Chasing success and goals requires establishing healthy habits and a clear focus. However, even with good routines and specific goals, it’s easy to slow down or get off track. Because it’s common to lose your momentum or direction, it’s important to develop consistency in your life. Doing so will help you maintain your path and continue moving forward to reach your desired goal.

Start Your Day the Right Way

Refining your morning routine is a great place to start building up your consistency. As soon as day breaks (or your alarm clock wakes you), throw back those sheets. Force yourself to get out of bed and into your morning habits. Whether you like to start the day with some light reading, meditation, or positive affirmations, get to it. Then, greet the day with a smile!

Efficiently implement your daily hygiene practices. Here are tips to ensure your morning routine wakes you up:

• Drink a full glass of water before your coffee, tea, or other caffeinated beverage. 
• Crank the water temperature to cold for the last couple minutes of your shower. 
• Do some light exercise (stretching, push-ups, jumping jacks, or crunches.) 
• Turn more lights on. 
• Wash your face with cool water (if you regularly shower in the evenings, not mornings). 
• Get dressed in a shorter amount of time. 
• Eat a healthy and nourishing breakfast.

Once you find a routine that works for you, start it the same way every morning until it becomes second nature. This way, even when you’re exhausted, you’ll repeat the process naturally.

Make a System to Support Your Consistency

Every time you complete an action that boosts your consistency, give yourself a small reward. Reinforce that action with a good feeling, so that you’ll be more likely to do it again. Having people in your life to hold you accountable also helps increase your consistency. Gather friends, family, or colleagues that will urge you to do whatever task you need to do to stay consistent.

Establishing consequences will also benefit your efforts to become more consistent. If you fail to be consistent, withhold watching your favorite tv show or eating your favorite snack. When that isn’t good enough motivation, have someone you live with take something of yours. Ask them to take your phone, your TV remote, your car keys, or change your password to your favorite music streaming service. Tell them not to give the item back until you’ve returned to your habitual actions. Aside from the support system that you create, consistency also needs a mindset to thrive in.

Think “Consistency” Constantly

Whenever you start to doubt yourself, think “consistency.” Remind yourself daily that the actions you repeat are the ones that become you. When you create habits or routines that embody the mindset of successful individuals, you, too, will become successful.

Suppose your goal is to become physically stronger, but you skip a gym day due to a stomachache. That doesn’t mean you’ve lost progress or that you’ve failed. It just means that if you’re feeling better tomorrow, you’ll work twice as hard in the gym. Consistency isn’t always about not missing a day. Sometimes it’s about missing one day to heal, so you won’t have to miss more days, and the sooner you get back on track, the better. However, your mental and physical health should always be a priority.

Keep Your Motive in Mind

The final method to boost consistency and really stick to your path and your efforts, is to always think about why you chose that path. Often, we lose our way thinking about how many more steps we must complete before reaching our goal. Or we find ourselves wondering if the goal is worth the effort. In these instances, it’s important to remember why we picked that goal.

Let’s say your goal is to go into business with 10 more clients by the end of the month, but you’re struggling. You’ve picked up six clients, but you’re more than halfway through the month. You can’t bear going out to another networking event, and yet, you know that’s what it takes to meet new potential clients. Remember why you wanted more clients: 

• More financial security. 
• Additional meaningful relationships. 
• Potential for a more successful business. 
• Bigger impact on your community.

No matter your reason why, if you keep it in mind, you’re sure to stick to consistently working toward your goals. Look at that, even your goals have goals! And if you need even more ways to increase your consistency, check out these tips.

If you’re failing to put in a consistent amount of effort toward your goals, your self-esteem may be the issue. Read our blog on how to increase your self-esteem, so you stop losing steam.