consistent. They manage to stay on track— or get back on track fast whenever necessary—despite the ups and downs of life.
The thing is, consistency is like fuel for your progress engine. And inconsistency is like running out of gas from time to time.
A simple example could be starting a new job. In the first weeks, you are pumped up with motivation, but as the difficulty increases, you begin to doubt your capability to deal with the workplace pressure, dramas, and politics.
As a result, you start arriving late, complaining, and going with the flow, like everyone else, instead of keeping your standards—or doing your best work.
In short, you get acclimated and lose your mojo. And this is where you also run into a sea of frustration.
We all can admit that a lack of consistency is a typical human behavior. But the good news is, learning to be reliable, consistent, and persistent is possible.
The cycle of inconsistency is interlinked with self-doubt and procrastination. And these are two hurdles that we should always combat to stay consistent in our work and performance.
For example, most people tend to self-doubt before taking action. Self-doubt might sound like:
- “Will I be able to do this?”
- “Am I good or smart enough to do it?”
- “What if I fail ?”
These negative affirmations and voices in your head easily convince you that you don’t measure up, that criticism will destroy you, and you will fail if you try. Guess what most people do?
They surrender, give up, and go back to following the crowd.
As Sanchita Pandey said, “The only thing that can come in your way is YOU! If you think you can, you will do it. If you think you can’t, you are right too!”
A few Insights on How to Stay Consistent
In his book the Power of Consistency, Weldon Long describes consistency as a discipline and explains how we decide our future actions based on our present mindset.
That said, we need to define consistency for ourselves and adopt mental tricks and thinking frameworks to bring our focus back on track when we hit a wall or lose motivation. This leads us to the following insights.
- Tell and remind yourself that you are consistent for you you, and you can’t let yourself down on the road of life.
- Live in the moment and don’t worry about future outcomes and past issues.
- Be ok with knowing that things might not work. Treat each attempt as a learning opportunity.
- Focus on the process more than you do on the outcome.
- Deal with challenges and difficulties as if they are part of the process. Be proactive and ready to work around obstacles as necessary.
- Focus on efforts and actions and keep procrastination at bay.
- Normalize days when your motivation disappears like breath on a mirror. Regroup and relaunch as soon as possible.
- Be graceful with yourself when facing setbacks and failures.
- Create systems to develop the productive habits that you desire.
- Overall, work with a coach and use peer accountability to help you keep moving forward.
In sum, to increase your consistency, you should stop standing in your way. So, what are you going to do with this information?
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