One of my most challenging feats in life is mastering the art of consistency. Although I am getting better at it, it is still a challenge daily. Today I will share 5 things that are helping me with my consistency, and I hope if you institute some or all of these, that they may help you, and that you come back and share your experiences. If you'd like to keep up with my blogs, click "Follow" and share the blog if you care and you'd like to help others. Anyway, let's get to it!

1.Set Alarms

It may seem so trivial, but it works. Setting my alarm to go off as a reminder to do a task or for appointments ahead of time so i do not forget, and for some events, multiple alarms! This is a game changer! For example, if I know I have a meeting at 3pm I may set a reminder the day before, "important mtg tomorrow at 3pm". Then i'll set two more reminders on the actual day, one in the morning around 10 am "hey you have a mtg for 3pm prepare your notes" and another one around noon " Mtg is 30 mins away, get ready now, leave at 1:50" and if you REALLY want to be on point set another one at 1:49p to remind you, you have one minute to get outta there! Now to some people this may be slightly annoying, but consider, would you rather be slightly annoyed and on point or all over the place, and unprepared?

2.Productivity Apps

Download productivity apps that help you keep your ish together. Structured app in App Store is a major key! It literally has helped me become more structured. You know I like something when i'm not getting paid to promote it, nor am I an affiliate of theirs (although I should see if they have an affiliate program) but no, it's a really helpful tool for me! The Pro's are you can utilize Ai or not to set your daily or weekly schedule. You can literally speak your schedule in and Ai will do the rest! Game changer! Cons are when you get those notifications to your phone to do a following task and you miscalculated or you're falling behind or simply neglected it, you can feel a little pressure or anxiety (or maybe that's just me! lol!) because as you finish a task you can select "complete" and it kinda does something to me psychologically when I couldn't complete it and see incomplete tasks on my day, but overall it is a wonderful tool, highly recommend!

3.Schedule Habit Building Tasks For The Same Time

I have been reading alot more lately (stay tuned for tip #4) and I have made it my business to incorporate what I learn immediately before distraction and lax set in. One of the things I am programming myself to do is to form new consistent good habits. Studies have shown the only way to break a bad habit is to replace it with a good habit, and that requires what? CONSISTENCY! Funny how everything goes back to how little or how often you do something. So what I have personally been working on is creating a schedule and systems for myself. We know LIFE BE LIFING! So it may be challenging to do a particular task at the same time daily but here's what works for me. If I say I want to improve consistency and I have trouble with keeping a strict schedule, I either set my alarm to remind me of the task at a specific time or I do the task consistently around the same time. For example. If I am programming myself to get up at 4:30 a.m daily and I want to break the bad habit of picking up my phone upon opening my eyes. I would put the phone further away and put something better in it's place like a book or a bottle of water. Even if I didn't get up at 4:30 a.m when I do arise the action should still be the new habit. So now everyday when that alarm goes off at 4:30 instead of me grabbing my phone I will grab the bottle of water first and then get up to shut the alarm off and cue my brain to do another productivity task like pray, silent gratitude, read a book, stretch, morning hygiene richual, or positive affirmations. Then when all that is said and done look how much I have accomplished without checking emails and social media notifications. We gotta give our brain time to ease into the day before bombarding it with other programming.

4.Read Consistency Building Books

So in step 3 I almost gave it away! But two books i'm in right now that are really assisting me with consistency and building better habits are: OG Mandino The Greatest Salesman In The World : You can change your life with the priceless wisdom of ten ancient scrolls handed down for thousands of years, and Atomic Habits: Tiny Changes, Remarkable Results: An easy & proven way to build good habits & break bad ones by James Clear. Mannnnnnnn listen! First of all! OG Mandino's books are classics! Most of the wealthiest people who are alive and relevant today attribute some of their success to this book, and I see why! The bottom line is, as challenging as it is for me, someone who actually is ambitious and wants to do it, I understand why only one percent are really successful. It is the path and the journey, the leg work and the determination, the mindset and the dedication that 99 % of society just doesn't possess or have the bandwidth or where with all to do! If I didn't want it that bad, I would've been quit! But here's the gem on how these two books are helpful... OG Mandino...in this book when you get to the chapters of the ancient scrolls you have to spend 30 days with each scroll 3xs a day and you can't flake or you have to start over from day 1. I dive deep in this on the Divine Femi9ne Podcast SE 2; EP 39:You Really Become What You Consume, And We Not Just Talking About Food! That exercise right there is not for the weak. As simple as it may seem you know how many people won't do it consistently for 30 days, and it's very specific, one time upon awakening read in silence, second time during or after your midday meal silently and the last reading before bedtime aloud. man listen! i'm only on day 5 but you know how many do overs i had to do because i missed a reading! CONSISTENCY PROGRAMMING. It is NOT EZ! Now Atomic Habits by James Clear! OMG! Worth it's weight in gold! Period! He really giving you the game step by step and checking ya a** in the process. You will feel seen,and convicted in your spirit when he speak on stats and facts and show charts and studies and you fit into some of those categories! But he also gives you tangible resources and steps. When he wrote, on pg 16: "HABITS ARE THE COMPOUND INTEREST OF SELF IMPROVEMENT. THE SAME WAY THAT MONEY MULTIPLIES THROUGH COMPOUND INTEREST, THE EFFECTS OF YOUR HABITS MULTIPLY AS YOU REPEAT THEM. THEY SEEM TO MAKE LITTLE DIFFERENCE ON ANY GIVEN DAY AND YET THE IMPACT THEY DELIVER OVER THE MONTHS AND YEARS CAN BE ENORMOUS.IT IS ONLY WHEN LOOKING BACK TWO, FIVE OR PERHAPS TEN YEARS LATER THAT THE VALUE OF GOOD HABITS AND THE COST OF BAD ONES BECOME STRIKINGLY APPARENT". WHEW! That's why I say only time will tell, who has really been putting in that work for elevation and transformation and who been bullshi**in' and fakin' the funk!

5.ACT RIGHT AWAY...JUST DO IT!

I said before on one of my Facebook lives...do it now, do it bad, do it wrong, just jump off the porch, because as long as you do it, you can always grow and learn how to improve, because now you have a foundation and something to compare your growth to. If you don't do it at all, and everything is talk, and planning to get ready...to get ready, then the clock is ticking and the days are chipping! We age up every year (unless you are a Benjamin Button) As good as we may look when we age, skin can get brighter, lighter, body can get tighter, but you still age up every year. ACT ON THE INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE YOU ACQUIRE SO YOU HAVE MORE TIME TO ENJOY THE LIFE YOU DESIRE BEFORE YOU EXPIRE. If you reap low, you aimed low, aim higher! (BARZ!)

I hope this was helpful. Everyday we are either working towards health and things that bring us more life or death and things that bring on sickness and disease. Daily you should be asking yourself

SELF,

DID EVERYTHING I DO TODAY BRING ME CLOSER TO HEALTH AND MORE LIFE OR THE OPPOSITE? AND IF YOU ARE IN OPPOSITION TO YOUR HIGHER SELF AND THE LIFE YOU DESIRE, ARE YOU ABLE AND WILLING TO DO WHAT IS REQUIRED OF YOU TO WORK IN ALIGNMENT WITH THE POSITIVE END OF THAT SPECTRUM. THERE IS A HIGHER POWER OVER THIS REALM, BUT YOU ARE THE CREATOR OF YOUR REALM. EVERYDAY YOU HAVE THE FREE WILL TO CREATE A MESS OR A MASTERPEICE. SO WHAT WILL YOU BE CREATING TODAY?