Honestly being self employed is hard. It's exciting, it's fun, it's great to be your own boss but what I find most difficult is committing to stuff. And I mean long-term rather than short term.

What do I mean by that? Well, really committing to doing something regularly and then sticking to it. Whatever this might be for you: exercising, meditating every day, drinking enough water every day, send a newsletter to your clients every week, doing a Facebook live every week etc etc.

For me that's blogging and video making at the moment. I usually start of well but then I seem to run out of steam very quickly... Just like this fella...

I know myself and unfortunately committing to something long-term (other than my husband of course) is something I'm not very good at. This is why I am doing the 30 Day Blogging challenge again which I did back in February 2016.

I know I'm quite good at starting a new project and maybe even completing it... the sprint... but I'm not good at the long term thing. The marathon, the stuff where you just have to keep going. Maybe that's because I'm a Pitta Dosha? (Nothing to do with food by the way...)

Challenges are great because they create a habit. They also help you to get better at things which usually makes them more enjoyable! But what happens when the challenge is over? How can you actually keep going?

I don't know if accountability is part of the problem. When you're employed you've got a boss who will be on your case if you don't continue doing your stuff. Well, when you're self-employed you don't!

This is especially tricky when working on something that doesn't directly bring in money I find. When I teach a yoga class I get paid. When I create a blog post, vlog, YouTube video or improve my website I don't. Not straight away at least. I know in the long-term it will be beneficial but there is no short-term benefit is there? 

I think the same is true for exercise. Yes you might do a challenge or decide it's time to go to the gym or a yoga class for a while. But what is really hard is to keep going. Beyond the initial excitement. 

I love yoga and most days I don't need much convincing to step on my mat. But I don't feel like it every day. I know what the long term benefits of a yoga practice are of course but that's not always enough.

So what do we need in order to keep going? and really commit to that something that we want to commit to - blogging, exercise, writing regular newsletters, healthy eating - whatever it might be...

• Allocating a time slot, making it a regular thing
• Create a habit so do a 30-day challenge 
• Putting it on your wall - maybe even with a list of the long-term benefits
• Telling other people about what you are committing to
• A little reward after for example 10, 20, 30 consecutive days of sticking to it. Maybe that book or course that you really wanted to buy or a new outfit. 

These are some of the things that have worked for me but as I definitely don't have it all figured out I'd love to hear what you think!