picture via pinterest
Did you ever suddenly have the motivation at three am to get your life together?
Promised yourself to be productive, to start exercising, to start eating healthy, and tried all these different things just to give up entirely after three days?
To be honest, me too. I would do this process time and time again and to no surprise fail every time.
Until I found the key: consistency. Not only that but gathered many tips and tricks to maintain consistency over time.
Here are the most important nine hacks to maintain consistency and get your life together long-term.
1. START SMALL
The first great mistake we all make is that we want everything right now, we want to turn our life around so that it is completely different tomorrow.
This is why most people fail before they even started.
Consistency and discipline go hand in hand. They are like a muscle, they have to be trained.
If you never trained your arms you will never be able to do fifty push-ups immediately.
If you never trained yourself to be disciplined your plan to get your life together will never last more than a few days.
So start small, tackle one area to improve, and do small steps consistently.
For example, if you want to eat healthier don’t go on a strict diet.
Instead start eliminating processed foods, if you have the habit of ordering take-out limit that, take one day of your week to take time to learn to cook a healthy meal, don’t go grocery shopping hungry, and keep a list of what you want to buy.
2. GOAL SETTING
Before you even start the process of improving yourself the key thing is to set goals. Ask yourself:
– what do I want to improve?
– how do I improve it? what are the steps toward my goal?
– why do I want to improve this area of my life?
Important is that you intensely think about the last question. Make sure you don’t do these things solely for other people like your parents, society or to be liked more by your friends.
It is way more effective if your motivation is intrinsic. Intrinsic motivation means that you’re motivated to take action because of internal rewards.
3. SCHEDULES AND HABITS
Most of us know habits are the key to consistency but bad habits can also hinder us.
On the journey of improving yourself look at which unhealthy or unproductive habits you developed and figure out how you can replace them with healthy and productive habits.
Let’s use an example from my own life. I have a hard time waking up in the mornings and if I stimulate my brain in some way so I don’t fall back asleep.
In the past, I went on my phone to do that. It was easy, accessible, and fun but not very good for me.
I replaced that habit by putting my phone away from my nightstand and replacing it with a book. Now when I open up a book and read a few pages, I’m instantly awake and less anxious as well.
I found that habits tied to a specific action to time are more effective.
If you add new habits tie them to a specific time.
For example, you want to start exercising. Schedule a time frame for that habit and start small, don’t schedule a one-hour workout.
To get myself into working out consistently I integrated a ten-minute workout into my morning routine. In as little as five days I noticed an increase in energy and well-being and after two weeks I noticed the first physical changes.
It doesn’t take much except consistency.
4. REDUCE EASY DOPAMINE
Dopamine is a reward transmitter in our brain that is released while doing certain activities. I won’t go too much into scientific detail but it plays a key role in our motivation.
We get dopamine from many different activities.
For example, from entertainment like scrolling on our phones, playing video games, and watching tv, drugs, and alcohol.
This dopamine is easy and we’re trying to get more and more dopamine to keep us happy. The more dopamine we get from these things the more our tolerance level rises.
This makes it difficult for us to do things that don’t give us as much dopamine like working out, reading, or studying.
Because our body strives to balance our physical and chemical conditions, therefore, it seeks out activities that release much dopamine like going on social media, etc.
I will link a few videos that explain dopamine in more detail. They help understand your motivation and focus and I recommend you watch them.
Simple explanation: https://youtu.be/9QiE-M1LrZk (15 minutes)
More complex explanation: https://youtu.be/QmOF0crdyRU (2 hours)
Now, what can you do to lower your dopamine levels?
The answer is to do a dopamine detox.
A dopamine detox essentially includes eliminating all things that release easy dopamine.
For most, the source of most of it is our phone. Turning off your phone for a day and avoiding screens is an excellent start.
However, we aim for long consistent changes.
Limitations are personal because our lives don’t all look the same but here are a few suggestions:
- deleting apps that you don’t need and turning off notifications for all social media like Instagram, TikTok, etc.
- Limiting video games to one day only.
- Limit junk food.
- embrace boredom
5. ACCOUNTABILITY
Keeping yourself accountable is a great strategy to help maintain consistency.
You can ask a friend or your parents to keep you accountable.
Another way to increase accountability is by finding a partner with similar goals and asking them to remind you and motivate you to work towards improvement. Offer the same thing to them as well.
Let’s say you want to go to the gym consistently but you struggle with motivation.
Find a friend that wants to go to the gym and go together and motivate the other person to maintain consistency.
