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Most of us have experienced negativity in life and have gone through phases where we were consistent in doing only one thing – procrastinating.
If this is the present reality of your life, you are not the only one. Difficult and dark as it may appear now, it’s not the end of the tunnel. Light and hope are waiting just around the corner! All that it needs is a little change in your approach.
It is easy to fall prey to the habit of procrastination or getting distracted by trivial and unimportant affairs of daily chores in life. However, building self-reliance and a benchmark for consistency is no astrophysics either. All it needs is consistent willpower and motivation to keep the show on.
The critical part of this journey lies in how to take the first few steps toward being steady and positive in all life situations. Let’s take a look at these 15 ways to stay consistent and realize your dreams.
1. Make Sure They’re Your Dreams
Often our dreams and desires are contrasted, influenced, and shaped by social perspectives, rather than being fuelled by raw passion which leaves us relentless!
It is important to the harbor and nourishes dreams solely made of our desires. That’s elementary!
Dreams that are not products of genuine fervor and interest will lose steam eventually as dreams feed solely on pure passions. To keep pursuing your goals, you need to be assured of the vitality and intensity of your dreams. If you are sure about what you want to achieve; consistency will follow suit.
Till 1993 J. K Rowling was a single mother struggling with unemployment, divorce, and bankruptcy. Indomitable that she is, she braved the challenges and even the rejections of the Harry Potter script by 12 major publishers. It was in 1995 that Bloomsbury, a nondescript publishing house, came up with the first copies of the now classic Harry Porter. Rest, as we all know, is history.
2. Break Down Your Goals Into Smaller Pieces
Realizing your dream is like a road trip to your favorite destination. We need milestones to reassure us whether the path we’re taking is the correct one and will soon bring us close to our ultimate destination.
Crossing these milestones will give us a small sense of achievement and egg us on to work consistently. Start by listing out these milestones on a planned timeline of your journey to realize your dreams and strike them out one after the other.
As a computer programmer, Pierre Omidyar once thought of auctioning off products from his website, at a very personal level. He was getting happier by the day as traffic kept increasing. Omidyar crossed his designated milestones fast and one day saw the need to upgrade his account into a business Internet account. Omidyar’s site is now known as eBay.
3. Segment Your Efforts and Tasks
Split your goal to realize your dreams into segments of achievements.
If your dreams are that of establishing your company, segment them into smaller tasks like attaining a business license, building a website, marketing your product or service, and finally achieving profit targets.
This will bring consistency and order to the operations of your company and the benefits will surprise you. You will also find room for more tasks and as we know the key to incorporating more work is to break them down even further.
Joyce Meyer – the Charismatic Christian author and speaker and president of Joyce Meyer Ministries – says,
“Getting organized in the normal routines of life and finishing little projects you’ve started is an important first step toward realizing larger goals. If you can’t get a handle on the small things, how will you ever get it together to focus on the big things?”
4. Get Organized and Be Systematic
Clear the clutter on your desk, as well as your calendar. Getting organized gives you clarity about your priorities and helps you manage your time better. It gives a big boost to your consistency while executing important assignments.
Ever wonder why Mark Zuckerberg wears a grey t-shirt and blue jeans every day? Because he doesn’t spend his time and energy deciding what clothes to wear and instead focuses on important agendas.
Be systematic about every approach in life. Every small step taken in running a business needs a well-conceived and systematic approach to achieve the targets. By devising your ways to ease operation your performance will improve exponentially.
5. Remind Yourself Why You Started
Keep your goals in sight. Write them down and pin them to your desk. Revisiting your goals before starting your day keeps you away from procrastination and makes you conscious of the worth of all your daily actions.
Do you dream of being the next Elon Musk? Or is it your desire to win a gold medal in the next Olympics like Abhinav Bindra[1]? Either way, it is your actions that are going to bring you closer to what you wish to make out of your life.
A simple daily reminder is a great power booster. It also helps you survive the tough times when you feel like giving up. As Mick Jagger aptly said,
6. Talk to Your Partner Often
Your partner is someone who is accountable for your well-being and encourages you to work towards your dreams. Partners are known to be supportive, and honest and often play the role of a serial motivator. It could be anyone in your family, a friend, or a colleague.
A partner mostly acts as a talking mirror – someone, who can be the sounding board of your ideas, thoughts, and emotion. They let you look at things the way they are and sort out the muddle in your head.
Shankar and Jaikishan[2] are a perfect example of an organized, supportive, and successful Indian music composer duo. They have only achieved success in their life since their relationship started in 1949-1987.
7. Schedule Time for Things You Love Doing
Ensure that you take time out almost daily to do what you love – be it playing squash or strumming your favorite instrument. Do it often! Things you like doing keep your creativity alive. These activities elevate your mood and enhance your productivity.
The famous proverb, “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” perfectly describes why you need time off from work. Only work will make you uninteresting. Experts say finding time from your work to do stuff you love will not only improve your consistency but also affect your efficiency dramatically.
