How much would your life improve if you were consistent?

CONTENTS

• Introduction
• What Is Consistency Anyway?
• Why Did You Fail To Be Consistent?
• How To Be Consistent In 9 Steps
• Create Habit Based Goals
• Clearly Define The Outcome
• Shift Your Identity
• Check The Level Of Desire
• Make It Easy
• Focus On One Thing At A Time
• Slow Down
• Do Not Miss Twice
• Celebrate Your Wins
• Track Your Progress
• Become Accountable
• Progress, Not Perfection
• Learn From Mistakes
• Ending Thoughts On How To Stay Consistent

Introduction

If you’re downright sick and tired of the same old routine – kicking off something with all the enthusiasm, only to watch it fizzle out in a matter of days – then buckle up, because this article is tailor-made for you.

If you’re genuinely ready to throw that inconsistency out the window and fix this nagging aspect of your life once and for all, don’t just skim through – read till the very end.

This article will unleash a toolbox of strategies that’ll arm you to the teeth, ready to conquer and achieve the things you desire with relentless consistency.

Consistency is the key to success in any area of life. I do not have to tell you that; you already know it, or you wouldn’t be here reading this text to learn how to be consistent.

Before I provide you with a precise step-by-step plan, it is crucial to grasp why consistency has been elusive.

Understanding will change your mindset and empower you to avoid making the same mistakes again.

Without a deep understanding, applying knowledge becomes mere action without insight.

True understanding will empower you to navigate through challenging times when motivation wanes.

The principles outlined here have been tried and tested in the trenches. They are rooted both in our psychology and biology.

After years of wrestling with the same question, I finally cracked the code.

Just like you, I failed to establish consistency for years until I discovered a system that empowered me to achieve success in all areas of life where I previously faltered.

By the end of this article, you’ll understand why you’ve struggled with consistency and, more importantly, how to attain it once and for all.

What Is Consistency Anyway?

It is a form of self-discipline where you do things even when you feel like not doing them. This involves sticking to a chosen course of action or behavior even when faced with the temptation or desire to deviate from it.

It is the ability to stay committed to a particular goal or routine despite fluctuations in motivation or temporary feelings of reluctance.

Consistency is crucial for maintaining long-term plans.

Why Did You Fail To Be Consistent?

Here is what a typical experience is for most people. They form strong intentions when they are highly motivated and begin performing an activity with passion and enthusiasm for a few days or weeks.

At this point, their motivation is strong, and their craving for the end result is high, which helps them overcome any friction they experience.

However, after a few days to a few weeks, this initial enthusiasm fades, and motivation gets depleted, so they begin skipping days, saying “I do not feel like doing it today.”

The new behaviors they’ve committed to now feel like a chore. It becomes painful to continue and what most people do at this point is either stop completely or try to prolong it by using their willpower to push through.

Unfortunately, just like motivation, willpower is a limited, short-lived resource. It gets depleted during daily life challenges – tackling difficult tasks, making decisions, managing stress and emotions, etc.

Disappointed, they drop what they started and simply proclaim that they “lost motivation” or “I just can’t do it. This is not for me”, it just takes too much effort” without analyzing why and understanding how motivation truly works.

They wait for a new wave of motivation to come, so they can start again, only to crash and stop once the wave is gone.

They end up blaming circumstances, other people, themselves, laziness, lack of discipline, willpower, or character.

In reality, they lack a well-designed system.

Everyone has this version of the story: You get excited and start strong, but as soon as the motivation wave is no longer there to carry you, you stop.

This cycle of starting, stopping, and then starting again is what I call “the cycle of doom.”

I had been doing this for years and had always wondered why I had strong motivation and self-discipline in some areas but couldn’t apply the same level of discipline in others.

A well-designed system comes from understanding what drives our behavior and the forces working against us.

Here is the thing about motivation: it comes and goes in waves, fluctuating day to day and even minute to minute.

It is an unpredictable force that can’t be relied upon.

If you only do things when you feel like doing them and do not when you are not feeling up to it, you will not make any substantial progress, as the graph above indicates.

