Staying consistent and motivated is hard. It is hard for almost every aspect of life, especially when it comes to running your own blog and/or working for yourself. There are so many distractions around; social media, that coffee with your friends, that pile of laundry that is begging to go in the washing machine, that show you have been binge-watching on Netflix. You probably wake up with all the best intentions but before you know it, the day is over and you have achieved absolutely nothing, or nothing productive when it comes to your blogging and work anyway.
So how do you stay consistent and motivated when faced with all of these distractions? How so you stay consistent and motivated when, actually, you really just cannot be bothered? We are going to look at some actionable tips to help you get your mojo back, and more importantly, keep it.
Dictionary.com states that the meaning of consistency is “steadfast adherence to the same principles, course, form, etc.” There is consistency in his pattern of behavior.”
Develop consistent habits
The first step you need to take if you are looking for a strategy to be more consistent in your life is to build behaviours that are more constant. The only way you will be able to maintain a higher level of consistency is if you begin from the very beginning. Fortunately, there are a few ways that you can do this, including the following:
Have realistic goals
Being consistent will be tough for you if you do not have a clear sense of what you need to achieve, so be sure that the goals you set for yourself are realistic. Therefore, you should make your goals as basic and simple as possible, with results that can be measured objectively. You might begin by articulating exactly what it is that you mean when you talk about being consistent. After that, you should break down that larger goal into a series of more manageable actions that you must complete in order to succeed.
Keep to a schedule
In order to be consistent, you need to be aware of what daily responsibilities you are responsible for. Consequently, you want to devise a plan for your own time management. This will assist you in keeping on track, regardless of whether it is in the form of a planner, a calendar, or a list of reminders on your phone. In this way, you will be able to determine the commitments for which you have time as well as those for which you do not.
Use reminders
Because you are forming a new routine, it is important that you keep in mind what it is that you are doing. Make an effort to affix reminders to your own things as well as other locations such as your house, place of employment, and/or school. When you are attempting to adjust your schedule, it is extremely easy to forget about new commitments and calls that you have made. Put notes in places where you’ll see them so you’ll remember them throughout the day.
Think about how you will manage mistakes
No matter how hard you try to be consistent, there will still be times when you behave in different ways. Therefore, you should make an effort to keep going, even if you mess up. Even if you are exceptionally well prepared, you are still going to make mistakes every once in a while. As a result, you need to make adjustments based on the mistakes you make along the way. If you find that you have made a mistake, try not to be too hard on yourself for it. This is something that occurs in a random fashion sometimes.
Even if you breach a promise, miss a deadline, or have to cancel on somebody else, this does not necessarily mean that your consistency is ruined. It just means that you are inconsistent in those particular areas. The unfortunate truth is that factors from the outside world can sometimes be a barrier. Even if it is necessary to make preparations for these extraneous circumstances and work toward preventing them from throwing us off course, there will still be times when this does happen.
Strengthen your willpower
If you have not put in the effort to train for an athletic event, you can’t expect to walk out your front door and start a marathon right away. Willpower is something that must be developed over time, and that will take some time for you as well. You will be able to do well even when you do not feel like it if you are able to maintain a consistent level of effort. Your willpower will increase as you become more consistent. Obviously, the only way for you to achieve that goal is if you put in the effort to practice.
For instance, you should steer clear of temptation whenever it is possible to do so. If you want to eat the same foods every day, stock your kitchen with healthy food alternatives and keep them readily available. You will lack the willpower you need to refrain from consuming junk food if you do this.
Also, you should always remind yourself of the long-term benefits that come from being consistent. Take a look at your list of objectives whenever you find yourself in need of a source of motivation. This may serve as motivation for you to do all of the tasks that are assigned to you during the day, even if you do not feel like doing so. These few steps can go a long way toward helping you become more self-disciplined and determined.
