How to Stay Consistent

The second half of 2021 has already begun. This might mean that there are New Year's resolutions that have been discarded or forgotten.

Every time a New Year began, most people are so excited to make life changes. We say things like "New year, New me".

We start to get so motivated to be a better version of ourselves. We promised ourself that we will be a different person once this year ends.

However, most of the times, the New Year's resolutions we make only get carried out at the first one to three months, or even less than that.

There is even a meme going around last Jamuary about how many people are in a gym during January 1 versus the empty gym on January 2.

Is there any truth to that meme?

Well, anyone who have gome to the gym might tell you it is easy to want to give it up after the first time.

I heard this from my sister who went to they gym in a bid to lose some weight. She said her whole body is hurting and she did not want to go there anymore. She continued to do so but the quarantine restrictions made her unable to go. After enough time, she lost her drive to go back to the gym.

Once people realize starting is difficult, they no longer want to do it

People like to have easy lives. Why bother enduring the aches you get from exercising when you can just spend that time eating delicious foods? Why make it harder for yourself?

We only live once. That is what we always say to ourselves to get rid of the guilty feeling that we have doing what we want instead of what we need.

When we figure out that we will have an uncomfortsble time doing something, we stop it and go back to our old patterns.

Now, now, you do not have to feel bad. I have been there! I actually crossed off some New Year's resolution I listed as the months go off because I figured out that it will not work with where I am at my life right now, and that is okay.

For example, instead of exercising for 1 hour everyday, I made it so that I can do it without the excuse of not having enough free time. I made my exercising time go down to 1 minute? But why? What will that do right? That seems so little.

It is little. That is the whole point of it. 1 minute passes by most times without us noticing. So 1 minute of doing something that I ought to do makes me feel good. Even if it is just a small amount of time.

Sure, that 1 minute might not matter much to others but for me I see it as a building block?

What do I mean by building block?

You do not build a whole building immediately. You first have to check the land quality, then form a foundation that can support the building. After that you still don't have the building yet, you have to place a brick piece by piece until it reached the height you want it to be. But wait, you're still not done. You still have to paint it, and add some decorations on it.

Do you see what I mean?

The 1 minute that I exercised everyday is my foundation to being able to do an hour of exercising in the future.

The one minute is ingraining to my mind that I have to show up. Show up at the things that I promised I would be.

So if you want to go to the gym, you can start by just showing up there and staying for 1 minute

Yes, just 1 minute of even just standing around anf then you can leave. Soon that 1 minute will turn to 5 minutes, until slowly you have a good foundation that you can start working on your goal.

That one minute of exercising led me to be able to complete a full hour of exercise now. We have different timelines so do not worry if the trick is taking a while to work. Just keep believing in yourself and do it everyday.

The problem is not the goal but the process

We tend to bite more than what we can chew. We try to turn our lives upside down and get frustrated when it did not work out as we planned it in our minds.

You cannot just expect to shed all your bad habits to be as easy as throwing a chewed gum.

It takes building a good foundation of good habits to completely replace the things we wamt to remove in our lives.

So the next time you feel the urge to change yourself, think carefully before putting "Exercise for 3 hours everyday" in your goals. Maybe you can do it, but can you do it consistently?

Remember that your body has already grown used to whatever was your routine before the decision to change came. What happens to something when you force to bend it to some other shape? It breaks.

Do not try to change your life upside down immediately. Take it one step at a time. You will get to where you want to be, just probably not in the way you think you will.

So just show up

Whether it be for learning how to play musical instruments. Hold your instruments for a minute everyday. Do it without fail even when you feel tired. Get curious about it. Play it somehow until you feel that you can do it now consistently for your desired time.

Of course, this trick will not work if you just stay at the place of just showing up. The just show up trick I am talking about is just to build the habit of doing it repeatedly until you have enough foundation to do bigger things than just show up.

One step at a time is still going to take you to where you want to go. You do not have to force yourself to hop around trying to reach the end faster. Build a good foundation to make sure that you will not falter. Most importantly, believe that you can do it, especially when hard times are ahead.

Thank you for reading my article. If you are interested in more of my works, please fell free to check out my latest article: https://read.cash/@ZehraSky/shameless-hidden-dream-2a9b1071