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One of the biggest problems that most people face as they work towards a goal is the ability to put in consistent effort. Staying consistent in your activities and effort is one of the keys to success.

Consistency is even more important than simple mathematics may make it seem. By this I mean that consistently putting in 5 hours each week over the course of a month towards building business, growing a blog, or achieving a goal, is more valuable than putting in 30 hours one week and nothing for the next three weeks. Yes, the 5 hour a week plan only puts in 20 hours for the month while the other plan has 30 hours, the 5 hour a week plan is still more effective. The same applies on a month-by-month basis. You need to be consistent month after month, not work for a month, and then take a month off. Being consistent will help you reach your goals much more quickly than a sprint-and-stop plan.

You can see this idea really clearly when you think of exercising. Having a big long work out once a month is not nearly as effective as having a smaller workout every day, or even every second day. Similarly, working out every day for a week and then taking the rest of the month off is not as effective as working three times each week across the entire month. Being consistent is more effective. This same principle applies to other goals you are pursuing.

Consistency like this is important for a few reasons:

1. Inertia

The hardest part of any accomplishment is getting started. If you work in spurts you are spending a lot of energy getting started. You will work hard to get started and then before you know it you are stopped again. The law of inertia says that “a body at rest tends to stay at rest.” If you then take a significant amount of time off from pursuing your goal, things will have stopped completely and you will need to use all of that energy again. If instead, you do a little bit every day, you will be able to carry over some of that energy. Think of the exercise program again. The first workout is the hardest, because you have negative inertia. Your body doesn’t react the same, and you mentally aren’t as in to it. After a while your daily workout becomes routine and you carry forward from one day to the next. If you only exercise once a week, it feels like you are starting over each time. Both mentally and physically it requires more effort to get started again.

2. Momentum

Moving past the initial steps of negative inertia allows you to build momentum. Momentum is when the activities you do start to snowball in their effects. The work you are doing starts to build up speed because everything you are doing is building on itself. The efforts of today are building smoothly on the efforts of tomorrow. Momentum is positive inertia. The positive side of inertia is that “a body in motion tends to stay in motion.” Momentum is clearly seen in many areas of life. In politics, momentum is a powerful force for a candidate in an election campaign. In sports, many games are filled with momentum swings where one team has all the energy and everything seems to go just right. In business, momentum helps companies grow more quickly than they have before. As you work consistently towards your goal you will develop momentum that makes things happen more quickly and with less effort than before.

3. Power of Mental Focus

In life people consistently move towards the things that they focus their minds on. If you work in spurts, your mind will be focused on your goal for a short period of time. After that time you forget about it, or at least it is not part of your focus. By consistently focusing on your goal, even just a little bit each day or week, will keep your mind engaged in the process. If you mind is engaged and focused on your goal, you will notice when other things come along that might help you achieve your goal. For example, if you are growing a part time home business, you may find potential clients while doing other things. If you are consistently working on your business, you will make those connections. If you are not, you might miss out on that opportunity. Being consistent keeps your goal in your mind and helps you move towards it more quickly.

4. Keeping your life in balance

You need to allow all the areas of your life, family, work, business, spiritual etc. have some level of balance. That means you need to spend an appropriate amount of each aspect of your life. If you pursue your goals with quick spurts where you put in a huge amount of time in for one week, then during that week everything else in your life will be out of balance. Of course the opposite is also true. If you take three weeks off from pursing your goal, you will be out of balance in that area. Take exercise as an example. If you go overboard one week, then you will have taken time away from other things you should be doing; you will be out of balance. If you then stop working out for the next three weeks, you are equally out of balance, this time short on the physical activity side of life.

Consistency in life is vital. In almost every situation in my life where I haven’t achieved my goal, or where I am unsatisfied with my progress towards a goal it is because I have been inconsistent in my efforts. Being consistent allows you to use inertia instead of working against it, it allows you to build momentum, use the power of mental focus, and keep your life in balance. The next post will discuss HOW to improve your consistency.

Written by:
Danny Gamache – The Success Professor
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Last week, in my article “How Fatherhood Has Changed My Life” I mentioned that I’ve learned the importance of working in bursts.  A burst is when you take a short period of time and work full-out for that period of time.

Working in bursts is valuable for many reasons:

• you can make use of short periods of time that might otherwise not feel productive

• you can complete a short burst when your motivation is to low to start something bigger

• you can get  a lot done with focused energy

So how do you best work in bursts?  Here are some tips:

1. Have projects arranged

The only way you will be able to make use of a short burst is if you have your projects arranged in an easy to use system.  One way to do this is to use folders for each and every project you have that you are working on.  This is one of the most valuable things that I took out of Getting Things Done (see my review here).  By having each project in a folder you only need to have to one folder on your desk at a time that you can focus on.

2. Know the order of importance

Having your projects arranged is only half the battle; you need to know what order that they need to be accomplished.  Which project is the most important?  Doing a burst session on a low priority project might be valuable, but doing that same burst on your top priority project will allow you to excel.

There are many ways of establishing your order.  It can be as simple as a to-do list that you rank or it can be an elaborate process that is part of a full productivity system.  I use my weekly planning system to prioritize my products based on the goals I am pursing.