Allocate some time to reframe your thinking for yourself
Although you are impatient and want to see results right away, this is going to take some time. Changing the way you think is challenging, and it may take some time before you start to see the fruits of your labour. It could be challenging to uproot your entire life and start engaging in a variety of new behaviours all at once. As a result, you ought to give yourself some time to figure out what approaches are most successful for you.
You should also be practical while maintaining a dogged determination. In general, the formation of a habit requires approximately one month of continuous performance of the behaviour in question. Keep in mind that you can set smaller goals as you go. Make it a goal not to take on too much all at once. Modifications of a minor nature will eventually add up.
In addition to this, it is necessary for you to establish limits for the personal relationships and commitments in your life. If you set clear limits for yourself and know what to anticipate from other people, it will be much simpler for you to keep the commitments you make to others. If you establish these limits for yourself, you will never take on more than you can handle. Set the expectation with your employer, for instance, that you do not want to work nights and weekends if that is not something you want to do. You may even choose to completely silence your phone in order to make it clear to your coworkers that you are unavailable during off-hours, weekends, and holidays.
If you adjust the way you think, you will find that you have better mental stability. When you are working on altering such a significant aspect of your life, keep this in mind.
Make use of different types of motivating tools
Because we are not robots, there will be times when we do not feel like doing anything at all. This is normal for humans. Because of this, each of us ought to make use of various instruments that are intended to motivate us. What steps do you need to take if you feel as though you might need some motivation to get your task done? Even though it might be simple to let our objectives slide for a day, there are steps that we can take to remedy this issue. When you’re feeling down, unmotivated, tired, or lethargic, there are a few different things you can do to get more inspired. These include:
- Taking a break: Keep in mind that you need to take pauses throughout the day. After finishing each work, give yourself a break of between five and ten minutes as a reward. This will provide you with additional energy so that you can accomplish your goals.
- Remember why you are doing it: Keep in mind that you are working toward accomplishing certain long-term objectives. Think about how great it will be for you to accomplish those long-term goals and let that motivate you. Then, keep in mind that the only way you were going to be able to achieve goals was if you finished everything on your daily to-do list.
- Compromise: It is healthy to acknowledge the need for compromise on sometimes. For instance, you should exercise on a regular basis; yet, if you do so, you might not have the stamina to complete everything on your to-do list for that particular day. You should make an effort to complete at least one of the exercises that you had planned.
Even when you are in a bad mood, there are many things you can do to keep yourself motivated, some of which are included here. Consider putting some of these tools to work for you in some capacity.
Do not make promises that you can not fulfil.
If you want to be more consistent, one of the crucial traits you need to establish is the habit of only making promises that you can actually keep. People strive to garner the approval of those around them. As a consequence of this, each of us has a propensity to respond favourably when somebody requests for our assistance. Even while it is beneficial for others to assist us in ways that we cannot, it is essential that we do not make promises unless we are in a position to keep them. If you want to have more coherence in your life, you need to fulfil the commitments you make to other people. On the other hand, it is simple to become overwhelmed, which can lead to some responsibilities being forgotten or ignored. This can be a problem.
Last but not least, this involves establishing commitments to oneself. If you make a promise to yourself, you should ensure that you are capable of keeping that promise. After that, do not forget to post signs around your house that serve as constant reminders of the objective you are striving to achieve.
Make an effort to reward youself
If you want to become more consistent, you should make an effort to give yourself rewards whenever you perform an action well. After all, forming a new routine is not as simple as it may seem. Make an effort to plan out some time-based objectives for yourself. Then, as you accomplish each of those goals, give yourself a reward for your hard work. There are a lot of different ways that you might treat yourself as a reward for completing something successfully. These are the following:
If you are successful in completing your task sooner than expected, you might think about leaving earlier than expected to go home. In this way, you might be able to fit in some more activities later in the evening. You may take yourself out to a nice dinner or go to the movies as a way to treat yourself.
If you have specific fitness objectives that you are working toward, you should treat yourself to a reward every time you achieve one of those objectives. For instance, if you notice that you are getting into better shape or if you find that you are being more regular with your training regimen, you might want to celebrate by having a night out on the town.
