How to Build Consistency: Practical Steps to Stick to Your Goals
The unglamorous habit that changes everything
Being consistent is essential if you want to achieve anything meaningful. Building a business, training for a marathon, maintaining relationships, creating art, all of it requires showing up regularly, even when you don’t feel like it.
The problem is that consistency sounds boring. It’s not sexy. There’s no viral moment in “I showed up every single day for six months.” Nobody makes inspirational posters about doing the same thing over and over again.
But consistency is the difference between the life you want and the life you have.
I’ve failed at consistency more times than I can count. I’ve started running programs and quit after two weeks. I’ve begun writing projects that died after the initial excitement wore off. I’ve promised myself I’d change, then gave up the moment it got hard.
But over the last few years, I’ve learned something: Consistency isn’t about willpower or motivation. It’s about building a system that makes showing up easier than not showing up. And it starts with a few simple principles.
Start Small (Seriously, Smaller Than That)
This is where most people fail. They get excited about a new goal and immediately go all in. They decide to run every day, work on their business every evening, read for two hours before bed, and completely transform their lives by next month.
Then reality hits. They’re exhausted after three days. The initial motivation fades. The habit feels like a burden instead of something they want to do. So they quit and tell themselves, “I guess I’m just not disciplined enough.”
But the problem wasn’t discipline. The problem was starting too big.
When I began running seriously, I didn’t start with 10 km runs. I started with 2 km, three times a week. It felt almost embarrassingly small. But those small runs didn’t burn me out. They didn’t create a negative association with running. They just became part of my routine.
Start with actions so small they feel almost trivial:
Reading: 5 pages per day (not a chapter, not 30 minutes, just 5 pages)
Running: 2 km for the first month (yes, the entire first month)
Business work: 1 hour, twice a week (not every evening, just twice)
Writing: 200 words (not a full article, just a few paragraphs)
The goal isn’t to achieve massive results immediately. The goal is to build the habit of showing up. Once showing up is automatic, you can increase the intensity. But if you burn out in week one, you never get there.
Small, consistent steps prevent burnout and make it easier to stick with the habit long enough for it to actually matter.
Focus on the Process, Not Each Individual Session
Here’s something I had to learn the hard way: one bad session doesn’t ruin your progress.
It’s easy to judge yourself harshly after a “bad” session:
“I only read 2 pages today instead of 5.”
“I just ran 1 km because I felt tired.”
“I only worked on my project for 30 minutes.”
But one short or imperfect session doesn’t define your progress.
What defines your progress is whether you showed up at all.
Even 20 minutes in the gym is better than skipping it entirely. Even one page of reading is better than zero. Even a terrible 1 km run where you felt like crap the whole time still counts as showing up.
Consistency is built over weeks and months, not in individual sessions.
When I look back at my running journey, I don’t remember the specific runs. I don’t remember which ones felt amazing and which ones felt terrible. What I remember is that I kept going. The individual quality didn’t matter. The pattern mattered.
Focus on showing up consistently, not on being perfect every single time.
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Make It Easy (Remove the Friction)
Your environment either supports your habits or works against them. Most people rely on motivation and willpower, which are unreliable.
Instead, design your environment to make consistency the path of least resistance.
Remove friction from your habits. Make starting so easy you’d feel ridiculous not doing it.
Keep your running shoes by the door so you see them every time you leave
Set up a comfortable desk for work or writing so you actually want to sit there
Place books on your nightstand or coffee table where you’ll see them daily
Prep your gym bag the night before so you can just grab it and go
When I decided to write regularly for this Substack, I didn’t rely on motivation. I created a setup that made writing easier than not writing. My laptop is always open. My notes are always accessible. I don’t have to “set up” to write, I just start.
The easier it is to begin, the more likely you’ll actually do it. And the more you do it, the more consistent you become.
Share Your Progress or Join a Community
Consistency is easier when you’re not doing it alone.
Support, accountability, and community boost consistency in ways that willpower never can. When you share your progress with others, even small wins, you create external accountability and internal motivation.
Find your people:
Join a running group if you’re training
Find a co-working space if you’re building a business
Join an online writing community if you’re creating content
Share your progress on social media (even if it’s just “Day 30 of showing up”)
I didn’t get consistent with running until I started sharing my progress. Not because I needed external validation, but because saying “I ran today” made it real. It reinforced the identity: I’m someone who runs.
You don’t need a huge audience. You just need some form of acknowledgment that you’re doing the thing. It creates a sense of belonging to something bigger than yourself.
And when the motivation dips (and it will), that community or accountability structure keeps you going when you’d otherwise quit.
Never Skip Twice
This is the rule that saved my consistency more than any other.
As James Clear points out in Atomic Habits, skipping a habit once is normal and human. Life happens. You get sick, you travel, you have an emergency. Missing one day doesn’t break a habit.
But skipping twice starts a new habit: the habit of skipping.
Our brains adapt quickly. If you skip once and then skip again, your brain begins to recognize a pattern. Before you know it, skipping becomes the default response whenever motivation is low or life gets slightly inconvenient.
One miss is a hiccup. Two misses is the beginning of quitting.
I’ve tested this rule over and over. When I miss a run and then force myself to run the next day (even if it’s shorter or slower), I stay consistent. When I miss a run and then allow myself to skip again “just this once,” I lose the habit entirely within a week.
The rule isn’t about perfection. It’s about never letting momentum fully die. Keep the streak alive, even if you have to do the absolute minimum version of the habit.
Run 1 km instead of 5. Write 50 words instead of 500. Read one page instead of five. Just don’t skip twice.
The Unsexy Truth
Consistency isn’t about intensity. It’s not about motivation or inspiration or having your life perfectly together.
It’s about showing up repeatedly, even when you don’t feel like it. Especially when you don’t feel like it.
Start small. Make it easy. Track your progress. Don’t skip twice.
Over time, these small, boring, unglamorous steps compound into lasting results. Not because each individual action is impressive, but because the pattern becomes who you are.
You don’t “try” to be consistent. You just become the person who shows up.
And once you’re that person, everything changes.
Thanks for sticking with me through this one. If you’re going through something similar, or have your own experience with this, drop a comment. I read every one. — David
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Great succinct tips David - helpful reminder.
I've read and love Atomic Habits & its uncanny how the tip of actually putting out what it is you want to work on (whether shoes etc) works.
All the best & keep on, Jim
A great article, David.
Filled with many of my favorite nuggets, consistency and don't skip twice some of the biggest ones.