The Consistency Formula – Suzi Sung

“Consistency is one of the key components when it comes to reaching your goals because when you are consistent, you will keep doing something regardless of wat is going on around you.“

I absolutely know that one of my own big problems with pursuing any goal is a lack of consistency. Even when I feel absolutely motivated, the number of times something comes up to break a fledgling habit, and next thing I know weeks have passed… I don’t like it of myself. So a book called The Consistency Formula had huge appeal!

I’d love to say I found the magic spell here, but of course it doesn’t even exist. However, this is a well-written, lovely-toned little book that at least tries. It covers the main areas getting in the way, including self-doubt and procrastination. The first chapter is about inconsistency, a very brief look at why we might struggle.

We move on from that to the comfort zone, and how challenging it is to leave. I think there’s an additional point to be made here that sometimes life’s stresses – and boy are we jointly living through more than a few of those right now! – make this even harder. But also true that that falling back into old ruts is about staying put here.

If you want different, you have to do different.

The last step before we hit the ‘how to’ kind of stuff is called ‘Ego’. I like the tone here, it’s very reassuring that basically you have an inbuild self-defence against risk and so will come up with all kinds of great-sounding excuses not to build the habit you (think/said) you want.

So, all in all, there’s a lot of mental chatter that’s probably getting in your way more than you think. The discussion on these is decent, if brief.

Doing just 1% of something is better than doing 20% of nothing.

And so onto ‘The Formula’! Again, it’s pretty brief and while solid advice it’s not magic – a lot of it boils down to the same ‘figure out your goals’ as if that simple statement doesn’t mask a hugely complex question! This book does attempt to hand-hold you through it all a bit, which is about as much as I think you can ask. Thinking about your goals, setting plans, and then some exercises to help. Again, though, it’s a lot of ‘do this’ and not necessarily going to work: “break down your goal into smaller goals” sounds great, and yes true, but…!

I might sound a little down on it all, but genuinely I feel it’s about as much as you can hope for. If there really was a magic formula, we wouldn’t need hundreds of books on the same topic! This one has a lot going for it in that busy field: it’s short enough not to go all a-waffling like most do. The advice is simple, if not easy, and there’s nothing ‘wrong’ with any of it. The tone is friendly but professional, and stays on the encouraging (not berating) side.

As ever, what you can take from a book like this is entirely on you. This approach might work more or less for you than others, but if it’s something you think might help then at least there’s no harm in giving the book a go.

Me? Yes, there are useful tips here, and I might even go back for a re-read. And I’ll keep trying – which is maybe as much as I can ask!

It doesn’t matter how little you’ve done; if it’s the best you can do for today, then it’s enough!

NetGalley eARC: 93 pages / 8 chapters
First published: July 2022
Series: none 
Read from 6th-7th September 2022

My rating: 7/10

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