How to Become More Consistent in Your Daily Life

Are you wondering how to be more consistent in your daily life and if that even matters?

Think about the iconic time-traveling DeLorean in Back to the Future.

Doc Brown meticulously calibrated the flux capacitor for a successful leap through time after many failed attempts spanning years.

That kind of commitment and consistency sets apart those who achieve their dreams and those who do not.

How to be consistent in your daily life

Like Doc, we, too, can fine-tune our actions and habits to unlock the extraordinary benefits of a consistent approach to life.

“If you are persistent, you will get it. If you are consistent, you will keep it.”

I’m positive my clients and regular readers would agree my slogan should be, “Consistency is key!”

I preach it and apply this principle to all areas of life; nutrition, exercise, career, and relationships.

Habits, good or bad, are what shape our lives, and the best way to build a habit is with – you guessed it – consistency.

You are what you consistently do, and however often “consistent” is to you particularly, it is less important than the fact that you always come back to it.

Here is what consistency looks like in the staple areas of your life:

Nutrition

In the back of my mind, a quote echoes, “eating one salad won’t make you skinny. Eating one burger won’t make you fat.”

Your body reflects the foods you eat consistently.

Instead of following a specific diet – whether delivered meals, a cleanse, a fad meal plan, or program, I urge you to choose the better food option consistently.

When you go “on” a diet, you view it as something you will go “off” when you get to whatever your goal is; a cleanse, a jeans size, an event, etc.

Eating clean for a month will change your body positively, but if you cannot consistently eat that way for life, you’ll find yourself back to old habits.

Finding a middle ground, a healthy style of eating that you can consistently do instead of yo-yo-ing between fads, is key to a lifetime of health.

Exercise

Training to reach a certain goal, like a race, a CrossFit competition, or a workplace challenge, can be fun.

But once that goal is over, consistently exercising will keep you fit.

I use “fit” as having general fitness, not necessarily an athlete’s fitness level.

Exercise that comfortably fits into your lifestyle – as opposed to forcing its way into every time slot and using every ounce of willpower – is exercise you will do consistently.

If your current routine leaves you wondering how much longer you’ll have to keep it up, it’s too much.

For a fit and healthy life, it’s much better to consistently exercise 2-3 days a week into your 80s instead of 6 days a week for the next two years.

Making exercise a constant in your life has many more benefits than physical appearance; it’s good for your heart, bones, mood, disease prevention, etc.

Career

By having consistency in your career, I’m not talking about simply going to work every day (although I highly recommend that!), I’m talking about being consistent in your efforts.

My overarching goal with my blog is to consistently give women knowledgeable, needed, and practical information on exercise, nutrition, and living a healthy lifestyle.

If I were to post randomly and let weeks and months go by without actively posting, my audience will leave because they cannot count on it or me.

I consistently post at least once a week, and if I’m going on vacation, I write beforehand and schedule it.

This is what I am here for, and I show up.

Being consistent in your career gains trust.

When you consistently deliver a level of work or service, coworkers, managers, and/or clients know they can depend on you.

When people depend on and trust you, you’re respected.

Win-Win-Win!

Relationships

We all have that group of friends from school with whom we are still friends.

We also have many friends – whom we may have been very close to years ago – but we haven’t thought about in decades.

The difference is consistently keeping in touch (K.I.T for all those cool yearbook signers!).

With the power of social media, it’s insanely easy to reach out to friends and family, but actually being consistent and taking that action is crucial.

Since high school, my girlfriends and I call each other on birthdays.

This started before Facebook and Instagram, and the like existed, and I am grateful for this consistent touchpoint.

Even if I haven’t seen them within that year – we’re scattered about the country now – I always make that call and expect and receive a call from all of them when I’m the one celebrating.

Being consistent in your relationships requires a little effort but is most rewarding.

I’ve found keeping true to those “we should grab a coffee” utterances is a huge help in keeping up with friends.

If I say, “we should go see a movie sometime,” or, “a double date would be fun,” I send an email suggesting a time or date in the next few days.

It doesn’t take much time but keeps friendships strong.

It’s also easier to make a habit because we leave one friend date with the next one in the works.

Family relationships are a little different.

We’re bonded to our family members in a certain way for life and let the nature of holidays, reunions, and other events be our constant.

Recently, my family started something new, and I recommend it: a Facebook group.

My parents, aunts, uncles, cousins – and recently – my grandma have a closed Facebook group where we post little updates and photos.

It’s a place where we can glimpse our everyday lives that don’t warrant a call or email but are fun for all to see.

Are you consistent in your life?

It’s easy to get caught up in the nitty-gritty details of the moment and forget the big picture.

Consistency in your values and actions builds habits and keeps you grounded in who you are and how you aim to be seen by others.

Keep with your actions, no matter how small, and you’ll get to where you need to be.

What steps have you taken to be more consistent in your life?

Do you have any other tips on how to be consistent?

Feel free to share your thoughts with us in the comment section below.