When you can't be consistent

Whenever we make that 'consistent' decision, we mean it. We planned it out in our head—outcomes, tactics—we are definitely going to kill it.

You know that feeling?

You'd brush you teeth, twice daily? Do you remember feeling your teeth so white, shining it for that dude/babe? You'd wake up every 6am, just after you watched a YouTube motivideo? Do you remember how so Elon Musk you felt? You'd drink water even more—four bottles daily, you said? Do you remember you feeling your skin in your head?

It's all good, fam. You meant it. We meant it. I meant it—writing a newsletter everyday.

Then few moments in, you slack a little. You feel bad, then you slack some more. I'll never understand how being guilty about something makes you do it even more.

"Ah, fuck it", you said when you realized it's been weeks since you broke your streak. "I lack discipline", you concluded.

Truth is, you do. You are right.

Consistency is boring, fam. Sometimes, you have all the words. Other times, they're just jumbled. There's always gonna be a plateau.

It's hiking up a mountain. Some mountains need you consistently going up, one step after the other. Other mountains, have flat surfaces where you plateau and rest.

Those flat surfaces do not mean you've stopped hiking. You just stopped going up. You stopped feeling the excitement to take one step up. You no longer looked forward to it.

You want to do something else.

You make that decision again, and then you repeat and repeat and repeat.

You're 31 and you have so many failures of decisions that you can't even trust yourself to make another one.

You do it again, and then it repeats.

When you can't be consistent, understand the working verb—"can't".

It's not the decision's problem. It is a you-problem.

When you can't be consistent, change the metrics for consistency. Move it from the excitement of doing it to "doing it". Move away from how good it is to making "it" exist. Shift from waking up at 6am to not staying bed longer after you wake up. Change from drinking 4 bottles of water, to drinking water.

The reason it is hard to be consistent is because we bother, subconsciously, about the effect/response of ourselves to the task than the task itself.

I hope that made sense.

Ciao.

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