“It simple, but not easy.”
People have often asked me how I learned to be consistent, and how they can be more consistent with their habits. For years, I thought it was a trait my parents gave me. Over time, though, I have come to recognize this is a skill which can diminish or be developed. Today, we’ll look at mindsets around consistency, and how to develop it; along with ideas about setting expectations from the beginning to make steady progress, maintaining habits, taking advantage of compounding actions, and stay the course in the face of boredom or distraction.
Setting Expectations
First, give yourself time and permission to learn before committing to something long-term. Set an easy goal to get acclimated. The point of this goal isn’t to become the best at anything; it’s simply to show up.
Second, be patient with yourself and understand that everyone starts out knowing nothing and making mistakes.
Beginning something new can be uncomfortable and daunting, but this is temporary. This is exactly how I felt when I started Crossfit. I decided from the beginning that I would give it three months of working out three times a week, and after those three months, decide whether I wanted to continue. I came up with the three month number after researching and finding that it took most women in my age range about that long to get the hang of the workouts and see results. So, for three months, I showed up ready to work three days a week. I set that initial goal of exploration to see whether it was something I’d even be interested in continuing.
After three months, of course, I saw I was getting stronger every week, I was running and moving more than I had since playing high school sports, and I loved it! I was genuinely excited to see the improvements in energy and strength, and increased my workouts to four days a week every week. That was six years ago. I haven’t looked back since because I know how great it is for me and I know I’m getting stronger every day.
Nobody likes being the new kid, but it will pass. It’s the price of admission into anything. The only way to get past that stage, though, is to keep putting in your reps. Throwing yourself into a new situation where you don’t know anything is an uncomfortable feeling, but it passes. If you give up while you’re still new and learning, how will you ever know if you actually enjoy that activity? I wasn’t sure about lifting weights at the beginning, because I hadn’t done much barbell work before. However, after learning the basics and giving myself time to learn the movements properly, I made marked improvements and lifting has become my favorite aspect.
In other words, I made a decision in the beginning to put in a small amount of time, and use that time to inform my choices after. Instead of jumping in with no idea of how long it would last or how I’d like it, using a trial period helped me to gain a better understanding of what the long-term would look like.
Start with the Basics
What are the basics of your goals and how can you master them? As discussed in my post on building habits, find the smallest action to take and make a habit of it. The best way to learn is by doing. Get through that initial learning curve by putting in the work. In turn, putting in those reps builds consistency and quality. The two inform one another; the more you practice the better you get, and the better you get, the more you want to practice.
The only way to get to the great parts is working through the less-great parts. Author Ayodeji Awosika suggests new writers publish one hundred posts before they decide whether or not to continue.
One hundred posts on whatever interests you.
That seems like a lot. It is a big number to look at when you’re starting out, but it’s not a large number when you break it down. Writing two posts a week will have you there in less than a year. Writing four times a week, you’ll be past that initial learning curve in six months. Breaking down a goal into smaller, manageable parts sets expectations, and paves a path to success. The difference between saying, “I’m going to write a hundred posts” and “I’m going to write twice a week for the rest of the year” is huge. One is a wish, the other is a plan.
An amazing thing happens between your first and hundredth posts. The quality improves; you’ve improved. You’ll have learned the basics and made adjustments along the way. Likely, you’ve learned about the world around you too. You’ll have improved your technique and gained insight in a way that was impossible before actually taking action.
You can’t edit a blank page – you can only shape and change direction as you go forward. Get started with the basics, learn as you go, and make changes as necessary.
It Takes Longer than You’d Like
“Don’t let the fear of the time it will take to accomplish something stand in the way of your doing it. The time will pass anyway; we might just as well put that passing time to the best possible use.”
– Earl Nightingale
People get impatient when expecting results. It’s the joke about going to the gym for one week, not leaving looking like Henry Cavill, and being disappointed. It speaks to the truth that when we do hard work, we want to see fruits from our labor.
Consistency, though, is the act of trusting the process to get you where you want to go. It will take longer than you think it should to make progress on anything worthwhile. Things like building strength, nutrition, writing, or learning any complex skill all require a period of intake, incubation and processing, then result in increased skill level and performance.
Learning the basics enables you to set expectations, which allows you to practice regularly and improve along the way.
Somewhere between day one and day six hundred, you’ve improved. You’ve covered a lot of ground. We don’t see the progress we’ve made while still focused on the path ahead, but when we stop to consider where and who we were before we started, suddenly we seem light-years ahead of where we started.
The time will pass; you may as well get everything you can out of it.
Compound Action
“Excellence is a habit.”
– Aristotle
Small daily habits compound into systems which compose our identities. Compounding is rarely understood and requires patience; therefore most people just don’t use it.
We overestimate short-term frenzy and underestimate the steady progression of compounding action.