A person who operates based on the unpredictable peaks and troughs of motivation, undertaking tasks only when the waves are high, is what I term a “motivational wave rider.”

Relying on motivation to achieve your goals and build consistency is like relying on a spark to keep a fire burning.

The initial burst of motivation may ignite the flame, but without the steady fuel, the fire is likely to flicker and fade.

Consistency, much like the sustained supply of fuel, requires a reliable source that goes beyond momentary inspiration.

So, what is the source?

It’s a habit.

Consistency is rooted in habits – they are the primary fuel. It is the habit that will carry you through times when you don’t feel like doing it.

What is a habit anyway? It is the things you repeatedly do.

Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines a habit as:

“an acquired mode of behavior that has become nearly or completely involuntary.”

Essentially, it is our brain’s mechanism to automate things we repeatedly do in order to save time and energy. It allows it to disengage from decision-making and just go into automatic mode.

All day long, from the moment we wake up, our brain starts processing information from the five senses and producing output in the form of decisions and actions.

It’s a non-stop processing machine.

Habits are effortlessly put into action, streamlining our daily lives by making it easier to navigate the multitude of choices we face.

Our decision to take control of our actions is based on how easy the task is and how important the outcome might be.

Essentially, when we feel resistance in the moment we weigh the effort required against the potential benefits, determining if it’s worth deviating from our usual, automatic response.

We simply do not want to exert more effort than necessary.

Here’s the truth about your current situation: Where you find yourself in life at this moment is the result of the habits you’ve acquired and practiced up to this point.

Therefore, It is of the utmost importance to recognize that wherever you intend to end up in life will be the result of the habits you choose to adopt right now.

In the beginning, it takes a bit of effort but once these habits are firmly established, the process becomes significantly easier.

There’s no longer a need to exert force to take action; it seamlessly integrates into your routine, becoming a natural part of it.

Consequently, you no longer have to force yourself to maintain consistency in areas where you seek it.

However, to form a habit, you need to consistently repeat the behavior until it becomes a habit. Which leads us to this observation:

Consistency is what creates habits but habits are what create consistency.

On the surface, this statement may appear paradoxical, but it isn’t.

You might ask, “If habits are what create consistency, how do I maintain consistency to establish those habits in the first place?”

The answer is simple: By applying habit-creation principles. It is this knowledge that will allow you to maintain consistency long enough until you form a habit.

Failure to maintain initial consistency is essentially a failure to establish habits, or to be more precise to apply habit creation principles.

There are a few reasons people fail to form habits. First, as we already discussed, they rely too much on motivation.

When motivation fades, they stop. The second reason is our inherent need for instant gratification.

We want it all, and we want it now. If we do not see results quickly, if things do not become easier, we lose the motivation and stop.

We expect our progress to follow a linear and straightforward trajectory, expecting constant advancement.

Unfortunately, progress is not linear, and it could take a couple of weeks to months until we see the first significant results of our actions.

There is a period during our practice when we see nothing happening—no visible results, no improvement.

You might wonder, “I’ve been exercising for a few weeks, why don’t I see changes in my body?

Why does the gym still feel like a medieval torture chamber rather than a fun playground?”

“Where are my results?”

In order for it to become easier and more enjoyable, you have to pass a threshold where your brain accepts your new pattern and makes things easier for you.

The duration varies, depending on the complexity of the activity, but on average, it takes around 60-70 days to form a habit.

The phase when it seems like nothing is happening is the most critical stage of habit development.

This is where most people give up. However, it is crucial to understand that even if we do not see progress, it is happening, quietly accumulating in the background.

The metaphor of the bamboo tree is a good one to illustrate this concept.

Bamboo is known for its rapid growth, but it spends a long period underground developing a strong root system before it starts to grow above ground.

This underground growth phase is not visible, and it may seem like no progress has been made.

However, once the roots are fully developed, it may seem like the bamboo tree pops out of nowhere, growing several inches per day.

When people observe and admire someone’s success, they are typically witnessing the outcome of the compounding effect of regular practice.

So whenever you are tempted to give up, remember that your progress is not lost or in vain; it just takes a little more time.