Here are some interesting facts about pursuing creativity by the rich and famous:
Meryl Streep the award-winning actress loves to knit; Bill Gates is an avid bridge player; George W. Bush, the former US President is a prolific painter; Tom Hanks collects vintage typewriters; Marissa Mayer, The Yahoo CEO, loves baking; and Warren Buffet plays the ukulele.
8. Travel Solo Often
Travelling clears the clutter in your mind and brings you back rejuvenated to perform better and achieve more tasks than you normally would with a clogged mind.
Travelling also makes you look at the bigger picture in terms of realizing your potential. An amazing example of travel making you look at the bigger picture is that of Elon Musk.
When Musk was only 17 years old his father made him take a tour of the West. Musk traveled to 18 US states by car. His solo trip exposed him to situations that are believed to have helped him take major decisions in life.
9. Money Will Not Motivate You Consistently
Money is not the only motivator that works for consistency. You will tend to procrastinate if you aren’t interested in doing a certain task. Be true to yourself and set goals beyond money for motivation.
The best way to deal with this is to delegate tasks and follow up constantly. Let people help you with the tasks that they like doing and find a way to monetize these tasks profitably. Henry Ford very famously said,
“Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress. Working together is success.”
10. Surround Yourself With Positive People
Tap into the positive energy of people around you. Positivity brings in a lot of energy to motivate you in performing your tasks faster and work for longer hours. Be constantly aware of your state of mind and be vigilant about getting sucked into the negativity.
Follow successful leaders and inspirational speakers on social media. Read and listen to their daily dose of positivity to differentiate between struggle and negativity.
Want to know the source of inspiration for the big names in the industry? Examples are plenty:
Richard Branson claims to be highly inspired by Steve Jobs.
Paul Mizen, MD, Recruit Venture Group, calls on Winston Churchill – as a training resource to inspire the rest of his team.
No one has inspired Tim Cameron-Kitchen, head ninja at digital marketing agency Exposure Ninja, more than Benjamin Franklin.
11. Visualize the Results
Right from dealing with failure to success – every negotiation in life needs to be pre-empted and visualized to prepare beforehand to deal with the situations as and when they arise.
Visualization keeps us armed and motivated to execute the required actions. This does not mean having vain chimeras though! In some scenarios, you might even have to improvise your plan to achieve the desired results from a particular task or activity. New challenges will demand you to be flexible and open to changes.
Visualize every intricate detail of your journey and you’ll be motivated to work towards turning them into a reality. This also instills uniformity in your efforts. The more often you visualize your dreams and journey, the more unfailing you will be at working hard.
The oft-quoted line by Benjamin Franklin, the founding father of the United States of America who revolutionized the world with his discovery of electricity, comes to mind in this context:
“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.”
12. Realize That You Can’t Control Everything
Don’t be demotivated if certain plans don’t work. We cannot control everything. All we can do is deliver the best in all we do. The key to consistent performance is in knowing that you need to constantly keep delivering regardless of failures.
Elvis’s recordings were a flop for initial many years and later when he tried to be a member of a vocal quartet he was told that he couldn’t sing. It was till the very day that he became popular, people kept telling him to go back to driving a truck.
Let go of “what-ifs” and approach every task with confidence. Focus on your efforts and performance more than the outcome and keep on adding value to your deliveries.
13. Don’t Lose Sight of the Bigger Picture
Taking care of the menial or mundane tasks can get pretty boring. To keep away from dejection remind yourself of the reasons for getting them done. Keep the bigger picture in mind. All these small tasks are going to complete the jigsaw puzzle shortly.
The great scientist, Alan Turing said,
“We can only see a short distance ahead, but we can see plenty there that needs to be done.”
Your goals and dreams are way bigger than the small tasks and such tasks will utilize a lot of your time. However, it will be unjust to compare this effort to the overall value of your goal.
14. Follow Your Industry for Positive Information
Know about the success stories of others who are trying to do what you are doing. Once you start following the industry, you will be empowered with the right knowledge and facts. This learning will nourish your mind and keep you motivated toward your goal.
You will also get competitive and zealous once you follow the progress of other people in your industry. You could also find opportunities to connect with like-minded people who are working towards similar goals. You could even get into a healthy competition with your ally, which in turn will enable you to perform better.
Jack Levin nailed it when he said,
“I think healthy competition is good for business, and really at the end best for end-users. Just think about what Android would have been if it was for iPhone – a better blackberry?”
15. Blame Yourself Before You Blame Others
All of us make mistakes. Review what you do to find out where it goes wrong and improve your skill in that area. It’s easy to blame your boss, your investors, or your trainers but that doesn’t address the issue.
Ask yourself before starting a blame game. Hold yourself accountable and make the most from the mistake by taking serious lessons and building your capacity so that the mistake is not repeated in the future.
Courtney Lynch, the founding partner of Lead Star, puts it most articulately when she says,
“Leaders inspire accountability through their ability to accept responsibility before they place blame.”
No matter what stage of life you are in, there is nothing the right time or right place. You can start right now.
Remember, unless you execute, you’ll never know your true potential. Be consistent, be happy.
| [1] | ^ | Forbes: Abhinav Bindra: ‘I Am in a Bad Frame of Mind’ |
| [2] | ^ | Forbes India: Songs and their enduring appeal |
