Consistency Doesn't Mean "Perfection"

I had an excellent conversation with a client this morning in regards to consistency in his weekly routines.

When I asked my client this morning how his routines at home are feeling lately, he said he's been really good at being consistent still with his daily & weekly routines, though he's not always getting 7/7 days per week. He followed it up by saying it's been more along the lines of Monday-Friday is consistent and then the weekend is a bonus (sometimes getting a session or two in, and sometimes not).

He followed that up by saying how proud he was of himself for his consistency over the past nearly 3-months working together. He said "in my 32 years of existence, I've never been so consistent for so long (outside of sports)."

I should say that this client (admittedly) is an "all or nothing" mentality type person. This has been something we've been working on slowly together over our time together so far, and these kinds of conversations have really helped (reminding us that much of how we approach our health can be changed, progressed and maintained in ways other than just "lift heavy things and put them down" or "eat this green stuff" - It all fits together).

After he shared his thoughts, I reminded him that consistency is what you want it to be and what you set out to do. In other words...

-If you aim to do something 3x per week and you do that for several weeks - that's consistency.

-If you aim to do something Monday-Friday and you do that for several weeks or months - that's consistency

In my clients case, we set out to do MOST days of the week. His weeks have consisted of 5-7 sessions per week. 5/7 is MOST days. 6/7 is MOST days. It doesn't need to be "perfect" to still be consistent, when you're hitting your target. "PERFECT" isn't REAL and it can mean something different to everyone. Be REAL with yourself as you learn, build and/or maintain your health and lifestyle practices.

I did not want this client to hold onto any unnecessary negative vibes in this case, because he's done so well. In one breath he says "I've been consistent". In the next he says "but not 7/7 days every week" (all or nothing mindset). Then in the next breath "I've never been so proud of my consistency". YES!!! Don't let "perfectionism" over shadow the GOOD you ARE doing!

Here's some things we can keep in mind when we think about our own practices and consistency...

1. Don't Take Away Anything From How YOU Feel

When my client told me this morning how proud he is of himself, I reminded him that's a good thing - hold on to that and run with it. He should be. He hired a coach to help guide him, we came up with a plan together and he's doing it. Why wouldn't you be proud of that, right!?

It's very easy (because it's become habit for so many of us) to always feel "not good enough" or "I'm not doing enough", to the point that it takes away from what we ARE doing and the GOOD it's doing. BE PROUD. BE AWARE of how you feel inside from what you've accomplished. TAKE THE TIME to FEEL how you feel.

2. Be Realistic with Yourself

Is consistency in your health practices eluding you? Do you find yourself after a couple weeks feeling like a "failure"? You're NOT a failure. You're learning. However, you probably ARE BEING UNREALISTIC with yourself which promotes that feeling of failure. Take some time to re-evaluate your plans so that you CAN make it work. Whether that means doing slightly less of something, doing just 5-10min worth of something, breaking your plan into smaller chunks throughout the day... There are many ways to set yourself up for SUCCESS instead. Give yourself that time to do so. PRACTICE SUCCESS vs PRACTICING NEGATIVE VIBES.

3. Take Time to Re-evaluate and Adjust Accordingly

This is a forgotten / overlooked step in building habits and practices. If we hit some snags or we are inconsistent after a couple weeks, we just try to FORCE ourselves to do it (yet change nothing) and inevitably become miserable and down on ourselves in the process.

When you're building a new practice, set a time for yourself regularly to CHECK-IN with YOURSELF. This can be 5min, 10min or an hour. Whatever works for YOU. For example, set aside the plan to check-in with yourself and your progress with your practice every 2-weeks on a Sunday morning. Write down positives and negatives over the past couple weeks within your practice. From there, you'll have a clearer picture of how things are going. Adjust where/as necessary as you move into your next 2-weeks.

There's Magic to being Consistent

The "magic" I elude to here, is in the simplicity. By that I mean, the easier we make it on ourselves (even if it seems "too easy"), the more likely we are to succeed and be consistent. If something is easy to fit into your day(s), it's MUCH MORE LIKELY to happen. This is where our EGO gets in the way;

-We think it "should be harder"

-We think "this can't work - it's too easy"

-We think "this will take too long, I want 'x' now"

Make your practice so easy you CAN'T not do it! Allow yourself to feel GOOD about achieving success (even those tiny ones) every day as you build your practice. Over time, your practice will grow into bigger things providing you stay consistent and keep it REAL. Then after a couple months (as my client did this morning), you'll look back and think "Wow! I've been so consistent in my practice the past few months - yet it didn't seem to be that hard!"

That's the magic.