Overcoming the Initial Challenge
Tags: productivity, career, beginners, motivation
Published: 2021-12-03 08:49:37

## The Power of being present

We have all started something we didn't continue. If you are above the age of 10, I'm sure you know exactly what I'm talking about. Starting from going to the gym, learning a new language, or meditation, we have all wanted to be constant. **So, the question arises why can't we continue? Why do we fail if we want something?**

Imagine yourself deciding to start learning a new language one hour each day. You complete Day 1, Day 2, and Day 3. On Day 4, however during your schedule, an important emergency drops in and you make adjustments to your routine to attend to that emergency. Now here's the thing, **we humans love order.** In fact, we are so ordered that we maintain ourselves subconsciously. We follow the exact order to put our shoes on, we brush our teeth in the same rhythmic motion each day and even follow the same routine when we step out of a room.

The moment, our schedule is interrupted, we divert from the plan as we no longer would get back the same one hour hence we tend to postpone it to the next available day. Here's where the issue lies-

> If you miss a day that's twice as more harmful than getting your work done even for 5 minutes.



## The Contingency Plan

We know that emergencies and work can pop up anytime, regardless of how planned or how well managed our schedule or routine is. So, what can we do to dampen the damage?

Luckily, we have a choice. I like to call it the **Contingency Plan**. The contingency plan is a normal plan but only triggered when the normal routine is hindered. The idea to make this plan is to narrow down on the important, the necessary, and the extras. Here's an image to summarize how you create them.

<img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/revue/items/images/012/002/527/original/imag_3.png?1635369933">

Our goal is to be consistent not to be a perfectionist while trying to make a habit. Once we hit the threshold for it to be a habit, the skill we are trying to achieve would be subconsciously done. On that note, when we are working against time to manage the change in schedule, the idea is to follow the easiest path to be consistent i.e. to be present to make sure we are attending to the things we want to achieve.



## Conclusion

In a nutshell, to achieve something you have dreamt of achieving or you want to achieve, just be sure to be consistent.

> Remember, consistency can move mountains.

Here's another picture from the book Atomic Habits by James Clear which tells you how much showing up consistently with 1% improvement can help you grow in a year compared to disjointed performances.

<img src="https://s3.amazonaws.com/revue/items/images/012/001/901/original/image2.png?1635366750">

I hope that that this helps you understand and plan out the stuff you want to start. Take a week may be two, to understand how you'd like to start your journey and then stick to it. 

If you have any interesting suggestions or feedbacks, feel free to connect with me on <a href="https://twitter.com/__xSpace">Twitter</a>. I also have a newsletter, which I send out every week Thursday. You can subscribe it <a href="https://www.getrevue.co/profile/xSpace/">here</a>. 

See you next week! 👋🏼