Committing to regular practice will help you reach your goals

Are you ready to bring something new into your life: a career, hobby, side job or self-improvement practice, but have a hard time committing? The key is to make it a habit. With any habit, repetition is necessary to establish a regular practice. The following steps will help you achieve long-term sucess toward your goal:

1. Make a Commitment

In order to get from point A to point B, you need to commit that you’ll do the work. A commitment is necessary to establish time and space to your new practice, no matter how inconvenient or hard it gets – not unlike a relationship or marriage. Whether you feel like giving up, or you’re having a rough day, a commitment to your new habit will help you show up day after day to work on your goal.

2. Carve out Time

In order to show up to do the work, you need to carve out the time and space in your schedule to do so. Even if it’s a half-hour a day, commit to a designated time so that you will show up everyday to do the work. Even writing one page a day will bring you a 365-page book at the end of one year, and voilà: you’ve finally written a first draft of that novel or memoir.

3. Let Things Go

To find the time and energy for your new habit, you need to let something go in your life. What are one or two things you could do without? Perhaps it’s watching that TV show or going out with coworkers. Before feeling overwhelmed and burnt out with your added habit, make sure you have ample space for it in your life.

4. Take it Slow

There’s no race to the finish line. All you need to do is commit to the work, show up and try your best. Of course if you have a rush of inspiration – go with it! But forcing yourself to get to a certain point in a short period of time is a recipe for burnout and quitting. Know that sometimes the best things in life unravel slowly and take time; so rather than setting unrealistic expectations and goals for yourself, simply commit to your practice or habit regularly to reach your goal.

5. Be Compassionate with Yourself

On that same foot, don’t expect to gain success overnight or see an influx of money in the short-term. These things take time. Like many successful people today will say, the road wasn’t easy for them. Oprah got fired from her job as a news anchor. Jim Carey was flat broke before Dumb and Dumber. It was their passion and dedication to their work that got them there – their habit and practice to keep on keepin’ on until they reached their goal. In short: don’t expect anything. Simply do your best, show up everyday, and the rest will take care of itself.