How To Build The Force Of Consistency?
“Opportunity has spread its wares before you. Step up to the front, select what you want, create your plan, put the plan into action, and follow through with persistence” – Napolean Hill
This article will be covering the topic of consistency and how people can use this powerful force to change their lives and continue growing in different areas.
The #90DayMovement’s purpose is to encourage and educate people to defeat sugar addictions, lose weight and build sustainable habits. The Consistency series will focus on helping people to make habits sustainable (consistent) within the health and fitness area. However, these principles will also work in other areas such as relationships, finances and business.
What is Consistency?
Consistency is defined by Merriam-Webster as:
a. Marked by harmony, regularity or steady continuity: free from variation or contradiction (example: a consistent style in painting)
b: Marked by agreement: compatible
c: showing steady conformity to character, profession, belief or custom
Older meaning: Possessing firmness or coherence.
These definitions communicate a message of continuation, not stopping or being deterred in your strides to achieve your goals or purpose. I would like to define consistency as continuing to act and move despite what is happening around you, choosing to move forward in every condition or circumtance.
How To Build Consistency Pillar 1: Finish before you start.
“You have to think about the BIG things while you are doing the small, daily things so that you make sure the SMALL things go in the direction of the BIG things” – Alvin Toffler
Stephen Covey called it “Start with the end in mind”, Simon Sinek spoke about “Start with Why” and I say “Finish before you start”. This is the principle called purpose or vision which has spurred on people to achieve great feats. The habit of consistency in your life will be made easier when you are crystal clear on what you want to achieve.
Dig deep.
Many people avoid going deep in issues such as vision, goals, and planning. However, in order for them to move forward and live out their purpose, they need to determine what is their ideal state and match it with thier daily life.
You need to be brutally honest with the below questions:
1. What are you core values?
2. What do you want the end of your life to look like?
3. What do you really want to achieve in life?
Studies have indicated that people never take the time to identify and write down their goals. If this is true for goals, it means that people don’t even bother identofying and writing down their personal mission statements.
What is a personal mission statement?
A personal mission statement embodies your life’s purpose, what is important to you and how you will measure success. The personal mission statements captures your passions, long-term goals and why achieving them is important.
In his groundbreaking book “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” Stephen Covey popularized the concept of individuals writing their personal mission statements. You may have heard of organizations writing their corporate mission statement, Covey argued that people and families also need personal mission statements.
Stephen Covey’s adds that writing a personal mission statement is one the most critical activity in taking control of one’s life.
“To Begin with the End in Mind means to begin each day, task, or project with a clear vision of your desired direction and destination, and then continue by flexing your proactivemuscles to make things happen.” – Stephen Covey
You may be a student looking to improve your marks or a busy professional, an entrepreneur looking to build a more balanced life – a personal mission statement will help to give you clarity and focus on what is IMPORTANT to you. The process of writing a personal mission statement will be beneficial to you as it will bring awareness of your true values and self-introspection.
Here are some of examples of personal mission statements to help you start writing yours:
Putting it into action.
The most powerful foundation for building the force of consistency in your life is a strong personal mission statement. In a world where everything around us is changing at lightning speed, your personal mission statement will be an anchor that will keep you grounded. Your personal mission statement will help you to ACT on your most important values and principles which never change.
As much as vision, purpose or a personal mission statement is important it also has a negative aspect, it may appear too big and unreal. Many people postpone starting to acting on it. We all know or heard of someone with huge dreams or vision however they haven’t even taken one step towards it.
Break it down into daily tasks
A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step” – Lao Tzu
Many people who have achieved their desired goals have learnt to take their castle in the sky (personal mission statement), give them a foundation (weekly or daily tasks) and consistently act on them. People start worrying about the big personal mission and forget to take daily steps or actions. Their everyday live is not congruent with their values and personal mission statements.
Take your personal mission statement (vision/dream) break it down into goals and milestones. Identify an action you can take DAILY to reach that goal. You will need a thousand steps to achieve your goals and vision, one step a day (repeated) will move you closer to the target. I have learnt that people’s big breaks is found in the small and consistent steps as it takes many years to become and overnight success.
Pareto gave us the 80/20 rule, which simply says 80% of you your results come from 20% of your actions. Your task is to find those 20% daily steps or actions which give the greatest return.
Gary Keller in his controversial book “The One Things” takes the 80/20 rule to an extreme case and says you need to focus on ONE act that will bring you the bulk of your results. He advises people to answer this question every day, “What’s the one thing you can do, such that by doing it, everything else will be easier or unnecessary?”
What is the one thing you can focus on daily, that by doing it your health will be easier or you will achieve your goal? my one thing healthwise was avoiding sugary drinks and foods for 90 days. It helped me to lose 13 kilograms, drop a pant size and run 21 kilometres without stopping in just 90 days.
Dreams and Visions should be the fuel that motivates you to remain consistent in doing the boring, mundane and small steps required to achieve yours goals.
Take some time out this week and do these tasks:
- Write down your personal mission statement.
- Breakdown your personal mission into monthly milestones.
- Find a daily action, that will bring you closer to your ideal state (personal mission statement). Focus on it daily and do it consistently.
Begin with the end in mind, identify your goals and work on taking daily steps towards the end!
If your personal mission statement includes taking care of your body and living healthy. We have a 12 Weeks Health Program that helps people translate their health goals into a single daily action. You can sign up HERE.