I’ve learned over the years that nothing beats consistency and repetition of the simple stuff. It is the actual formula to success in anything that you do, if you know what simple stuff works. It’s a bit like the tortoise and the hare. The hare plods along, consistent, steady, no drama, sticks to his plan. The hare wears himself out, is dramatic, talks about it too much, and eventually loses (quits).
When I first hired a mentor in business, I was very much like the hare. Jumping from one idea to the next, stressed, not focused and with major shiny object syndrome. Shiny object syndrome is the tendency to chase something new, rather than stick to your plan, and it happens to all of us. Examples are alway setting goals, but rather than stick with them, move on to something else. You have lists of things to do, but don’t stick with them, rather you’re always making new lists. It can be really cool when you recognise this in yourself, as knowing about shiny object syndrome, and recognising it in your behaviour, really helps you get laser focused.
So here are my 5 steps to consistency.
There are two pains in life: ”the pain of the discipline of the truth and the pain of regret”. Meaning, GET REAL AND HONEST WITH YOURSELF. Are you eating too much crap food? Drinking more than you should? Are you overweight? Is your weight heavier than it should be? Are you unhappy? Is your work/life balance out? Do your relationships need work? Does something in your life need to change?
Being real with yourself takes practise. We’re experts at avoiding the truth, when the truth can hurt. But the truth will also set you free, and the more you practise it, the less scary it becomes and the easier it becomes to face up to things. Give it a try! It’s one of the most empowering things you can do for yourself. To take the emotions and excuses out of things, and be truthful with where you’re at. This level of honesty with yourself leads to progress, which leads to consistency, and happiness.
Have a plan where you have simple goals and simple action steps and always, always know why you’re doing something. You’re not going to consistently get up out of bed in the morning to go and do a workout, if you have know idea why you’re working out. Why are you doing it? Get super clear on this and the action steps will become easier. And have your reasons why somewhere you can read it easily and often.
Three action steps will lead you to your goals if they are simple, and specific. Keep it simple, trust the process, have courage and practise faith that you will achieve your goals if you stick with your plan.
Focus on your action steps all day every day. By this I mean, How do you show your love to your love ones? Knowing you love the and thinking about them are very different to the actions steps you do to show them you love them. It’s the same with your health. What is the action you’re taking? Doing rather than thinking becomes habitual and over time, you will ‘act’ more and find it easier to take action.
Work at doing things in chunks. Can you group all your work calls together? Can you do chunks of time throughout the day to stay consistent? Rather than giving half your focus to a client on the phone and straight after zipping through emails without thinking, can you dedicate certain times of the day to certain things? You’ll be more present, allowing yourself to completely give over to what you are doing. I love this because all the focus goes on your client, if it’s a call. If it’s a child, and you’ve dedicated play time, you can give 100% of yourself to this. Working out? Your working out time is just for you, no distractions.
This is a tough one. You have to get over shiny object syndrome, you have to commit to not checking your phone when you’re with the kids. It’s tough to implement, but with practise it helps you stay consistent and you really do start to become more present and enjoy what’s in front of you. I used to be addicted to multi-tasking, but put mildy, multi-tasking is rubbish and not a measure of your work ethic. You give everything whether you know it or not, 50% of your attention when you multi-task.
One of the biggest game changers is listing to Podcasts when you’re out for your walk. You are literally getting yourself pumped up and immersing yourself in success. Jim Rohn, Tony Robbins, Jack Canfield, whoever it is, whoever you enjoy and find motivating, put your earphones on, get out walking and listen! Youtube, Spotify, Soundcloud, it doesn’t matter the platform, switch the radio off and use this time as your NET time. (i.e No Extra Time, meaning you’re doing it while walking or driving and it doesn’t take up any extra time).
I hope you find this helpful, you can head on over to the free tools section of our website and grab yourself some free stuff which may help you on your journey.
Jessica Cooke X
