Why being consistent is overrated

Hi Yogis

Have you ever started a new habit and gone really strong for 2 weeks only to fall off the wagon and have to start from scratch?

I have done this many times! And it hasn’t seemed to matter what I was trying to do – a new exercise plan, dietary change, work habit… It used to frustrate the hell out of me. I got so angry with myself and couldn’t understand why I was so inconsistent.

Then I started learning about cycles. When you think about it, nature is cyclical. Seasons, life cycles, day and night, even cycles of breath. What I thought was inconsistency because each day wasn’t the same was actually consistency within a cycle.

The whole concept of being the same all the time as desirable is relatively new. It was only with the industrial revolution that it was even possible to have the expectation that humans would be consistent all the time, with things like electric lights and standard work hours.

So getting back to hormonal cycles, did you know that the hormone levels in women’s brains can vary by up 25% depending on where they are in their cycle? This is huge! Men have a cycle too, each 24-hours. In my Life Artistry courses and mentoring I teach a lot about this and how to leverage it for work and life. It’s super cool and life changing and I could talk about it all day!

However, in the interests of keeping this concise, I’m going to just encourage you to let yourself flow with life a little bit more and start noticing your own patterns. Rather than getting annoyed when you aren’t equally productive or energetic all the time, start paying attention to your cycles. It’s easiest to start with your daily patterns:

Is there a time in the day when you feel naturally more focused?

When you have more physical energy?

When you feel most extroverted and dynamic?

It can be really powerful to start to notice and then plan to do the activities that come most easily at that time as much as you can. The more you can do this, the more you’ll find you can achieve more with less effort and enjoy what you’re doing more. It’s about leveraging our nature rather than battling it.

Let me know how you go!

Lots of love

Ruth