Do you battle with broken promises?

Half read books; courses paid for and not completed; a lack of follow through on your commitments to yourself?

Don’t worry, no judgment here. I’m as guilty as the next person.

But what I do know is that consistency is critical to growth and self improvement. Those daily disciplines that become habits shape us and define our direction, and our destiny.  When we follow through on our promises to ourselves (which is what being consistent is really about) we learn to trust ourselves, we feel more confident in what we can achieve.

I’ve developed my consistency muscle because I was so sick of letting myself down.  At the start of this year I completed a 60 day run of daily live-streaming. It’s one of many 30; 45 or 60 day “challenges” that I commit to and each time it’s been game-changing. (Side note – I made £24k in sales from my live-streaming challenge! )

So, in no particular order, here are my top strategies and hacks that help me stick to my commitments to myself:

• Change my narrative about being inconsistent and affirm “I ALWAYS follow through with ease!”
• Have a clear purpose.  A big enough ‘why’ will drive you no matter what is threatening to throw you off course
• Tracking. Mark a cross on a tracker calendar every day you complete your commitment.  Soon you’ll have the added incentive of NOT breaking the chain of crosses!
• Schedule the activity into your daily calendar.  As Tony Robbins says “What gets scheduled, gets done!” 
• Set reminders in your phone so that you’re constantly reinforcing your new habit
• Write a note to the future self who might try to hijack you with convincing mental chatter i.e “Dear future self, Right now you’re being hijacked by your old self and I want you to know that you’re being lied to! Your old self is trying to pull you down!” That sort of thing. Read it every time you’re starting to talk yourself out of following through.
• Just focus on the present moment NOW. One day at a time.
• Depending on the activity, have a tune that you associate with the activity to get you into state i.e play Rocky theme wherever you go running. Ha ha! Bad example but you get me. Whenever you’re “not in the mood” play the tune and that will get you back in the game.
• Get accountability – tell someone you care about that this is what you’re doing. Then it’s not so easy to break your promise when it’s not just to yourself.
• Finally, for my live-streaming, I thought about my ideal client and what she needs to hear, instead of focusing on my own insecurities.

What tips do you have for helping you stay on course and keep consistent?

Sanae xx