In December, I wrote a piece on reflection and how to reset your intentions to begin the new year mindfully. At the end of that article, I said I would be back with a post to help you turn that reflection into momentum in January. So, here’s that post. If you haven’t had the opportunity to reflect on your life in the last month, I encourage you to check out that article. It’s not time-bound just because it says December. Contemplation is a great practice year-round.

I have observed that people often come into the new year with lofty goals. Goals that are too idealistic and conceived in the spur of the moment, that is, the new year.

There’s nothing wrong with having big goals, but the problem is in the approach to fulfilling them and the time given to achieve them. All very hard-coded and entangled with personal identity.

One day, they don’t follow their plan set-in-stone; their disappointment with all the failed plans of the past engulfs them. They mistreat themselves and give in to the same hopeless rhythms of their lives before they ventured on the quest to change their lives.

Subsequently, there’s a strong relapse and rebound effect, and such an escape usually feels comforting. More so if the plan lapsed because of external factors. Reinforcing some form of victim mentality.

One can effectively deal with such times by understanding the compounding effect of consistency.

Once you comprehend how consistency creates compounding results, you won’t be easily discouraged. You will also be able to define goals that are sustainable to follow in daily life.

In January, you don’t put a brick on the accelerator but give the car its first ignition on a cold winter morning to warm up its engine.
Once the engine is warm, you take to the road and cover a few kilometres.

 

Change Needs Right Intention and Consistency Over Intensity and Volume

 

Goals I’ve understood shouldn’t be shortsighted based on immediate gains. Goals must be reasonable and purposeful. The desired outcome shouldn’t be urgent either; it should be given the time it needs for you to become the person who can achieve those goals.

That person will manifest one day at a time with practice, as the person you are now was formed over time.

Each day, you should aim to inculcate the habits that will fulfil your goals instead of expecting perfection.

Stacking up volume, meaning doing ten different things from the very start, usually drains you out instead of helping you achieve anything tangible.

Just because you want huge muscles fast, you can’t start lifting heavy from day one.

In the gym, each weight and repetition range has a purpose. No matter how jacked you get, those weights and reps will still have their purpose.

Fitness is the easiest analogy one can use to demonstrate the results of consistency. I am guilty of reaching for the low-hanging fruit. I have also used that analogy because I am aware that many people will aim to get fit in the new year.

So, continuing, aesthetics alone shouldn’t drive your fitness journey. You should exercise and eat right for health, longevity, and strength. Aesthetics can get you started, but the mirror shouldn’t be your sole motivator.

You can only hope to exercise and eat right year over year by aspiring to be healthy and strong. Those are marvellous goals. Such goals will save you from fad diets and workout regimes that are detrimental in the long run, and will focus you on building sustainable habits.

Right intention, expectation, and consistency will shield you from innumerable missteps.

Whatever your resolution this year, understand that you first need to transform as a person before you aspire for anything external.

When you focus on developing the right attitude, mindset, and motives for your drive, you can hope to make progress in the long run.

Whoever you are right now will face internal resistance to change, so you must push yourself when required and be gentle with yourself when you falter.

Don’t spiral into your old habits. Bring yourself on track every time.

Build and lean on your value system. Find a meaningful why, and it will save you from stupid blunders.

 

It’s Not 365 Days a Year, It’s 183 Days a Year

 

Initially, you can’t expect to rise early, exercise, eat clean, learn, read, and side hustle every day.

Before any goal, your first goal must be consistency, and it won’t materialize instantly. It will take practice.

Initially, it’s better that you read 15 days a month, instead of 30.

It’s better that you start walking 18 days a month, instead of 30.

It’s better that you start eating clean 16 days a month, instead of 30.

It’s better that you do your side hustle 7 days a month, instead of 30.

The same rule applies to breaking harmful habits: even a few smoke-free or drink-free days a month make a difference, if not all thirty. You’re still giving your body a break rather than going full swing.

That way, you will steadily add to the good and subtract from the bad in your life.

Don’t think in terms of absolutes.

At first, you can have an average diet instead of an absolutely bad one. Instead of smoking daily, you can give your lungs a well-deserved break.

When you haven’t built the endurance for a long run, be content with covering a few kilometres at a time.

By the end of the month, you’ll have read something instead of nothing; walked or run some distance, instead of zero, and reduced the number of days you indulged in habits you want to leave behind.

These small shifts, this change in the pattern of your life, will get instilled in the neural pathways of your brain.

New data highways will form in your system to minimize resistance and improve the efficiency of performing those new behaviours.
Slowly but surely, you are reshaping yourself physically and mentally.

The newfound optimism of the new year will continue growing, giving you the energy to stay consistent and feel purposeful. Even when you slip for a few days.

Eventually, you will realize that showing up for 183 days a year is infinitely better than showing up for none, because those 183 days are transforming you regardless.

 

Consistency Requires Intrinsic Motivation Not External Validation

 

Your motivation shouldn’t come from outside validation. Validation from friends, family, co-workers, or society at large.

Ask yourself: who am I doing this for? Who do you want to notice this? Who do you want to acknowledge your hard work? Whose praise are you striving for?

Whatever your goals are, if they are not meaningful to you as a person and you do not derive satisfaction from the activity itself, then you won’t last long on the path you have set out on.

I am not saying, be selfish. I am saying your goals should have a reason that’s meaningful to you and enriching for your life in the long term.

Short-sighted validation often leads one astray.

If you don’t have a clear picture of your intrinsic motivation, I recommend you check out the December reflection blog.

 

To Be Consistent You Need to Overcome Your Inhibitions and Fears

 

Theodore Roosevelt quote the man in the arena

When you think about your goals, you probably only think about doing something regularly that will help you achieve something.

