People often ask me ‘what’s the best exercise to do?’ or “which diet works?” And I don’t have one definitive answer, because at Fitfish our focus is not to get people to their ‘target weight’ or to promote the latest health fad. Instead, we want to help people be healthier, whole, and free to fulfil God’s purpose and potential for them.

I really believe that whatever your goals and whatever you do, it’s small consistent action that matters and helps people to change their lives. And here are 3 reasons why consistency is so effective for making real and lasing changes:

1. Consistency delivers results. I’ve seen results with consistency, both for myself and for other people I’ve helped.  ‘Little and often’ really does work. Committing to do as little as 12 minutes exercise a day, or making small changes with your diet, or your bedtime or morning routines can really make a difference. And because they’re small things, you are more likely to stick with them. For example, you’re more likely to sustain 12 minutes of exercise a day at home than 4 hour-long sessions a week at the gym, but the results could be quite similar, because when you’re being consistent with lots of small things, they all add up to the bigger picture. And exactly what you do is not as important as doing whatever it is daily.
2. Consistency puts ‘votes into the right box’. Who is the person that you want to become and what does that ‘healthier you’ look like? The more consistent you are with taking actions that align with that ‘future you’, then the more likely you are to become that person. Each small action you take now helps to decide your longer-term consistent behaviour: it is a ‘vote in the box’ for your future healthy self.  
3. Consistency changes your trajectory. Making lasting changes is all about changing slowly, by making multiple, small ‘course corrections’, which, when put together, set you on a new and better trajectory. And making changes in this this way avoids those big bumps and dips or fits and starts which can leave you feeling all over the place. Tiny, consistent changes in time will change your path and take you to a different place. And because the changes are gradual you don’t notice as much; they become part of your journey and that makes them far more likely to stick.

Whatever it is that you want to change; whether it’s changing certain eating behaviours, sticking to a slightly earlier bedtime, getting up a bit earlier, reading your Bible, increasing your exercise, or something else, committing to do a little of it each day will help you to make the change for good.

This Friday, 29^th October at 8pm, we are hosting ‘An Evening with Fitfish and Corin Pilling’ from Sanctuary Mental Health Ministries. Corin will be sharing some thoughts on looking after ourselves and sustaining our wellbeing, and I’ll be sharing 7 ways to make new habits happen. You can sign up here – we’d love you to come and join us.