Consistency : My husband’s super power is consistency. I have observed how he doesn’t let anything and I mean, anything, keep him from his workout first thing in the morning. I, on the other hand, tend to be more easily knocked off my path and regiment.

Observing my husband has helped me. He is a strict rule follower in life in general. I tend to be more “woo wee” in the flow of life. I need more fun and flexibility and am creative. I know that I need to create structure in order to accomplish my goals.

I write down my goals, evaluate potential success and obstacles, using the SMART (specific, measurable, actionable, realistic, timely) acronym to help establish how I will be successful in which goals. I make my daily schedule according to my known challenges. For example, I know that I most likely will not get my prescribed workout in if I don’t do it first thing in the morning. I will allow other things to take precedence, like a phone call, household tasks, planning for work, work tasks, getting lost in emails. On occasion, I work out for fun or stress relief at most any time but my most important workout that will challenge me and enable me to get stronger, I will not do if I don’t do it first before anything else.

I plan the night before by laying out my workout clothes and shoes. I do this even though I, of course, know what I’m going to wear and where it is in my closet. I know that consistency does not come naturally to me. It does to my husband. But even he will set things out the night before like his protein drink preparation and his shoes. These things act as triggers to our brain and over a short amount of time create new synapses in our brain that create habits. Creating visual cues, physically, and mentally preparing to do the thing is called habit stacking and consistency creates habits.

I also can lose consistency when I’ve been doing great for a while and experiencing success. These are the times that my mind has become bored with my routine. It becomes harder and harder to tell myself that this is a priority and I have made a commitment. Some people like my husband never seem to have this problem. But for me, it is because my brain and body need renewed stimulus.

I need to challenge myself, get out of my comfort zone, change my workout routine by adding something new, work out in a new place, or be around people who are working out too. Other times I lose my consistency because I have lost focus on my “why”. Why do I want to do this? Zig Ziglar says that desire is the strongest motivator known to humankind. That desire comes from asking “Why do I want to do this? What am I desiring that this workout or diet change is going to give me?” For me, I want to feel better and have a great quality of life. I have watched my mother and aunts become immobile, dependent, and have a closet full of medications as they aged. I do not want that. I must invite the temporary pain of gaining muscle strength now if I want to avoid poor quality of life in my later years.

I want to travel with my grandchildren, and be fully present and engaged with them. I want to know them and for them to know me. I want to be able to contribute to society with a strong mind and body. Mostly, I want to have fun and joy, while doing all the things there are to do in the autumn and winter of my life. None of this will be possible just by the nature of aging if I am not consistent now in building muscle strength, flexibility, and endurance and fueling my body with delicious, nutritious foods.

For me, unlike my husband’s personality type, I need to find a way to entertain myself over the long haul in order to be consistent. Sometimes I just need to go take a fun Zumba or spin class to get my mojo going again and gain some of that good energy from the group exercise class.

Life throws a lot of curve balls and it seems especially true when we are starting a commitment to be consistent in our journey to optimum health. There are variables we can’t always control. These can be negative and positive changes that occur in our lives or the lives of the ones we love and invariably elicit emotional and mental distractions to our consistency.

We tend to forget about our “Why”, our desire for an end result that serves us, serves others and ultimately serves the common good. I have been through my parents multiple illnesses, and my daughters’ births. Even good and happy events can be distractions when we start focusing on others. It doesn’t have to be caring for others OR caring for ourselves. It is both, prioritizing my own health and commitments so that I can care for others.

As we’ve heard many times, though your instinct might be to put the oxygen mask on the vulnerable person, decide to put it on yourself first and then on the other person. This way you can continue to care for a loved one who is more vulnerable.

Daily stress of the unexpected, or even the expected such as traffic, trauma (mental and physical), major illnesses, chronic infections, adverse events, abuse, epigenetics and happy events such as births, weddings, anniversaries, travel, birthdays, vacations and many more are all a part of life. When these stressors happen in our life or the lives of our loved ones, the best way to manage these is to have a structure and commitment in place so that you can get back on track if you’re knocked off. Just get back on where you were sidetracked. This helps you not to lose your momentum.

Don’t allow yourself to get sidelined by life experiences. Resiliency is one of our most important qualities and by this time most of us have developed some. Plan for the known potential obstacles and this will help with the unknown.

Lastly, a simple reward system helps keep me consistent and looking forward to the next workout. Tracking my progress and intentionally noticing that I feel a positive change in my body and knowing I will continue to improve rewards my emotions. Making a list and checking it off gives me a natural dopamine shot to my brain which makes me look forward to the next time I can check that off my list of “Done”.

I challenge you to defy your default. I can help you identify what that is and create goals that you will actually achieve and the system of how to do it.

If you’d like to work with me, go to my website and sign up. I also offer digital downloads of strategies to overcome procrastination, gain consistency and create new brain synapses in my “Renew your Mind, Mindset”.

Let’s be FIT so that we can HAVE FUN now and always.