In the last few days, some friends ask me for advice through Instagram. These people are like me and are working to achieve their dreams. Moreover, they started already but they are feeling impatient and down for some reason. Because they feel like they do no progress. Also, they feel that they feel unappreciated. Slowly they are asking themselves if all of their makes any sense. Doubt, exhaustion, and the feeling of unimportance are slowly taking over them. So, they wonder how I keep my consistency high.
The Down Phase
My friends are experiencing the down phase as I did one year ago. Like them, I felt depressed as well. One year ago, I worked on my blog really passionate. Every week, I published a post of about 1000 words with a read time of at least 10 minutes. For one of these posts, I needed 4 hours to write it, 1 hour to edit it, and numerous hours more to research and read about it. Moreover, I wrote about topics that I think would make people curious about it. Or in the best case, these posts would help them.
Why even bother to dream? The beginning…
It felt sober when I saw that no one actually read it, not even my friends. So, I ask myself why am I doing this? At this moment, a huge wave of doubt struck me. I was doubting myself, in my writing skills, and even in the self-improvement topics overall. Most of my blog post was born during the summer. When I sat in my local Starbucks to work on it, my friends were having fun. They went to the beach, some were dining out or they are just chilling at the Spree river in Berlin.
I felt really depressed because I sacrifice my short-term pleasure for my long-term success. And here I have a question that until now no one could answer me. When do I change my direction and when do I stick to this way? As you now understand, I was just impatient. Moreover, I was ignorant or even arrogant to think that a small blog like this would be successful in one year. But I did not know any better.
Who am I that could compete with the big boys?
When I realized that my businesses and my blog lacked something, I researched. I researched for guides and tutorials to hit me off. Also, I went to forums to see how my fellow blogger’s achievements. I should not do that. Because I saw that they were much more successful than I am. Some were making money out of this blog, some have daily views of 2000 readers. By comparing me with them, I felt more down and doubtful. Besides, I realized that all my work was not enough. When I read about how professional bloggers do, I felt really small. They put much more effort. Not only were their posts amazing, the title captivating, and the reader engagement high. They also work on promotion and advertisement. So, their effort was much higher than mine. At that moment, I had no time or money for that.
Unsurprisingly, comparing the beginning of my blog with the big boys has an impact on my consistency. I worked less. Because I felt overwhelmed and unapproved of the things I had done so far.
Ego ruins everything
That is how it seems to go. We are never happy with what we have, we want what others have too. Success, money, power, fame. We always want to have more than everyone else. Also, we start out knowing what is important to us, but once we have achieved it, we lose sight of our priorities. Because any small successes overwhelm us with an ego push. It makes us think that we are the best in the world. Naively, we believe in it and it is blinding us why we started at all.
But why do we do this? Ego leads to envy and undermines greatness by deluding its holder. Most of us begin with a clear idea of what we want in life. We actually know what is important to us. The success we achieve, especially if it comes early or in abundance, puts us in an unusual place. Because now, all of a sudden, we are in a new place and have trouble keeping our bearings.
The farther you travel down the path of accomplishment the more often you meet other successful people who make you feel insignificant. It does not matter how well you are doing, your ego and their accomplishments make you feel like nothing. Just as others make them feel the same way. It is a cycle that goes on infinite.
How to keep your consistency high – Find the Purpose and the Why
This feeling was nerve-wracking to my mental health. I was always stressed and I was impatient. Sadly, my friends and family were suffering from it. So, I thought a lot about it. In other words, I rewired my brain. Why am I doing this? Is it because of money? No, not really. It is a nice idea but not my primary goal. Is it because I need approval? No, I do whatever I want regardless of people’s approval. So, what is the reason for doing this? And it struck me like thunder! Even though, I knew it all along, realizing it once again makes many things clear.
I put myself at risk and short-term pleasure without sight of success for my future family. Also, I want to help people. Since redefining the why and my purpose, things change quickly. I do not feel stressed anymore. And moreover, I enjoy my work much more. The pressure to succeed is still there but it is mostly overwhelmed by the peer pleasure of just doing my things. And until now I love it.
So, if you feel down and stuck by comparing yourself with others or your ego, remind yourself again and again of your purpose.
Summary – How to keep your consistency high
Many people start for various reasons. It is for power, money, love, or fame, it does not matter. As a result, if we are clear of our purpose we run our projects, business, or whatever for different reasons. For example, some are running a blog for money, I run my blog to help people. In this case, it would be stupid to compare. Why should I compare the monthly income of that blog with mine? When my blog is measured by the people I helped? We are running different races.
And this is applied to every kind of your project. Only you know the race you are running. And this thought calms you immensely. It is like you make a race without competitors. Of course, it might slow your passion down. But if you concentrate on how far you can drive, instead of who is first, it keeps your consistency high. And this is the secret to how to keep your consistency high. Find your purpose, compare your progress with yourself in the past and just take action.
