Why it’s important to be consistent
Member feature : by Jennifer Botha of VA Connect
Have you ever thought about how a sculptor needs to consistently chip away at a block of granite, wood or whatever he has chosen as his material in order to reveal that which he has envisioned in his mind’s eye? The key here is consistency in his actions to achieve his goal, keeping on until it becomes a reality. If we want to be successful in anything in life it is going to take consistency. Consistency and success go hand in hand.
You plan to be consistent and then life happens
In theory being consistent sounds pretty simple doesn’t it? In a perfect world yes, but even with the best intentions, life happens and things can get really messy at times. Just say on Monday, you plan that when Saturday comes along, you are going to take down and wash the curtains and have them ironed and back up by 2pm in the afternoon, but it’s now Sunday evening and the windows are still undressed. What happened? You took them down as planned, put them in the washing machine and then the power went off, your friends dropped in and needed help with something and by the time you got the curtains out of the washing machine, it was Saturday evening and then on top of it all, it rained on Sunday.
It’s okay, it’s not always going to go your way
So how does one stay consistent in anything, be it in your personal life or your work life in this very unpredictable world we live in? By keeping going until what you set out to do, get’s done even if your original plan didn’t work out, keep at it until it’s done.
Catch that wagon when you fall off
When you fall off that wagon as most of us do at times, get up quickly, run after it and jump back on. Don’t keep beating yourself up for so long that it disappears into the distance. By then it will be much harder to get started again because you would have lost all momentum.
Choose one thing at a time
I am a great fan of Maria Forleo and something that she said really stood out for me one day. She calls it the “onesie”. Avoid trying to achieve a lot of things at the same time. Choose one at a time and work consistently on that thing until it is done. This also helps to avoid that feeling of being overwhelmed.
Ignore that voice
We all hear that voice from time to time. That voice that says “I don’t want to do this, I don’t feel like it.” Choose to ignore it. Even the most focussed and successful people hear that same voice, but they are where they are because they chose to ignore it.
Keep your eye on your why
I remember how scared I was when I started learning how to drive. Quite frankly, I did not want to do it, I was terrified but deep inside of me I knew that I wanted the freedom to be able to come and go as I pleased and to do that, I would have to push through my fear and be consistent with my driving lessons by keeping my eye on my why. By keeping consistent, the fear gradually subsided and I got to eventually reap the reward of a tremendously wonderful feeling of achievement and freedom. It was so worth it in the end.
“Part of courage is simple consistency.” – Peggy Noonan
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