E216: Lacking Consistency? Try These 10 Practices

Whether you’re creating a new workout routine, wanting to improve your nutrition, save more money, or decrease your sugar intake, the greatest obstacle I hear about making or breaking ANY habit, is that you’re lacking consistency. Today I’m sharing 10 practices that can help you be more consistent so that you can level-up your habits, routines, and rituals…

Welcome back to the Women’s Empowerment Podcast, I am you host and Healthy Habit Mentor, Valerie LaVigne. If you’ve ever struggled with consistency in making or breaking habits – I gotchu.

It’s the number one struggle in the community, and I get it. Rewiring the neural pathways in your brain is easier said than done. Especially if you’re trying to break the neural connections and circuits that are already ingrained in your brain from the bad habits you have currently!

So let’s break down 10 practices that can support you in being and staying consistent with your daily habits and goals.

[01:27] 1. Don’t be so hard on yourself

If you subscribe to my email list you would have read about my snowboarding accident last week. If you’re not on the list, you can join here!

So yeah, back to the snowboarding accident. Long story short, I wiped out really badly on the first day, on the first run, of our ski trip to France. I hurt my neck, ribs, and smashed up the right side of my body pretty badly. Bad enough that I needed to take a stretcher down the hill, and I couldn’t snowboard for the rest of the trip.

I was PISSED. I was embarrassed, and very frustrated.

And I let myself be upset, but after a full day of that I decided these negative emotions were not helpful to my situation.

So I decided to re-write the script and chose to support myself with positive self-talk:

I swapped annoyance of the accident to appreciation that I wasn’t more injured.
Frustration from the fall to forgiving myself for being so hard on myself.
Anger to gratitude for being in a beautiful mountain village where I can enjoy the views, the food, family time, and practice my French!

Can you think of a time when you got caught up in negative self-talk? It happens to all of us.

But when we speak kindly to ourselves, and offer words of encouragement, we can regain the strength we need to keep going. It’s okay to be tough with ourselves when we need to be, and more importantly kind and positive to ourselves when we’re struggling.

Last week I had hot tears racing down my cheeks before bed and I said to myself, “I know you’re hurting. You had a big fall and you’re a long way from home. You also have family here who love you and care about you. You’re in a warm bed and allowing your body to heal. You’re okay. You are strong.”

I talk to myself all the time. And yes, sometimes out loud. Do what you’ve gotta do to be kind to yourself and take that extra step.

[03:40] 2. Stay flexible to change

Since you’re listening to this podcast, I’m going to assume you are a personal development enthusiast. You probably enjoy setting goals, and know what you need to do and how you need to plan to achieve those goals.

If this is you, this is great. If this is not you, don’t worry – keep listening to the podcast and you’ll be on your way to achieving big things in your life!

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve laid out a solid plan for a project. I’m excited and proud, and I’ve come at it from all angles so I feel very prepared. AND THEN… life throws you a lemon.

Now from what we know about positivity, we can do a lot of things with lemons! Some of my favourite meals and drinks have lemons as an ingredient!

So being adaptable to changes, obstacles, and challenges is very important when building your habits.

A lot of the time these changes are external. Perhaps our favourite gym closes, or we have an unexpected expense that sets our savings goal back. We need to reroute.

And sometimes the change is internal. We’re no longer excited about the project or idea. We have a pull toward an entirely different goal. That’s okay too.

This one was a tough one for me – and I’m still working on it – we are humans and our goals and dreams can change and evolve just like we do. Allow yourself to pivot in a new direction, or put down the projects that aren’t filling your cup anymore.

You can always change your mind and move on to something else, or back to a previous routine. Just keep in mind that you aren’t quitting if something goes wrong. You’re being flexible to change, but you aren’t giving up!

[05:21] 3. If something goes wrong, start fresh tomorrow

I say “if” something goes wrong and I have to chuckle because more often than not, something goes wrong.

Listen, life is complicated! Things happen, things go wrong. It’s not just with you, we all go through it.

Here’s what you do. Take a deep breath… tomorrow is a new day. Press the imaginary reset button and try again. You can use the information from the issue to reassess and review what went wrong and why? This becomes information to help you move forward the next day.

Consistency doesn’t mean every day. It means never giving up. Consistency is about doing small things often. “Often” can be every other day. Get back on track tomorrow.

[06:14] 4. Learn and adjust when things go wrong

When you’re starting a new habit, routine, or ritual, you’re going to go through a growth phase. In this phase there is a lot of experimenting going on, it can be uncomfortable and confusing at times.

It truly is an adjustment period. Your body and brain are trying to figure out the easiest way to go from craving to reward. You’re taking in a lot of information, and you’re rewiring the circuits in your brain. You’re essentially re-training your brain and body.

This is a learning process, and failure can be an excellent teacher. Remember, we’re starting again the next day, BUT we’re not making the same mistakes. We’re learning from what went wrong and slight adjustments can really propel us forward.

Part of growth and personal development is failure; it’s learning; it’s repeating the ritual in a new way so that we can learn and grow more!

[07:16] 5. Make a little progress each day, even if it’s teeny-tiny

I always say, “progress over perfection.” The tiniest steps in the right direction will lead you to your goals.

If you’re having trouble completing your routine 100% start with 10 or 5% of the habit and work your way up. How can you make your new behaviour 2 minutes so that you know you’re making a little progress?

