It Starts with Consistency

I got on a role last week and hammered out several posts. It just seemed like ideas were flowing to my head and I just had to get them out. Then this week the well sort of dried up till I was on my drive home, thinking about several things and this idea just came to me. No matter what you want to do, what you are looking at it all starts with one a vision for what you want to achieve, but then building consistency into your days to make that happen.

I’ve written many times on mindset, habits, discipline and it all comes back to this idea of being consistent. Many know that I am what you would consider a workout addict. Every week you can pretty much guarantee that I have worked out at minimum 4 days that week and sometimes 5-6 days. I always take off Sunday, and then many times Saturday and one other day. No matter what I always get back to it the next day. You will also know that I consistently read my Bible and

pray every day! I lost track of how many years I have been doing it, and while I’m not perfect and I do miss a day here and there, I do get right back to it immediately. One thing I'm no longer consistent about is golfing. The picture is me teaching my oldest son to play when he was about 8, around the same time I started. For many years I played consistently, at one point around 18 playing 5-7 days a week. I was an 8 handicap and consistently getting better. While that no longer is a priority, I know what it takes to get good and that is simply practice, practice, practice, not just 1-2 days a week. This year I'll play 1, maybe 2 times, I'll be ok, but nowhere near the handicap I once was. These are just a few of the things I do consistently and no longer do, but rest assured there are many more and I’m sure you have some too, some good, some you have fallen away from and some bad.

Then the questions come back to why and how do I do it. So you want to get out of debt, save for retirement and stop living paycheck to paycheck. If that is your plan you already have your vision and I would go a bit beyond that and say get picture in your mind of what that achievement will look like. Now, you have the foundation to start building some consistency. And as you know step 1 is creating and living into a budget. I know that bad word that stops you from overspending and prepares you for your future. The key part of this is that it is not enough to just create the budget, you have to live the budget. That means every day, every transaction, you have to look at your budget and make sure you have the money to do what it is you want or need to do. If you don’t, you are going to have to rearrange some things. That is the start, and rest assured, if you are just starting out, month one you are most likely going to mess up, so what you do? Do it again, and again, day in and day out. Course correct, adjust and keep after it. The only way you can get yourself out of debt and on your way to saving is to live into a budget day in and day out.

That same principle applies for anything you want to do. You have to keep a vision for what good looks like and then when you mess up, get up and do it again. Many of us forget what it was like to ride a bike or start anything new, but I guarantee you that you fell at least one time in the course of learning, and you had to get back up again. I remember learning to ride with those clip in pedals and falling off as a 40 year old man, how embarrassing, but you know what I got back up and did it again. That is the key. Doing the same thing over and over is not the definition of insanity, it is the definition of building consistency and discipline in your life. Now if that consistency is not correct, it is time to course correct and adjust, build a new better habit. Evaluate your habits and determine if they are helping or hurting you on your path to your dreams.

Build consistency, so that you can build discipline and you can achieve your goals. Get after it!