By Leo Babauta
A lot of people come to me because they struggle to be consistent with the things they’re trying to show up for: exercise, meditation, meaningful work, etc.
We struggle with consistency, and blame ourselves, get discouraged, give up.
But I’ve found that there are 4 important things we can adjust to become more consistent:
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Commitment. How committed to this activity are you? If you want to write more, for example … how committed do you feel towards that writing? We can increase commitment through accountability (commit to someone else or a group) and/or through getting clear on why this matters to us.
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Starting small. If you’re struggling to show up for something, reduce how big of a time commitment it is. If you want to meditate, do just 2 minutes if you can’t do 15 minutes. If you want to exercise, do less to start with than you think you can. If you were doing more before, and are struggling to get back to that, forget about what you were doing before — what matters is doing less now so you can be more consistent.
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How we view the activity. Are you viewing the activity as something you “should” do? A burden, an obligation, a duty? That’s no fun! How can you view the activity so that it’s more inspiring to you? Maybe it’s an adventure, an expression of your deepest self, an honoring of your heart, a practice in mindfulness, a creation of art, a place to bring your curiosity, or something else that would be fun.
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A flexible mindset. Missing a day or two is no big deal. But we make it a big deal when we want to give up because we’re discouraged. What if you embrace the bumps in the road, and let mistakes and misses be a part of the journey?