Do you have goals you want to achieve?

Big and bold goals?

Do you want to become the best version of yourself?

Well, many people do.

But unfortunately, 92% of people fail to achieve their goals or become the best version of themselves.

And if you want to avoid being part of the 92%, you want to avoid this mistake.

Going Too Hard Too Fast

So many people have good intentions to be the best version of themselves and achieve their goals.

However, they fall short because they set big goals but take huge leaps to achieve them.

This seems to make sense right?

Big goals, big action?

While it sounds good in theory, this isn’t sustainable.

This approach typically leads to so many to burnout, frustration and failure.

It leads to them stretching themselves too far too quickly, which is uncomfortable. This discomfort is so much that they come back and stay in their comfort zone.

They fall in love with their comfort zone and decide to give up on their goals.

Instead, you want to try a different approach that will not only make achieving your goals easy but an approach that will be sustainable for the long term.

Continuous Improvement: Getting 1% Better Everyday

A popular concept credited to James Clear, author of Atomic Habits, is getting 1% better.

This concept says instead of making huge changes that you struggle to sustain, commit to small changes and improvements every day.

You’ve been tricked into thinking that the only significant changes you can make need to be huge and noticeable.

But that isn’t the best way for you to improve and make the changes you want to make in your life.

Instead, commit to daily improvements that over time build up and result in the achievement of your big goals.

The beauty of this approach?

It works.

Although you might not see the effects of your efforts immediately, over a year, you could be 37x better.

That is significant.

And what makes this all possible is the power of compounding consistency.

The Power of Consistency

The difference between success and failure is consistency.

Doing something for a long enough time that your efforts begin to accumulate and compound leads to huge results.

Consistency is what separates the elite from the average.

Why?

Most people struggle to stay consistent because they don’t see the fruits of their labour soon enough.

Their progress is often invisible for a long time. 

And because you don’t know how long until you see results, you’re tempted to give up.

The magic of staying consistent with a specific action — going to the gym, writing, dancing, eating clean, improving your communication skills, or any area of your life — is that it eventually results in something that looks like an “overnight success” effect.

But in reality, you’ll know it was because you were consistent.

Consistency is simple (show up every day), but it’s not always easy (show up every day even if you don’t see progress).

There’s another benefit to consistency that makes it so potent for your success.

Consistent Builds Confidence.

The more consistent you are, the more confidence you build.

So many people make promises to do something but break them.

They say, “I’m going for a run tomorrow”, but when tomorrow comes, they quickly come up with a ‘reasonable’ excuse that keeps them in bed.

“It’s too cold.”

“I don’t have the right shoes.”

“I’m tired”

etc.

What you may not know is that every time you break a promise you make to yourself, you lose trust in yourself.

Imagine this…

If you have a friend who promised to show up at X time but showed up late, you might forgive them the first time.

But the more they do it, the less trust you have in them.

You’d stop believing them whenever they tell you, “I’ll be there at X time”.

You might even stop making plans with them altogether.

The same thing happens with you.

Your mind is always listening and observing.

If you say you’ll do something but don’t do that, your mind records it. 

Every time you break your word, your mind records it.

Over and over and over.

Your mind begins to ignore the times you make good intentions to do something because it has so much evidence of all the times you failed to keep your promise.

However, as you commit to small daily changes and stay consistent with them, your mind records that too.

Now you’re building evidence that you are someone who keeps their promises and does what they say they are going to do.

You’re building trust and confidence in yourself.

And this evidence serves you in the future when you increase your daily threshold.

The voice in your mind will begin to sound like, “What’s 5 more minutes, we’ve been doing X minutes for so long anyway.”

And this is when your consistency turns into habits and ultimately into your lifestyle.

So how can you tap into the compounding effect of consistency and become the best version of yourself or at least 37x better?

Create a Power Hour.

The Power Hour

In his best-selling book, The 5 AM Club, Robin Sharma presents the concept of a Power Hour.

This is an hour, typically set in the morning, that is set to prioritise your personal growth.

He noticed that all the top 1% of men and women that he interviewed and learned from took their growth seriously. (hint-hint).

This is his formula for structuring the Power Hour:

the 20-20-20 rule.

Set 20 minutes for 3 habits that will help you grow as a person.

This could be a habit for your mind:

• Learning a language

• Journalling

• Meditation

• Reading

A habit for your body:

• Lifting weights

• Breathwork

• Walking

• Yoga

A habit for your soul:

• Playing an instrument

• Gratitude practice

• Listening to music

• Prayer

A habit for your craft:

• Learning a high-income skill

• Listening to podcasts

• Practicing

• Studying

The Power Hour is a great way for you to get 1% better every day and make progress towards your goals.

It also holds you accountable because you know for that 1 hour you are focusing on yourself.

I have a Power Hour of my own which has become a sort of morning routine.

My Power Hour includes physical movement, meditation, journalling and reading over my vision and goals.

I love starting my day this way because I’m energised, focused and calm.

My Power Hour goes a little over an hour.

But if you’re just starting, don’t feel pressured to do it for a full hour.

You can start with 20 minutes.

And you can structure it the way you want to.

• Whether it’s one hour of reading;

• 30 minutes of reading and 30 minutes of exercise; or

• 20 minutes of reading, 20 minutes of exercise and 20 minutes of meditation,

This is your power hour and you can design it in any way that best suits you and your needs.

The point is that you are investing in your growth.

When you invest in your growth like this every day, you will grow.

And when you grow, everything else in your life grows.

So start playing around with a Power Hour and commit to it for 30 days. (Remember the power of consistency).

Be curious and experiment with different habits or tasks.

Create a time structure that works for you.

Maybe you might have to wake up earlier or replace that hour of TV with 30 minutes of reading.

And after 30 days, reflect on the changes and progress you’ve made in your life.

— Shana.

P.S.

If you want 1-1 help achieving your goals with more ease and joy and creating a fulfilling life,

book a free consultation with me:  https://calendly.com/shanamdluli/claritycall