Relentlessly Persisting: How To Be Consistent
We’ve all heard the term consistency get thrown around quite a lot at this point, it may have even lost some of its meaning. However, there is a reason it has become diluted, and that’s because it’s hard to ignore the truly amazing results that accompany it.
So, what is it? Consistency is the act of showing up every day, it’s the small, yet vital improvements we make daily. It’s showing up whether it’s raining, whether you’re tired, bored, sad, or purely lacking any form of motivation.
Consistency is ticking the box, and continuing to tick the box until you’ve reached the final destination, reached your goals and accomplished your dreams.
Consistency is not something you should avoid, or try to ignore. It’s more likely something you should study, and strive to master. So without further delay, let’s delve into it.
The Act Of Never Stopping
If you wanted to build muscle, would you decide to go to the gym whenever you felt like it most? The same can be said for losing weight or getting fitter, you probably wouldn’t take this approach.
You’d most likely dedicate specific days for when going to the gym and lifting the weights should commence, and that’s because you already know how consistency works.
You already know that muscles cannot get built after a couple of sessions here and there, as it's the continuous commitment and slight improvements over time that count.
“It’s not what we do once in a while that shapes our lives. It’s what we do consistently.” — Tony Robbins
What you may not know, however, is just how truly powerful being consistent can be. And that’s due to the role that compounding plays with consistency.
I already covered the compound effects in last week's post, therefore, I’ll refrain from going into details. But, without consistency, compounding and the results it brings are non-existent.
This is because the small, seemingly meaningless actions build on each other, creating a snowball effect that produces unimaginable outcomes.
The longer these actions persist, the bigger the improvements, once you stack your growth, and habitual improvements from consistency, each time you notice the change, it’ll be a larger one than before.
Another benefit of consistency, which never gets mentioned enough, is how consistency promotes luck. It may sound fabricated, however, there is actually a way of creating your own luck.
Through consistent actions and the refusal to miss even a single day, you put yourself into the position of increasing your chances of fortune.
If we were to relate this to the gym, it would be as though there is one workout, a mythical day that may be upon you, where you hit the jackpot. Imagine getting to the gym one day and going through the motions as usual, but getting lucky and leaving with 10X your usual results.
In gym terms, this is impossible, but in many different aspects of life, not so much.
In every success story, what accompanies a ridiculous amount of hard work is that one story of how lucky they were to be at the right place at the right time and meet the right person, however, I have never seen this as truly lucky.
This is because, without the actions that led them to be there, without the dedication and consistency that led them to that moment, that moment would have never happened.
It’s the story of the musician who gets that one song that hits the charts, or the movie star who meets the right producer, or the businessman who created the perfect product at the perfect moment.
But, if they refused to turn up that day, that luck would have never found them. You can’t create luck, and should never count on it, however, I do believe you can increase the chances of it finding you, and once it does, it won’t be undeserved.
Let's Build It
Great, we’re all very excited about how powerful consistency is, so let’s talk about how it’s built.
The best way to become consistent and remain consistent over time would be to figure out how to habitualise your actions, as I mentioned previously.
These habits do not need to become life-changing, far from it. What you need to do is turn your actions and improvements into something that’s harder to miss than it is to complete.
To visualise the process a bit easier, I’m going to put them into the following steps:
- Make it manageable
- Make it convenient
- Make it worthwhile
Number one: The first mistake people make when trying to form habits is going too hard too quickly. Instead, make it challenging, but manageable, and ensure it is something hard enough to be worthwhile, but never too difficult.
Number two: Probably the most important when it comes to habit forming, if you’re writing a journal, make sure that journal is visible, for example. Whatever the habit is, make sure there are cues that never allow you to forget, and do whatever is necessary to make it convenient.
At night, as soon as I get into bed, I am reminded of my night-time habits, which are to take supplements and meditate, by stacking the habits and making them come just before or after something you already do will work wonders.
Number three: This one can be complicated, but the idea is to be rewarded for the habits. Like most positive habits, delayed gratification is at play, but initially, this won’t be an incentive. Therefore, in the meantime, reward yourself for the habits you're trying to form.
A really good way of doing this would be to plan the habit just before you do something you already do and enjoy, using a current habit as the reward. This way, you’re habit-stacking and rewarding in one take.
This is a simple but very effective way of becoming consistent.
As I have said, being consistent is also doing them when you feel like it the least, therefore a major aspect of consistency is discipline, so don’t forget this one.