How To Be Consistent
Sometimes people ask me how I manage to blog when we have four small children and I usually smile and shrug because they don’t really want to know the answer. They want to pretend that I’m a super-person doing things that they could never do because then they don’t have to change. Then they aren’t challenged. But that’s not true; I am an ordinary woman, just like every other woman.
Am I saying they need to blog? Nope. Do I mean that they could? Absolutely! Just like they could get to church with their small children or start painting or start studying their Bible.
I have learned a few things about being consistent, about sticking it out with one activity even when life is busy and there are other things to do. Think about that one thing that you would like to do. Picture it in your mind and apply these ideas to that one thing.
Examine Your Why
Why does that thing matter to you? Do you want to start painting because you used to paint before you had kids and you miss it? Do you want to start reading your Bible because you want to know God better? Do you want to get to Sunday school with your kids so they get that experience and you get to know a smaller group of believers? Get really clear on why it matters.
Maybe you’ll decide it doesn’t matter to you. Maybe it’s something that really matters to someone else. Maybe you don’t care if you eat paleo or cloth-diaper or start a side hustle. Maybe you don’t want to paint even if all your friends do. That’s awesome. Now you know.
Decide It Matters
Now that you know why, decide it matters. Stake out your land. Make it a priority for yourself. Writing is a priority to me so I skip doing other things during nap time and quiet time so that I can write. I read my Bible when I’m up at night feeding Luke because I decided that reading my Bible mattered to me.
If it’s something that should matter and you’re just not feeling it, pray about it. Ask God to make it matter to you. You’re not supposed to do life on your own.
Get Out of Bed for It
Maybe you don’t have a small baby so you’re not up at night to read your Bible: get out of bed and read it. I don’t literally always mean get your butt out of bed. Sometimes this means turn off your tv for it or get off the couch for it, or stop scrolling through Facebook for it. Read two pages of a book instead of reaching for your phone. Paint while you watch that tv show with your husband. Read your Bible in the morning instead of scrolling through social media.
If you are going to add something new, you’ll have to get rid of something else. You don’t have unlimited time or resources. Give your new thing a time. Paint as soon as your kids are in bed. Read your Bible as soon as your alarm goes off.
Address the Practicals
Don’t think you’re going to paint when you have to drag your supplies out of the closet every single nap time. If you spend more time getting paint out and putting it away than actually painting, that’s not going to be fun for long. Set up a cart with supplies. Leave your computer charging so you can write. Pack up your stuff for church on Saturday night. Lay out your workout clothes and shoes. Leave your Bible and notebook by the coffee pot.
Make it easy. It really doesn’t count more if you hate it or you make it extra hard. Look at what it will take to commit and identify the hard areas. Smooth out as many of those as you can in advance.
Find Accountability/Set Up an Award System
Text a friend when you get up in the morning. Discuss your Bible reading with someone else. Buy new art supplies after you paint for thirty days. Enjoy a Sunday lunch with friends after you go to Sunday school for a month.
Make yourself a sticker chart. Cross off each day on a calendar. Celebrate with a friend tackling the same goal.
Consistency comes a little at a time. You get consistent in one thing and add another. When you miss a few days, you don’t write it off, you start again.
