"Just be consistent."

By now, you've heard this advice at least a million times—from entrepreneurs, athletes, experts, coaches, and even humble newsletter writers.

And they're all absolutely right.

Consistency is the difference maker. The one common thread behind every major success story.

But here's the problem: No one ever tells you how to be consistent—and let’s be honest, it’s easier said than done.

Life gets chaotic. Motivation fades. Discipline wavers. Consistency breaks.

Fortunately, I've spent hundreds of hours thinking about this exact problem—and I've distilled that thinking into a short list of practical strategies to help anyone become more consistent.

Here are 7 strategies that actually work...

1. Every day is easier than most days.

The mistake a lot of people make is that they think they'll be able to be more consistent by taking a few days off here and there, when in reality, that actually makes it more difficult.

This is a counterintuitive truth:

It's easier to do something every single day than it is to do something most days.

Every day becomes an identity. It's a routine, a lifestyle, a structure, a schedule. It's daily evidence of who you really are.

Every day is easier than most days.

2. Fire in the act, grace in the amount.

To do something every single day, you need a unique approach.

Traditional wisdom says you have to choose between:

1. Holding your feet to the fire (i.e. pushing yourself); and
2. Giving yourself grace (i.e. being understanding about slips)

In my experience, the best approach for consistency is actually a hybrid:

Hold yourself to the fire when it comes to the act, but give yourself grace when it comes to the amount.

In other words, make sure you do the thing, but don't worry about how much of the thing you do.

This approach gives you the flexibility to adapt to the natural chaos of life without breaking the streak, recognizing that anything above zero compounds.

Functionally, I approach this with my ABC System:

• A Goal: Most ambitious, perfect case
• B Goal: Middle ground, base case
• C Goal: Minimum viable level, downside case

On days when you feel great, you hit your A Goal. On days when you feel ok (most days!), you hit your B Goal. On days when you feel bad, you hit your C Goal.

Fire in the act, grace in the amount.

3. Mornings are your cheat code.

Here's the truth: Willpower fades with energy throughout the day.

It's much easier to take something on first thing in the morning than it is to take it on after work in the evening. Mornings are also less susceptible to being derailed by the unforeseen chaos that life inevitably throws at us.

The hardest part of building consistency in any new arena is the first 10 days, so you need to stack the deck in your favor for that challenging period.

Plan to execute your daily action early in the day and it'll be much more likely to stick.

Mornings are your cheat code.

4. Harness the power of peer accountability.

Reflecting on the last 20 years of my life, a single factor determined my success or failure at sticking with any new endeavor:

Peer accountability.

The harsh reality is that consistency is lonely. Few will support you on the path. In fact, you will probably lose friends as you grow.

But it's hard to do things alone. Having one person with whom you can take on the challenge makes all the difference.

Find one accountability partner for your consistency journey.

Create a "Consistency Chat" where the sole purpose is to message "DONE" when you complete your one action for the day. Having one person to keep you accountable makes all the difference.

Harness the power of peer accountability.

5. Use progressive overload to build the muscle.

A huge mistake I see people make is that they try to go from 0 to 100 on a lifestyle change:

• You're trying to get consistent with your workouts, so you commit to an hour per day.
• You're trying to get consistent with your morning routine, so you jump from an 8am wake up to a 4am wake up.
• You're trying to get consistent with your reading and writing practice, so you plan on two hours per day.

Even worse, than try to go from 0 to 100 on multiple new lifestyle changes at once.

This is a recipe for failure.

Imagine the lifestyle change as a muscle: You can't bench press 10 pound dumbbells one day, then grab the 100 pound dumbbells the next day and expect it to go well. You're going to fail, get discouraged, and quit.

Instead, use Progressive Overload, a strength training principle of slowly adding "load" to the muscle to spark its growth:

• Want to build a workout habit? Start with 15 minutes daily for a week. Then 20 minutes for a week, then 25 minutes for a week, and so on.
• Want to become a morning person? Start by going to bed and waking up 15 minutes earlier than normal for a week. Add 15 minutes each week until you get to your desired time.
• Want to get consistent with reading or writing? Start with 5 minutes daily for a week. Then 10 minutes for a week, then 15 minutes for a week, and so on.

As a rule, only focus on one new lifestyle change at a time.

You don't need to change your life in a day, but if you slowly change your days, you'll eventually change your life.

Use progressive overload to build the muscle.

6. Never try to make up for a miss.

Inevitably, you're going to have a miss. A day when nothing goes according to plan. A day when you aren't even able to hit your C Goal. It's ok. It happens.

The key to bouncing back: Stop punishing yourself for the miss.

Highly ambitious people have a tendency to try to "make up for" the miss—they tell themselves they have to do 2x tomorrow in order to compensate for the off day today.

Interestingly, this noble tendency actually pushes you further away from your goal: You're more likely to be mentally and physically exhausted following the overexertion, causing you to miss again in the days to come.

Don't punish yourself, just get back to it.

Never try to make up for a miss.

7. Focus on the trend, not the position.

As you try to build consistency, there's a constant pull to compare your current position to everyone around you.

But doing so is a complete waste of time and energy. Every ounce of energy you spend comparing your position to others is an ounce that could have been spent on execution.

On your consistency journey, your position is much more important than your trend.

Consider the simple visual below:

If you focus on a point in time, you'd say that Position B is worse off, but zoom out and you'd recognize that you'd much rather be in Position B than Position A.

The trend is built through the daily deposits—controllable factors which create momentum you can build upon.

Focus on the trend, not the position.

Just Keep Showing Up

Consistency isn’t about perfection—it’s about managing your imperfection to achieve the things you want.

It’s not glamorous. It’s not easy. But it’s what separates those who talk about their dreams from those who actually go out and live them.

So show up.

Show up when it’s hard. Show up when it’s messy. Show up when no one’s watching. Show up when you don't feel like it. Show up when the rewards are uncertain.

Just show up.

You can never bet against the person who just keeps showing up.