Asher's Blog

Over the last thirty-something days since the beginning of the year, I made a few intentional decisions, and for the most part, I’ve been surprisingly consistent with them.

Some of those commitments were simple but demanding:

1. Blogging daily
2. Going to the gym on weekdays
3. Being thankful three times a day
4. Reading for four hours daily
5. Praying for thirty minutes to one hour daily (just me), aside from other prayer meetings scattered across the week

But over the last two weeks, something slipped. Reading and prayer, numbers four and five, quietly dropped to almost zero.

It didn’t happen suddenly. It was gradual. Work got busier than usual, and I told myself I would read over the weekend. The weekend came, and I spent it celebrating my uncle’s birthday, Saturday and Sunday gone. The next week, I deferred again, attended a vigil that took my Saturday, then travelled home, and convinced myself I’d restart on the plane or immediately after I returned.

And here I was, Thursday, still not reading.

Blogging didn’t completely stop, but it wasn’t clean either. I was writing, but not publishing. I kept starting pieces, leaving them unfinished, and deferring again. Not great, but still better than zero. So, at some point, I stopped to ask myself an honest question: Why were numbers two and three still largely consistent? Why was gym and gratitude holding up when reading and prayer weren’t? And that’s when the pattern became clear.

There were three real reasons.

First, I had fixed times for them. Calendar alerts reminded me ahead of time, prepared my mind, and removed the burden of remembering or tracking time mentally. I didn’t rely on discipline alone, I relied on structure.

Second, I had accountability. For the gym, I had a coach. And my coach doesn’t joke with time. Knowing someone was waiting for me changed everything. So this wasn’t about motivation; it was about responsibility.

Third, they felt easy in my mind. Five to ten minutes of gratitude, three times a day, felt doable. I could excuse myself from a meeting for six minutes and return easily to it. The little time allocation removed friction and I stopped needing permission, from myself or anyone else.

These are the secrets I discovered. You know, consistency isn’t about willpower, it’s about design. So I’m applying the same logic to reading and prayer.

I’ve now assigned fixed times to both. And that’s why I’m writing this blog now, because this is the time allocated to finish writing and publishing the posts I’ve been sitting on.

I’ve also created a recovery plan for the reading time I lost over the past two weeks, because I need enough space not just to read once, but to do a second and third read through. That repetition matters if I’m serious about passing the exams.

I may also add accountability for both areas. Hmmm… maybe my wife for reading, and my closest male friend for prayer. I’ll probably update this post once that settles into a rhythm.

For now, this is what I’ve learned: If you want consistency, stop relying on intention alone. Put time to it. And add accountability.

Ciao.