Wordsley, Stourbridge, England: 10 degrees, cold, grey and overcast.
It’s Thursday after my birthday, and I’m still feeling its effects, especially since it fell on a Monday and Tuesday was a bank holiday.
The whole week and my routine have been disrupted. Once you break a routine, it’s very hard to get back to the same pace or rhythm as before.
When I had the school, whenever there was a bank holiday, even though it was only one day, the entire week would have been affected; only the following week would I be able to resume a normal workweek.
When we discuss our own personal habits and routines regarding exercise, classes, work, etc., missing a beat makes it difficult to get back to where we were before. It is not impossible, but it is simply hard — you lose it.
I am gradually trying to return to exercising after a bad cold that has been bothering me since the latter part of last week. Now, I am attempting to regain my usual rhythm, even though I am not fully there yet, but I also know that the longer I delay, the worse it will become, which is still very hard.
The lesson is that either you pay the price now with discipline or you pay later with a higher cost and regret.
You regret not having the willpower to be disciplined and focused enough to push yourself towards what you know is good for you, even when feeling lazy, while breaking the laziness barrier is a challenge that anyone can achieve but few actually succeed.
The power of consistency speaks for itself. Consistency enables us to move forward when motivation can fade, vanish, or break down over time. Being consistent is one of the less celebrated or recognised virtues in life and work.
However, with consistency, we can eventually reach our desired destination. We may not do so as quickly as a highly motivated individual, but being consistent allows us to keep going beyond the point where someone motivated might give up if the results are not exactly what they expected or immediate.
I am trying to apply consistency to everything I am doing in my life at the moment.
- Consistently publishing blog posts from Monday to Friday, ensuring not to miss a day, even on bank holidays.
- Consistently exercising at least five days a week. Even on weekends and when feeling rough after a night out, I remain committed to my work or routine in the morning, at a greater or lesser intensity.
- I am consistent in my relationships with those around me, particularly with my mother, Julie, my daughters, Nalva, and anyone who has regular contact with me.
- Consistent in my word, promises, and integrity, not trying to be someone I am not or would not wish to be. Focused on doing the right thing for the right people with the right intensity, calmness, and clarity.
- And consistent in being kind to myself, in trying to improve to become a better person.
It seems like a lot, and it is; it is much easier to stray off course or lose your way than to stay disciplined and use consistency to maintain your course and focus.
Consistency speaks volumes; people should recognise its value more and incorporate it into their lives.
So today has been a day of exercise, a walk, a blog preparation and post, a journal entry and of course classes.
A consistent day!
Thank you.
Thanks for reading this blog post. Please explore my other posts and share your thoughts in the comments section.
Richard
