I know, I know – I should be the last one to talk about consistency. I’m not the most consistent man on the planet, that’s for sure.
However, I’ve achieved a fair amount of success. And I know that, in order to be successful, consistently doing the right thing is the key. I’m consistent in my study habits. I’m consistent in how I work out. I’m consistent in how I do my work (an hour and a half of work, followed by a 15 minute break). I’m consistent in how I do just about everything – and, yet, somehow, I haven’t become consistent in my work on this site, even though I’ve been “working on it” for a long time.
Sidenote: even though I know what the right thing to do is, oftentimes, I don’t do it. That’s how hard implementing ANY advice is. So if you’re struggling with implementing self-improvement advice, don’t worry. You’re not alone.
You can’t take days off from practice. You can’t use excuses to get you out of putting the time in that’s necessary to become great.
If you want to be great at anything, everyone knows you have to practice a lot. The best way to guarantee that you practice the number of hours it takes to become great? You make it a habit. Forming great habits is the key to consistency.
A Parable
Jeff and Jack are best friends, and aspire to be master poetry writers. For some reason, poetry calls to both of them – or so they think.
Jeff loves the craft of poetry. He views it as something he does for fun. He knows that more practice will make him into a great poet, but he doesn’t want poetry writing to turn into a chore. He wants to keep it fun and doesn’t want to turn it into something he hates. So, when he feels like it, he writes poetry. Other times, when he feels like it, he reads poetry. Sometimes these reading and writing sessions last all day. Other times, they last 15 minutes. It all depends on how Jeff feels. If he feels particularly frustrated, he’ll give up on poetry for the day and go watch TV. If he’s not having fun, he figures, why bother practicing?
Jack knows that, in order to become the best poet possible, he needs to write and read a lot of it. He sets aside a couple of hours every evening, after his homework is done, to write and read poetry. For the first hour, he writes, and for the second hour, he reads. He does this like clockwork, every single day, whether he feels like it or not. On some days, when Jack really doesn’t want to write, he writes poems about how much he doesn’t want to write. When he has writer’s block, he doesn’t get up and do something else, he just sits there, pen in hand, waiting for something to get on the page. Even when the reading becomes tedious, he continues to read because he knows there’s something to learn from every poem he reads. Jack knows that the only way to improve his skills is to continue practicing — especially during the times that he feels like giving up.
3 years pass.
Who ends up being the better poet?
Who ends up extracting more enjoyment out of poetry in the long run?
Hint: the two answers are the same.
hi Brett
you are right, consistency is the key
but to be consistent that requires a lot of practice and time.
i am always trying to be consistent in my life, but no success
we should be consistent in our consistency if we want to succeed.
Hey Brett!
I guess the answer is Jeff! Because he treats poetry as a passion, not as a chore.
Bharat,
Actually, when the going gets tough, Jeff will probably fold. Since he only works when he feels like it, he probably won’t evolve the same way Jack does as he practices his craft.
Hi Brett
My guess is Jeff.
Heya Roger,
Check out my response to Bharat — in my mind, Jack is actually going to be better over a long period of time, simply because he spends more time practicing, no matter how he feels.
Consistency is the key, but it can be frustrating if you don’t see the ‘fruits of your labor’ straightaway or at all. What if you’re consistent, but the mountain you’re climbing isn’t for you? What happens to all of your consistency?
Rebecca,
When you plateau — when you’re making consistent effort and you can’t see your progress — you need to keep pushing so you can make a breakthrough. This philosophy is explained very well in George Leonard’s book Mastery.
If the mountain you’re climbing isn’t for you, ditch consistency and jump ship. Focus your energy elsewhere. Knowing when to quit and knowing when to keep going is a very important skill for this reason.
sounds like i am Jeff, even every word about it is me except i don’t do poetry i do Android Application Development. Just Amazing!
Hey Mike,
Ideally, you should be a hybrid of Jeff and Jack — you want the former’s love for the craft, and you want the latter’s drive and consistency. That’s what this post is getting at.
I believe following your heart ends up in more greatness than following your mind.
Jack is following his mind. He does what he need to do.
If I have to choose, I would go for Jeff. He does what he feels and has his focus on having fun. Probably he also will work harder if he feels like it.
But as they are good friends, they probably can learn from each other and use both their mind and heart! They would be even more great.
Marc,
I think you need both in order to succeed. You need to work hard in order to get anywhere, but you also need an appreciation for what you’re doing — an intrinsic drive to do it.
Thanks for commenting!
I thing that writing poetry isn’t the best exapmle here. Writing needs creativity and inspiration. It’s almost imposible to force yourself to be creative. Sometimes you are, and sometimes you aren’t creative. Better example here is running, working out, mastering your knowledge and skills in a particular field. You don’t have to feel inspired to go out and start running, but to write a good poem you have to be in particular mood.
I like this blog. It’s inspirational for me and besides it forces me to use my english
Lukas,
I think writing can be made to be consistent, even if you’re not inspired at the time, as long as you have some good rituals to make sure you can be creative at will (check out Twyla Tharp’s book The Creative Habit for ideas — it’s really helpful).
I’ll give you credit, though: the other examples you listed are much better for this post. I don’t know why I thought of poetry here. Maybe that’s just where my creative instinct pointed me.
Thanks for commenting and for the kind words! Your English is excellent!
Good message in the post!
I follow the view that you can never ‘find’ your passion. Passion is developed, but not found. Both Jeff and Jack had ‘interest’ in poetry, but to grow it into a passion, it takes hard work, dedication and, as the Brett pointed out – consistency!
Both Jeff and Jack undergo frustration barrier (something I picked up from ScottHYoung) and the person who sticks through that barrier will develop the skill to enjoy it more.
Not to say it will FOREVER be enjoyable, because there’s different barriers. With increase skill, the barrier will be bigger but the joy that comes from conquering and practicing the skill at high level will ALSO be bigger.
And the only way to stick through these barrier IS being consistent. Thanks Brett for the reminder! Look forward to more awesome article.
Absolutely. Enjoyment is not something you get, but something you create. That’s why I love being around passionate people, because the enthusiasm and joy they create with their work fire me up as well.