Breaking the Chains of Inconsistency: How to Be More Consistent in Your Life

So many persons have this inner longing to be consistent at what they do, these include exercising, early morning jogging, praying, reading books, learning a skill, finishing a course, finishing a training etc.

But most find out that most of the things they wished they were consistent with are things that they started with excitement about, but a little along the line, they either somehow lost the excitement or completely lose interest in what they do.

Sometimes, they get to remember or wished they continue whenever they meet someone who is consistent or someone who has gotten the kind of results they would have gotten if they had been consistent with whatsoever they started, and then that wish of staying consistent comes in, which further leads to them analyzing how far they would go if only they have stayed consistent.

There is one thing I want to ask, Have you ever wondered how or why you have been consistent with your day-to-day 9-to-5 job? Or why you have been consistent with your business and show up every day, even those days you just wish you wrap yourself in a thick blanket and sleep the rest of your day?

It was because of urgency because you know that your life depends on it, so until we see the need for what we are doing as something our life depends on for survival, there is no way we can break out of the chains of inconsistency.

At the beginning of what you are about to start, what do you see at the end, what are your reasons for starting? What do you envision, which results do you expect to get at the end of it all? In what way does it benefit you or those around you? Does it improve your standard of living? Does it open you up to more opportunities?

Make sure you put all these things to heart. Treat every single thing you do with value, and keep reminding yourself why you are doing every one of them. Always envision the rewards, make research into those that persevered and stayed consistent, see how it has improved their life and how they are enjoying the result today, and envision the same in your life.

Another thing you should do is to plan. The truth is that many people don't take the aspect of planning too seriously, they believed that if it is predestined to happen, it will happen, but that is not true, even if it is predestined to happen if you didn't plan for it, it simply will not happen.

Whatsoever thing you want to be consistent with needs to be planned for, and a portion of your time needs to be accrued to it. Let us say I want to be reading a book every day, with a very busy day, it might be difficult to achieve, howbeit, if only I can accrue time for it, I will have about 90% chance of staying consistent in achieving that.

I can decide to say every day, by 8 pm I will make sure I read the book, I can decide to make the plan more realistic by saying I will read for 30 minutes. Having this plan on the ground will help you know that you were supposed to be doing something at that period.

Another thing is to make up your mind to do it even when you don't feel like doing it, it's just like waking up in the morning preparing and going to work, some days it will be fun, other days it won't be, but irrespective, we still go to work.

So out of your 24 hours, plan your seconds, minutes and hours, out of your week, plan your days, how many days will I be doing it, which days of the week will I be doing it? Will it be on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday or Sunday? Be realistic in your planning, let it be when you can meet up. Not that you know you often sleep by 9 pm and you went and put it around that 9 pm hoping you won't sleep and forget.

Another thing is to get an accountability group. Sometimes going with a group helps you stay consistent irrespective of what it is. You can either create one yourself and search for people with similar desires, or simply join an already existing and active group. I know of a Backend Software Engineer, Joshua by name that started this PeerJS, where certain days in the week they come together to review Data Structures and algorithms in JavaScript, they review the basics, how it works and how to implement it in solving real-world problems. Now that is an example of drawing consistency from an accountability group.

Another one is having an accountability partner, although I haven't explored that option much, I have heard from many persons that have utilized it and it worked for them. It simply involves someone that always checks on you and reminds you what you were supposed to do either a day or some hours before the time, so you could be conscious of what you were supposed to do and do it.

In conclusion, it is not easy staying consistent all the time, but it is worth it, so put systems in place that will not only motivate you to stay consistent, but that will also force you to stay consistent. Know what you want to achieve and keep reminding yourself over and over again, and always plan and apportion time to various tasks, that way you can stay consistent as you know that the time, in particular, is meant for something you are supposed to do. Finally, take advantage of accountability groups and partners, you can achieve consistency too with them.

Thank you for reading, you can connect with me on Twitter and LinkedIn.