Key Concepts to Remember:

• Motivation comes and goes in waves; it is an unpredictable force that can’t be relied upon.
• Consistency is rooted in habits.
• Consistency is what creates habits, but habits are what create consistency.
• Knowing and applying habit-creation principles is what initiates consistency in forming a habit.
• Progress is not linear.
• Initially, progress may not be visible, but it is quietly accumulating in the background.
• On average, it takes 60-70 days to form a habit and see the first fruits of your efforts.
• Once the habit takes over, maintaining consistency becomes much easier.

How to Be Consistent in 9 Steps:

Now that we’ve explored some of the major reasons that may have hindered your consistency, it’s time to unveil a simple 9-step blueprint.

These principles can be applied to any aspect of your life where you aim to be consistent.

1. Create Habit Based Goals

We all have goals, big or small. It usually starts with some vague concept, like wanting to lose weight, be healthy, or save money, which then evolves into more specific goals, such as losing 30 pounds (13kg) in 60 days, saving $2000 by the end of the year, exercising three times a week.

Goals are a great way to prioritize behavior and form a structured framework to follow.

The common advice you often hear on how to build consistency is to set clear goals and outline steps to achieve them.

However, the problem is, everyone has goals, but not everyone achieves them.

One of the common reasons for this is that people become too attached to the results and end up being impatient. They love the idea of the outcome more than the experience of the process.

Another issue with goals is that they often provide only momentary change.

Achieving a goal, while a significant accomplishment, does not guarantee you’ll have long-term consistency beyond the initial objective.

For example, someone has a goal to run a marathon. Once they reach their outcome they might stop running.

They have reached their objective, why should they continue?

Because outcome-based goals have endpoints many people revert to their old ways after achieving them.

One of my friends took up kickboxing with the goal of participating in a match to prove to himself that he could accomplish it.

However, once the match concluded, he never returned to the kickboxing gym.

Another friend set a goal to lose 33 pounds (15kg), successfully achieving it, but gradually abandoned the healthy behaviors and reverted to his previous body shape and lifestyle.

Both of them were too focused on the outcome.

Setting an outcome-based goal might give you the consistency needed to reach that particular objective, which is fine if that is what you want.

However, if you want to be consistent in the long term beyond a specific outcome you need to focus on creating habit-based goals.

In this paradigm, outcome-based goals serve as milestones rather than final destinations.

Achieving a goal is temporary while forming a habit is for life.

Habit-based goals are when you make specific habits the main focus. By turning these habits into primary goals, you can use them as tools to achieve larger or specific outcomes.

For example, rather than setting a goal to lose 33 pounds (15kg), a habit-based goal might be to exercise for 20 minutes every day or to eat a serving of vegetables with every meal.

To be consistent in the long run change your mindset and your objective:

1. Treat goals as milestones, not the endpoints.
2. Focus on the process, not the outcome.
3. Make habit formation your primary goal.

In this paradigm shift, setting up goals remains valuable to determine necessary steps and behaviors. However, the emphasis is now on the process itself.

2. Clearly Define the Outcome You Desire

Clearly defining what you strive to achieve determines the best approach to identifying which habits to form and which actions to execute.

Otherwise, you might be disappointed due to a lack of results, and this disappointment often arises from inadequately defined outcomes.

Not all habits are equal; some are simpler, consisting of one or a few components, while others are more complex with multiple components.

For instance, if your goal is to wake up at 5 am, a straightforward approach would involve setting an alarm clock and consistently waking up each day until it becomes a routine.

But is that clearly the outcome that you want?

I presume most people do not just want to wake up at the same time, but to wake up rejuvenated from a deep, refreshing sleep, ready to tackle the day.

Well, this is a different outcome that requires a different approach.

It involves the creation of multiple habits, such as disengaging from screens (phone, TV, and computer) an hour before bedtime, avoiding eating three hours before bedtime, and going to bed at the same time each night, etc.

By establishing these habits, you address various components that contribute to a restful night’s sleep, aligning with the broader objective of waking up feeling revitalized and prepared for the day ahead.

Take the time to clearly define your desired outcome.

