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“It’s not what we do once that shapes our lives. It’s what we do consistently.” Anthony Robbins

If you look at your pattern of success, you will notice that success leaves clues. Chances are the success you experienced was due to consistency. It may be due to a consistent habit, routine, or ritual you perform. Some people see consistency as being too structured. Consistency is a form of discipline – steps done to get to where you want to go.

What is Consistency and Why is it Important?

According to the Oxford Dictionary Online, consistency is “consistent behaviour or treatment”. I know you may be saying to yourself, good to know but why is it important? When you are consistent with your words and actions people know what to expect from you. You develop trust as they feel that they know your character and can predict what you may behave like in certain situations. When you are not consistent with your words and actions, people do not know whether or not they can trust you. In business and in organizations, consistency means that you are going to deliver on your promises. Consistency is important in solidifying your brand and message. Otherwise, you are confusing your audience.

If you are confused, so are they!

Take a step back. Whenever you are confused or feel like you are off track in getting to your goals, connect to your “why”. What are you trying to accomplish? Why? This is your personal vision. You need to have an emotional connection to what you want to achieve otherwise you will not be driven towards it. Without the emotional connection of your “why”, your actions are meaningless.

Being consistent will help you create accountability to follow through and do what you say you are going to do. Whether it is going to the gym, reading, prayer/meditation, put it on your calendar. Out of sight, out of mind.  It is about building habits that will serve you so you can best serve others. You may even choose to create a checklist for yourself.

What habits do you want to consistently put in place?

Here are some examples:

• Send out 10 marketing letters per week.
• Read 20 minutes per day a book in my industry.
• Review my finances every Friday for 15 minutes.
• Go to the gym 3 days a week for 60 minutes.
• Follow up with 3 new prospects within 24 hours of meeting them.
• Send out my newsletter every 2 weeks.

What do you notice about these new habits or tasks? The examples are measurable. You can check in to see where you are at and where you may need to improve. Without consistency, everything falls out of balance. What happens if you go to the gym 2 times one week and again 3 weeks later versus being consistent for 3 weeks? Will you see the same results? Probably not. What if you send out your newsletter one month and then 3 months down the road and then again every 2 weeks? You create confusion – people do not know when they may hear from you.

Stay on track. Make it your mission to be consistent. It won’t be easy! Anytime we choose to change things up it takes hard work and some discipline. Make a plan and be persistent. If you slip up, don’t be discouraged. Get right back up and do the work you know you need to do. What do you need to put in place to prevent the slip-up? In order to see what is working in a certain area you have to give it at least 30 days of consistent effort. The results might not appear right away. Don’t stop! Challenge yourself to be even more consistent and stretch it to 90 days. Resist temptations and distractions getting in the way of achieving your goal. Silence the inner critic – the negative thinking talking you out of what you know you need to do.

At first, it will seem awkward because you need to think about doing something. Over time it will become automatic. Remember when you first learned to drive or ride a bicycle. You had to think about every action and over time you did not need to think about every step. You may have fallen off your bicycle a couple times until you found your balance. Once you found your balance, you just hopped on your bike and rode. You may have been nervous driving a car, there was so much to remember. Someone may even have honked the horn because you hesitated before you took the turn. The nervousness is now gone and you can get into the car and drive to your destination.

It is often the actions we know we need to be doing to achieve goals that we do not write down or put in front of us. Those promptings remind us to take action! Celebrate your new habits and milestones. Consistency was the key to your current and future success.

“Success is neither magical nor mysterious. Success is the natural consequence of consistently applying basic fundamentals.”
― Jim Rohn

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DEBRA KASOWSKI, BScN CEC is an award-winning best-selling author, transformational speaker, blogger, and Certified Executive Coach. She has a heart of a teacher and is certified in Appreciative Inquiry and Emotional Intelligence. Her writing has been published in a variety of print and online magazines. Debra Kasowski International helps executives, entrepreneurs, and organizations boost their productivity, performance, and profits. It all starts with people and passion. Sign up the Success Secrets Newsletter and get your free mp3 download today! www.debrakasowski.com

Time:     08:47 min

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