How can you take what you learn from coaching and use it to make positive changes in your lifestyle? Develop a strategy for enhancing your performance and set specific goals for areas where you want to grow. Deliberate practice requires discipline and effort, but it pays off.

While many believe that knowledge is power, knowledge is only powerful when it’s consistently applied. Consistency is one of the most important components of success. The compound effect of small steps forward each day add up to a lot of mileage over time. Are the little things you do each day adding up to something positive? Or is the quality of your life slowly slipping away?

With consistent action over the next 90 days, what could you accomplish? How about 10 or 20 years? What could you accomplish in that time? Five cold calls each day, five days per week equal 1300 sales calls in one year! Five small pieces of chocolate over the same time is roughly 25,000 calories, or the equivalent of about ten pounds of chocolate.
Are your habits getting you closer to your ideal lifestyle or further away?

If you lived today day over and over for the next 10 years, where would you end up? What would your lifestyle look like then? If you overeat a little bit each day, you’d be overweight. If you saved just a small amount of money each day, you’d eventually have a small fortune. If you understand the Rule of 72 and the power of compound interest, you’d probably have a much larger fortune in the same amount of time.

An effective way to predict your success is to examine your average day and project the likely outcome into the future. An hour each night spent practicing the guitar would give different results than spending that same hour watching television. Your teeth aren’t clean because you brushed them for an hour straight. They’re clean because you brushed them for three minutes every day since you’ve had them.

Consider where your daily habits and behaviors are leading you financially, socially, spiritually, and physically. What are the logical conclusions of your daily activities? Realize that many changes in life come slowly. Many success gurus advocate taking massive action to see massive results, but that strategy is difficult to apply and maintain over time.

Consider weight loss. You can’t lose 25 lbs. in a day. (without losing a limb) Like we discussed above, small changes occur to your weight each day. The compound effect of those small, regular changes add up to impressive results. Building a fortune, the perfect body, or a great relationship all take time and consistency.

Consistency requires either habit or discipline, and for some of us, discipline is in short supply. Relying on discipline day after day is a losing battle for many of us. While discipline can grow with effort, having effective habits is more effective and much less painful. Use the discipline that you have to develop your habits.

Learn to act in the moment. The greatest barrier to consistency is the belief that you can postpone an action to another day. Each hour has the power to bring you closer to your goals. Every minute wasted is lost forever. Time is one of your most valuable resources.

“The only real discipline required is the discipline to act right now.”

Have reasonable expectations. When your time frame is unrealistic, it’s more difficult to be consistent. When you ask too much of yourself too soon, it’s just as challenging. Be positive and enthusiastic. Put your focus on regular and consistent improvement. Perfection isn’t required, but it should always be strived for.

Use reminders or triggers in your environment to encourage consistency. Think about the things that you do everyday that could serve as reminders. Getting dressed, starting your car, and turning out the light each night are a few examples. Each night you turn out the light, you could visualize your goals. After getting dressed, you could do some pushups. What triggers can you use in your everyday life to help keep you consistent?

What you do once in a while doesn’t impact your life significantly. It’s what you do consistently that shapes your life. Consistency is a major predictor of success in any endeavor. Develop habits and routines that guarantee success. Consistent behaviors determine your outcomes, so choose behaviors that make sense.