As we still ease into a new year, 2025, the most common thing to do is to set resolutions and goals for the new year. For us to actualize these goals, consistency is a necessity. In this blog post, I will share seven ways to actually be consistent. P.S. They are not what you think.
Before I begin, I’d like to give credit to this creator, Tam Kaur. I watched her YouTube video on consistency and my mind was blown. I wanted to give her credit because some of the things I will mention in this blog post, I learned from her video. Feel free to watch it here.
What comes to mind when you hear the word consistency? Do you think it’s the same as discipline? Well, did you know that consistency and discipline are not the same?
Consistency can be referred to as having a similar pattern of behavior or habits over a certain period of time.
Discipline on the other hand is the conscience effort to manage one’s behavior to achieve a certain outcome that usually involves adherence to social norms and self-regulation.
The difference between consistency and discipline is that consistency has more to do with who we are inherently, while discipline is about adhering to externally acceptable norms.
So, when it comes to consistency, your ability to stay consistent with something has more to do with who you are and your self-perception and less with what’s happening externally. Therefore, the first way to actually be consistent is…
- Nurture Your Self-Belief
Start by digging deep. Spend some time in silence, and think about your life’s journey so far. You can even journal what comes to mind. Ask yourself questions like, do I believe in myself? Do I consider myself a person of my word? Is there a time I believed in myself and succeeded? Is there a time that I once believed in myself and stopped? Why did I stop? Was it because of what someone did or said? Once you have a clear picture of this, start nurturing your ability to believe in yourself. This you can do by constantly speaking positive words of affirmation. Something like,
‘I am a man/woman of my word. I follow through on the promises I make to myself and others’
You could also expose yourself to positive content like books, podcasts, and blogs like mine ;), that motivate you to be a better person.
You could also surround yourself with positive people who encourage you. Also, seek the Lord by studying the Bible, praying, journaling and even spending time in nature. Slowly you’ll begin to discover the love that He has for you. With time, you will begin to see yourself more like He does.
2. Tie your habits to an inherent value
I told you we’ll be getting deep. A great way to stay consistent with a certain habit is to ask yourself why it’s important to you and if it’s tied to a certain value. For example, let’s choose a healthy habit like taking a walk for about 20-30 minutes daily. An inherent value that could be driving this habit is you consider health to be wealth. One of the ways to stay healthy is by exercising your body and doing so consistently. So, even on the days you’re tired and don’t feel like being consistent, remind yourself of the value behind it. At times, we are not consistent with something because we just may not have a value within us that we can tie it to, so it’s not that important to us.
3. Prepare for failure
Make space to be human. We’re never at 100% all day every day. Some days are just difficult to get through. To stay consistent, make space for your humanity and extend grace when you’re unable to show up fully. If you’re not able to show up for that 45-minute workout, do 10 minutes of light exercises. At the end of the day, even though you didn’t show up as you desired, you still stayed consistent with your exercise habits.
4. Create an environment that makes it easy
It’s been years since I read the book ‘Atomic Habits’ by James Clear. However, one lesson that I took from the book, was the importance of creating an environment that makes healthy habits easy to do. Remember, we’re human and our brains are naturally wired to do simple things and reject anything difficult. To stay consistent, we can work with our brains’ natural wiring, by creating an environment around us that makes it easy to stay consistent with healthy habits. For example, if I want to stay consistent with studying my Bible every morning when I wake up, I will place my Bible and journal next to my bed, so that when I wake up I can easily reach out and jump into my Bible Study for that day. I’m more likely to stay consistent with this habit because it’s so easy.
5. Try the two-minute rule
According to the article called ‘How to Stop Procrastinating using the ‘2-Minute Rule’ by James Clear, he shares the ‘two-minute rule’ which states that when you start a new habit, it should take you two minutes or less to do. To stay consistent with something over time, you need to start small and slowly. For example, if you want to start going to the gym and perhaps you don’t feel like it, do something as simple as putting your gym shoes on. That takes even less than two minutes, right? As long as you start, it makes it more difficult to stop than not starting at all. So you see that reading goal you have to read ten pages a day, start with one page and you’ll find that you’ll want to go on and on, and before you know it, reading is one of the habits you’re consistent in.
6. Reward yourself
As I mentioned above, to stay consistent, we need to learn to work with our brains’ natural wiring instead of against it. According to this article called ‘Dopamine’ from The Cleveland Clinic, dopamine is known as the ‘feel-good’ hormone. When we do something that feels pleasurable, whether it’s a virtue or vice, the brain releases this hormone that communicates,
‘This makes me feel good, do more of this’
However like I said not everything that gives us that dopamine hit is good for us. For example, excessive social media use or consumption of junk food makes us feel good and triggers a significant release of dopamine but, is it good for us? No.
So, how can we stay consistent with healthy habits while also recognizing our need for dopamine? The secret is having a reward system for good habits.
For example, if I want to be consistent with taking 20-minute walks every day, my reward for staying consistent with this habit could be I’ll buy myself an ice pop to enjoy at the end of my walk. So, I’m more likely to stick with this habit knowing there’s a reward at the end. If I don’t do my daily walk, no ice pop to be enjoyed, which takes me to my next point.
7. Think about the consequences of inconsistency
Every choice has a consequence, whether good or bad. One way to stay consistent with positive habits is by keeping in mind what would happen if you don’t follow through.
If I am not consistent with studying, I’ll probably fail my exams.
If I am not consistent with showing up excellently at my job, I’ll probably not be the first to be considered for a promotion.
If I am not consistent with my skincare routine, my problem areas will continue to be problems and I’ll feel less confident about myself.
I think you catch my drift.
So, from this post, I believe you can see that staying consistent is much deeper than what’s on the surface. I think the most fascinating point for me was learning that I am likely to stay consistent with a habit that’s tied to an inherent value. So, anytime I find myself being inconsistent with something, instead of assuming I am lazy, I can do some introspection and reevaluate if I can tie that habit with a value I have. Perhaps I have changed and it’s time to let that habit go and find one that I can actually stay consistent with.
What point fascinated you the most? Feel free to share in the comments.
Here’s to a year of being and staying consistent with the right habits!
Till next post,
Miss Kambe.
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