Consistency Is Key

Consistency is important for making progress. It’s the core concept that separates you from results or feeling successful over time. However many people don’t quite realize the actual power of consistency, but rather they know of it.

Being Okay With Letting Yourself Down

One of the biggest factors that people take into account with regards to consistency is a all or nothing mindset. We can sometimes get stuck in black and white thinking where if we stray off the beaten path, we feel like failures. For example, you might be trying to lose weight by regulating your calories. You impulsively buy and eat a donut, and the minute you ate the donut, you’re telling yourself that you’ve failed.

Here’s the thing, you failed in one instance, but this should not be your ultimatum. This is typically where people fall back into old habits as if one time it slips, it can slip time after time. Eventually you’re back into eating unhealthy and your diet was just a passing fad in your life.

Make the most of these failures and turn them into learning opportunities. Great, so you ate a donut. It’s time to lock down the next time temptation kicks in, or otherwise make sure to kick your ass even more in the gym.

Know That Failure Will Happen

Being consistent also comes with some drawbacks. Otherwise known as the same ol’ same ol’. The same food, the same environment, the same exercises, and so on. To maintain not only your sanity and increase your odds of being successful over time, you will need to plan for failure. In fact, you should embrace failure often with your habits. Do you do a mile run every day on a treadmill? What if you decided to try doing that mile on a trail instead? Imagine you weren’t able to actually run a mile on a trail, would you consider that a failure?

Or imagine you tried learning something that’s not in the general area you’re currently focused on, would you consider that a failure? Regardless of what it is, give yourself room to explore. Be creative and allow yourself to make the autonomous into discovery.

Knowing that failure will happen allows you to embrace failure head on and allows you to get straight back on track when things start to get derailed. After all, if you try something new and it doesn’t work out, you can always go back to the same ol’ same ol’.