Consistency is an essential characteristic for personal growth but why is it so difficult sometimes?! There are many reasons including our daily habits, changes in our lives, a lack of motivation or feeling low energy to name a few. Regardless of what you’ve been told, it goes beyond “just being lazy”. We must master the skills necessary to be consistent in order to apply it to our lives.
5 Tips to Master Your Routine
1. Set alarms and reminders – If you’re not used to doing something consistently, you will benefit from reminders outside of yourself until it becomes more of a natural habit.
2. Focus on what’s realistically possible. Over-committing yourself or making tasks impossible will certainly influence your confidence and consistency. This isn't about low balling your goals - this is about taking into consideration all the factors that could impact your ability to do this "perfectly" and making room for adjustments.
3. Do it despite how you feel. Yes, your feelings are important and not to be ignored but how often do our feelings change throughout the course of a day or week? Consistency will require doing things even when you don’t feel like it.
4. Don’t dwell in negative self-talk. If you miss the mark or fall off your routine, forgive yourself quickly and move forward. Dwelling takes up a lot of time and energy you will need later for something more productive.
5. Make it count. Sometimes things don’t go as planned but do something to practice the consistency while you work out the kinks. If you were supposed to wake up at 5am to workout at the gym but overslept, how can you make it count?
...A quick walk?
...A 20 minute at home workout?
...A shorter workout at the gym?
...Plan to go later in the day?
Whatever obstacles you may face in establishing a new routine, just know that your power is in the daily behaviors and choices you make. There's no guarantee you won't ever have to master or remaster a routine again but at least you'll have the cheat code to getting yourself back on track!
Be well,
Kristen