You’ve heard it before: consistency is key.
But let’s be honest – most people don’t live that way. We’re all fired up with a purpose – start a new plan, buy new gym gear, vow this time will be different – and life happens. Work gets busy. Stirring dips. One missed workout turns into three.
Before long, we start “again.”
Here’s a truth most people don’t want to hear: You don’t need a good plan. You just need to show up. As often as possible. That is the whole secret.
Consistency always beats perfection.
1. Stop waiting for perfect conditions
There can never be a good week to start training. You will never have more time, energy, or motivation.
I can’t tell you how many workouts I’ve done when I felt tired, stressed, or completely unstoppable. But I’ve never regretted showing up.
If you only train when you feel like it, you will never build momentum.
If you show up or don’t feel like it, you will build discipline – and discipline becomes automatic over time.
The easiest way to make sure you are working regularly? Just put it on your calendar as another priority. That way you don’t even have to think about it.
2. Shrink the goal until you can even
Many people give up because they make their goals too big. I can’t tell you how many times I hear things like:
“I will work six days a week.”
“I will absolutely eat.”
“I will never jump again.”
That kind of All-or-Nataze Extalset sounds like us can help motivate you, but it’s actually setting you up for failure.
Instead, make the barrier lower.
If your goal is to work out every day, start with 12 minutes three times a week. If you strive for a healthy diet, aim for one home-cooked meal. Make it so small it’s impossible not to.
When you hit that small goal over and over again, your brain starts craving a streak. Building trust in yourself. And from there, you can always add more.
This is the essence of the 12 athlete philosophy – something beats nothing, every time.
3. Anchor your habit to something you already have
Relying on Willpower alone is a losing proposition.
The most consistent people are not dependent on stimulation – they design their nature to do the same automatically.
Here it is:
Enter your habit. Do your workout right after something you already do every day – like brushing your teeth, making coffee, or dropping your kids off.
Set the indicators. Lay out your workout clothes the night before. Keep your line or pull bar in plain sight.
Eliminate conflict. Have a few over-the-top workouts ready to go (like your 12A 12 favorites) so you don’t waste energy deciding what to do.
If you make the habit easy to start, you remove 90% of the resistance.
4. Calculated redefining
So many people slow down their progress because they think consistency means it’s never bad.
That’s absolute perfection stepping in the back door.
True consistency is about the average of your actions over time, not a flawless streak.
If you miss a day, don’t go. Just start again. The best athletes, musicians, and creatives don’t succeed because they’re perfect – they succeed because they recover quickly.
Here is the rule I live by: never miss twice.
If you skip Monday, go back on Tuesday.
If you go on vacation, eat one solid meal when you get home.
No offense. NO ALL-NO-NOTHING. Just come back to the basics.
That’s what builds momentum – and momentum is where the magic happens.
5. Focus on ownership, not results
If you keep trying to find a fit, you’ll always chase a moving target. But when you start to see yourself as an athlete – someone who trains, moves, and takes care of their body – then it becomes part of who you are.
This transition changes everything.
When you target like an athlete, you don’t rely on motivation to work – it’s what you do. You move your body because it makes you feel stronger and alive, not because you’re chasing after the result.
TRY THIS: When you find yourself saying, “I have to be successful,” change it to “I’m a coach.”
Linguistic identity. Action for ID show.
6. Learn to love the process
Consistency becomes easier when you stop focusing on the finish line.
There is no “after” image in real life – it’s a continuous process of being.
The truth is, I’ve been coaching for ten years, and I still have days when I don’t feel like myself. But I’ve learned to love the act of showing off – the sweat, the challenge, the sense of control it gives me.
That’s what keeps me going. Not some perfect pursuit of mine, but a daily practice of hard work.
Workout is not the goal. Who you become through Workout.
7. Remember why
Change is easy when it’s focused on something deeper than “should.”
Why do you train?
Feeling strong? Clearing your head? Feeling alive in your body?
When your “why” connects with how you want to live and how you want to be, it becomes fuel. You get it on days when your motivation disappears – because there is no more physical fitness. It’s about being proud of it.
Don’t aim to be perfect
Perfection is possible.
You don’t need more time, or motivation, or a good plan. You just need to start – and keep starting, over and over again.
Because fitness, like life, is not about the Ever Dow Track. It’s about building the kind of resilience that allows you to come back stronger every time.
So if today is perfect, great. You don’t have to be.
Set a timer for 12 minutes. Move your body.
And remember: Consistency equals perfection – always.