3. Shift Your Identity

You may have heard the quote, “We become what we repeatedly do.” This statement encapsulates a fundamental truth: our habits shape our self-image and identity.

Whether we like it or not, when we repeat something long enough, good or bad, it becomes who we are.

I am bad with directions. I am a smoker. I am an athlete. I am a writer. What do these have in common? They are all identity statements.

The extent to which a habit becomes context-independent and whether we maintain consistency in the long term are closely tied to whether it has become deeply ingrained in our identity.

For instance, individuals who identify as blood donors consistently donate blood, and avid readers always find time to read.

Those who enjoy exercising will always find a way to exercise even if the gym or extra equipment is not readily available. Musicians persistently practice their instruments.

When a habit becomes an integral part of who you are, it transcends external circumstances and becomes independent of the context.

Even if your habit is disrupted due to illness, vacation, injury, or any unexpected life event, you will return to it as soon as circumstances allow.

The painter won’t stop considering himself a painter if his art tools and studio are burned down in a fire.

Right now, you identify as a person who is not consistent.

Why?

Because of the numerous times you started and failed at something you wanted to achieve, you gave yourself evidence that you are that person.

You are someone who is not consistent or a person who does not finish what they started.

So, in order to begin to identify with a person who is consistent and disciplined, you need to give yourself proof that you are that person.

How?

By deciding who you want to become in relation to your goal(s), determining the behaviors you need to adopt to achieve them, and repeating those behaviors long enough until they become habits, which will ultimately shape your identity.

For instance, if your goal is to lose 33 pounds (15kg), ask yourself who you want to become in relation to that goal. Most likely, you aspire to be a fit person.

Similarly, if you aim to run a marathon, consider who you need to become to achieve this goal – a dedicated runner who enjoys the journey.

The mindset shifts from “what I want to achieve” to “who I need to become in order to achieve the desired results.”

Taking it a step further, you can also delineate the beliefs, values, and actions of that person with the desired identity.

This shift in identity may seem like a play of words, but it is not. It is the cornerstone of achieving long-term consistency.

It aligns your behaviors with the person you aim to become, ensuring that your habits endure beyond short-lived goals.

4. Check The Level Of Desire

Every action stems from a desire, acting as the driving force behind our motivation.

However, we do not desire things equally; they vary in their intensity. We desire some things more than others.

Some we want urgently, some we leave for later. Priority is different for each desire based on what we value the most and our current life situation.

You may be familiar with the expression “you don’t want it badly enough,” often used to highlight that achieving a goal requires a deep and unwavering desire or commitment.

It suggests that if you want something but aren’t prepared to put in the effort to get it, then you don’t “want it bad enough.”

On the other hand, if you’re prepared to do what it takes to achieve the outcome, then you do “want it bad enough.”

If there isn’t a fire beneath your desire propelling you toward your goal, you may not even start or be able to overcome obstacles when they arise.

So, how do you make yourself want something bad enough?

Well, it’s not that you don’t want something bad enough, but you have not discovered a reason compelling enough to propel you toward your desired destination.

Everything you do in life will have a reason behind it.

Ask yourself why you want the things you desire. What is the reason behind it? What is the result you aim for? Why do you want that outcome?

Uncovering your WHY involves discovering a compelling reason, which is most often rooted in the mental pain you experience or the need to gain pleasure.

Pain is usually a stronger motivator than pleasure, so take the time to reflect.

If your why is strong enough, you will be determined to stay consistent despite everything and will be more likely to stick through it, as opposed to when you do something out of momentary motivation or superficial reasons.

However, finding a compelling reason is not always possible. So, do not get discouraged if you can’t find one.

The next principle is a foolproof method that will allow you to be consistent even if your desire is not that strong.

5. Make It Easy

Our brains and bodies are designed to conserve energy. It is an evolutionary survival mechanism from times when food was scarce.

Every action we take expends energy, and our ancestors, facing limited resources, had to conserve energy for survival.

Consequently, we tend to avoid spending more effort than necessary.

The problem is that even in today’s world of abundance, this evolutionary mechanism hasn’t changed.

