Consistency > Motivation

“Success isn’t always about greatness. It’s about consistency. Consistent hard work leads to success. Greatness will come.”

-Dwayne Johnson

Day 7/30

As I was binge eating chocolate today, watching videos of amazing fitness influencers smashing their workouts, I thought to myself begrudgingly, “It’ll take me years to reach their level!”. It’s funny how I decided that I might be able to do it, without trying my hand at it. I have been working out for close to 2.5 years now, the intensity and passion in my effort has worn off sharply since the first 3 months of my fitness journey. The first 3 months were intense and I was extremely motivated to lose weight. That was my sole purpose in life during those 3 months. Ever since I lost weight, I have given myself the leeway to give up fairly easily, have no restrictions in my diet, skip my workouts, be indisciplined at times with the only excuse of, “I deserve it this time, I’ll get back on track tomorrow.” And that tomorrow never comes.

It’s easier to be consistent than wait for our motivation to support us in our goals. The journey towards achieving our goals is set on a long, winding and difficult path. If we wait for our motivation to help us scale this journey, we might have to take frequent breaks and delay the journey by a couple of years. However, being consistent and working on our goals everyday, in the best way possible, shows definite results over time. The wait is excruciatingly painful but can be borne by frequently rewarding ourselves on achieving our daily tasks.

Also the best way to be consistent is to make a habit out of it. Force yourself to stick to a schedule for at least a month or till the time it feels weird when you skip it. Once this is achieved, being consistent is comparatively easy. There are many ups and downs in every human’s life. As I was talking to someone close to me today (the most talented person I know), I understood how negative thoughts can absolutely DESTROY a human being. I know she is capable of GREAT things in life however her mind has total control over her actions. Her negative self talk flares up, especially during important events in her life and clouds her judgement. She ends up losing a lot of great opportunities to take her life to the next level and witnessing this physically hurts me. I realized from her experience that I do not wish to give the negative thought process in my mind any attention and DO WHAT’S BEST TO TAKE MY LIFE TO THE NEXT LEVEL, always! I want to be clear on what I want to do and be in life. Right now, I’m on the brink of losing everything to negativity. I wish to change it, FOREVER.

Is it possible,

• to never succumb to negativity?
• to have total control of our mind?
• to use our mind to our advantage, always?
• to make the best choices for success in life?
• to be in sync with the Universe?
• to ignite our motivation when we need it?

I don’t know the answers to these questions yet but I wish to learn them soon. I’ll start with self introspection and understanding my short and long term goals in life. Once I have these written down, I’ll devise a daily routine that helps me work on all of my goals, brick by brick, each day. The most important aspect is to be CONSISTENT at it, by hook or by crook.

Let’s do this!

Extra dramatic!

#3/100

Today I would like to reminisce the day of my Chartered Accountant (C.A.) final results, 19th July 2012. The process of studying for this grueling exams and the stress build up before the result day calls for 2 totally independent blog posts. I would just like to narrate the sequence of events on July 19th leading up to declaration of my results.

During those days I was a very superstitious, religious, god-fearing young girl. I had no confidence in checking the results on my own or be present in my house when the results came out. My parents, especially my mother had huge expectations from me and I couldn’t let her down.

My preparations for the exam weren’t up to the mark and I wasn’t confident about my performance. Clearing the exams was more of a desperate need than an achievement. I wouldn’t have been able to face my mother had the results been negative. On July 19th, we got a notification in the morning saying that the results have been delayed. Instead of 2 pm in the afternoon, they were supposed to come in the evening.

I couldn’t stay at home anymore, my mind was working overtime to churn out all possible negative thoughts. I told my mother I’d visit a temple and come back. Now, this temple that I was supposed to visit is more than a hour away from my home. I figured it was a good way to pass my time rather than sit at home waiting for the clock to tick faster. I went to a specific temple I desperately wanted to visit to calm myself down. When I reached the place, I saw that the temple had been closed for a break in the afternoon. I was a little dejected but decided to stay there till the time they were supposed to re-open it. After about half an hour, I couldn’t sit there any longer and decided to walk towards another temple close by.

This walk has to be the most momentous walk of my life. About 5 minutes before I could reach the temple, I started getting calls on my phone. Panic struck that the results have been declared, I chose not to look at the mobile and continue my steps towards the temple. I switched off my cell phone owing to the continuous calls and messages. I had decided to keep chanting positive affirmations in my mind till I reached the temple. I went inside the temple, prayed and switched on my phone. The phone screen flashed with “Mom calling”. I took a deep breath and pressed on receive.

Me : Hello

Mom : Where were you? I’ve been trying to reach you since long

Me : What is it? Have the results been declared?

Mom : Yes…..

Mom : YOU CLEARED!!!

Me : What? Really? (I genuinely couldn’t believe what I had just heard!)

Mom : YOU CLEARED!!! YOU ARE A CHARTERED ACCOUNTANT!

Honestly, the fact that I had become a Chartered Accountant didn’t sink in for days after the result. Today, 8 years after the results and living my life as a Chartered Accountant, I can’t help but laugh at the extra dramatic manner in which I ushered in the result news, inside a temple for crying out loud!