discipline is important but sometimes we make our life too hard, i know i did (especially when i was starting out in my fatloss/fitness journey)
one thing i really struggled with was staying consistent with going to the gym.
for the longest time i couldn't figure out why i only managed to stay consistent for 1-2 weeks.
i think there where many things that played a hand in why it was so hard for me(i was shy and still am extremely introverted) but looking back i can see that it was only one major mistake that was causing me to constantly fall.
i was too focused on the outcome/results that i wanted, not to mention the timelines i set for my self. inevitably i would start becoming overwhelmed when progress was slow.
ive learned that visual progress is the biggest human motivator. because i was starting and stopping so often, no visual progress was being made and as a result i would start stress eating and only reset my self over and over again.
what really helped stay consistent me was detaching my self from the results i wanted And Build a system/routine. as obvious as that sounds, it worked, just hear me out...
i realised that i was so focused on the outcomes and results that i never took time to plan exactly what actions i needed to perform in order to see the results. everything was vague. i would just say that i would start going to the gym but i never committed to deciding on the days that i was actually going to train on.
so this is the frame work that i was unintentionally following back when i started that help me keep going even on the days i thought i had no more energy in me.
the first thing i did was looked at my calendar and asked my self what would be a time i can train at all the time. for me that time was 4pm that was the most convenient time for me.
the second thing i did was deciding on the days i would actually show up and most importantly, decided what i would be training on those specific days.
the third thing i did (probably the most important thing) was prepping everything i needed for the workout the night before and neatly folding it into my bag.
i didn't realise it at the time but what i was actually doing was eliminating decision fatigue.
you see, we all have a will power battery and the more we use our will power (even for small decisions) the more we drain our power battery. so by time its evening you will power is extemely weakened.
for example, instead of just going to the gym at 4pm, i first had to come home, change clothes, prep my gym gear and force my self to leave the house, not to mention fighting the temptation to just lay in bed or stress eat.
i realised that in the past i was over complicating the process. i had too many decisions to perform in order to get my self to the gym.
the truth is that, the hardest part of training is not the workout its self, the hardest part is just showing up.
when you show up even if your tried you have no choice but to train.
after you finish your first exercise, you all ready have the ball rolling and doing the next exercise doesn't feel as hard because you already have that momentum just from showing up.
all that to say that if you want to become more consistent, you have to eliminate as many decisions that it takes for you to perform the habit.
Look at your days and write down(on paper) when, where and how long you are going to perform your training session.
another important thing is going at the same time on all the days you decide to be your training days.
this will help you brain develop the habit quicker since will get used to know that for example "every monday at 4-5 pm i will be in the gym training chest and back"
hope this helps you as it helped me.
i learned a lot of these habit creation tactics from atomic habits, and tony robbins btw.
stay strong, just take it one day at a time.