Success is the result of becoming consistent with productive habits.

Consistency plays the most vital role in transforming you into your best and highest self.

If you are consistent with practicing a skill, you’re more likely to master it.

This life skill forever surpasses the value of genetics.

A person who is naturally, genetically amazing in football might not become the master of the game.

On the other hand, a person who does not have even a single football gene but consistently practices football everyday will definitely become the master of the game one day.

You can have 10 areas you might want to grow your potential in and you absolutely can achieve it all with consistency.

Learn benefits of consistency here in detail.

Following are the 5 simple steps that will definitely make you consistent –

Let’s follow an example to understand the steps better –

Let’s say you want to improve your body composition to become your fittest version, for which you need to lose fat or convert the extra unnecessary fat that exists in your body into muscle.

Now what will happen if you immediately start by going gym for an hour and healthifying all your meals. All at once. All together.

You ARE bound to lose consistency somewhere along the way maybe within a week, a month or in a day or two.

So, the first step for LIFE LONG consistency is to start small.

#1 START SMALL

Start with playing the violin for 1-minute every-day, the key is to do it every-day.

You can increase the time of practice gradually according to your starting point.

Practicing the perfect routine for a month, then leaving it for 2 weeks, then again trying very hard to “get back on track” requires way too much motivation than necessary and does not ensure long-lasting results.

Consistency aka Repetition helps program your brain and body around the new habit.

With this brain and body programming it becomes almost automatic for you to say “NO” to distracting plans or for showing up at the gym or for taking healthy meals.

You need very healthy and low amounts of motivation to carry out the routine.

And you instantly are able to block all the outside distractions by gradually slowly comfortably practicing the habit.

Take this example –

I eat junk food everyday which gives me pleasure up-to a level 10. I instantly switched to a balanced diet and now my brain is not receiving the usual amount of dopamine hike and gets 0 pleasure but it craves for 10.

Till when do you think I would be able to force my craving?

Would I love the good food I am eating?

Would I love to continue the good habit?

NO. I will leave the diet in a week or less. That is natural. And this is what happens with the most of us.

Instead of jumping on to the perfect routine, start by cleaning one easy meal.

Practice that for some time. Then slowly and gradually clean all your meals.

This way you’ll also love the good food you’re blessed to be having as your pleasure levels will associate themselves with the healthy food too.

This technique of starting small is also called Kaizen in Japanese. Learn more about it here.

#2 DESIGNATE A TIME

Now I have started small, I have started to go to the gym for even at least 5mins. daily.

But I am still not consistent because some days when I try to step out of the house, some work seems to appear or I remember the presentation I have to submit or I simply procrastinate it for some other hour of the day.

That automatic habit promised to me couldn’t happen.

It’s human tendency to procrastinate or opt for the more comfortable option and in order to be consistent – all our habits need to be set at a particular time so it’s easier for us to do it.

When I know I have to go the gym at 6pm every-day, I will not make plans around that time, I will not eat food around that time, I will complete my assignments till that time and my brain will act like an alarm at the particular hour reminding me it’s gym-time.

Designating a comfortable time for a particular activity is the key for building a routine.

Because then you will not allow inside and outside distractions from dictating your day.

Not every-day is the same. Things happen each day.

This is how YOU take control of YOUR day.

#3 FIND REAL VALUE IN THE HABIT

To further cut down distractions and build consistency – do make sure you find real value in your habit.

Going to the gym because you want to “look good” at your brother’s wedding or to fit in a dress or to impress your crush WILL NEVER make you fit.

It will lead you to weird and disorderly habits from which you demand instant unrealistic results.

And also, your brain, body and soul will never be convinced to change with such demeaning reasons.

You’ll still look good at your brother’s wedding, You’ll find a beautiful dress that fits you perfectly and You are attractive, so your crush is still impressed by you.

But when you set “your own” fitness goals that you decided for yourself based on the knowledge of how body composition affects your body and then you go to the gym with a real and actual purpose. That is when you become as fit as you would like to be.

So, always find a true purpose behind your goal/habit in order to convince your brain, body and soul to function around it with positive and wise energy.

#4 TRY OUT AN ACCOUNTABILITY PARTNER

You can designate a person whom you have to tell whenever you practice the said habit and whenever you don’t that person has to punish you.

We have a whole blog dedicated to such commitment devices – their importance and how to apply them with examples, click here to read it.

#5 BUILD THE IDENTITY

Who do you think is more likely to hit their fitness goal–

1. A person who “has to go” to the gym every-day in order to chase a fitness goal.
2. A person who goes to the gym every-day and loves it wherein every session is a heart-warming and proud experience.

Obviously the second one.

The key is to start affirming yourself as the person who just does that particular thing and loves the change it brings.

You can read the power of affirmations and building an identity here.

A person who always says “I am trying to quit smoking” is telling their brain that they ARE a smoker and that urge to have a cigarette is natural to them. They won’t be able to fight this urge they’re themselves giving power to much longer.

But a person who says “I am a Non-smoker” just cut their urge at the source with regular practice and they eventually are a non-smoker.

I am the kind of person who is consistent.

Even if you’re not a consistent person right now but you’re consciously commanding your identity to be the desired way.

Your brain is programming itself to be this desired way.

CONCLUSION –

I hope the above-mentioned knowledge helped you and you enjoyed reading this blog.

I wish you achieve all your goals and become your most “YOU” self soon.