Think about the last time you started something new in your life. This might have been exercising, learning a language, or even developing a new skill like knitting or gardening. There was probably some initial excitement that drove you to start strong and dedicate some serious time to the activity. After that initial excitement faded, you either petered out on the activity, or you buckled down and committed to your pursuit. The activities listed above require vastly different materials, skills set, and experience levels, but there is one thing that each activity has in common: it takes consistency to become great at the activity.
Consistency counts. It’s that simple. If you want to be good at something, you need to be consistent in your pursuit of greatness. The problem is, consistency is hard. It requires hard work to reach for your goals and to go after your dreams. We are not naturally attracted to working hard. Some people have more of an innate drive and work ethic than others, but it is not natural to consistently go the extra mile and put yourself outside of your comfort zone. If you want to reach your dreams it takes consistency in going above and beyond. That’s how you achieve greatness.
In our daily life consistency is important for more than just reaching our dreams. Consistency in how you present yourself makes you more reliable. At work, your boss will value you if you consistently turn out good work. Your coworkers will value you if you are consistent with how you present yourself. People are not drawn to unpredictable people. We like, to an extent, to know how those around us generally operate. It is really important that we are consistent in our values. If you are known to always have great integrity, people will be quicker to defend you if your character is called into question.
Consistency can improve all areas of your life. When you are consistent with your studies, you get better grades, when you are consistent with working out, you lose weight, when you are consistent with practicing a new skill, you get better. This can be applied to so many areas of your life. The only problem is that consistency takes time and dedication. So pick a few areas of focus that you would like to be more consistent in, and start working towards your goals. Doing something consistently establishes a routine that will get easier and easier the more that you do it. Start being consistent in working towards your goals. Without consistency, they will always be unreachable.
- Bria