3. Have a clear workspace

The next step is to make sure you have a clear workspace.  Get rid of everything except the project that you are working on and any tools necessary to complete that project. If you have your projects arranged and set in individual folders you should have no need for a cluttered desk.

Having a clear workspace helps you to focus. You won’t be distracted by other things on your desk that vie for your attention.  You won’t be tempted to pause what you are doing to work on something else.  It also gives you the ability to spread out and organize yourself as you move forward on your project.

4. Turn off all distractions

The point of your burst period is to single task. You don’t want to be moving back and forward between tasks.  In order for you to do this you need to turn off all distractions.  The biggest distractions are often forms of communication.  Things such as email, telephones and Twitter can easily pull you away from the task at hand.  Closing your email box, web browser and putting your phone on silent will allow you to work without interruptions and get a lot more done.

If you work in a public place that is prone to interruptions put a “do not disturb” sign on your door or wear headphones to indicate that you are not to be interrupted.  This may take some time to train those around you but once they learn your policies it will be well worth it for you.

5. Have a pad of paper and pen off to the side

As you work away on your project, your mind will naturally tend to wander at times.  You’ll think of new ideas, projects that you could start, or things you need to do.  Having a pad and paper at your side will allow you to record your thoughts and return to your main project. Your mind will then forget about the thought and focus on the project. If you don’t write it down you’ll be tempted to take action towards what has come to mind, and your brain won’t be able to refocus on the project.

6. Go full out for a predetermined period of time

Once you have taken these steps you now need to work; work hard and steady for the time that you have set aside.  This is the essence of working in bursts.  Go full out, using all of your energy. If possible set yourself a time limit as to how long you will work.  Having a deadline for when you will stop working keeps you moving.  It also gives you something to look forward to.  So you’ll be both pushed to work harder during the time you have, but you will also be assured that a reward is coming when you are done that time.

Working in bursts is powerful.  It will allow you to get more done in a short period of time.  Perhaps you only have a short period of time.  It’s easy to put off meaningful activity because you “don’t have enough time.”   Instead you can do a burst of activity towards an important project.  Perhaps you don’t feel motivated to settle in and work.  Instead commit to working just a short time in a burst.  Often getting started like this with a burst will give you momentum to carry forward and keep working.

How can you apply bursts?  Take a minute right now and don’t leave this article without taking some action. Write down three priority activities that you can do in a burst period, and write down at least three different times of your day, or situations that you face, where a burst effort might be appropriate.  Now go and do it!

Written by:
The Success Professor – Danny Gamache (Follow me on Twitter: @successprof)

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Guest Post by Kris Rowlands from http://freshfocus.info

99.99% of us underestimate our own power. We underestimate how we can manifest and control our own destiny, as well as the effect that we can have on others.

In order for us to set our goals, plan them and accomplish them, we have to visualize them. You may not realize how or that you do this, but I can guarantee that you do. Without the visualization, we have cannot plan and carry out the steps that are required to reach our goals.

But when you first get that great idea, how do you visualize it? Do you think to yourself, “Oh, that’s going to be too hard”, “I can’t do it”, “I’m not good enough at _________ to be able to bring this to fruition”. Do you have millions of doubts that come flooding into your head? We all do. But what we also have the power to do is to change our thought patterns and visual things with a much more positive outcome.

We you think of your goals and your dreams, always (always) think of them in a positive light. The energy that you put forth in these first moments of thoughts sets the tone and path for the entire goal. If you have a slip up and start to let those doubts creep in, recognize it, alter it, and move forward. Allow yourself to believe in you and the power that you hold to control your own successes.

Create a ritual around this goal. Post it up on your computer, your mirror, the first thing you see in the morning (I don’t recommend taping it to your mates’ forehead, that might cause an issue), coffee cup or refrigerator. Tell as many people as you can about your goal. Have them help you in the facilitation of focusing positive energy to the goal. They can also help to hold you accountable for your progress and help you to stay on task. Create a mantra for yourself, and say it repeatedly several times a day. Make it your desktop wallpaper. Stick a post it note with your mantra on it on the rear view mirror of the car. Just the note caught in your peripheral vision will be enough to remind you of your goal and to say your mantra.

But do you also realize the power that you have towards other people when they see you doing this? You can and will inspire them to set a goal and be accountable for it. Then, the roles are reversed and you can support them as they go through their goals, pitfalls, and joys. Success is freaking contagious: you see one person doing it and you want to do it for yourself. And that is how the movers and shakers of this world support one another to be wildly successful.

So tell me – how do you visualize your success? Do you have a positive outlook on it or do those negative thoughts stop you from doing what you know you can do? What keys to your success can you share? I want to know. Tell me in the comments what rituals you have in place (or are going to put in place) to make yourself wildly successful!

Written by:
Kris Rowlands

Kris Rowlands is a Professional Productivity and Organization Consultant with over twenty five years of experience. Her life’s work has been devoted to getting people and corporations organized and productive as quickly as possible. You can find her on http://freshfocus.info She can be reached at coach@freshfocus,info for more information on productivity and organization consultations.