This blog post was supposed to be ready and published at 10:00. I’m writing it right now though, at 10:11 on a Saturday morning when the only thing I wanted to do was to enjoy my freshly brewed coffee. No-one said that showing up for your business would be easy. Ha!
Consistency is a super popular term these days along entrepreneurs yet so many of us seem to struggle to act on it. Sean Godin writes “People don’t want originality, they want consistency”. Staying consistent is good for your business, shows commitment to your niche and adds to your professional image as a person that clients can trust. Experts and business consultants introduce consistency as the number one factor to success, that is if you’re prepared for delayed gratification. No chance for immediate results or excitement and fireworks here. Just do the work. Every single day.
This concept should be familiar to people that love their routine and voluntarily do certain things repeatedly in order to achieve a goal. For me, since I get bored easily, to have a strict routine seems like being imprisoned or something, life becomes tasteless and meaningless and all that drama that comes with a creative mind. On the other hand, every time I fail to accomplish things that need to be done over a long period of time for me to see results for my business, I beat myself up and wonder why it is so difficult to commit and just do the work every day.
So in search for a legit solution and a plan, I’ve decided to write down all the things that most of the time help me stay consistent and make things work for the better.
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- Preparation
To have a schedule for all the things essential for your business’ growth is critical. What helps me is to prepare my week’s plan ahead so that I can have an overview of what I need to work on. Prepare a plan and put every little thing and errand that will bring you closer to your goals beforehand in your calendar. It could be something small like to post something on Instagram everyday. At first this seems insignificant, unimportant, but this post could lead to a wonderful community a year from now.
- Tell your friends
By telling your friends about the things that you want to commit to, you push yourself to stay accountable. You don’t want to embarrass yourself and it’s always nice to have someone to celebrate with when hitting your business goals.
- Start even if it’s just for 5 min
To start is by far the most difficult part. It is only funny that most people think that to be successful you need to have the right genes or that completing tasks and achieving goals requires “ talent” and “luck”! Sorry to disappoint here, but every one and I mean EVERY ONE wants to stay on the couch and binge watch Netflix series while eating pizza. The thing that separates successful people is that they suppress the urge to lie on this couch and do the work instead. Push yourself to start working on something with the promise to stop after 5 minutes if it doesn’t go well or you’re bored to death. Most likely you’ll continue to work long after this and you’ll have make another little step towards your goals.
- Remember why you do this
Consistency requires a lot of repeated little steps and tasks over a long period of time. The procedure will seem boring even meaningless from time to time, so it is super important to not lose your spark and excitement because of this day to day work. Keep your eyes and focus on what you want to accomplish, visualise the result at the end of the road and try to imagine how you will feel once you’ve reached that goal.
Keep in mind that even the most disciplined miss a step from time to time too. The important thing is to focus on the big picture and trust the process of staying consistent for this will bring you results.
Music to listen to while reading this post: https://youtu.be/0pDGZtkpAPY
Taste: Freshly Brewed Coffee
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