When is the last time you did something consistently for more than a week?
People who have trouble showing up consistently to do anything, let’s chat about it. Whether you’re trying to write in your journal daily, or drink your body weight in water daily doesn’t matter. We’re going to dig into what it takes to be consistent here.
Being consistent isn’t easy to do, but I’ll share how I’m currently tapping into my consistency game. Thanks to Mattie James and her challenge to consistently blog this month, I have had to dig deep and pull out all of the tricks to be successful at this challenge. If completing tasks with regularity is an issue for you, perhaps a method I use may help you too. We’ll get to that in a minute.
If you are the president of the consistency club, help a sista out with some of your tips. It’s rough out here for the rest of us sometimes.
Why Consistency is a Challenge
Let’s be real; it’s just hard to show up sometimes. That’s the short of it. The thing about doing anything with regularity is that it requires you to show up even when it is hard. This is where I often have trouble. If I am uncomfortable, I will walk away from things unless I have tools in place to ensure that I stick around and give it all I’ve got.
I have learned to rely on the following tools as they help me push thru those hard times and stay true to my goals. I’m using them to help me get through the challenge of blogging daily (weekdays) this month.
Make (and Stick to) a Plan
There is no way I can be consistent without a plan in place, and a commitment to stick to it. I just discussed this in my meal planning/breakup with takeout post also. A plan gives me a guide to success.
For this blogging challenge, I created a spreadsheet containing topic ideas for every day of the month. Have some of those topics changed over time? Sure, but I didn’t have to scramble to figure out what I would write about every day. I had some type of plan. We’re more than two weeks in, and I’m still on target! For everything I’ve ever been successful at doing, I have had (and stuck to) a plan.
Be Present Over Perfect
I drive the struggle bus when it comes to being present over perfect. I tend to get discouraged because I want things to be ideal. Y’all, I have quit many things, including this blog, because I was frustrated that things weren’t as I desired them to be.
I’ve gotten better with this by just being present, and accepting what is. You can push through what is.
When this challenge began, my website was malfunctioning. Typically that would’ve kept me from pushing through. This time I decided to just accept that although it wasn’t working as I wanted, I could still post to it. That’s all I needed to do. I’ve also realized that so much of my desire for “perfection” is based in fear and ego. Here’s where I recommend a book (or two). They helped me work through a few things, so I’m recommending them to you. Check out Present Over Perfect and Ego is the Enemy.
Find Your Tribe
Hands down, my number one tool to being consistent is having a community. There aren’t many things I’ve been successful at without the encouragement of others. When I ran a marathon, I had a training community. When I lost weight, I had a fitness community. Even when I was traveling consistently, I had a travel community.
So of course it makes sense that with this blog challenge, we also have a community. There is something to be said about having a group of people who understand your struggles and wins because they’ve been there. I can talk to my fiance until I’m blue about this blog. Will he be supportive? Absolutely! Will he truly understand the struggle? No, because he hasn’t lived it.
So that’s the gist folks. Make your plan, stay present and find your people! Just by using these three tools, I have found my consistency groove. Funny enough, it’s flowed into other areas of my life as well. Mattie is definitely on to something when she says “Consistency Pays.”
Now that you know I’ll be here consistently, go ahead and subscribe to my newsletter! (Hint: the form is on the right.)
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