“It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things” -Leonardo Da Vinci.
One of the biggest problems faced by us while improving our lives or running behind the success we want out of it is that we may not take consistent action over a longer time period. Now, consistency is not quite the most appealing or exciting word. But when coupled with time, it is what will give you real results in your life.
Sticking with the program and doing something consistently, not only when you feel inspired or motivated is very powerful and at the same time very hard too. This is something we have to struggle a lot with. But, today I’m gonna tell you a few things that you can do to overcome this struggle.
1. When you’re taking action, focus ONLY on the process
You can use this one, for example, when you work out or when you write. Try not to take responsibility for the results in your mind.
Just take the responsibility for showing up and doing your workout/writing. That’s it. Because you trying and putting your best is all that matters.
The results will eventually come anyway from that consistent action. This technique will always make it easier for you to take this action because:
You know that is all you need to focus on. And so, your energy and attention are only focused in one direction and you’ll do a better job.
You feel a lot less pressure on yourself. And so, you tend to be more relaxed and prone to continue compared to if you stare yourself blind on the potential results that never come as quickly as you may want and if you’re on an emotional roller coaster all day long.
2. Remember WHY you are taking action
Set your top priorities and reasons for why you are doing what you are doing.
It could be, for instance, to provide for your family, to save up for traveling, to get the job you really want or to improve your self-confidence. Or something else.
To not lose track of why you are taking action and to stay focused:
Write down your most important reasons. Take a few minutes, sit down with paper and a pen and write down the top 1-3 reasons for why you’re going to take action and why you wanna keep doing that in your life right now.
Put that note where you can see it every day. Like for example in your workspace or near your bed so that you see it every morning when you wake up.
3. Reminder: you don’t want to hurt yourself
When you disappoint yourself and don’t think and do as you really deep down want to you hurt yourself by lowering your self-esteem.
Whatever you do during your day sends signals back to yourself about what kind of person you are. Do the right thing like being effective, kind, going to the gym, or simply rest and you feel good.
Get lazy, negative, or just plain mean and you tend to feel worse after a while. You don’t getaway, there is no escaping yourself. And there is always a price to pay.
4. Take smaller steps on the days when the big ones seem to be a big hassle
On some days getting started with any of the most important tasks may seem daunting. And so, you start to procrastinate. When that happens, one thing that works for everyone is to be kind. To nudge yourself forward instead of beating myself up. And at times such as these you can, take a small step. Make a deal with yourself to just work for 5 minutes on a piece of a bigger and more difficult task.
Or an even smaller step. If that small step feels like too much you can start to procrastinate and make a deal with yourself for 1 or 2 minutes of work. Sometimes that results in a few dents put into a big task, a couple of smaller tasks being completed, and many breaks being taken throughout the day. And sometimes the easy start or restart to the day is all you need to get going again and to have a good and very productive time before the evening arrives. Either way, you move forward instead of standing still.
5. Do celebrate what you did today
When you appreciate the good work you did, you feel even better inside and about life. And as time passes taking more action with less inner resistance becomes possible and you associate the action with more positive emotions than you may at this time. That’s the reason I advise you guys to take two minutes at the end of the day to think about what you can appreciate about what you did today. Or write down a couple of self-appreciative things in your journal.
Tell your friends about how nice something turned out today, how you learned a good lesson or how proud you are over something important you did today. Also, reward yourself for the things you did right today to strengthen your habit of taking action.
And remember to be kind to yourself for the things you may have missed or not gotten done. No point in trying to beat yourself up. No point in trying to be perfect.
See what you can learn from it and perhaps try another solution tomorrow and see if that works better.
Remember Failure isn’t falling down but refusing to get up!
