Innermost ambassador and co-founder of True Escapes retreats Dottie Fildes brings us the low-down on the differences between consistency and motivation, and how to keep the two in balance when working towards your goals. Read on for enlightenment...
When working towards a goal, of any kind, you may come across barriers or obstacles that test your patience, willingness and desire. More than likely, your goal is something that requires actions that you’re generally not used to doing. If that weren’t the case, it wouldn’t be a goal because you’d already be doing it, right?
So how do we go about performing those actions in a linear way to achieve said goal? We’ve all heard that consistency is key, but why? For the purpose of this article I’ll refer to an exercise-based goal but the same approach can be transferred to most areas of life; relation-ships, career, health etc. Read on for my top tips to stay consistent and a little gift at the end!
"Freshers Week"
I’m not referring to daily late night boozing, ending up in someone else’s room questioning what the hell happened last night… I’m talking about that immediate rush of motivation when acting on a new goal. You know what I’m talking about. That first week when you’re invincible. Alarm set nice and early, hopping out of bed and practically skipping off to the gym. You’re on fire, checking off the to-do list, then BAMN. Out of nowhere, it’s gone. Now what? A week, maybe more goes by of “why is this so damn hard?!”, “Ugh. I cannot be bothered”, or “I’m way too tired”. The issue here is not a lack of desire, you still want to achieve your goals but the reliance of motivation. This is often aligned with potentially way-to-high expectations.
Be S.M.A.R.T.
A way to determine whether your expectations are aligned with your lifestyle is to ensure they are “SMART”. Be Specific, make them Measurable, are they Achievable and Realistic? Give them a Time frame before you re-assess again and adjust if necessary. Break your goal down into bitesize chunks so that the reward and feeling of success is more frequent. Rather than focussing solely on the end goal, you now have mini-wins along the way. That in itself is motivating (an additional bonus), but it will also ensure you’re on the right track!
Turn Up For Yourself
This one is HUGE. You can have all the help in the world; a PT, a coach, a private chef, a therapist, but they aren’t going to do the work for you. The gritty stuff, when it gets hard, it’s YOU that has to put the shift in. On the hardest days when you really don’t want to, they’re the important ones. They’re the ones that install the positive life-changing habits. Show up, do what you have to do to get it done. Inaction is Action; If nothing changes, nothing will change.
Manage Expectations
Life is full of ebbs and flows, peaks and troughs. There are going to be days you wake up full of beans, others not so much. It is imperative that your actions and expectations are replicative of this. Expecting perfection every single time will only drive you into a heap of stress and frustration. Referring back to the above point of just showing up, understand that perhaps this training session or this meal or this meeting isn’t going to be absolutely perfect but it is in some way an improvement and it is action.
Non-Negotiables
Without realising it, we have some already installed non-negotiables. All different yet reflective of our personal morals, beliefs and passions. If you were to look at your goal and think about the bare minimum of what you’d have to do every day in order to get there, what would they be? Make these EASY. It could be something like: 10 minutes of fresh air, drinking 2 litres of water, 15 minutes of screen less time before bed. They are just small examples. Again, make them “SMART” but so insignificant to your day-to-day life that you don’t necessarily have to factor them in to your diary or it be-comes an added stress to your day. Start with small incremental habits that build to something a bit bigger and more impactful. Remember, they are non-negotiable. Every. Single. Day.
7 Day Working Week
Sounds pretty hideous I know but trust me on this. Imagine if you didn’t ever get the Sunday Scaries ever again?! That dreaded “Smunday” feeling as you think of all the stuff you have to do when Monday comes back around. The thing with consistency is, it will become second-nature, like brushing your teeth, or getting dressed. The more you do it, they less effort it requires. By drawing your mini-goals through the weekend, you’re staying accountable. Better yet, there’ll be way less “damage control” required by Monday. Win-Win!
Accountability Buddy
Things are always better with friends right?! More fun and then in turn, easier. Surrounding yourself with like-minded people who not necessarily have the same specific goal but the same interests will drive you forwards.
Now for that, I have just the thing…
Introducing TRUE Escapes: Let us show you how with our four main pillars: Train, Replenish, Unwind and Engage. With these pillars, you can stay consistent, stay accountable AND have a great time in the process. We have an Escape coming up in June and as a dedicated Innermost Insider we’d love to offer you a 10% discount! All you have to do is quote INNERMOST10 in the registration box. To find out more, click here.
