Do you lack consistency in your personal, work or business life? You need to be consistent to succeed. Consistency really is key to succeeding in personal, business, and career growth. But that does not mean it is an easy thing to implement into your life. Especially when you are used to having a schedule that is set by other people (work, school, plans with friends, etc.), you may find it difficult to be consistent in your personal life at times.
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Here are 3 possible reasons why you lack consistency:
1. Self-Doubt Can Cause You to Lack Consistency
Doubting yourself and having negative self-talk are things that your consistency can easily be affected by. Of course, it’s not your fault that you may have negative, and often irrational, thoughts. Much of the time they are subconscious. While it is not your fault if you have a mean voice in your head saying mean things about you, it is within your control to change it.
Getting rid of self-doubt is not easy, by any means. Especially if you struggle with things like anxiety and depression; doubting yourself may just be second nature to you. The next time negative thoughts come creeping in, try talking back to them (in your head or out loud). If your mind starts telling you that you are a failure, ask “why?”
Making mistakes is a part of life. It is not pleasant to feel like you have let others or yourself down, but mistakes can also be learning opportunities – if you do not let them control you. The deeper you dig into these negative thoughts, the more you will realize that they usually do not make a lot of sense. Giving these negative thoughts names may help separate you from them, because you are not your thoughts.
As you battle self-doubt, you will feel much more capable and surer of yourself. Feeling capable will help you be consistent, whereas self-doubt is likely to do the opposite.
2. Focusing Only On The Outcome Can Cause You To Lack Consistency
Focusing only on the outcome is another thing that can make you feel like you have not made much progress. For example, if you are trying to be consistent with exercising and your goal is to lose 20 pounds, you will not achieve that overnight. It is entirely possible with consistency, but results take time, especially worthwhile ones.
There is so much more to exercise than just looking better; it improves your confidence and overall health, too. If all you focus on is losing that weight (or whatever else your goals with consistency are) you may start feeling like it is impossible. This is especially true if you are already battling feelings of self-doubt.
Instead of focusing just on the outcome, focus on the progress. Here is an example; you have not been going to the gym as much as you would like to, so the outcome has not been as you may have wanted. Well, think of this. You signed up and got the membership, right? Remember how afraid you were the very first time you went to the gym? You might even still be afraid of going to a public gym.
Every time you go to the gym, you are proving the negative thoughts wrong. At the same time, you are facing your fears. And that can be even more important than losing weight. When you focus not on the outcome but on the progress and become proud of yourself, it is easier to both be consistent and achieve your goals.
3. Relying Heavily on Motivation Can Negatively Impact Your Consistency.
Motivation is defined as “the reason or reasons one has for acting or behaving in a particular way.” Typically, motivation comes from an outside source, like a compliment. Some days we just feel more motivated and energized than other days, making us want to clean everything we have been putting off.
True, motivation is good. However, it is not always sustainable. This is where discipline comes to play. Motivation is doing things because you want to do them, but discipline is doing things even when you do not want to do them. You see, all that cleaning you were randomly motivated to do in just one day would not have been that much cleaning, if you had been practicing discipline.
Discipline does not come as easy as motivation does. In fact, it does not really come easy at all. You are breaking old habits (such as procrastination) and forming new ones (doing the things you want to become consistent with). Discipline is not easy at first, but within a couple of weeks, your brain will be trained to be more consistent, and it will almost be the same as motivation.
In Conclusion
If you are having trouble staying consistent, know that you are not alone. There could be a few different culprits causing you to lack consistency. Some of these discussed in this article include self-doubt, focusing on the outcome rather than the process, and relying on motivation. If you notice that you have these traits within yourself, work hard to change them. And as you battle and get rid of these traits, you will find out that it will become much easier to stay consistent.