If you have been successful in keeping relationships with the members of your family as well as your friends, you might want to think about throwing a celebratory dinner for the whole gang.
It is essential to establish a positive routine by doing things like rewarding yourself or being more consistent with your behaviour. Everyone satisfies their need for rewards in their own unique way. Do not be afraid to come up with new ideas and to give yourself a reward whenever you accomplish something well.
Consistency in blogging – how to make time even if you don’t have time
So, now that we have looked at how to maintain consistency in your life in general, let us take a look at how to apply it to your blog.
It is far too simple to fall into the habit of slacking off on your blog. You probably started out with the idea of publishing a blog post every week (or maybe even more frequently!). But then you begin to think, “Maybe I will take a break this week…” and before you know it, three months have passed and your blog is gathering dust and cobwebs.
However, here’s the deal. Maintaining a regular blogging schedule is essential to blogging success. If you take a look at the successful bloggers in your industry, you will realise that they all share one thing in common: they provide new content on a regular basis.
Make a commitment and stick to it
The most important thing you can do to keep a steady presence on your blog is to make a promise and keep it. First, settle on a frequency that is doable for you, and then make a resolute promise to yourself. As an illustration, you could say something like, “I will publish a blog post every Wednesday at 9 a.m.,” or “I will publish a blog post on the first Monday of every month.”
In fact, you should put that pledge in writing and keep it someplace you will see it frequently. After that, go ahead and make notes on your calendar about those times.
Why is it so important to put a promise on paper and then follow through on it? Because putting your promise in writing boosts your likelihood of following through,
In a well-known study, the researchers found that asking participants to write down their goals increased the likelihood that they would achieve their goals by more than two times compared to people who did not write down their goals.
Create a schedule that is realistic
Choosing a blogging schedule and then putting it down is not going to magically make you more consistent, so do not expect it to happen. The next thing you need to do is figure out how you are going to get that accomplished.
Take, for instance, the fact that you intend to update your blog on Friday mornings at 9 a.m. What steps will you take to make sure that actually happens?
You might choose to work on your next blog post in little increments on a daily basis, similar to this:
- Monday: research and photos
- Tuesday: Photo editing and post outlines
- Wednesday: Write the first draft
- Thursday: Editing the post
- Friday: Publish and promote
Alternately, you might find that you would rather do everything in a single day.
It does not matter which schedule you choose to follow as long as it is feasible for you and can be incorporated into your life in some way.
Put your schedule into your diary
If you do not keep to your plan, it is not going to do you any good. Therefore, transform your schedule into a string of appointments that you have made with yourself.
If you have chosen to devote your time to capturing and editing images on Monday mornings, then you should schedule a standing appointment in your calendar for a set time on each and every Monday morning.
Consider this entry in your calendar to be in the same vein as an appointment with your dentist or a job interview… It is not something that can be shifted or altered in any way.
Do not give in to the temptation of planning to blog “when you feel like it,” as this will lead you astray. If you only blog when you need to, your blog will likely be inconsistent and the number of people who visit it will go down.
Create a content calendar
Your brand-new plans to blog on a more regular basis will be doomed if there is one thing that prevents you from moving forward with them, and that is looking at a blank page while trying to figure out what to write about.
If you want to blog on a regular basis, and especially if you have a very limited amount of time to blog, you should never put yourself in a position where you have to spend the first significant chunk of your valuable blogging time trying to figure out what you want to blog about. This is especially important if you have a very limited amount of time to blog.
Creating a content schedule is the most effective technique to guarantee that you will never be at a loss for what to write about on your blog on any given week. It is not necessary for a content calendar to be fancy… It is nothing more than a list of the different topics and days that you intend to discuss on your blog.
Excel or Google Sheets can be used to create a very simple contact calendar for your own use. To do so, simply create two columns, one for the days on which you intend to publish a blog post and the other for the themes that you intend to cover in those posts.
