Do you remember the story of the tortoise and the hare? If you don’t you can read it here. It’ s moral of the story is that you have to be consistent to win the race – or in our case to reach your goals for that matter, being consistent is the best way to get ahead of life in general. Exciting? Not exactly. Crucial for you success? Absolutely! Periodic bursts of feverish activity followed by months of inactivity are not very likely to get you to your goals.

It is so much easier to work on your project a little bit each day than it is to try to regain momentum after putting a project aside for extended periods of time. Restarting over and over again takes a lot of energy!

Renowned motivational speaker Tony Robbins puts it this way. ‘It’s not what we do every once in a while that shapes our lives it’s what we do consistently. ‘ Ain’t that the truth!

Want to cultivate more consistency in your life? Follow these tips:

Get specific – Setting a vague goal of ‘Be more consistent’ is overwhelming and likely to get you nowhere. Exactly what does that mean anyway? Do you want to be more consistent with greeting customers promptly? On following up with people? Meeting deadlines? Self-care? Spell out what you want to be consistent about as clearly as possible.

Be realistic – Realize you are not going to be consistent 100% of the time. Being consistent is a trait that takes practice. Your mindset should be steady improvement, not perfection.

Back up your words with action – Being consistent means that you don’t say one thing and then do something else. You can’t be inconsistent with your behavior and expect progress to be made without steady effort on your part. Also avoid making statements you can’t live up to. There is no shame in saying you don’t know how to do something or need help in accomplishing a task. You are part of a team for a reason!

Nix destructive thoughts – Negative thinking is the bane of consistency. Putting yourself down if you mess up or telling yourself you are stupid or can’t do something is nothing less than self-sabotage. Instead realize that everyone has areas of their life that they need to work on. If you do find yourself thinking you ‘can’t do something’ turn it around to ‘I’m going to practice doing this, even if I am not great at it at the start.’

Use visualization – Picture yourself succeeding, overcoming any obstacles and set-backs that you are likely to encounter. This technique can help you process and assess your situation, boost your confidence and aid you in problem solving.