As the excitement of the new year fades and the initial burst of motivation dwindles, many of us find it hard to keep up with the goals we were once so excited to commit to. Unpredictable weather, long winters, and the challenge of maintaining routines amidst busy lives can easily derail us.

It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking that every workout has to be flawless, or that if we miss a day—or even a week—we’ve failed. We look at elite athletes or fitness influencers on our phone assuming they somehow are able to execute every day perfectly and must just have it better than us. In reality – they don’t. They get sick, they take rest days, and they have to cut workouts short occasionally. However, those days are the exception for them, not the rule. The key to consistency is making the process of showing up your normal. When showing up outweighs the missed days that we all inevitably face, you’ve started to perfect the imperfect art of consistency.

A few tips to encourage consistency in your fitness journey:

- On your most unmotivated of days, try the 10-minute rule. Go to the gym, out for a run, or whatever it is, and commit to just 10 minutes. If at the end of the 10 minutes, you still are feeling as crummy and unmotivated as before, give yourself permission to call it a day. More often than not, however, you’ll probably just decide to keep going.

- Find a friend! Letting our workout buddies down never feels good. Find that person you always meet up with on Saturday mornings for your long run or every Monday morning for yoga.

- Make a game out of it to get going. If your goal is to go to the gym 4 times a week, keep track of your consistency on your calendar or an app. For every week you hit your goal, treat yourself to a coffee or whatever it is you love. After a while, you’ll feel rewarded by the accomplishment itself, and that consistency will feel less difficult to achieve.

So, as we move further into 2025, I want to encourage you to let go of perfection and instead, embrace consistency. In fact, maybe consistency should have been the goal all along! You’ve got this!