How Consistency Can Be The Enemy to Your Health Goals

I know that headline is a little click-baityy but there is a reason for that...and that reason is that it is true.

It really comes down to what I mean by consistency.

This whole realization was a working theory for me until I started my 33 Day Guided Challenge where I basically do 11 acts of wellness that I chose for myself for 33 days leading up to my 33rd birthday.

the WHAT?

This was what my 33 Challenge looked like 👈

I made an instagram post about how each thing was adding to my wellness and what each one meant, you can read it here here.

the HOW?

I was using my Free Notion Life Habit Tacker page to track what I did and did not do each day.

the WHY?

I wanted to add all of these things in my day to help raise my vibration, and to incorporate these or at least see which of them is worth making a habit out of in my day to day.

Here are the results:

• Skip Snooze: 28

• Ice Water: 24

• Skincare: 28

• Mirror Work/Affirmations: 14

• Meditate in Silence: 14

• Visualization: 16

• Spend time in Nature+ Sun time: 25

• Movement: 18

• Water 2.2 Liters: 22

• Elevate: 17

For full disclosure: these numbers aren't the most accurate since I wasn't diligent about tracking all of it every single day. So they're more of less in the ball range of those numbers 🙈

As you can see, not a single one was done for 33 days. So, you would think that I felt this challenge was a complete failure. Because I was not consistent.

Or at least as consistent as people would deem actual consistency, i.e did not do it every single day.

And that is the kind of consistency that stops us from doing what we want to do...especially when it comes to our health and wellness goals.

We think: if I can't drink 2Liters of water every single day then what's the point.

if I can't hit the gym at least 6 days a week (giving myself one day rest cause they say I need it) then what's the point.

if I can't eat nutritious food and never touch a candy bar in the next 3 months then what.is.the.point!!!???

I know you might be thinking to yourself but I don't do that...

Really though?

Have you never put an unrealistic expectation for your consistency...it doesn't have to be "everyday of my life" for it to be unrealistic. It can be something like:

I'll quit sugar for all of May or

Starting next week I'm going to eat at home and stop ordering take-out.

You see, sometimes we don't even say the word "everyday" but it is well implied in our psyche.In the backs of our minds, we know that if we miss a day (or God forbid two days) we've failed and we need to start over.

If you've never truly did this to yourself congratulations you're the exception to the rule! 👏

And the rule says " if we can't stick to our habit, every day, then we're not ready to do it yet, and we need to wait till we are or else we'll fail"

So, consistency stops us from actually starting our journey on our health goals, and it stops us again when we do start but can't meet the unrealistic expectation of turning our life around 180 just because we started a challenge!

I see it with almost every client I've ever had. When we finally develop together an action plan full of their habits this week that helps them move closer to their goal, I ask them "how many times would you like to do this/these habit(s) this week?"

Their answer is almost always every day this week or 5 days (which is their version of being realistic.)

Which then prompts me to ask "how many times are you ready to do this/these habit(s) this week?" and the answer is always way less than before, the 7 days turn into once or twice this week.

And that's why as a Health Coach, I always ask for readiness.

So, here's what I mean that we need to change what consistency means to us.

If I am ready to do a certain habit only 3 times this week, and I do all 3 times, then I WAS CONSISTENT!

If I don't do the 3 times, but only 2. Then the week after I do twice as well...then I am also consistent. In showing up even if I don't hit the targeted number of times, I am still being consistent.

We need to define what "being consistent" actually means to us before we decide to be consistent, and we renew that definition every week. Deciding that upon our evaluation of how ready we are.

Cause (and I know this might be a bit of a surprise to you if you really think about it) our week's differ, one from the other. So not every week we have is the same.

So if our week's are not consistent, then how can we expect our goals to be?

In the end, I am very happy with how the challenge ended and I'm pleased to say that some of these habits are actually part of my day to day life now.

Some Habits that stuck:

1. Skipping snooze

2. Ice water face bowl (I want to do a whole post about it)

3. Skincare face and night (I'm a lot more consistent with it)

4. Water 2.2L

5. Mirror work

The rest didn't work for different reasons, so I'll be making a blog post about that if you want me to (just DM me your favorite color heart 🤎🤍💜💚🖤♥️🩵🩶🩷)

I'll highlight the reasons I found why they didn't stick and how I'll be tackling these issues. Which could be really helpful to see how you can make a habit work for you if you're having a hard time being consistent 😉