10 Things No One Tells You About Being Consistent
You’ve heard the saying “Consistency is king”… and it is.
The precursor to any and all success is the ability to get and stay consistent… and so many people struggle with ‘being consistent.’
Consistency DOES matter. It matters a lot which is why I talk about consistency ALL…THE…TIME… even in a video for IGTV entitled How to be Consistent.
But… there are a number of things about getting AND staying consistent that the most vigilantly consistent people won’t ever tell you… and these are things that, as you work to improve your level of consistency, you NEED to know.
So… let’s talk about the 10 things NO ONE tells you about being consistent:
1. Consistency is a habit that takes time to develop.
When you come across people who are vigilantly consistent, in many cases, they act as if consistent is just who they are. They rarely go into detail about all the time and focus that it took to become vigilantly consistent. Here’s the truth:
Consistency is NOT a state of mind. It’s a habit that will take you YEARS to develop.
Yes, I said YEARS and setting that realistic expectation will go a long way in helping you not give up on developing the consistency habit when it’s taking longer than you expected.
2. You’re not going to be vigilantly consistent in every area of your life.
Being vigilantly consistent requires being ALL IN. All in means you are devoting an extreme amount of time to the goal you’re being consistent on… and given that there are only 24 hours in a day, it’s not possible to be vigilantly consistent in ALL areas of your life.
If you’re consistent in exercising 2 hours a day, 6 days a week, you work full time, you have four small children, and you’re married, now saying you want to become vigilantly consistent in meditation 1 hour a day, starting a degree program that requires 20 hours of study time a week, and devote 2 hours a day to write the book you’ve always wanted to write is unrealistic.
Trying to be consistent in all things leads to you being consistent in nothing.
3. The order in which you develop consistency matters.
There is an order of operations to consistency and that order is unique to each individual… which makes it tricky to figure out what your specific consistency order of operations is. At the end of the day, you have to crawl before you walk. In consistency terms, you have to master waking up early FIRST…
For example, before you start scheduling 2 hours of daily writing time from 5–7 am, focus on the waking up early part for 3 or more months BEFORE you add the 2 hours of daily writing time to the mix.
4. Being consistent requires that your moods don’t dictate your actions.
Vigilantly consistent people do what they have to do when they have to do it, regardless of whether they’re in the mood to do those things. Your moods cannot dictate whether or not you take DMA (Daily Massive Action).
If your moods are dictating your decisions about being consistent, you aren’t consistent. If you continually allow your moods to dictate your actions, you will never become consistent.
5. What you eat impacts your ability to be consistent.
When you eat crappy, you feel crappy. What you eat a lot of sugar, carbs, caffeine and other foods that cause insulin spikes, you may have bursts of focus and energy but those bursts are followed by steep crashes in energy. What you eat will determine how consistent you’ll be. Period.
6. Consistency on the WRONG things keeps you from putting consistency on the RIGHT things.
Most people who work on ‘being more consistent’ think they’re currently ‘not consistent.’ Not true at all… Every person is VIGILANTLY CONSISTENT every single day. However, the things you’re currently consistent on may not be the right things to take your life where you want it to go.
You have to make sure that you are being consistent in the areas and on the goals that will create the life you keep saying you want. Otherwise, you still are being consistent- just on the wrong things. Look at your life and assess where you’re currently being consistent. Ask yourself “Is being consistent here getting me closer to where I want to be over there?” If the answer is ‘No’, change where you’re applying your consistency muscles.
7. Consistency requires obstacles.
The TRUE test of consistency is how you’re able to maintain it despite the obstacles that arise. It’s easy to be consistent when there are no challenges to your consistency. When you wake up on time, have no interruptions to your day, and have amazing energy to accomplish all the things, it’s easy to be consistent. Those days are not a true measure of how consistent you are. Your consistency is best assessed when you hit an obstacle, don’t feel like moving forward, and do so anyway.
So… to truly develop vigilant consistency, you have to have obstacles show up in your life AND you have to show yourself that, no matter what obstacle appears, you’re going to choose consistency every time (no matter how inconvenient being consistent is in that moment).
8. Being consistent is VERY boring.
I’m a person who likes excitement. Who am I kidding? I LOVE excitement and this has been one of the most difficult lessons for me to learn. When you become consistent, life gets VERY boring. Day in and day out, you do the same things over and over and over again. After a while, it starts to feel mundane and you start to look for new shiny objects to pique your interest. Don’t do it. The key to your consistency lives in the land of boredom.
James Clear, in his book Atomic Habits, put it best:
“The only way to become excellent is to be endlessly fascinated by doing the same thing over and over. You have to fall in love with boredom.”
Yes… you do…
9. It’s hard to be a consistent person with inconsistent friends.
To get and stay consistent, you have to develop an environment where consistency is both welcomed and nurtured… and your environment isn’t just where you sleep or the office you work in. Your environment also includes the people you spend time with.
And here’s the deal: If you hang out and spend a lot of time with inconsistent people, it is more likely that you will become inconsistent to match them than they will become vigilantly consistent to match you. Remember: Nobody’s neutral. People either lift you up or pull you down… and your inconsistent friends are a disruption to your consistency.
Bottom line: you’ll have enough obstacles to you getting and staying vigilantly consistent. Your friends don’t need to be an additional obstacle.
10. Consistency is a long game strategy.
There’s no immediate gratification in consistency. Yes, you’ll pat yourself on the back and say “I followed through. I did what I said I was going to do today” and that will make you feel good for five seconds. However, being vigilantly consistent has no immediate payoff. Instead, the benefits of consistency compound over a long period of time.
At the end of the day, being consistent is a long game strategy. If what you want is an immediate sense of victory, consistency will not deliver that to you.
There you have it… 10 things NO ONE tells you about being consistent.
