How To Stay Consistent 4 Different Ways!

How many things have you started—a book, a habit, or even a new skill—with so much excitement that you found yourself doing it everyday, sometimes even multiple times a day… only for your eagerness to taper off until you stop doing whatever it is altogether? You want to finish things but can’t seem to find it in yourself to see them through until the end.

Don’t worry, you’re not alone! This is more common than you think. A lot of us experience the same thing because we either start losing motivation, focus, or both. It doesn’t help that with technology and the Internet, almost anything is within reach nowadays; it’s easy to get distracted by newer, more shiny things. The good thing is, there are many ways we can build consistency.

Whatever it is we want to do and if we want to keep doing it, here are four ways to help ourselves stay consistent!

1. Got a plan? Now schedule it.

If we want to start being consistent on anything, the first thing we need to do is make it part of our schedule. It’s not enough to say, “I’ll start journaling”—more than just aiding us in staying consistent, having it in our schedule is also a means to make sure that we commit to what we say we’ll do. Nothing says commitment more than having a space for a task or activity in your planner: it’s written proof. Plus, we all lead busy lives, may have a lot on our plate some days, and a reminder is helpful because it’s not that we don’t want to sit down and journal about the day. Sometimes we just forget.

2. Find out what motivates you.

Nothing kills consistency—as well as our eagerness and dedication— quicker than a lack of motivation. Without anything to encourage us to keep moving forward, especially during days where life is extra difficult, how does anyone expect us to finish tasks or engage in our everyday activities?

Before we proceed further, first, let’s define what motivation is. According to Positive Psychology, it’s “a condition inside us that desires a change, either in the self or the environment.” Vital to our survival, it’s an internal process that gets us to take action because it drives us to satisfy our needs, pursue our goals, and make something more out of our lives. Without motivation, we won’t even feel the need to do anything—which is why it’s important to know what motivates us, when we feel motivated, and for how long. It’s important to find one that's personal to you; after all, what motivates one person may not motivate another.

One of the best ways to find motivation is to remember why you started in the first place. You can also try to seek inspiration by starting a gratitude journal. Find what rekindles the dying fire inside you and use it as your driving force to keep moving no matter how hard it is to do so.

Here’s a post about how to find motivation and keep yourself motivated if you need extra help!

3. Don’t put all of your focus on the finish line.

While it’s important to keep the end in sight whenever we set out to do anything, it’s vital that we don’t focus on it too much that we forget about the now. This is because if the finish line is all we ever choose to look at, we can end up disheartened by how far away it is—which is usually the case when you’re just starting to work on consistency. It can be discouraging and this can become the reason why you end up inconsistent in the long run.

So what should we do instead? Track our progress, of course—literally and with the use of a habit tracker!

A habit tracker doesn't only give you a real time view of how you’re doing and if you’re staying consistent, a tracker also allows you to celebrate little wins that you can use as motivation to keep going!

If you’re new to habit trackers, here are four reasons why you should start one now.

4. Find your own pace.

It’s easy to compare ourselves to others nowadays, especially with social media where people post only the best of their personal milestones. When someone from our workplace or a former schoolmate is getting ahead and we’re not, it may feel like we’re a failure for not having similar accomplishments. So what do we do? Never mind what works best for us, we go for a different approach so speed up our own success—only to fail miserably.

What we sometimes fail to realize is that we move through life at different speeds. We have our own priorities and way of doing things, and so the results we get—and when we get them—will not be the same with other people. Whether we take more or less time in reaching our goals or finishing tasks, the important thing is that we’re doing it at our own pace using the best means possible.

Don’t let the pressure of seeing others succeed now get in the way of you succeeding later.

Conclusion

Consistency isn’t an overnight thing and, while it takes a while to build, it’s going to be smooth sailing once we get the hang of it. It’s all about giving attention to the process before the result: what things can we do to ensure we stay consistent to reach the end of the line?

What steps have you taken to build consistency outside of this list? Tell us your success story—we’d love to hear from you!