Consistency

Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash

“Lord, give me patience, and give it now!” is a wry saying I’ve heard.

For me, a more apt version of that is “Give me consistency, and give it every day!”. Lack of consistency has been an obstacle my entire life.

As a young adult, knowing I had the Messy Mesi thing going on, I tried to fix it through reading, planning, and willpower.

I could write several paragraphs on the books, goal planning courses, and similar organization tools I’ve used. The first I remember off-hand “Sidetracked Sister’s Happiness File”, originally published in 1986, which talked about keeping a recipe box of index cards for daily, weekly, and monthly tasks that were rotated around to get all your tasks done. Basically, like setting up a repeating reminder in your cellphone.

I used a Franklin Planner for years – oh – and even a Palm Pilot for awhile! Later, FlyLady, 7 Habits, then “Getting Things Done” by David Allen. Bullet Journals. “Organizing from the Inside Out”.

Some of the methods were more successful than others.

While I learned from each of them, most of the plans did not last for very long. 

Does that sound familiar to anyone?

What Then?

For me, I’ve learned that I have to pat myself on the back when I do get something done, but also, equally importantly, not berate myself when I am not consistent. Get back on the right track when I can.

So why is it so hard for some people to be consistent? For some of us, it is perfectionism: the task looms large because you know the best way to do it, and so that is the only way to do it. 

For example, I used to think I should clean the entire house today, because it is the weekend and I won’t have time during the week. I would start into it, cleaning and scrubbing and vacuuming and dusting, trying to get into every nook and cranny. Somehow it rarely worked. The house would end up half done and I would feel rotten about that.

Seeing all the tasks that need to be done and getting overwhelmed and not doing any of them. 

Intellectually, I know that those thoughts don’t make sense, but I’m still working on over-riding them.

Shiny New Thing

I’ve also learned that I have to be careful not trying a shiny new program /plan whenever they pop up. That just distracts me into spending time learning about the next best thing instead of simply putting into practice what I already know.

Any Thoughts?

Are you able to be consistent? Does it come naturally or if not, how did you make it happen?