A Year of Consistency
As we enter the month of December and year 2018 prepares to pass the baton to 2019, I am taking a moment to reflect. One year ago at this time, I began praying for a word that could be my focus for 2018. Sort of like a New Year's Resolution, my ONE WORD would be the central focus of everything in my life for the year. It would guide my daily routines – my thoughts, goals, plans, and my actions and behaviors. To read more about the idea of making a ONE WORD resolution, check out my blog post from January 4, 2018.
My ONE WORD for this year has been CONSISTENCY. I declared that I would commit to a life of consistency. Choosing this word to guide my daily thoughts and behaviors was a way of testing myself. I wanted to see how much I would grow and how much positive change might occur in my life if I determined to do some things consistently for an entire year. No wavering. Decide to do it. Make a plan for how it would be done. Then stick with it.
One thing I found is that many of my "consistency" decisions and actions were linked to other decisions, which required other consistent action. For example, I made a commitment to an hour of strength training every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I may choose to exercise on other days as well (and I have), but Monday, Wednesday and Friday would be my MUST days.
In order to keep that commitment, I knew that I would have to make a change in my daily schedule. I would need to select a time that would never get negotiated out by other life events. For me, that time has been 5:45am (I chose that time because I workout at the WellWorks facility at Ohio University, and 5:45 is the earliest they open). I set my wake-up alarm for 5:10am and made a conscious commitment to never touch the snooze button. This was hard at first. Who am I kidding, it's still hard today! But it gets easier when I am intentional about getting plenty of sleep, which means I have had to rearrange the way I approach my evening and nightly routines.
Every decision seemed to be connected in some way. Consistent bedtimes helped me to get enough sleep for my consistent wake-up times. Consistent wake-up times allowed me to get consistent workouts and other important morning routine tasks, such as reading, writing, prayer, and meditation. Getting those consistent morning routines worked to put my body and mind in a good place throughout the day, creating a more positive mindset and more productive behaviors. For example, since I was exercising consistently I had a greater desire to keep a healthy food and drink diet so as to get the most out of my training. Keeping a consistently healthy diet has complimented and aided all of the above behaviors.
As I look back at this post from early February, I am reminded of a list of goals I had created for CONSISTENCY to be a reality in my life. Some of those were:
No snooze button
Being intentional about daily fitness and nutrition
Prayer, reading, writing
Positivity every day. No excuses or defensiveness about why I cannot accomplish the above things
I am pleased to say that I have, indeed, remained consistent in those goals by developing better habits and being determined to make them a routine that I would follow religiously throughout this past year. Don't mistake what I am saying, I have not been perfect. I have been tempted to give up – to go back to the old, easier and more convenient way of living. There have been moments of failure. But the key has been to not allow one moment of failure to become two, then three. Whenever I have failed, I have picked myself up and resolved to get back on the path of consistency.
One of the greatest gifts I could give you this Holiday Season is the gift of a ONE WORD challenge. Take the ONE WORD challenge. Begin pondering and praying about one word that could be your primary focus for year 2019. You will be amazed at how many things that one word touches in your daily routines, how much it impacts your decisions, your behaviors and interactions with people. You will find your life changing for the better as you become intentional about every corner of your life being influenced by your ONE WORD.
What will yours be? I'm still thinking about and praying for my 2019 ONE WORD. After a year of consistency, I am thrilled to begin a new challenge and can't wait to see how it will impact my life in positive ways. Of course, I am not going to just forget about "consistency" and move on to the next ONE WORD. I will add this new word for 2019 on top of the consistency that has been built from 2018 and keep going.
When you have decided on your ONE WORD for 2019, post a reply in whatever social media you are reading my blog from. I would love to hear about what you are going to be accomplishing in the coming year. Let's grow together!
God bless you. I hope you are having a wonderful Holiday season!