The Secret to Becoming Incredibly Consistent

2020-05-19T07:00:00.000Z

Learning to be consistent is the best skill you can ever develop. When you are consistent, people are able to rely on you. When you are consistent, you are able to get better at what you practice. With time and effort, consistency keeps you energized and accountable. Over a long period of time, you begin to see some incredible results as a result of your consistency.

Most people struggle to be consistent. Worse yet, most people who struggle with maintaining consistency rarely see results to be excited about. It's really difficult to be consistent when you lack direction and purpose. When I started writing in 2016, I had trouble writing consistently because I did not fully flesh out the bigger picture and the incremental steps to get there.

It was only when I discovered my purpose in helping people live extraordinary lives did I commit to consistent actions. I started creating a daily routine to stay excited and motivated. When you set and exceed your goals, you can start to feel confident and hold yourself accountable for doing more. Maintaining consistency is key to living purposefully.

The Secret to Consistency

The secret to being consistent in life is to set incremental goals. With goal-setting, you want your goals to be reasonable enough to be achievable, yet big enough to be inspiring. When your goals aren't challenging anymore, you stop getting excited to accomplish them anymore. When your goals are too high, you start beating yourself up when you fall short. Setting realistic goals is the key to success. You want to remain optimistic and productive as you continue staying consistent in meeting your goals.

Whatever your craft is, I recommend committing a slow and steady effort when it comes to consistent thinking. It takes a massive amount of time to develop extraordinary abilities. Rarely is anything worthwhile achieved in a single day. My favorite quote on consistency is from Biz Stone, the co-founder of Twitter:

Timing, perseverance, and ten years of trying will eventually make you look like an overnight success.”

Another powerful quote is this quote about stonecutters from Jacob Riis:

When nothing seems to help, I go and look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not that blow that did it, but all that had gone before.

Stop feeling guilty when you fail. Everybody fails when they are getting started. Keep moving forward. Stop caring so much about what people think about you. Allow yourself to break the chain that is your self-limiting beliefs in half. When you learn to become consistently consistent, it will be life-changing.

Learning to be consistent changed my life. By having a long-term vision accompanied by consistent short-term action, I have been given opportunities beyond my wildest dreams. It is one of the most powerful tools I have at my disposal. I was not naturally gifted with great athleticism or incredible intelligence. But I have been blessed enough to learn about the power of compound interest that accompanies consistent habits.

Final Words

Consistency is the key to living a purposeful life. You can start with something as simple as a morning routine, or even something complex like learning to code. Use goal setting to create a larger vision for you life. Dedicate a few minutes each day to create simple habits. Don't beat yourself up when you fall off the wagon. But don't fall two days in a row. Find an accountability partner who wants to achieve what you want to achieve. Or, find a life coach who inspires you to do consistent practice. Learn to remind yourself that life is a marathon, and that results don't happen overnight. Keep building a solid foundation and strive for excellence on a regular basis. This is the one thing that will radically change your life.