Growing Into Consistency

Motivation gets you going. Discipline keeps you growing.

Any goal worth achieving will not be accomplished overnight. To achieve them, we need consistency. And consistency requires patience. For most goals, we will have to show up each day and do what’s needed to continue reaching toward them.

Patience is hard in a world where instant gratification is huge. We want it to happen now. We want to have a great outcome from minimal effort.

So how do we grow into consistency?

John Maxwell provides some steps into becoming consistent in his book The 15 Invaluable Laws of Growth.

Improving yourself daily guarantees a future filled with possibilities. When you expand yourself, you expand your horizons, your options, your opportunity, your potential.

John Maxwell

1. Do you know why you need to improve?

Knowing your "why" for something you want is the first step. If you don’t know why you want something, it’s much harder to follow all the steps to get there. So, figure out your why.

Once you know that, it becomes easier to reflect on where you currently are, which things to improve or change, and how to move forward.

Improving yourself daily guarantees a future filled with possibilities. When you expand yourself, you expand your horizons, your options, your opportunity, your potential.

2. Do you know how you’re supposed to improve?

Figuring out how you’re going to improve requires knowing what you're capable of and what your strengths and weaknesses are. For example, for some of us, setting small and attainable goals is more helpful than setting big, unrealistic goals. When making sudden, drastic changes, we’re more likely to not follow through.

It’s also helpful to focus on the journey versus the outcome. Focusing on the outcome can become overwhelming. It can also make you feel like you aren’t moving quickly enough.

Small disciplines repeated with consistency every day lead to great achievements gained slowly over time.

3. When do you start improving?

Today.

Make a plan. Envision what you want and write the steps to get there. Making a plan is the first step. Knowing the plan is a great tool in staying consistent. Work on developing daily habits that align with your vision. Habits that will fuel your personal growth and will help you improve each day.

You will never change your life until you change something you do daily.

Consistency isn’t easy. But it is simple. It’s much easier to quit when your results don’t come quickly enough or when the everyday, mundane tasks become less appealing and interesting. Stay consistent. Don’t quit. Remember your WHY.

Consistency takes discipline. Once you make the decision to choose discipline over motivation, your daily habits begin to shift, your perspective changes, and you start to enjoy the journey.

So where do you start?

1. Write down what you want to accomplish.
2. Now write down your why. The more whys you have, the better.
3. Tell someone. When someone else knows your vision and your goals, you are more likely to stay accountable and engaged in the process.