Using a content calendar will not only help you stay consistent and avoid the dreaded “blogger’s block,” but it will also help you think more strategically about what to post when and keep you from missing out on seasonal opportunities. Having a content calendar is beneficial for a number of reasons.
With good keyword research, a blog content calendar can be a very helpful tool for growing your blog quickly.
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Get yourself an accountability buddy
One of the best pieces of advice for staying consistent is to hold yourself accountable to other people. If you are the only one who is aware of your goal to publish a new blog article on Friday mornings at 9 a.m., it is simple to let that go… If someone else knows, there will be some additional pressure on you from the outside to make sure you do not back out of your commitment.
You will come across the piece of advice “get yourself an accountability buddy” rather frequently. Now, hiring a buddy to hold you accountable is not necessarily a bad idea; in fact, any form of external responsibility is beneficial.
However, the issue with having a buddy to hold you accountable is that, in the end, the person to whom you are accountable does not really care all that much about whether or not you write… It cannot be considered “real” accountability.
Making yourself accountable to the individuals who actually do care if you write on schedule or not—in other words, your readers—is the key to achieving “real” accountability.
The most effective method for establishing “real” accountability is to communicate to your audience precisely when they can anticipate receiving a new post from you. This increases the likelihood that you will truly buckle down and stick to your plan in order to meet the deadline you set for yourself to post.
You can notify them via email, social media, or your website’s about page. You decide how, but doing it in front of as many people as you can will have the greatest impact.
Reward yourself
As we mentioned earlier on, rewards are a great way to maintain consistency and motivation. Responsibility will give you a little bit of extra pressure from the outside world to get your writing done on time, and rewards will help you associate putting out a new blog post with something fun. This is a simple mental gimmick, but one that has proven to be quite effective. The promise of a reward is a powerful incentive.
Consider a small treat you’d enjoy, but tell yourself that you can only have it AFTER you’ve submitted your blog entry (and sent out your email) ON TIME. You do not get it if you do not do it on time!
It does not even have to be something significant or costly. It could be a cup of coffee at your favourite coffee shop or an episode or two of your favourite Netflix series. Perhaps an hour off to read or relax in the tub with some bubbles is in order. It doesn’t matter what the reward is, as long as it’s something you’ll look forward to receiving… And it works much better if it is something that you do not ordinarily have on a regular basis.
Do not be dishonest and give in to temptation by taking the prize regardless. Make a game out of it with yourself by telling yourself that you can only have it if you meet the deadline for publishing your work.
This will not only encourage you to blog on a regular basis, but the reward will feel much more satisfying if you have done so because you have truly earned it. Also, your mind will eventually learn to link the reward with the hard work of writing a blog post, which will make writing blog posts themselves more enjoyable and satisfying.
Remember why you are doing it
When you are losing focus, remind yourself why you are doing it. You are not producing blog entries just because. You are publishing new blog entries on a regular basis because you have have the goal of expanding not only your blog but also your readership, and also because you have the goal of expanding your income.
If at all possible, make this concept more concrete. Set some goals. How much do you want the number of visitors to your blog and the amount of money it brings in by this time next year? What kind of implications does that level of money have for you?
When you are having a bad day and you do not ‘feel’ like executing the task that is assigned to you for that day, remind yourself of what is at stake. Imagine that a year from now you have not accomplished what you set out to do because you have given yourself permission to be inconsistent.
You may take this strategy to the next level by really developing a vision board with photographs of things you might be able to buy or have if you reach your salary goal. A weekend getaway? or a new car? A bigger house? Place your vision board in an area where you will see it frequently to serve as a constant reminder of the goals you have set for yourself.
Consider not only yourself but also the people who will be reading what you have to say. What will happen to them if you keep showing up on your blog all the time? What will they be able to have or do if you make yourself available to them on a weekly basis, offering your guidance and recommendations, and assisting them with their issues? It is possible that, given your personality, you will find this to be an even greater source of motivation!