There is a good chance your friend is struggling with consistency as well.
Additionally, you can set daily alarms to remind yourself of the new habit you want to implement or to send yourself a motivational quote.
6. TRACK YOUR PROGRESS
You can track your progress in many different ways. In a journal, a chart, visually through photos or a video diary, etc. Find a way that comes the most naturally to you.
Tracking your progress is extremely motivating especially if you start to see results after you have been consistent for a while, it’s like a reward.
It might also help you identify which strategies brought you the results you desired.
7. SLEEP
While improving ourselves we might think we need to hustle, never catch a break and miss out on sleep. Let me tell you that this is the biggest mistake you can make.
The importance of sleep is often underestimated.
Our body needs rest to be able to give its best the next day, missing out on sleep hinders our productivity.
The benefits are not solely physical. When we are sleeping our subconscious processes the information gathered the day before or even hours before. That makes reviewing notes while studying the night before so effective.
What is the right amount of sleep you might ask? Well, again this is personal. Too much sleep makes you tired and so does too little.
Recommended are seven to nine hours a night. I would suggest you find out what works for you the best.
To ensure you get enough sleep set a specific bedtime and set your alarm for the next morning.
After about two to three weeks your body’s rhythm has adjusted to your sleep schedule and it allows you to wake up more naturally at that time.
8. SELF-CARE
This point goes hand in hand with the previous one. We often think we can only be good at something if we are hard on ourselves and don’t allow ourselves. At least that’s what I used to think.
But we are not robots we are human beings and it is essential for us to take care of ourselves.
Schedule time for yourself and focus on really being present and enjoying the moment rather than thinking of a million things on your to-do list.
Don’t feel guilty about having time to yourself and enjoying yourself. Because if you do, that time can’t be recharging.
9. CHANGES TAKE TIME
Realize that changes will take time and that it can be frustrating if you put in the effort and you feel like you’re not getting anything back.
But believe me, you might not see it yet but you are evolving even if it’s not visible to you yet. Your hard work will pay off, always.
“But it’s been months and I haven’t even made small progress, everything is stagnant.”
If that is the case evaluate the steps you take toward your goal. Are they effective? Are they the best way to get to your goal?
If the answer to that is yes, ask yourself if the time you consistently put in is enough to see the results you desire.
However, if you don’t notice any mistakes in your goal setting your results might take a bit longer or you haven’t noticed the difference compared to the beginning.
Go back to however you tracked your progress and compare yourself to when you started. There is a good chance you see the results now.
THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND
failure is one step closer to success
We often give up after failure because our intrusive thoughts get the best of us.
“We are not good enough. We are a failure. This is not meant for us.”
Our mind tells us things like that but let me tell you: They Are Not True.
Failure is the key to success. Yes, that sounds absolutely wrong but it is true.
There is not one single successful person that hasn’t failed at least a handful of times. The richest men and women of the world have failed more times than they even could count.
What they all had in common is that they never gave up.
They fell down, perhaps shed a tear or two, and stood up again. And guess what, they got knocked down again not a while after. You can probably guess what they did after that. That’s right they got back up again.
They used failure as fuel to be better, to do better. And so can you.
A bad day is just as long as a good one. It will pass.
Believe me or not but bad days are crucial. Firstly because without them the good ones lose significance.
Secondly because what we do on days like these makes us who we are. These are the days most people give up. These are the days you train your discipline muscle.
Rely on routines and habits to get through these days and after a good night’s sleep the next day most likely looks very different and you’ll be so grateful for yesterday’s you.
hard choices -> easy life,
easy choices -> hard life
Every time you overcome resistance, rewards are waiting for you.
Let’s say you want to make it a habit to do a workout every morning.
Naturally, you have some resistance toward it because it doesn’t bring you as much dopamine as going on social media.
If you overcome this resistance and force yourself to work out there are instant benefits. You will feel better right after. I’m sure have never regretted a workout, you only regretted not doing it.
Other benefits unfold throughout your day or the next weeks. You will feel more productive, you will feel more energized and since you build some muscle it will be easier for you to do everyday tasks.
Overall consistency is the product of discipline and motivation. Both are important in that equation but discipline is the key here.
Implement these nine tips and tricks and you will see results and master consistency. It might take you some time but you can absolutely do it.
Remember, you got all the things you need already in you.
You are in charge of your success.
I absolutely have no doubt you can achieve everything you set your mind to.
And so can I.
Let’s do it together!
