If you can observe a lot of successful people, especially those you come in close contact with, do it.
You might notice that many of them have systems in place that allow them to show up to their commitments.
From what I’ve seen firsthand, successful people don’t rely solely on willpower to follow through with tasks and projects.
Often, they have built systems; tools that allow them to organize and remind them of what to do or delegating to others what needs to be done.
If you’re finding ways to work on staying on top of your game, keep reading to discover key lessons that might help you in your path.
Know Thy Undertaking
On a personal account, I can pretty much agree that I also have SOPs for work, especially when it comes to content creation.
Though back in the early days, this was not the case. I was just blogging for fun; practically a do-it-whenever-the-feeling-strikes kind of writing.
In other words, I was non-committal.
But when I created this new blog, things turn a little more than just fun. I was on a mission. And with this mission, came excitement.
I got so wrapped up in the potential and promise of blogging success, that I thought, “Surely, that’s enough of a motivation for me to keep publishing content”.
I was wrong.
Over time, I realized: there’s more to staying consistent than just ‘keeping on schedule’. A dose of brilliance does not magically appear on its own just because I handpicked a day each week to sit on a chair at 9am and coddled myself, “Okay beautiful brain and hands, now type.” *crickets*
Well, at least not the kind of brilliance I thought might be worth publishing.
Not to mention, we often get distracted at any given time during the day, and things can really start to get off track.
Thats why it’s important for a person to clarify, first and foremost, their goals so they can determine the actions required to carry out the tasks.
Unlimiting one’s self
There are a lot of moving parts to producing an amazing piece of content, and simply setting an alarm in the calendar with the presumption that I’m going to know exactly what to write once the timer sets off didn’t work for me.
Conversely, simply waking up in the morning and waiting for the perfect idea to come just isn’t really building up to being consistent either.
Consistency is a muscle, and we need to workout to build it up using ‘sets’ and ‘programs’.
That is why I have stopped limiting myself to a specific schedule to write because that kills the creativity required to sustain my goals.
Instead, I now let myself think freely and creatively at random times of the day. I then try to capture those thoughts immediately by typing in quick notes or writing them down on paper. Something that I didn’t have a habit of doing back in the early days.
To be able to do this, I use tools that could store my ruminations, and allow me to organize them for what could potentially be a next written piece to be published.
Tools like Apple Reminders, Voice Memos, and Notes have been a game changer.
For instance, the initial draft of what you’re reading now came to me at 5:10pm, on a rather quiet Tuesday afternoon while having a late lunch of salmon miso soup, that I jot down using Notes.
And to a degree, it has been an effective process. Slowly but surely, I’m seeing the benefits of this system that I’ve been refining.
Read More: 33 Important Practices to Being Organized in Work and Life
Building systems
Honestly, I don’t know why it took me long to figure out what system worked for me. When it comes to digital organizing, I have tried so many apps.
In the end, I was only left disoriented.
It’s a shame to admit, that perhaps I was looking for the magic pill in by signing up for paid apps or programs, thinking that paying would automatically inspire me to use them regularly.
Using apps like Notion and Evernote offered a lot of features, but it didn’t really solve the problem that I was facing: to simplify the step-by-step required of me to produce an output.
I had to come to a realization that what’s needed first was to determine the custom ‘set of keys’ that fit me to be productive.
We have to design a framework to implement a bespoke solution to our problems.
Take Apple Notes. It seemed easy to use, plus I’ve had it on my phone (and cloud) for as long as I can remember. But by not being part of a framework, it was merely an afterthought. Most of the time I just used it to write random things like email addresses, templates, lists or compose texts for clients.
All this time, I’ve had a perfectly capable tool—a FREE one at that—which could’ve helped me stay organized, and consistently show up when it comes to writing.
And had I known and used it sooner, it might have inspired me to build better systems in other areas of my life too.
Sometimes I wonder how many brilliant ideas have I wasted by not capturing them and organizing them to utilize later on.
Or, how many articles could this blog have had?
Even further, what business strategies could I have implemented and found better results, had I taken the time to write it down and put it into action?
So many thoughts, so little time.
That said, at least now I am more aware that perhaps the problem was not with the tools.
That if we can simply be honest, sometimes it’s because of the USER of the tools.
Quality of input determines quality of output
Having a working system in place is one thing.
But just as important is the quality of work that we put in.
Think of it like a car engine. You don’t just fill up a Ferrari with cheap gas and skip regular maintenance and expect it to perform at a high level in the long term.
Sure, maybe in the beginning you might not be able to notice a big difference.
But sooner or later, you might be struck with engine failures, or even worse, road mishaps involving other motorists. It would end up costing you 10x more than if you had simply invested resources right from the beginning and done regular tune-ups.
That’s why even from the start, it’s important that we put value to our efforts and have clear goals.
We have to hold ourselves to high standards by committing to do the job to the best of our abilities.
Basically what I’m trying to say is, it’s not enough to just show up for the sake of showing up. We won’t build consistency muscles in the right places that way.
We need to raise the bar (no pun intended) and refine the quality of our work in order to see the best results.
Being in control
I find that one of the enemies of consistency is people’s tendency to overthink and overcomplicate things.
How many times have we experienced talking ourselves out of situations because we are intimidated or overwhelmed?
We tend to come up with excuses, harboring procrastination because we are looking for that perfect timing, perfect idea, or perfect opportunity–or heaven forbid perfect weather—to do the things that we’re supposed to do.
Eventually, it becomes problematic. Because our actions are reliant on these external factors, we lose a grip on what truly matters. That is, showing up ourselves.
When outside forces don’t show up as we hope, we abandon plans and systems and favor unpredictability. Then, when we are confronted with the consequences of our actions (or lack thereof), we then tend to deflect and make excuses because ‘We’re only human’.
Sooner or later we are compelled to make another promise to do better, both to ourselves and to others.
And while it’s never my intention to doubt the authenticity of our emotions when we make such a promise, often, the problem is the lack of accountability, in words and actions.
Self-accountability means taking responsibility for our actions and fullfilling our obligations, without excuses and blaming others.
The moment we become aware of this, we can then turn inwards, and shift our focus into finding ways to be more accountable to achieve consistency.
Secret to success
In a nutshell, we can eliminate distractions and muster the discipline to stay the course. In my case, I wanted to stay consistent without the feeling of overwhelm, therefore I needed to simplify tasks as much as possible.
Basically, keeping it to essentials only.
I find that integrating my framework into a personal habit helps turn something into routine. With a daily or weekly routine, I’m on autopilot, no longer needing to expend mental effort to go through with it.
If procrastination is an enemy of consistency, then routine becomes its ally.
As for the tasks that I can plan out in advance, as much as possible, I group them together so I can accomplish them in shorter time, because momentum.
We need a system and momentum to carry out tasks, as it manifests control and discipline that leads to progress. Because progress, as we know it, is an important principle for enduring success.
Read More: Five Cs of Success: Competency, Consistency, Confidence, Creativity and Charisma
What systems have you tailored to help you accomplish your tasks? I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.
