Top 10 Series: Part 4 | Consistency is Key
4 | CONSISTENCY IS KEY
You’ve heard it a million times, and by now, you know it’s more than true.
Success doesn’t come from what you do every once in a while, it comes from what you do consistently.
You won’t always see the results day-in and day-out, but you will over time and sometimes that’s hard to remember when you’re in the thick of it and daily grind. You’re definitely never squatting 250lbs if you’re not consistently working your way up to it. It might seem monotonous or boring, but you know you have to be consistent in your training to continue leveling up your skills.
This means your habits and routines are critical to your success, especially when no one’s telling you what to do or holding you accountable.
Your morning routines, workouts, eating, sleep, how you communicate, how you show up for relationships — it’s all on you.
What you do daily determines where you’ll go. You must be consistent in your habits to follow through and achieve your goals regardless of if they’re on the court or not.
Your daily habits are really the secret to success.
When disruption and trauma get thrown in the mix, one of the first things to go is structure just by the nature of the disruption. Your daily routines and consistent habits get over-ridden by trying to take care of everything and figure it out. And that’s normal. It’s ok to grieve and feel all sorts of emotions, and it’s ok if they’re different than what your friends are experiencing.
But you eventually have to take back the reins. You can’t let yourself stay in that casino-mindset where there’s no windows or clocks and no one knows what day it is. It will slowly eat you away. And you’ve come too far for that– you’re stronger than that. And one of the best ways to actually deal with those traumatic issues is to have routines and structure to help you stay focused.
Since we know that being consistent relies on your habits, that means it actually relies on your discipline. NOT your motivation.
Does that make sense? Motivation comes and goes, but discipline remains consistent. There are waaaayyy too many times I haven’t felt like doing something I know I should. Take running for example. You just learned last week/topic that I trained to run a half marathon because I have always hated running and thought I couldn’t do it. Do you know how many days I didn’t WANT to go for a run? But I did. I went because I knew the only way I would get to my goal of 13.1 miles was to PUT IN THE WORK. To do the damn thing. To push through the grind and change my mindset from “I HAVE to run” to “I GET to run.” That’s a major difference that you just might need to start telling yourself. There are so many things that you GET TO DO, while others may not have the opportunity or ability, so do them.
I’m trying my best to keep my habits and routines the same during this season when so much around me has shifted — getting up at the same time, working out at the same time, eating the same kind of breakfast, lunches, and dinners, and making sure I get good sleep. I’m a notorious night-owl but have been working on going to bed at a decent time because I know how important sleep is. These are all things I can control!
Our son, Jackson, is two years old and helps keep us on a routine because lunch, nap time, dinner, bath, and bed are all staying the same for him. He has no idea what’s going on, and I need to keep things as normal as possible for him — in routine and attitude! There’s obviously a lot more that we have to be flexible with having him home, but it’s just as good for me as it is for him.
We love to cook, but sometimes life just gets busy, and it’s easier to grab something (healthy-ish) on the go and thankfully it helps support local businesses now too. Staying in means I just need to be better at planning the dinner menu– and we’ve done really well at it. We haven’t bought anything at the store that we normally wouldn’t. No extra junk food, no extra snacks, no “comfort food.” Staying healthy starts with what you put in your body! And drinking water. That’s all still in your control to choose!
Maybe it’d be helpful to start using your planner again– or the calendar on your phone– and putting in time blocks to keep you on track with a little bit of structure and routine. Write down the three things you want to accomplish during the day and make sure they happen. It’s already been eight weeks and there will probably be more. I promise you don’t want to look back on the last few months and wonder where the time went and why you’re not farther along.
We know that habits beat motivation in the long run, BUT you definitely need to know WHY you’re doing it. There absolutely needs to be an overall driving factor. Being consistent relies on the fact that you know where you’re going or why you’re doing it too. Otherwise, putting in the daily work and effort will become a grind even with the discipline and habits in place.
Ask yourself some of the things below to do a mental check-in:
Why are you moving your body or working out every day? Is it to stay healthy, in shape, or on track with your training? Is it because you’re at your best mentally when you do? Because it’s your outlet? Because you still have competitive goals? Because you want to be ready and better than you were before we all got sidelined? What’s your why?
Why are you keeping a gratitude and goals journal? Is it to remind yourself of the things you’re thankful for? Or because you know that focusing on gratitude inherently leads to being happier and appreciating more? Is it because you know that writing your goals makes them more likely to happen?
Why are you eating the way you are? Has it changed over the past few weeks and why? How can you make it better? Even if it’s as simple as consistently making a dinner menu and grocery list to make trips to the store more efficient and help you eat healthier at home.
Why are you saving or not saving money? Why are you spending more than your income? Are you buying all the things online?
These are just a few aspects of your life that can all be controlled by you and have huge impacts if done the right way consistently. I know you knew all of this, but sometimes it’s good to have a reminder.
What’s your goal? What do you need to do to get there?
Challenge yourself to think of 3 areas where you can level up in your consistency and then follow through on it. You’ll either be stronger, smarter, healthier or even have some more income in that bank account of yours!
Stay strong and take care!
– Lori
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