Most persons have a strong idea of what’s required of them to grow and succeed, both in life and in their business.
Chances are if I were to ask you, “What do you need to do to become a success?” you’d have a clear answer. You’d also have an equally strong answer if I were to ask you, “What do you need to do, to NOT fail?”
You know that to grow a business or accomplish a personal goal, you have to show up, even when times are rough and challenging.
After launching my own business, I quickly came to realize, that the true key to success lies in remaining consistent. I saw it in role models, mentors, and anyone that I aspired to be like.
We’ve seen the quote so many times…..
“We are what we repeatedly do”
And if we know this, then WHY oh why do we struggle with remaining consistent?
Before we dive into how you can become more consistent, let’s quickly understand why we struggle with consistency.
Remaining consistent is hard for several reasons, but here, I’ll share the top two.
We’re too impatient for results.
Too often, we start something whether it’s a business or an exercise program, with a bucket full of motivation. We’re super excited to get going - the idea is fresh, the dream seems close….and then, when we get into the momentum, realize how very difficult it’s going to be to achieve something big. Progress takes time to come, and before you know it, the motivation wanes, frustration grows and you lose the spark you started with.
We procrastinate because of self-doubt
A weak sense of self-belief, makes you question your ability to accomplish something - whether it’s a huge task, or not. Rooted in self-doubt, you probably talk yourself out of taking a step. Maybe the self-talk sounds like “Why bother?”, “Why even bother trying, you know you’ll fail anyway…There are too many businesses like this already” When this is the narrative, the small steps you need to take daily become optional instead of necessary.
So, how do we get past the impatience, and self-doubt, to craft a life of consistently productive, constructive, success-building behaviors?
Start with a clear goal
Setting realistic goals, increase the odds of them being accomplished. Proclaiming “I want to be a billionaire” isn’t going to cut it. Your goal should be realistic, time-bound, attainable, and must have measurements you can keep track of. A clear and realistic goal, gives you a sense of direction - sort of seeing a mountain peak ahead of you. You know exactly where you’re going to end up.
Understand that progress takes time.
Getting excited about achieving success is great to keep your fire burning - but it’s incredibly important to recognize that society’s picture of overnight success is a very false sense of reality.
Social media and movies paint an image in our heads that everyone else makes it big overnight, and luck is stumbled upon and worse yet, success comes with minimal effort….which can’t be further from the truth. This leaves us with a sense of impatience and anticipation of failure - combined with the Victim mode - a sense of failure surfaces - and you fall off the wagon of consistency…..when really and truly….you’re growing at a realistic rate.
Identify small steps of progress.
While it’s really important to define the end goal, tracking your progress along the way is made easier when you identify small, wins as you grow and progress. Getting your business registered, opening your business bank account, or eating 7 healthy meals in a row, are all small steps along the journey of launching your business or creating your healthy lifestyle. Over time, the small wins add up to become bigger accomplishments, because you’re successfully taking small steps towards accomplishing big things.
Revise your concept of time
This is a favorite of mine. Let’s say, you mean to publish a post on your social media streams and for some reason, you got delayed and weren’t able to complete it. If you roll the post to the next week because you think the window is closed, you’re focusing on having a definite time frame in which to complete a task.
Instead, focus on getting it done - it may not be the ideal time of day, or as long as you intended it to be - but it got done!
Have you ever postponed starting a workout routine because you missed a Monday, completely ignoring that there are six other days that you could begin? That’s essentially you talking yourself out of getting started - because you’ve defined a window in which it MUST get done….rather than focusing on the fact that you just need to start.
Revising the concept of time, allows you to focus on getting things done, rather than waiting for a perfect moment to complete something. Done is always better than perfect.
Create a plan & commit to sticking to it.
You’ve probably heard this before, but. a plan in your head isn’t a plan. I say this to my clients all the time. By writing down your plan, you’re more than 80% more likely to achieve your goal. Why? It’s because you take away the emotional weight of walking around with it in your mind. Having a plan sets the tone for developing discipline because the end goal is clear. A plan helps you to keep yourself accountable for your growth, success, and what you need to do to get there.
A plan can look like, a habit tracker, a weekly checklist, an entry into a calendar….or all three for that matter. Crafting a plan and surrounding yourself with it - brings your goal into your environment and helps you to adapt your daily behaviors to meet that goal.
Holding yourself accountable, helps you to revisit your progress, assess what’s going well - where you need to increase your effort and what you need to do in order to remain on track. You soon learn, that only YOU can be held responsible for making the effort needed.
Create and Share your goals with a strong support network
Surrounding yourself with persons who are like-minded, helps you to remain consistent. It’s because they hold you accountable for what your commitments are. Sometimes, we hesitate to share our plans with those around us, in fear of them ridiculing us, us disappointing them or even stealing the business idea. Truthfully, healthy relationships, are built with persons wanting to see you succeed. Plus, having healthy support systems creates a solid sounding board that you can share ideas, get feedback, and help when you get stuck.
Feeling Stuck is only a temporary emotion
It’s highly likely that you will stumble. Emergencies will come up, plans get delayed and pandemics happen. When you do get impacted by the things that you cannot control, the feeling of discouragement will surface. This can quickly snowball if you allow it to. It can also, just as easily fade away if you decide to not throw fuel to the flames of a slower pace. When you do feel stuck, understand that the feeling is only temporary and you have full control over when you choose to let go of it.
Don’t let the tiny voice in your head stop you!
Becoming consistent in business and life takes effort. Remember to focus on small, changes, clear goals, putting one foot in front of the other, and watching your powerful habits develop into money-making rewards, loyal customers, success, and business growth.
If you’re having a hard time setting goals and keeping consistent in your business and life - you can always feel free to reach out to me to help you get out of your own way.
Cheers,
Crystal.
