Consistency is Key: How to Be More Consistent

When you think about growth, success, or making changes in our life, there is one word that you are bound to hear about, and that word is consistency.  We all know that consistency is one of the major keys to being successful and moving forward in life, but the question is how?  How can you be more consistent?  Let’s discuss my 5 must do’s if you want to be more consistent and reach your goals.

Consistency is Key

Read any book about success or listen to any story about someone’s journey and you will hear about the importance of consistency.  This is because anything worth having or doing takes a lot of time.  Success is a marathon.  Change is a marathon.  These things take a long time to do, and thus you have to be consistent.  You must be able to withstand doing what’s necessary for a certain way and in a certain order over an extended period of time.  Showing up to work on time and doing your job well requires consistency.  Starting a new business or finishing that degree requires consistency.  Growing spiritually and getting stronger physically requires consistency.  Being a good spouse and parent requires consistency.  Anything that you want to do well is going to require you to be consistent.  Period point-blank. 

How to be Consistent

Make the Choice

Pop quiz: where does the battle begin?  In the mind.  Good job guys!  You first have to decide in your mind that you are ready to be consistent.  Hopefully, you are sick and tired of starting over, of falling off, and disappointing yourself.  Let’s be honest, for most people, being consistent in things that only matter to you is the most difficult thing to do.  We don’t mind disappointing ourselves.  If we say I want to wake up early so I can read, pray, and work out, we don’t mind breaking that promise to ourselves. BUT we will stay consistent with our job and show up on time.  You have to get to a place where you are just willing to be consistent.  You are willing to do what it takes, no matter how uncomfortable.  The choice is always yours.  If you haven’t, ask yourself “What mental blocks are keeping you from being consistent?”  Ask yourself, “What are you telling yourself that keeps you from being consistent?”  What does your internal dialogue sound like when you are trying to be consistent?  If those thoughts aren’t helpful, grab them and change them.  Make the choice.  That is the first step to being consistent. 

To learn how to manage your internal dialogue visit the virtual courses in the Anxiety Management Boutique.

Keep the Overall Goal in Mind

This is what I want you to tap into when you feel like stopping.  You know, when you feel like stopping “just because.”  I want you to remember your goal.  Basically, remember your “why.”  Remember why you’re are doing all of this work.  Remember what you are working toward.  Remember the outcome you are working for.  I remember when I was going to kickboxing classes, this was before COVID came and wreaked havoc, and on the days I didn’t feel like going, I would remember my goal.  My goals to be more healthy, to lose a few pounds, to increase my energy, to get stronger, and to get some of my abs back.  Remembering that made me get up and go on days when I wanted to crawl back in bed.  So, make sure you know why you’re doing what you’re doing.  Keep that reason at the forefront of your mind when you are trying to be consistent.

Determine What Consistency Looks Like for You

This tip is important because it will help you to be consistent in the way that is best for you.  If you are being consistent based on someone else’s plan, you may not stick with it.  When you are working on being more consistent make sure that you are realistic.  If someone told you that you should be working out 5 days a week and in reality, your life can only handle 3 days, you have to do what is best for you.  You can’t copy somebody else and expect things to work for you.  Do your thing.  Make your own plan.  Determine how often you need to do things.  What time works best for you?  People love to say “oh everyone should get up at 5 am …that’s how you become successful.”  Listen, that doesn’t work for everyone.  Some people are just as successful and they wake up at 7:00 am or they stay up later to do work.  Set yourself up for success by determining what it is that you need to do and make a plan based on it.  Even if you start someone’s work out plan, you still have to tweak it to work for me.  Life isn’t one size fits all.  You have to make it work for you.  The same goes for consistency.  Make sure you determine what it looks like for your life.

Make Room for Planned Breaks

Yall, this is important.  Because…burnout…it’s real.  If you don’t plan to take breaks and get rest, you’re more likely to get tired and just stop altogether.  This goes back to tip 3 where you are going to be honest about what consistency looks like.  Make sure you plan for breaks.  Going hard is great.  But all work and no play leads to burnout.  Schedule to enjoy your weekends.  Schedule for holidays and vacations.  Vacations are not just for your job (and yes, you should be using your vacation days for your job), but vacation is for anything that you consider to be work.  Listen, I take breaks from my kids and they take breaks from me, lol.  Thanks to their grandparents or their aunties they get to go on breaks, and I get to take a break.  This is important because it helps you refresh.  It helps you to rejuvenate yourself and revive yourself.   Be smart and make sure you incorporate breaks during your consistency journey.

Do It

I’ve given you tips to be more consistent, but there are no tricks to it.  At the end of the day, you just have to do it.  There is no special planner.  I know many of us will spend so much time trying to find the best planner with the pretty quote on the front and all this fancy stuff.  You can get every planner, every whiteboard, every calendar, every everything, but it doesn’t matter if you don’t commit and do it.  You can read every book about consistency and listen to every podcast, but it doesn’t matter if you don’t do it.  This is one of those situations where actions speak louder than everything.  Make up your mind and do it.  You can do it.  There is nothing wrong with you, you are very capable.  You just have to do it.

Those are my tips all about consistency.  I hope you feel inspired to make up your mind and choose to be consistent toward your goals.  To determine what consistency looks like for you and make room for breaks.  And to just do it.  Your dreams are waiting on you, just be consistent and you’ll be before you know it.

LaShawnda McLaurin is a licensed clinical mental health counselor offering counseling and coaching services to women, exclusively online. She specialized in anxiety counseling, anxiety, fear, and worry coaching, trauma, and relationship issues. To learn more about LaShawnda’s services click here.