Entrepreneur & Mentor
Module one - Create the discipline of consistency
If we understand how important to be consistent, without consistency, we will have difficulties achieving our goals and plans. There are many ways I can show you to help you to create the discipline of consistency, so, let’s have a look at them.
1) Commit only if you really want to do it. Keep your eye on your WHY!
Ask yourself these questions, are you ready to:
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Face challenges that come along the way?
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Go through learning curves and develop skills?
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Take time out for this?
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Are you doing this because of just the heat of the moment or the real deal?
You need to remind yourself and understand WHY you want to do it. For example – you want to save money for a house, a holiday of a lifetime. Anything you are really committed to your WHY and keep your eyes on them always.
2) Pick a battle, to focus on one main thing at a time
Just pick one task at a time. We human beings have a limited capacity when it comes to willpower and discipline. Just do one thing and stick to it until it sticks to you! If it is a good habit you want to develop, just stick to one habit and don’t try to develop more than one. For example, trying to quit smoking and quit sugar at the same time is a bad idea. Just stay at one habit you want to develop, don’t stop until they become a part of you. If this is a skill that you are working on, just focus on that one skill and master it. In short, don’t bite off more than you can chew.
3) Don’t complicate things!
Make it simple and sustainable. A lot of people when starting off something, they getting into too much fuss and tiny details and making more complex for themselves than it should be. Remember the key to sustainability is simplicity. When you are trying to get too many details from the beginning and trying to get it perfect, getting into tiny details will make it difficult to last long especially after the initial hype wears off. The reality is you are going to face ups and downs along the way. If you are making it too difficult and complicated for yourself, it will only make it harder for you to carry on. For example, if you want to lose weight, instead of going into all the scientific details and counting all the calories on your diet, you just put on your running shoes and start running. So many people unable to carry out their health plan was because there are associating so much hassle with their exercise. You can add things on when you start making progress. But first is just making a habit of getting things going.
4) Choose efficiency over creativity where needed
Don’t waste your creativity on petty things. Choose flow and efficiency instead. Reserve your creativity for things that really matter. For example, if you are exercising, if you are doing some new exercise every single day, you are getting exhausting yourself to find out which one is best for you. Just stick to a few basic exercises and be consistent with them. Or if you are starting a new project, instead of putting all of your creativity and making a perfect presentation of your brand or your website, or post images etc. Just focus on your products and services you best to offer, that is what matters most in the long run.
5) Avoid paralysis by analysis
There’s so much information out there, is very easy to get caught up with all these tiny details and when you analyse too much, especially when you are in an initial phase and not producing many results, you will get fed up and eventually you will end up quitting. Like when you are working out and you see your progress every single day in the mirror or checking your weight every 2 or 3 days, you will get discouraged quickly. So, focus on delivering rather than expecting. Follow the right strategy and be patient. Don’t get fed up if you don’t get results straight away. Every result needs to take time. Stop over-analysing and overthinking. Don’t buy into any negative thoughts and doubts when you are doing your tasks.
6) Set realistic goals and expectations
Most people overestimate what they can do in a year and underestimate what they can do in a decade.
Very often when you see others' success stories and expect results too early. Sometimes, overestimate what you can achieve in 6-12 months. The success stories you hear from people who built overnight are exceptions, not the norm. Shoot for the star but expecting to work several years to build the rocket. Sow the seeds today but expect the fully grown tree in the next 10 years
7) Pace yourself to avoid burnout
The initial ideas or tasks usually make you work too hard to the point of burnout. You need to see it beforehand and avoid it. Take the sprinter and the marathon runner, the sprinter can run fast but will get tired in a few minutes. But the marathon runner paces themselves to avoid exhaustion and be able to run hours and hours while having a good time along the way. There is an old saying that when you flow a bucket of water to a rock, it doesn’t do anything to the rock. But if you let the drop of water keep falling onto the rock day in and day out, it will create a hole in the rock
8) Value progress over perfection.
When you start something, usually it starts enthusiastically. You will meet all the critics to pinpoint all the flaws and errors. All you have to do is to tell the critic to just shut up. An all-or-nothing mindset is counter-productive. You cannot give your best all the time. Sometimes you have to perform on all different levels so that you can maintain your consistency. It’s OK to not be perfect, just don’t make it a habit.
9) Learn to say No!
Learning to say no is an essential part of consistency. Is very hard for YES men or women to be consistent at something because they are always occupied by things that are not necessary. Prioritize and don’t let any distractions pull you away from your priority tasks. Stick to important commitments and put them high on your priority list and say NO to anything that gets in your way. Don’t make promises you can’t keep.
10) Schedule it
Don’t prioritize your schedule, schedule your priorities instead.
When you tried to do something consistently in your life, you want to build your whole life around it, rather than fit it in.
11) Ignore your feelings
When you come to building your consistency is pretty important to ignore the voice in your head like “I don’t feel like it”! “When can I stop”? Like doing your workout in the gym and listening to your voice that “I am getting tired”. When you are doing a task, the voice inside your head keeps telling you to look for a quicker way to finish it. There are other tasks that are much easier and more enjoyable. Ignore all these voices and feelings and focus on your task
12) Forgive yourself for not being consistent enough
When you feel you are not being consistent, forgive yourself and then come back to your commitment. We are all human beings and we have all ups and downs on various things. Nothing is 100% perfect. There will be times when you lapse, everyone does. Is good to be ambitious, but going too hard to yourself will only make you feel disappointed, in fact, it will just be counter-productive.
Let’s say if you’ve decided to go for a run daily for the next 30 days and you missed out on 6-7 days, that is totally OK, that does not mean that you are inconsistent. At least you managed to run 23 or 24 days and that is better than nothing at all. Sometimes life can get in the way no matter how hard we commit and that is totally natural. The thing is your consistency is not how perfectly you follow through, is how fast you come back to your commitment if you get off the track. Instead of beating yourself up, excepted and be forgiving toward yourself, and then get back to it.
Believe and enjoy watching the consistency play out in your life in a beautiful and unexpected way.
Remember, what you want, wants you!
What you are moving towards; is moving towards you!
You just have to take the first step!
It doesn’t matter how big or small the daily action is, what matters is that you’re beginning to act like a winner.