Your brain and body still think they live in a time where they have to play hide and seek with a saber-toothed tiger.

So, whenever we make decisions to do something, we weigh the effort against the benefits we get.

If the perceived effort outweighs the benefits, we are not going to do it. We simply do not want to exert more effort than we need to.

Why go against our biology then?

The resistance you feel when you want to do something is the friction between you and your desired objective. Identifying sources of friction and removing them makes the path towards habits smoother.

The goal is to follow the principle of least resistance, or what I call “the frictionless way,” and make the formation of new habits easy.

This way, we can trick our brains into not giving us resistance.

How?

By starting small.

If you declare you’re going to exercise for 1 hour each day, 5 times a week, you’re simply asking your brain to expend too much effort and energy.

In contrast, stating “I am going to exercise for 5 minutes each day, 5 times a week” places a much lighter energy demand on your brain.

Once your brain becomes familiar with the activity and automates it, you can gradually increase the time or repetitions.

Smaller steps are believable and, therefore, achievable in the early stages of behavior change.

I call these small, low-effort actions micro-commitments. Because that is essentially what you do—commit yourself to the smallest version of a larger behavior until it becomes a habit.

For example, if you’ve recognized that waking up early would significantly impact your life and you aim to wake up at 5 am (currently waking up at 10 am), you can employ micro-commitments to accomplish this goal.

Begin by setting your alarm for 9:50 am, then gradually adjust the time in small increments over an extended period until you reach your desired waking time.

Micro-commitments offer a gentle and gradual approach as opposed to the brute force method of setting the alarm clock straight to 5 am.

This abrupt change could result in days of insufficient sleep and heightened stress.

The gradual adjustment allows for a smoother adaptation, making the process more manageable and sustainable in the long run.

Always remember that a habit needs to be established before it can be expanded. So, starting small is a foolproof way to achieve it.

On days when you feel motivated, you can do more if you want to, but set a minimum baseline and stick to it.

Do not make excuses that you can’t make significant progress or achieve your desired outcome with these small commitments.

The point is not to practice something for 5 minutes but to master the smallest version of a larger behavior first, and then expand.

6. Focus on One Thing at a Time

When people try to change their lives, they usually start tackling too many things simultaneously, often with an intense, all-or-nothing mentality.

They create plans that involve radical changes, such as committing to an hour of daily exercise, eliminating all traces of junk food, dedicating an hour to learning a new language, reading 10 books a month, and picking up a musical instrument, among other ambitious pursuits.

They begin a complete overhaul of their lives.

This “Go Big Or Go Home” approach, fueled by initial enthusiasm, almost always leads to burnout, disappointment, and dropping all the changes they’ve been trying to make.

Trying to change too many things is akin to trying to run before learning to crawl.

Heroic efforts usually end up with heroic failures, trapping people in the cycle of doom. They are simply unsustainable.

Every commitment you make but do not follow through with takes a toll on your self-discipline and self-belief in your ability to maintain consistency

For that reason, avoid making too many commitments. A good rule of thumb is to stick to one to three simple habits at max in the beginning.

Once you establish those, only then move to expand to more habits. This way, by keeping your habits light and easy, you will more likely stay consistent with them.

This will reinforce your belief that you can do it and give you a boost to continue and make more changes.

How to choose which habits to focus on? Ask yourself some of these questions:

• What holds the highest importance for you at this moment?
• Among all the possible actions, which one promises the most significant benefits?
• Of all your aspirations, which habit would improve your life the most?
• Which one holds the potential for the greatest impact?

Once you’ve determined the habit(s) that will yield the highest impact, as previously mentioned, focus on 1 to 3 at the time in the beginning.

There are a million things competing for your time and attention. Since we have limited both of them you need to learn how to prioritize it.

Apart from selecting habits that could have the greatest impact, you can also start with the simplest ones such as drinking water first thing in the morning.

The goal is to experience success fast.

Simple habits can provide early victories, giving you proof that you can be consistent and thus setting a positive tone for being consistent with the other habits as well.

7. Slow Down

Another common reason people fail to establish consistency is impatience.

