5 ways to stay consistent this week
We're almost a week in. Can we make it two?
With this reaching you on the 29th of September, we’re all reaching week 1 in the next couple of days.
And after a week, the high of starting a new challenge can wear off.
The little voice in your head isn’t distracted by this shiny new activity, and motivation might dip. 14 weeks sure does seem a long way away….
So here are five ways to fight that inner voice and stick to your goals this week.
What to expect in this issue:
Think less, do more
Mel Robbin’s famous 54321 rule is one of my favourite ways to get out of my head.
One of my worst habits was snoozing my alarm and sleeping in, encouraging that groggy feeling which would make my mornings feel 10x harder.
This would turn into a guilt spiral of the day… “if I got up earlier, I could’ve gone for a walk”, “if I didn’t snooze, I’d have more energy for the gym” etc.
Don't just imagine doing things someday. Do them now.
Get out of your head and take action.
James Clear
If I give myself the opportunity, I think too much. I’ll think of the perfect reason why I should in fact snooze and sleep for another hour.
Instead, I’ve been counting down from 5 and just getting out of bed.
Spring into action, and get the day started. Don’t give yourself the opportunity to talk yourself out of it.
Do the easy version
Consistency, and life, doesn’t actually have to be hard to be worth it.
There’s a much deeper reason as to why us perfectionists, procrastinators and Type A’s tend to create suffering as a pre-requisite to success, but that’s for another post!
In the game of consistency, it’s the repeated reps that matter. We can turn the dial up later, once we develop our habit and the consistency is ingrained as discipline.
This week, ask yourself how you can make your daily ticks easy.
How can I make it easy to get the 30 mins for my body in? I could do an at-home yoga sesh before work (instead of a long winded workout at my gym).
How can I made it easy to read 10 pages? I could pick a juicy murder mystery book that I can’t put down (instead of forcing myself to read non-fiction).
You get the idea. Try it yourself this week!
Make it visual
Having a visual display of your consistency is a great way to remind yourself of how far you’ve come.
It’s a lot better than doing it in your head.
One way is obviously the group tracker. Another way is post-it notes, bullet journals, or IRL habit journals.
When I did 75 earlier this year, we used post-it notes on a whiteboard in the hallway:
How can you make your progress visual, if you don’t use the tracker?
Collect discipline coins
My coach gave me this advice when I was having a hard week.
“Nic, I have no energy. Every task feels like I’m dragging my feet. The easy version is the hardest version.”
She told me to go through the motions, and collect the discipline coins. The more I collected now, the easier next week would feel.
Consistency = collecting discipline coins 🪙
Do the hardest thing before 12
Out of our three daily ticks, what has been he hardest one to do this last week?
Take that one and make it a priority to get it done either first thing or before 12 this week.
If you do the hardest task before 12, the rest of the day feels like a breeze. Emotionally, you feel like you’re on top of the world.
You mentally beat yourself up less, and you’re more likely to go into tomorrow with an amazing attitude.
Our collective progress 6 days in is….
Taken from the group accountability tracker
Not looking amazing…. but that means the only way is up!
Wednesday could’ve been our greatest day at 50% consistency.
We need to bring this allllll the way up everyone! What’s been stopping you ticking your daily tasks off?
Speak next week,
Devamsha