What? Of course I had to make sure you wouldn’t choke on your coke… or other beverage… with me bringing up something as mundane and boring-sounding as little ol’ consistency.
DEFINITELY NOT SEXY, RIGHT?
Right. However, there is a very important reason why I want you to understand something about consistency.
And I’ve only begun to, finally, consciously begun to appreciate this myself in the past few months so it’s not like I’m talking from some high pedestal here.
The thing is, all your life, everyone says you gotta be consistent.
- Got to be consistent in school to get good grades and to get to a better school.
- Got to be consistent in work in order to get noticed and get a better job.
- Got to be consistent in your relationships so things will keep going smoothly in life.
And I always hated that. Hated with a deep, dark passion. Well maybe not so dark, but it sure felt like it was running against everything I held most dear to my heart. Such things as…
VARIETY! LIKE OXYGEN!
photo credit: Tarter Time Photography
For goodness sakes, I thought, am I the only person in the WORLD who wants a little fun and variety in life instead of boring old CONSISTENCY…?
Anyway, eventually I came around and did a lot of things with a lot of consistency and came to have the same things everybody else does in life. Nothing wrong with that per se. At all.
But always at the back of my mind… a nagging voice kept telling me there’s got to be more. Why is CONSISTENCY supposed to be the overriding principle in life, instead of say… drum roll… VARIETY?
CONSISTENCY: THE REAL REASON WHY
But here’s the thing. The real reason why consistency is so important is different from what most people likely think.
It’s NOT about doing something boring over and over, or about forming firm habits, or even about doing something repeatedly because that supposedly helps you move up in the world.
However…
Consistency becomes very valuable once you figure out the 20% of the stuff you do in life that brings you success, happiness and overall wellbeing.
When you know THAT… your results in life all start to hinge on your ability to CONSISTENTLY KEEP REPEATING THAT 20% that brings you results… and keep the rest of the 80% at bay.
In my case, for instance, it would be various forms of writing. Value-packed newsletters, emails, information products, reports and articles… and much more. The more I actually do my BEST kind of writing, it ultimately REALLY HELPS my clients and subscribers… (yes they actually tell me so) and the better I tend to do.
It’s oh so easy to get side-tracked… but I’m mending my ways and focusing more on being consistent.
THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF CONSISTENCY
Here’s another thing about consistency that is lost on a lot of people starting something new. Let’s say… starting an online business (an obscure example, I know).
That is, there seems to be some kind of a law in the universe… that when you start APPLYING yourself (note I said yourself, not just something you read) consistently… you tend to ACCUMULATE a new identity.
And that new and improved identity will bring not only get you started, it will keep getting you bigger and better results as you go along.
If you keep going back to square one, not quite deciding what you want to do or achieve, and keep starting anew… you miss out on the accumulation of that new identity which otherwise would ALREADY have made you rich, happy and healthy.
Lots of people keep going back to square one for no good reason, and never experience and appreciate the results of accumulation through consistency. I’m no exception, I’ve fallen off the wagon plenty of times.
But I know for myself and the people I work with, now and in the future… I will make absolutely sure that there will be not only results, but consistent results accumulating into long-term success and happinesss.
Would you like some of that?
ESPECIALLY in challenging economic times, consistency is your best friend. So start today.
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