The Key To Getting What YOu Want
Consistency is key.
But not everything you do consistently is the key to getting what you want.
Every human being is consistent. I think it’s important that we are consistent. We know that there are benefits to creating consistency through rituals and routines. What we need is to consistently check in on our consistency. Are the habits we’re creating helping us get towards what we want? You’re one month into meditating for 10 minutes every morning, is that helping you get to your goal? You’re 6 weeks into working out consistently, is that helping you get to your goal? You’re seven days into reading every day, is that helping you get to your goal?
And checking in on your consistency is going to look different for everyone. You might see progress towards your goal and know your consistency is working, you might see your consistency isn’t headed toward your goal and you need to readjust your routines, or you may see that what you wanted isn’t actually what you want and it’s the goal that needs readjusting.
To backtrack a little and ask that hard question, what do you want? Personally, professionally, physically, financially, relationally, spiritual—in all these aspects of life, what do you want? Identifying what you want is the first, and potentially toughest, step towards building a structure of consistency to reach that goal. Take it easy though, you don’t have to know it all right now. Write down one goal for a few of these categories or whatever category feels most appropriate for you and wait. Give it a day or two, mull it over, and come back to it. Does it still feel like something you want? If it isn’t, then you start all over finding a new goal. If it is, then you’re ready to start creating a consistency that helps you reach want you to want. Add on to that consistency plan with regular check-ins to make sure your small acts are leading to your big goal. Remember too that in these check-ins it might not be the consistency that needs to change but the goal itself.
And for an extra two cents here, not everything you do consistently has to be big. I’d almost argue, in fact, that it can’t be big. One of the things I do every day is get up before the sun. Waking up early isn’t a groundbreaking, earth-shattering, saving lives move. It’s a small move that focuses my day and orients me to my goals.
What are you doing consistently? Even if you don’t consider yourself a consistent person, you’re consistently doing (or not doing) something. Is that something helping you get where you want to be?
