Alcohol is the nemesis of consistency

There is a general understanding now in the business and self-help world that there is no secret sauce, silver bullet when it boils down to success. No one can argue that consistency over prolonged periods of time is a proven method to achieve your goals, set the right goals and you will get the success you planned for.

"It's not what you do once in a while that shapes our lives, but what we do consistently."

Tony Robbins, author, businessman and coach to many legends including Obama. 

Love him or hate him, he knows a thing or two about success. I prefer this one from Jim Rohn.

"Success is neither magical nor mysterious. It's the natural consequence of consistently applying basic fundamentals." - Jim Rohn

I also know this to be true, I have been working at my fitness for close to a decade now and due to consistency, I believe to have a base level much higher than many people half my age, but it did not come from an 8 week programme it came from a consistent effort over a prolonged period of time. 

The same can be said for nutrition, and for business it is not the juice cleanse or the podcast that changes the dial it is the daily diet choices you make and the monotonous grind. You must prepare to say the same thing, do the same thing and not feel progress for longer than feels comfortable, before you actually get anywhere.

The nemesis of consistency is alcohol. How many times have you started your week off slowly due to one too many glasses of wine with your Sunday lunch or blagged your way through a Friday due to a few beers after work on a Thursday. 

How many times have you eaten poorly or chosen not to train because of alcohol, how many times have you put something off, or cancelled something last minute because you did not feel great due to the effects of alcohol.

The irony is in most instances you frame the drink as some sort of reward - however what if you reframed it - every time you drink you are stopping momentum, you are halting progress and how long will it take for the fog to clear and momentum to build again... only for the cycle to be repeated. If you are serious about achieving your goals, can you honestly keep justifying that Friday night bottle of wine?

Once I removed alcohol from my life - I was able to own my consistency not just my habits but my mood around execution, no more excuses.

Being more consistent with your habits, feeds into your happiness and indeed your mood, you get a sense of achievement, of self-respect, you hold your head up high, it just makes you a better version of yourself, a better Dad, husband, business partner, boss and colleague - a better human.