Benefits and Importance in Consistency
Being consistent to me means daily following a pattern, having the same attitude towards people or things, and striving to achieve some level of success.
What are the benefits in consistency?
-Helps build good healthy habits. Most of our habits are subconscious. Meaning we may experience an urge to do something our body has already adapted to.
-Helps improve one’s overall well-being. It’s proven you get better at something the more times you try to do it.
-Helps build momentum. Momentum is the motion of how things are going. When you're in a constant motion, you're building consistency toward the direction you’re aiming to go in.
-Holds you accountable. If you get into the momentum of doing a task over and over again. Your body makes it a habit that needs to be repeated daily. For example, if you miss a workout that you usually accomplish on X day, your body responds “What the heck happened?” Why’d we miss what we set ourselves up to do?””
-It proves you’re being serious, taking action and building reputation.
-Being consistent in exercising can reduce stress and enhance your mood. This happens because your body is actively producing endorphins while exercising. Endorphins are neurotransmitters released by the pituitary gland and hypothalamus in the brain. They’re our body's natural pain reliever. It’s a “feel good” chemical being released that can make you feel better and put you in a positive mood. This is why people believe movement is the best medicine.
I believe consistency is universal and carries over to everything. It’s not just about showing up to a workout it’s about discipline.
Are you being consistent in eating?
Are you being consistent in turning your phone off before going to bed?
Are you going to bed at the same time every night?
Are you upholding yourself to the standards you set for yourself or are you allowing other things to take over for that designated time?
I used to always say “there’s not enough hours in a day”, but I’ve become skeptical of the way I view that. I’m starting to believe there are enough hours in a day. We have 24 hours in a day. 8 hours of sleep minimum which at least gives us 16 hours for the rest of our day. Time management comes into the picture, we just need to be intentional. It’s not that we don’t have enough hours in our day, it’s about how we choose to use them efficiently.
This may take a shift on what we prioritize. It may make us question what is important to us. By doing this, it opens up many other doors for creating a better execution plan on what it is we’re trying to achieve.
I hate reading. It’s something that I struggle with. I tend to lose focus and it takes alot for me to comprehend what it is I'm reading, but I enjoy the way I feel when I read something that genuinely sparks my curiosity. This is something I want to get better at and I want to learn how to enjoy doing it. I know personally I fall short. I’ve missed days and it’s an area I can improve in. I set a time for myself to read for 30 minutes a day and I know if I specifically close off 30 minutes of my day only for that one task, there is a bigger likelihood of it being accomplished.
Last week I only read 3 days. Mon/Wed/Fri
This week my goal is to make it 5 days. Mon/Tues/Wed/Fri/Sat
Next week my goal is to make it all 7 days. Mon-Sun
At that rate everything I’m reading will be fresh, I’ll finish it before I know it and continue pursuing this new learned habit with other novels that interest me.
It’s a lot easier to be consistent when we envision a desired outcome.
How to do it
Have a plan of action. An execution strategy.
Start small, work backwards. Look at the long-term goal, what are you trying to achieve?
Envision yourself already doing it. When you lay things out, you’re able to prepare yourself for that time instead of just “sneaking it in”.
This will help you keep yourself accountable.
What you do consistently matters a lot more than what you do every now and then.
A new habit begins with motivation but requires discipline to maintain. Instead of focusing on staying motivated, I think shifting the focus on building discipline is more beneficial. Motivation comes and goes, it's a fleeting emotion, but setting up small simple goals to begin with and sticking to them no matter how we’re feeling is the key. This allows us to feel a sense of accomplishment and that feeling is addictive.