Cut yourself some slack

I’m currently on Day 5 of a 28 Day Writing Challenge, but I’ve been procrastinating on my tasks all day long.

I couldn’t get any studying done, nor get any writing done. The only thing I did the whole day was to watch Australian Open highlights and YouTube.

I had to push myself to post something today, as I don’t want to break my writing streak. I knew that consistency is the key to progress. Repetition is more important than perfection.

However, this constant pursuit of consistency can also be dangerous. It traps us into the all-or-nothing mindset.

What is the all-or-nothing mindset?

If you want to make progress, aiming for consistency is better than aiming for perfection.

However, perfection can rear it’s ugly head when it comes to consistency too; when you obsess over being flawlessly consistent.

For example:

• If you’re trying to lose weight, not sticking to your diet once might make you want to scrape it all together.
• If you’re trying to exercise more, you might feel down if you can’t get your workouts in when life gets crazy.
• If you’re trying to quit smoking, relapsing once might make you want to start smoking again.

The truth is, humans are full of flaws. We make mistakes; life gets crazy. There are some days where you just can’t show up.

The solution to this all-or-nothing mindset is to cut yourself some slack. Research has shown that missing a single day has no impact on habit building.

Instead of aiming for perfect consistency, aim for progress. Just because you failed once doesn’t mean all your progress has gone to waste. It’s still there.

Whether you like it or not, there will be days where you can’t show up. The trick to progress is to plan for failure and know what to do to get back on track when things don’t work out.

Cut yourself some slack, take a rest, and make it up tomorrow.

P.S. I’m cutting myself some slack today, this article is one I’ve had drafted for quite some time, so I decided to post a rough draft, cut myself some slack, watch a movie, and get some rest.