LESSONS ON CONSISTENCY - NEWSLETTER 10

October came with a whirlwind and just as I found my bearings, I was slammed with schoolwork and life work but again I yanked my hand back and triumphed. I was wondering if it is as crazy over there. This month's letter to you highlights some very big lessons I have learned on consistency this year. It only made sense I share them now that the year is two and a half months from ending. 

America's most trusted dictionary Merriam-Webster Webster defines Consistency as the state or condition of behaving or doing things over time in the same way. For today's post, I will define consistency as an act of doing something over time failing along the way but never giving up ultimately to achieve perfection. You will agree that you might have heard how important it is to be consistent from your fair share of motivational speakers and honestly, because these people are humans with flaws like you and me it is also common that we take what they say with a pinch of salt. In this regard, I will try not to sound like them but share a personal perspective of how being consistent with the little things has helped me greatly this year. Now is a great time to say, that I do not have my entire life figured out if anything the fear of failure that has become my albatross has toughened me up and helped me more than a dozen times. Consistency may even still be one of life's most important messages I am learning.

In January I made a vision board and ever so silently prayed and shared it with faith to a very select few. This was my very first time drawing up one and I guess more than anything I wanted to see what the fuss was about with hitting goals every year. I struggle with unfulfilled plans and action at the end of every year so I spurred myself on with this board. I drew up quite big plans and then the little plans started working on them from the first day of this year and prayed that I had the strength to follow through. Consistency is the critical success that almost nobody likes to talk about and I think because it’s not a catchy topic. All you have to do is work every day, put out that work every single time you promise you do, show your work, and do it day by day. It’s easy but hard at the same time. I started with the little things like washing my face four times a day because of my acne-prone skin - I wanted to have clear skin and for the first few months I barely noticed any change. I gave up all too soon but my luck changed when I started hormonal medications and even that didn't work as fast as I wanted. My 2023 goals are and were audacious for a first-timer with this vision board thing and every day I looked at it and smiled because I realized the amount of consistency I would have to wield to see progress. It wasn't going to be hard work that would save the amount of money I needed to save nor would no amount of toiling allow me to read more books throughout the year. To be honest with you. I’m still in the same position fighting to create daily habits like a 5-minute workout every morning. It’s not something hard to do, and it’s not very complicated but every time the first three days would be fantastic but every other time I would be too lazy to even move a muscle then the weekend will roll by, and Saturday morning, I will say to myself that I would continue on Monday. And guess what, I will forget about it and remember after two weeks. The question I will often myself in times like this was Why Am I Not Consistent? and the answer often always comes to me immediately. First I lacked the patience, then I had no internal motivation and I procrastinated because I thought too long about the time it would take me to get things done and finally I have always had a bad case of the “all or nothing” mentality. With my pocrescophobia, I realized that I didn't have enough patience to lose weight. It was hard to put in the work every day because I didn’t know exactly when I would lose the weight I wanted to lose. So thinking about going to the gym every day, putting in the work, eating healthy, and making sure to stick to a routine, was the hardest thing. So it wasn't uncommon that after a couple of days, I would start losing hope in this strategy.

Too many people have the all-or-nothing mentality so I will not take all the credit here. But I have learned from this simple analogy - if I come to a red light now and then on a road trip, my purpose is unchanged and I have an average speed to get to the finish line. All you have to do is stop at the red light and move forward when the green light goes on eventually, I will get to my destination. I still need to practice this with my school work because too many times I have thought of graduating the easy way. Habit graduation is about considering your goals and your current average speed and thinking about how you can increase your output by just a little bit consistently. Something that has helped me build consistency this year is organization. If you don't know I have a mild case of OCD so to-do's, lists, schedules and google sheets are the way to go for me to get things done in an orderly manner. One of the essential keys to consistency is organization. Setting up a plan, schedule, or to-do list can help us stay on track and complete all necessary tasks. Plus, it feels great to check off a task from a list. Here's a three-pillar approach to help you stay consistent:

• Pillar 1: Set Clear Goals.
• Pillar 2: Build Habits.
• Pillar 3: Stay Accountable.

While this might not be a hack, I have also gone ahead to point out two things that have helped me be more consistent. You will find that they are rather broad but they cover your personal and work life. Do you want to make a change around yourself? Show up every day and create something for people like you. Do you want to be successful in your industry? Be consistent with your work and improve it every day you have the chance. Dwayne Johnson quipped “Success isn’t always about greatness. It’s about consistency. Consistent hard work leads to success. Greatness will come.”I had said at the start of today's post that no one has it all figured out, if anything we are faking it to make it so it is okay if you are still struggling to build these habits. Something I found interesting was Cialdini's Principle of Consistency which states: “Once people make a decision, take a stand or perform an action, they will face an interpersonal pressure to behave consistently with what they have said or done previously”. Consistency is therefore an adaptive behavior that can be very beneficial. Success is the final destination of our many lives goals and dreams and even the Apostle Paul said it in Romans 8:18, "I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.

Consistency is the present suffering and in the end, it will be worth it.

Your favourite Life Guru

Helen Damilola 💜