Photo by Charles Deluvio on Unsplash
I’m in a very smug and content place in life where I’m being consistent in so many areas. Today, the thought came to me, what does it mean to be consistent? We say it all the time, we know it’s important, but what does it mean?
Consistency is an anchor. It’s a safe place you explore the world from. In people, it might be your parents or your partner or a close friend you’ve had forever. You know that they are there for you no matter what, so it gives you the confidence to meet new people. It can be a home that’s always there to return to, so you have the confidence to travel everywhere.
Somehow, we change that idea and definition when it comes to habits. Then, consistency means “the same”. You MUST do the same workout program everyday. You must wake up at 6.45am everyday. You must write 372 words EVERYDAY. You must eat 1574 calories everyday. The moment you miss a day- it’s gone, destroyed, you’re no longer a consistent person.
How false and silly is that notion? I wrote earlier in the month about building an anchor and now I’m realising that’s also building consistency. In order to be consistent, you need to build safe spaces for yourself to return to.
In a way, this month, I’ve been dropping clues that all lead here. When you know your what and your why, when you find your anchor, when you realise that time is going to pass no matter what you do, suddenly you’re being consistent!
Any achievement that comes from consistency comes from a culmulative effect. I can write 10,000 words a day. One day, I wrote 16 thousand words. To aim to make 10k words or even 5k or 2k my anchor is setting myself up to fail because anyone can do anything a few times but what I KNOW I can do everyday, no matter how I feel, is write 300 words. That’s my anchor. That’s how I’m a consistent writer. That makes me feel good and competent and like I’ve achieved something. On days when I write 2,000 and 5,000 and 1,000 words, it feels good to know that the next day, I can relax into 300 and my work is done.
You don’t have to figure it out on day 1 and you don’t need to hit personal bests every day. I realise this is a hard way to think because I have these conversations with people, and they see it as me giving myself an out or not pushing myself hard enough. Anchors sound easy because anchors are easy. They have to be! Consistent spaces/ people don’t become that because they are difficult, it’s because they make you feel safe.
In the next few weeks, I’ll be zeroing in on areas of my life I’ve become consistent in and explain my own personal journey to consistency in those areas.
What does consistency mean to you?