Not only do they commit to too many things simultaneously, but they also do so with high intensity, believing that increasing their efforts will achieve their goals faster.

If they commit to exercise they will do it for one hour each day, if they decide to boost their productivity they will work uninterrupted for hours etc.

They already imagine having a six-pack body, playing an instrument with Mozart’s finesse, and speaking French as if they were born in Paris in mere weeks.

While it is true that high intensity can yield faster results, it works only if you have already established a habit or if you have a strong reason for pursuing it.

For the most part, it’s important to realize that reaching the desired outcome takes time; it simply cannot happen overnight.

You have probably heard the timeless fable of “The Tortoise and the Hare.” The rabbit, known for its speed, challenges the turtle to a race.

However, the rabbit’s overconfidence leads it to take a nap during the race, assuming it can easily catch up.

Meanwhile, the turtle moves slowly but steadily and consistently, eventually winning the race.

The moral of the story is clear: “Slow and steady wins the race.” Similarly, in our pursuit of personal change, it’s essential to adopt a steady and sustainable pace. Slow down and lower your intensity.

Success is a marathon, not a sprint. Change your mindset and start thinking long-term.

Conditioning yourself to a new reality is a gradual process. The brain needs time to rewire its pathways.

So, slow down, relax, and enjoy the process. You’ll eventually get there.

8. Do Not Miss Twice

Our brain loves routines; it allows it to disengage from decision-making and just go into autopilot.

If you have committed to a new habit, it can take a while for it to become a routine in your brain.

The key is to do it regularly and try not to skip your new behavior for more than 2 or 3 consecutive days.

The third day is already pushing boundaries and risking yourself to get into negative momentum away from your new habits and into your old ways.

Repetition creates mastery. A routine is created when we repeat the same things daily.

However, life can be unpredictable. No matter how diligently you stick to something, you cannot always be consistent.

We’re all bound to slip up here and there; it’s just part of the deal. Missing a day or two isn’t the end of the world; it won’t affect the progress you made.

The important thing is to bounce back to your new habit as soon as possible. Treat setbacks as bumps on the road, and be kind to yourself.

This balanced approach makes it way more likely you’ll smoothly integrate that new habit into your routine for the long haul.

Embracing the 2-day rule reinforces your commitment, ensuring that occasional deviations don’t become a detour off the path to consistency.

9. Celebrate Your Wins

If something feels good, you are more likely to repeat it; conversely, if something feels bad, you tend to avoid it.

This is precisely what happens when you start a new activity with high enthusiasm, and after a few days or weeks when the initial burst of motivation wanes, it becomes mentally painful to continue.

It transforms from a pleasurable activity to a burdensome task, and it’s no wonder you stop doing it.

No one wants to feel discomfort, especially when dissatisfied with the lack of results.

If repetition is the key to forming habits, the feeling of pleasure will wire it faster. So, each time you finish an activity, be proud of yourself because you did it.

It doesn’t matter how small or insignificant you may perceive it to be. Feel good about it.

While the activity itself may not be pleasurable initially, as it transforms into a habit, it will gradually become more enjoyable.

Until that happens, what you can do is consciously bask in the satisfaction of having done it.

Think about the times when you didn’t feel like doing something, but you did it anyway.

Most likely you experienced a sense of satisfaction because you did it despite resistance.

The same principle applies here. As soon as you finish your habit, allow yourself to feel good about the accomplishment.

Furthermore, every milestone you achieve is cause for celebration.

For example, if your goal was to establish a habit of not engaging with your phone first thing in the morning and you succeeded for two weeks, take a moment to celebrate and acknowledge your accomplishment.

Start approving yourself. Say it aloud with satisfaction: “I did it.”

Additionally, consider rewarding yourself with external treats for staying committed, such as treating yourself to new sneakers after three weeks of running or enjoying a fancy meal when you hit certain diet goals.

Track Your Progress

Monitoring your progress can instill a sense of satisfaction and give you the motivation and confidence to continue because the visible evidence of your advancements becomes apparent.

However, it’s important to note that tracking your habits is optional—some individuals find it satisfying, while others may not.