What you might overlook is that before you can do something, you at times need to overcome something first.

Take swimming, for example. If you’re scared of water, the first step isn’t learning a stroke; it’s simply getting comfortable being in the pool. You dip your feet in the pool, submerge yourself partially at the shallow end, and just watch people swim from the edge.

It’s the act of getting acclimatized to this new environment, sensations, and experience.

I have recently begun solo hiking. It’s taking me through the same hoops. Every new trail exposes a different hesitation, and working through those small fears has been as important as the hike itself.

Often, overcoming these inner barriers requires guidance. So be open enough to seek guidance. Be open enough to learn. Understand what you’re getting into and act on the information quickly, before information overload stops you in your tracks.

Maybe your new year goal is to overcome a fear. Say it’s public speaking, and maybe you genuinely struggle with it. That’s okay. Be willing to be embarrassed and speak anyway. The opinions of people who judge you don’t matter, but your willingness to break through that hesitation will.

Find your intrinsic motivation. Think about making progress. You cannot let the judgment or validation of others stop you from living the life you want.

You could be immensely motivated to do something, but if you don’t work on overcoming your fears and inhibitions, it will deter you from being consistent.

Your social conditioning could also be a great deterrent. Examine your beliefs and notice which ones seem outdated or limited in perspective.

It will take time, but it should be one of your goals. Overcome your inhibitions and fears.

 

The Person You Become Is the Real Compounding Effect

 

I understand that when we are stuck, we want to transform and change our lives fast. I’ve felt it too. But time and again, I have experienced things take the time they take, and nothing meaningful can be rushed.

The sooner you come to that realization, the better.

We also underestimate how quickly a year passes.

Since COVID, 6 years have already passed. The lockdowns felt like an eternity, but more than half a decade has slipped by.

So much of our lives has already transformed passively.

Now imagine who you could have become if you had shown up for even 183 days each year – that’s 1098 days of effort. Nearly 3 years of genuine progress.

And even when external results fade or fall apart, one thing wouldn’t: it’s the person you become.

A person who can plan, act, learn, and build.

A person who has accumulated experience in turning intentions into reality.

A person who has cultivated punctuality and dependability.

A person who is confident in their ability to deliver on their commitments.

A person guided by a meaningful why – one that keeps them aligned, grounded, and fulfilled in the daily grind.

This is the real compounding effect of consistency.

It’s the person you become.

 

30 January Quotes on Consistency

 

The following are a few quotes that can guide your thought process throughout the year and help you build momentum one day at a time.

I hope you have found this article valuable, and if you have, then please don’t forget to follow Soulo on a social platform of your choice. You can even sign up for Soulo’s weekly newsletter, in which you will get weekly posts just like the one you read delivered to your email inbox.

As a writer, I am working on a book of short stories as well, and you can learn more about it on the page of the Book of 12 Stories. Recently, I made one of the original stories into a short film, which you can watch on YouTube.

Until next time.

Happy New Year!

 

What the new year brings to you will depend a great deal on what you bring to the new year. — Vern McLellan

The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. — Steve Jobs

Be willing to be a beginner every single morning. — Meister Eckhart

New beginnings are often disguised as painful endings. — Lao Tzu

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. — Lao Tzu

Strength shows not only in the ability to persist, but in the ability to start over. — F. Scott Fitzgerald

Do not wait until the conditions are perfect to begin. Beginning makes the conditions perfect. — Alan Cohen

Great things are done by a series of small things brought together. — Vincent Van Gogh

Happiness is not something ready-made. It comes from your own actions. — Dalai Lama

Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you wish to become. — James Clear

All medicine is like that. It came from someone who dared. — Dr. William DeVries

The more I want to get something done, the less I call it work. — Richard Bach

Take the opportunity to learn from your mistakes: find the cause of your problem and eliminate it. Don’t try to be perfect; just be an excellent example of being human. — Tony Robbins

You can overcome anything, if and only if you love something enough — Lionel Messi

Failure is a badge of honor. It means you risked failure. And if you don’t risk failure, you’re never going to do anything that’s different from what you’ve already done or what somebody else has done. — Charlie Kaufman

It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change. — Charles Darwin

Criticism is something we can avoid easily by saying nothing, doing nothing, and being nothing. — Aristotle

Don’t live the same year 75 times and call it a life. — Robin Sharma

Sometimes all you need is 20 seconds of insane courage —Matt Damon

The chief cause of failure is substituting what you want most for what you want now. — Zig Ziglar

If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it. It’s the hard that makes it great. —Tom Hanks

Diligence is the mother of good luck. — Benjamin Franklin

When you make the right choices — however small — and do it consistently overtime, it can make a huge difference in your life. If you remember why you’re making those choices, it becomes easier.” — John C. Maxwell

The compound effect is the principle of reaping huge rewards from a series of small, smart choices. — Darren Hardy

Just a few acts of self-discipline, practiced daily, over a reasonable period of time. — Jim Rohn

A workaholic works out of fear or greed where a peak performer works from love — Zig Ziglar

Consistency is an under-appreciated inspirational quality. It’s that ability to conduct yourself in a consistent, reliable manner that others will respect and appreciate. — Del Suggs

Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you’ll start having positive results. — Willie Nelson

Instead of looking at the past, I put myself ahead 20 years and try to look at what I need to do now in order to get there then. — Diana Ross

 

P.S. I often recommend a few core Soulo articles to help you recharge and deepen your reflection—Pranayam, Intuition, Sound Healing, and Nutrition. Exploring these topics will strengthen the foundation in areas beyond your conscious control. They’re a valuable support to your overall growth. Do consider giving them some time.