30 Days of Consistency
PREFACE: This post isn't just about me, though it begins that way. My goal in starting this blog was to provide something useful and helpful for anyone who might read it and not fall into the pattern of just documenting my own life journey. So, if you stick with the post to the end I am certain you will read something that could add value to your life. As always, thanks for reading and sharing!
On January 2 of this year I began a new kind of New Year's Resolution, one in which I would focus on ONE WORD and allow that word to define the change and improvements I needed to make in my life. I thought about it, I prayed about it, and took a good look at my daily life routines and habits. Then, while writing in a journal the answers to a series of questions, such as – "What do I need? What's in my way? What needs to go?" – in my list of answers, the word CONSISTENCY seemed to stick out at me. As I looked down at the Moleskine journal, it was like the whole page was dark and there was a spotlight on that one word. That's when I knew my ONE WORD New Year's Resolution for 2018 was going to be "CONSISTENCY."
After declaring my ONE WORD, I began to outline some goals. What would "consistency" look like for me each day? Some of the things I included in that list:
No more snooze button
Intentional about daily fitness and nutrition
P.R.W. – 3 big growth habits: Prayer, Reading, Writing (every day)
No excuses. No defending why I can't do this. Positivity every day will be key to staying consistent.
I knew that in order for me to truly be consistent with these goals, I would need to change some things in my (then) current daily habits in order to free up time and use time better. Some of those things included:
Narrowing down phone/social media usage to only certain times during the day
Minimize TV/Netflix – no nighttime TV, Netflix once/week max – and replace those "leisure" activities with books/reading
Sleep – goal of 8 hours minimum in a 24-hour day in order to maintain daily routine of 5:30AM wake-up (with no snooze)
In addition to making a list of "consistency" goals and objectives for how I would accomplish consistency, I also determined my daily routine schedule from Monday-Sunday. That scheduled included things like:
Out of bed at 5:30AM Monday-Friday (Saturday, most of the time, would be the only day I could keep open to "whenever I wake up", and Sunday's routine begins at 6:30AM)
Ice cold water (2 full glasses)
Workout (weights Mon/Wed/Fri, H.I.I.T. cardio Tue/Thu)
Shower and get ready for the day
P.R.W. (Pray, Read, Write)
Attack the work day!
This advanced planning has been extremely helpful for me. In addition to writing all of these things down, I sent them in an email to my family members and I told much of this to my church. Why? Because accountability is a major ingredient for success and growth. We all need it, and I knew that I would need it if I were going to fulfill my CONSISTENCY commitment.
So... after one month of living out this new routine, here is a brief 30-day report:
5:30AM with no snooze every day is hard, but it is much easier when you are intentional about the goal of getting enough sleep. I've been consistent with this, and today I actually woke up before the alarm went off.
Daily workout and nutrition plan is not as hard to stay consistent with. Even though I hadn't recently been following a regular exercise and diet plan, as an athletically-minded person it is something that has always been part of my life, off and on. It was just time to turn it back on!
P.R.W. (Prayer/Reading/Writing)
Prayer every day begins with gratitude. It is physiologically impossible to be thankful and stressed, anxious, frustrated... at the same exact time. My prayers extend into other areas of conversation with God – making requests, confessing my own shortcomings, etc. – but beginning with gratitude sets the tone.
Reading consistently has required me to take a book everywhere I go (with the Kindle, several books). Any "down" time during the day becomes reading time. Morning reading has been exclusively the Bible. In fact, one of the biggest differences I have noticed is that I am doing more "leisure" Bible reading, where much of my Bible reading had become "study" and "preparation" primarily. This was mostly due to poor time management. In addition to the Bible, I have also read 4 other books this month (Training Camp, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, The No Complaining Rule, and You Win In The Locker Room First).
Writing consistently is challenging, but fun! Writing is something I have always loved to do, and something I have always believed I should do, but it is something that has to be an intentional focus of life. Otherwise, it won't happen. When I read, I feel like it is for me. But when I write, I feel like it is for others. I have a real passion and desire to want to give what I do away, for the benefit of others. I suppose that's the essence of coaching. And it has become my goal in writing.
No excuses, regardless! There have been days when I did not want to roll out of bed and get into the routine, and even had plenty of excuses for why (got home late from a basketball game, it's a holiday and I don't have to work, I'm out of town and in a hotel...). There have been opportunities to give in and break the routine. But thankfully, by God's grace and strength, I've remained consistent.
Okay, this is where I will now pull the telescope back from the "it's all about Chris" view to a more universal perspective and try to give you something as a takeaway from this post.
How do people get to the point of where they are considered an "expert" in a certain skill? The "best" at one thing or another? A "master" of an art or craft? "Superior" in their ability?
Here's a hint... it's NOT because they have talent and you don't. Sure, talent is helpful, but it can also be useless. Both, the talented and the untalented have this one thing in common... they need consistency in order to become great.
Think about this in terms of teams. Teams with more talent don't always win the big games. It happens way too often. Why? Because consistent work and deliberate practice and routine will beat talent 9 times out of 10 when talent doesn't also have that same ethic (of course, when neither team has the consistent work ethic, then talent will surely beat non-talent).
But, how encouraging this is! This means that we are in more control of our success than we may even realize... talent or no talent. That is takeaway point #1.
Takeaway point #2 is this... CONSISTENCY must always be combined with PATIENCE. The whole idea of consistency is, "a little bit at a time." I've always told our athletes at the beginning of our strength training season: "a little a lot" is better than "a lot a little." This is, of course, referring to the gains they will make over the next few months. You can't step into the weight room, toss a few 45-pound plates on both sides of the barbell and crank out 5 deep squats, Day 1.
Now, I do believe that anyone can squat 315 pounds. Just not on Day 1. But imagine if you started at 45 pounds, and you added just a little bit every day... just tiny, little baby steps... just 1% more each day. If you got 1% stronger every day, you'd be squatting 90-pounds after 100 days. If you continued to get 1% stronger every day, in one year you would be squatting more than 315 pounds!
Our problem is, we want to SEE the success instantaneously. We want our kids to be great defensive fielders after the first week of practice. We say, "I hit them each 100 ground balls yesterday!" That's great. Now do it again today. And do it again tomorrow. And keep doing it, every day. The consistency combined with patience will undeniably make anyone better.
We just have to stay with it! Keep going. Simply, do what you say you are going to do. It's often that simple. Do it today. VICTORY! Then do it again tomorrow. VICTORY! Repeat.