There is a specific trait most individuals lack to perform, in certain areas of their life. They may perform this trait in a lot of things, such as going to work everyday, brushing their teeth everyday, going to bed around a certain time, but they may lack the trait in aspects they “want” to do everyday. Such as, follow a diet, exercise, less phone time, working on a side business, etc. This single trait, we somehow manage to do in some of our daily living, yet, we fall short in others. The trait I am talking about, is consistency.
There is a plethora of knowledge out there, if knowledge is what we need, we would all be in the best shapes of our lives, with pockets bursting with cash, however, knowledge is not the only thing we need. We need action to perform the knowledge we have learned. We can get knowledge and learning by researching on the computer, going to college, taking a certificate course, going to a seminar, going to a convention, getting a job/life coach, reading books, watching YouTube, and the list goes on and on. Once we have this knowledge, we need to put it into action. Then we need to find a way to put it into daily, consistent action. This part is key! We can do something once or twice or a few times but to do it everyday or multiple times in a week, with a schedule, is the real challenge.
We are able to be consistent with some things in our life, now we need to learn how to be consistent with the things we feel are truly important to us. Some things we may stress over and think about our lack of performance, may not be that important to us. Which is fine, then we must tell ourselves, it is not a priority to us and whatever we are doing in its place, is more important. For example, instead of, I am too busy to play catch with my child right now, rephrase it with what you are actually doing, “it is more important to me to play on my phone, than it is to go outside and play catch with my child”. If we think about it this way, we can truthfully see what we are giving up, in place of the action we decide to do instead. However, if you are thinking about a certain task a lot and it is bothering you, it may be more important to your sub-conscious than you think. So, by rephrasing what you are currently doing, compared to what you would like to do, may be able to help you identify what is truly important to you.
There are a few key ways, I choose to use, in order to be more consistent. First, we can schedule out our duties in our calendar. This will allow you to see the tasks you need to perform each day. This should be the first thing you do. Next, get an accountability partner, someone you can tell what you are doing. This will make you want to be more consistent and allow you to make progress because someone is aware of what you are trying to accomplish. Even better, see if this person will do check-ins with you once a week. If it is a family member or close friend, ask them to check in on you, to make sure you have been performing the tasks, and making the progress you claimed you would make. These are free methods to use and can be very powerful in helping you stay consistent. We can also hire a mentor/coach depending on how far along we are in our journey. If it is exercise or fitness, you could hire one right away, if it is business, maybe wait until you have proven you have a viable business plan, you have been working at it, and making progress. Then when you have some income, hire one and they will be able to help you grow and hold you accountable.
I am lucky enough to have a lot of these things in my life. I utilize my schedule a lot (I could do a better job with little tasks, and I am going to start being more diligent with the little things), I have a business partner who holds me accountable in most aspects of our business. Sam holds me accountable for the gym, taking care of myself, spending time with her and Mimi, and keeping up with Tutors of Life work. I have friends and family who will randomly check in on me and see how things are going in business and life, this makes me try to always be on my toes, to keep performing at a high level. Lastly, I have a job coach now, who gives me homework and follows up every month to make sure my partner and I are performing our tasks. Without these things, I would not be where I am today, nor will I be where I want to be in a year.
I truthfully believe consistency is one of the most important traits we can adopt. We need to do our due diligence to set up a plan to make consistency part of our life.
Let me know in the comments what you guys have done to become more consistent.
Your life Tutor
-Shaun Tutor
Tutors of Life 