A common reason why people opt out of tracking is that they feel it adds another layer of responsibility for them since habit tracking is a habit itself.

However, it is an easy one that can be established fast. So, don’t let it be an excuse.

Try it; if you find it valuable, continue; if not, feel free to stop anytime.

A conventional habit tracker typically takes the form of a list. You compile the habits you wish to monitor and simply check them off each time you complete them. It looks like this:

Download and print this habit tracker template.

This method provides a bird’s-eye view of the progress you’re making, offering a tangible and encouraging overview of your achievements.

However, it has its downsides. You can’t measure the quality of practice and effectively instruct your subconscious mind with this kind of habit tracker.

For that reason, I’ve crafted a more advanced version. If you’re interested in learning more about this advanced tracker, you can find it in my book, “The Frictionless Way.”

Become Accountable

This step is also optional. While some people find it much easier to stay on track with their goals if they have someone to hold them accountable, others do not.

But just like with habit tracking, anybody can benefit from some form of accountability.

Accountability is the act of being responsible for our actions and providing a satisfactory reason for them.

The challenge arises because we are often the worst judges of our own behavior, prone to quickly and easily making excuses for our inaction.

Therefore, the most effective approach is to outsource accountability to individuals whom we respect, trust, and value.

These may include our spouses, friends, relatives, colleagues, coaches, mentors, and others who uphold high standards and won’t readily accept our excuses.

Suppose you decide to use micro-commitments to establish a habit of exercising for 5 minutes, 5 times a week.

Each time, you are required to report your progress to your accountability partner. If you did not do your exercise that day, you have to explain why you didn’t do it.

If you can offer tangible proof of your progress, it’s even better, as it eliminates any possibility of dishonesty.

This process effectively strips away all your excuses.

When you’re compelled to justify your procrastination to someone else, you’re far more likely to ensure it doesn’t recur.

When there are no consequences, it’s easy to rationalize and justify your behavior.

However, when you have to explain yourself to someone else, you realize how flimsy those excuses are.

Confessing a lack of action to others adds a layer of psychological pain, and you’re far more likely to ensure it doesn’t happen again.

Why is this approach so effective? In our evolutionary past, survival hinged on our social environment, often within small tribes where expulsion meant death.

As social creatures, we inherently care about our social standing. And while we no longer live in small tribes, our brain programming has not changed.

While the danger is no longer physical, it has shifted to a more psychological realm.

We care more about showing others that we are consistent and reliable than we care about showing this to ourselves.

Fundamentally, we strive to protect our social status.

Adding another layer of consequences can make this approach even more effective.

For example, give money to your accountability partner, and if you do not follow through, they will donate it to someone you dislike or can’t stand, like a certain political figure.

The mere thought of parting with your money can be a powerful motivator, let alone donating to someone you dislike. This will ensure you stay committed.

Few more tips on how to stay consistent:

Progress Not Perfection

Your mission is to take action, not to execute it flawlessly. If you find yourself unsure of where to begin or grumbling because things aren’t perfect, or you didn’t do them perfectly, understand that perfection isn’t the goal; progress is.

Every imperfection will correct itself along the way.

Your commitment is to consistency, not perfection. Embrace the journey, learn from the hiccups, and keep moving forward.

Learn From Mistakes

There will be times when, despite your best efforts, mistakes are inevitable – especially when navigating the intricate terrain of forming new habits.

Whether it’s missing a workout or slipping up on a dietary commitment, hiccups happen.

Don’t let them discourage you. Above all, resist the urge to judge yourself. Instead, view them as opportunities for reflection and learning.

Embracing mistakes as valuable lessons allows for personal growth and resilience, turning setbacks into stepping stones toward future success.

Ending Thoughts on How to Stay Consistent

Ditch the magic pill mentality. Overnight success is a myth. Success is a marathon, not a sprint.

It’s the result of weeks and months of consistent action.

Small actions, repeated regularly, compound over time and lead to greater success.

Don’t wait for the perfect day to start.

Discard all excuses and begin making changes today!

Building consistency takes time, but the journey will ultimately be highly rewarding.