Here are some examples:

Instead of reading one chapter of a book a day, start with one page.

Instead of walking 5km, start with 5 minutes.

Instead of creating a month’s worth of content, start with making a list of ideas that excite you.

A lot of the time our habits are small, seemingly insignificant behaviours that transform our lives over time. Take your time. You have the goal/target… one step toward that goal is better than 10 steps in the wrong direction or no steps at all.

These smaller, more meaningful steps will be more significant in the long run. How do you climb a mountain? One step at a time.

[08:52] 6. Stack your new habits

Whether you realize it or not, you already have daily habits, routines, and rituals that you’re consistent with.

Think specifically of how you get out of bed in the morning. How you make meals. Where you sit on the couch in the evening to relax.

Are you someone who eats breakfast every morning? If yes, can you stack your new habit before or after you eat breakfast?

What other consistencies do you have in your routine that you can add a new habit to?

I started my morning green juice ritual by drinking my greens while I waited for my breakfast to cook. Sometimes that was warm morning oats, waiting for a smoothie to blend, or an egg to boil. I started with green juice three times a week, and now it’s a daily practice.

If the new routine is not stackable in your current schedule, time block your calendar for when you can complete the tasks or actions. What gets scheduled, is what gets done!

[09:55] 7. Keep clarifying your goals and priorities

One of the key habits of high performers and achievers is regularly assessing and getting clarity on their goals and priorities. They are constantly reviewing what’s important to them and making decisions that align with their values. If it doesn’t align, it’s not happening.

This helps them get things done. And the right things too. Enough arbitrary habits and routines. It’s time for meaningful actions that lead to transformation and the best version of ourselves.

You’re more likely to achieve goals if they matter to you.

Seriously. Get clear on what matters to you. It can be your core values, a priority list, whatever you want to call it. Write it down in your phone, or in your journal and revisit this weekly or at least monthly. Is this still what you want, and are you taking actions in the correct direction to achieve this?

If yes, keep going.

If not, adjust.

A final note about priorities: if everything becomes a priority, then nothing is a priority. Keep that in mind.

[11:08] 8. Time of day matters

When it comes to consistency, the time of day matters. You’re more likely to create a lasting habit AND make that behaviour a habit quicker IF you can do it at the same time every day.

In the growth phase we talked about earlier, you can experiment with trying your habit at different times. For example try the morning for the first few days, and if that doesn’t work maybe afternoon, or evening, until you find the best, most consistent time.

For me, my workout routine gets done in the morning. SOMETIMES I make it to the gym in the evening, but that’s usually if I go with my boyfriend, otherwise if it’s not happening in the morning than it’s not happening haha

You want to get the task or practice done when you’re feeling most up for it.

[12:04] 9. Check-in regularly with how you’re feeling

If you didn’t already know this, I teach pilates and own a pilates studio. I start every class the same way: I make eye contact with each person, one at a time and ask them, how is their body feeling today?

And I do this daily with myself too. In the morning, while I’m preparing my green juice and doing my morning ritual, I ask myself how I’m feeling. And I set an intention for how I want to show up and feel for the day.

Now some days it’s really easy for me to embrace the day, and other days it’s a bit of a struggle. On the days that it feels a little slower to start the day, I do the best I can that day.

Yes, consistency means doing the actions and habits even when we don’t feel like it, however you want to know yourself and understand what and why you’re feeling the way you are. Perhaps there’s more to it.

For example, with my snowboarding accident it’s a little tougher for me to workout right now as my body is still very tender and I am recovering from the injuries as well as the osteopath appointment I had this week. I’m going to go to the gym, but I’m going to see what my body can do, and not push myself if it’s too much. Even if I just do a 10 minute walk around the gym, that will be enough for me that day.

[13:25] 10. Take on your task when you’re in the correct mindset

When we know ourselves better we can use this information to do the actions not just at the right time in our schedules, but also at the right times in our minds. Being aware of our mindset is key to doing our new habits and routines successfully.

When we’re in the right headspace, with the right mindset we are approaching the task with a positive and probably clear mind that will allow us to achieve the task, and more efficiently.

If you aren’t coming at the behaviour with the right attitude, try and switch gears, or get your body moving to shake up any stale energy and then do the things.

Maybe it’s helpful to take a deep breath, to change your environment, take some time alone, or call a friend and ask them to give you a little pep talk.

Knowing ourselves helps us overcome obstacles in the best ways for us, and allows us to refocus our minds so that we can get *ish done!

You don’t need motivation every day. Make a plan when you’re in the right headspace, and then stick to that plan. Overtime, your health, mood, motivation, and life will improve.

[14:52] Those are my 10 practices to help you be more consistent with your habits, routines, and rituals. Try them out if you are struggling with consistency.

Send me a DM on instagram @vallavignelife and let me know which of these you’re trying out to help you stay more consistent.

If you follow these, you will move in the direction of your targets and goals. With your consistency and growth, you are becoming more and more like the best version of YOU. Give yourself some grace, and time to achieve the success you set out for.

Podcast Host

Valerie LaVigne

Valerie is the creator and founder of Valerie LaVigne Life and the Women's Empowerment Show. She helps busy and empowered women create healthy habits so that they can become the best version of themselves and transform their lives. Learn more about Valerie here!