Consistency and Follow Through Tips

Consistency and follow through are the key to your dreams and goals.

I continue to struggle with completing projects and pushing through perfectionism.

I’ve finally made a break through this weekend with my novel WIP. It took a few months but it feels amazing but then I don’t know what to do next. That’s ok, it’s a normal part of the process but a struggle nonetheless.

I’ve recently realized that it’s consistency, grit, and perseverance that makes dreams come true. Because if you don’t continually chip away at your goals, even if it’s a little at a time, you’ll never achieve your dreams.

Here are my top tips to stay consistent and follow through (but remember that it’s ok to take breaks):

• Plan. It’s great to know where you are in the project to determine how close you are to finishing. Tracking where you are in a project not only motivates you to see how far or little you’re getting to your goal, it helps keep you on task and eases the next steps of your project instead of floundering around about what to do next.
• Show up. Sit and stare at the blank page/canvas/piece of clay, whatever project you’re working on etc. Give it a few minutes before giving up, you have to let the ideas start before it flows. This goes with planning, if you are able to plan ahead well enough, you might be able to skip ever fearing what to work on next.
• Productive procrastination. Are you still blank? Then get up and do something, a small chore like washing dishes or folding laundry, it shouldn’t be longer than 5-10 minutes and NO SOCIAL MEDIA or any other similar distraction. You want your project to simmer in the back of your mind as you do the chore and let the problem unconsciously solve itself. I’m surprised how often this worked for me.
• Don’t force it. Keep the momentum going. If you’re stuck, instead of dwelling on that one part forever, move on to another part of the project. The idea is to keep going even if you’re unable to finish a current task. You can always come back and fix that part later.
• Find support and accountability. There’s nothing like finding a good group of friends that not only understand what your goals are but can help encourage and cheer you on as you work on your project. It also lights a fire under your bum if you know someone is waiting on you.
• Get inspired. Often times I find inspiration in random daily life moments. Maybe it’s a snippet of conversation you overheard. A word that triggered an idea. The beauty and detail of the world. Getting inspired always gets me motivated to create and work on my own projects and it might help you too.

How do you guys keep your momentum going towards your goals?