The Key to Consistency

I follow the Sattva Meditation technique which means I’m supposed to meditate 20 minutes a day… 

In reality I do 10 minutes per day and I’m ok with that. Why? Because I’m a busy human and 20 minutes didn’t feel doable to me and not just in the “I have resistance to meditating 20 minutes per day”, instead in the way that “there’s no way I’m going to fit in 20 minutes everyday and if I try I’m just going to fail, so best to give up now,” kind of way. 

I didn’t want to fail. 


I wanted to meditate consistently, daily, because I know it’s good for my body, brain, and wellbeing. 

So I asked myself, “if 20 minutes feels like an impossible task, what amount of time feels doable?” 

The answer for me is 10 minutes. 


10 minutes of daily meditation feels very doable to me and I have proof because as I write this I’m on day 204 of meditation. That’s 204 consecutive-days-in-a-row of sitting my butt down and meditating for 10 minutes (or more)! 


Side note, in case you’re wondering, “How busy are you really?” Honestly, pretty busy. I teach two adult yoga classes and one preschool yoga class every week, plus lead occasional yoga teacher training sessions. I run my own coaching business, do my own books (aka accounting), write weekly emails & blog posts, meet with 3-4 private clients a week plus my weekly journaling group AND I have a 20 hour per week part time day job that’s hybrid, so it means I go into an office once or twice a week as well as work from home. Plus I have a teenager, a husband, and two adorable needy cats. I love to cook, read, journal, take yoga, go on hikes, and get Boba tea with my family. All of those things take time so my weeks feel very very full. So it’s understandable that 20 minutes a day of meditation felt like too much to me. 


So getting back to this consistency I created...

this can apply to SO MANY OTHER THINGS. 

Get curious. Asking questions and starting super duper small. In full honesty my meditation practice didn’t just start with 10 minutes a day. Oh no, I was doing 3-5 minutes per day before that and not as consistently as I wanted. 

The key to consistency is experimentation and patience. 


What works for me might not work exactly the same for you AND my experience can help you figure out what DOES work for you. 


What’s something you’ve been wanting to do more consistently? Maybe it’s journaling, maybe it’s cooking more, maybe it’s just taking a walk with your kid or your partner once a week. 

It might even be something you’ve NEVER done before but you’ve always wanted to try. What might that thing be? Pick one, the first thing that pops into your head even if it sounds ridiculous (especially if it sounds ridiculous, those ridiculous crazy things that your inner critic shoots down immediately are often the key to what’s holding you back). 


So what’s the one thing for you? Write it down on paper. 

I want to ____________________ (fill in the blank with that thing that popped in). 

Ok, now that you know what the thing is, ask yourself how much time do I need to do that thing? The number that pops in might feel impossible. That’s ok, we’re going to break it down further in just a bit, to make it more doable. Take a deep breath and then write down the time that popped in your head. 

I’ll need _____________ minutes/hours/days to do ___________________________. 

Great! Now let’s make it feel more doable. 

What’s one much smaller thing you can do that gets you closer to doing what you want to do? For me that looked like downloading a meditation app. (if you are wanting to meditate I highly highly recommend the Insight Timer App, super easy to use, and I’ve got a few meditations on there too). 

______________________________ is one small task/step that brings me closer towards what I to do. 

Now guess what, you get to do the thing, so ask yourself when will I do that small task/step?

I will do my one small task/step by ____________________________ (insert date/time here)

When I do this one small task/step I will celebrate by (circle the one that sounds most fun to you) giving myself a high five in the mirror, shout woo hooo!, text my bff, do a victory lap around my living room, or _________________ (fill in your simple celebration here). 

You’ve got this, I know that you do! 


Now just rinse and repeat. As you succeed and feel good with your small task/steps add another one as appropriate. You can repeat the same tiny step like opening your meditation app, staring at it for 30 seconds, setting down your phone, and celebrating with a high-five. It really is that simple. Keep it small, keep it doable. 

Frustration is your friend here. Any time it pops up, ask yourself, what’s frustrating about this? The answer might surprise you. Maybe you can’t stand the voice of the meditation app (true story) or your journal is so ugly you don’t ever want to open it. That’s important information so that you can make small shifts and changes until one day you’ll look back and see that you’ve meditated for 204 days in a row!!! You’ll be so stoked and surprised because when you started this journey you never would have thought that was possible. 

Journaling Prompt: What’s one thing you want to do more consistently or start for the first time? 


​P.S. The Early Bird Discount for my workshop Empowerment Off the Plate ends on August 12th. Save some moola and Learn more here.

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