For example, when given a choice between a penny which doubles in value everyday for 30 days or $1 million dollars, which would you take?
Most people would take the $1 million.
This is a mistake.
If you took a single penny and doubled it everyday, by day 30, you would have $5,368,709.12.
The same holds true for tiny, daily improvements compounding over months and years. We end up improving exponentially. We underestimate the amount value and quality we can build over time.
Jerry Seinfeld makes a great observation about how putting in the reps makes you a broadband connection. He does two stand-up performances each week, always tweaking details and editing words and phrasing to get the best responses.
“If I don’t do a set in two weeks, I feel it. I read an article a few years ago that said when you practice a sport a lot, you literally become a broadband: the nerve pathway in your brain contains a lot more information. As soon as you stop practicing, the pathway begins shrinking back down. Reading that changed my life. I used to wonder, Why am I doing these sets, getting on a stage? Don’t I know how to do this already? The answer is no. You must keep doing it. The broadband starts to narrow the moment you stop.”
Writing out jokes every day produces a greater quality than sitting down one day to write out a hundred jokes. Maintaining his two shows a week schedule is what keeps Seinfeld at the top of his industry.
Consistency compounds. All that muscle memory flowing through you attracts more energy, increasing your output exponentially. Your work becomes greater than the sum of its parts, simply by putting in the repetitions. As you spend more time practicing, the quality of your repetitions improve. Quantity continues to produce quality, even for a veteran.
Everyday is Easy
“It’s easier to hold your principles 100 percent of the time than it is to hold them 98 percent of the time.”
– Clayton M. Christensen, How Will You Measure Your Life?
“One hundred percent is easier than ninety-eight percent.” The space between those figures is a decision. By this I mean if you’ve already committed to a habit, there is no room or need to make a decision. You just perform the habit. When we attempt to make things only happen occasionally or every other day, we make it more difficult on ourselves because we rely on willpower. Removing the uncertainty makes the habit automatic, requiring less mental energy, and making it easier to maintain.
Therefore, one hundred percent is easier than ninety-eight percent.
Shifting your Perspective
Consistency isn’t complicated; it is sustained effort in pursuit of a goal. Most of us have the time to learn and master the skills we desire. We simply need adjust our perspective.
Show up, work, rest, repeat. One easy way to build momentum visually is taking a calendar and marking off each day you put in the work. You could keep a journal with entries about each day’s progress or use a habit tracker on your phone, as well. Then, your only job becomes to not break the chain. If you do break the chain, do not miss twice. Perfection isn’t the goal, but rather forward steady progress. Looking back at the progress you’ve made is helpful. It will also remind you of why you started, and show you are closer to that goal than you might think at first glance.
“An object in motion tends to stay in motion until an outside force acts upon it.
– Newton’s First and Second Laws of Motion
An object at rest tends to stay at rest until an outside force acts upon it.”
Once you’re in the habit, breaking the habit becomes less appealing and takes more effort. You can see for yourself how you’ve changed. You’re no longer afraid of learning new things or looking foolish as a beginner. You understand that it’s nothing more than the price of admission to learn anything new and with some practice you’ll be as capable as anyone else. It becomes easier to go toward your goals than away from them. This is the beautiful momentum consistency fosters.
Put in your reps, watch the quality of your work to improve, and allow that momentum to carry you forward.
Consistency is Boring
“Eat real food. Not too much. Mostly plants.”
– Michael Pollan , In Defense of Food
This isn’t the most exciting food advice. Some might say boring. It isn’t necessarily new advice.
It is, however, life-changing and life-saving advice. Look at David Goggin’s journey or any other weight loss success story. Steady, “boring” changes made intentionally change your life in positive ways. They set you up to be successful in all areas of your life.
We do have a choice to make between distraction and making lasting change through consistency. It’s easy to want instant results. We start down a path, get distracted or decide our approach is too slow, and move toward the next glittering mirage. We look for the “one cool trick” or the quick fix, when in reality there are no quick fixes. It’s why fad diets are popular, and it’s why millions of people play the lottery every week. Slow, steady progress bores us.
Keeping boredom and distraction away is a matter of focus. If you focus on the habits themselves, you will grow bored. No one likes getting out of a warm bed early in the morning. Nobody plants a garden because they enjoy looking at dirt. Few people start out exercising because they enjoy having an elevated heart rate. We do these things because of what they produce over time. In the long-run, you accomplish more of your goals, reap a harvest of flowers or produce, and live a fit lifestyle. Focus on the purpose behind your decisions.
Parting Thoughts
We’ve looked at the importance starting out with clear expectations, the amazing power of compounding action, tackled boredom, and shifted our perspective to the long-term. Consistency is a skill you can develop.Where will your one hundred reps take you?
