The Power Of Consistency Part 2
A Year From Now You’ll Wish You’d Started Today

Last week I talked about the “furious, unstoppable juggernaut of power that is consistency.”

And it resonated with many of you!

I explained that the “The key to ALL progress is consistency” (a phrase I repeated… consistently :-).

I extolled the value, virtues and raw power of consistent actions, be it investing, health practices, relationship attention, skill development, and most importantly… thinking.

Consistency and Change
The number one reason clients bring me in is to provide them with solutions for change.

The first thing I teach is how to change your culture and entire mindset around change from “managing and embracing change” to “creating and leading change.”

Define the curve, rather than follow it.

And they get that.

The next step is harder. How do we actually create and lead change? 

Many well-meaning leaders want to make a sweeping move, take a definitive action that causes an immediate organizational change and be done with it.

What many fail to realize is that profound and lasting changes are not created by one huge event, decision or action; they are created by a series of simple, intentional actions repeated consistently over time.

Scoring one huge sale to a major client will spike your income, cause your boss to take notice, and make an impact on the group.

However, it is steady sales both big and small, day-after-day, to one client after another, building trust and rapport that builds a salesperson’s career and reputation, and helps a company build a solid foundation growing revenue and market share.

This is merely one of the many organizational benefits of consistency.

The key to ALL progress is consistency.

My mantras…
I have a very old, framed poster and photo, probably from the 70’s of a runner headed down a very long country road and it reads:

The race is not always to the swift but to those who keep on running.”

Consistency.

When I completed the first-ever cross-country concert tour on bicycle a number of years ago my mantra was:

“Steady on wins the race. Steady on wins the race.”  Just keep pedaling.

Consistency.

And this is how and why my career has worked: I’m not fast, but I keep on learning, keep on improving, keep on showing up, keep on taking action, keep getting up when I fall. And it works! 

The key to ALL progress is consistency.

The insidiously scary side of consistency
Drinking too much consistently, doing drugs consistently, eating crap food consistently, procrastinating consistently, ignoring your relationship consistently, thinking negative thoughts consistently, being consistently lazy… all lead to at best a crappy life, and at worst critical failure and death.

Simply put, consistency is the cause of most illness and all self-destruction.

And the most frightening side of this is that consistent destructive actions are easy, in some ways our default; most consistent positive actions, on the other hand, require intention.

Watching TV every night is easy; playing with your kids or giving attention to your spouse is not.

Sleeping in is easy; getting up to read, pray or exercise is not.

Getting on your computer or phone, disappearing into social media, games, or more nefarious online invitations is very easy; human interaction is not.

Doing what is expected is easy; exceeding expectations is not.

(And in case you’re rationalizing right now: Excuses are easy; action is not :-).

Consistency is a tool which can be used for great good or great evil: Nelson Mandela and Joseph Stalin were both extremely consistent men. 

The key to ALL progress is consistency.

So, how do we build consistency? 

  1. Schedule what’s most important and keep the appointment. If it’s writing, practicing, reading, exercising, date nights, sales calls, vacationing, checking your numbers, put it on your calendar.
  2. Just show up. This is another amazingly powerful mantra. I’ve been a longtime cyclist but 14 years ago my family wanted to go to the gym. I just wanted to ride my bike. To get myself to the gym I made a deal with myself: You don’t have to do anything, just show up. Well, I was creatively tricking myself because I know if I get there I’ll do something.
  3. Treat your self-appointments with the urgency of a doctor appointment. As a self-employed person it’s easy for me to think “Oh, I can skip that, I’m my own boss.” And that’s true. And that’s a formula for despair. Treat an appointment to do what’s important in your life (but rarely urgent), with a sense of urgency.
  4. Accountability. Have a person or group with whom you check in regularly who will ask if you’ve done (or not done) what you said you would do… keep you on track. A mastermind. A book club. A small group at church. An accountability partner. Below I’m going to offer what I call “kind accountability” in program called Gold Mine Zooms, for those who are ready to make a change!

The question is, are you going to get serious about this or not? 

If so, whatever your goal, whatever change you want to create,  consistency is the only way.

What will YOU do to create consistency today?

Live truly, truly live,

Mike

PS Gold Mine Zooms are your key to consistency.  
If you have a goal or change to create and you recognize that consistent action and accountability is the only way I have a solution. Let me help you, personally.

You will share your one year goal with me personally.
You will share what’s holding you back, your challenges.
You will share anything else I need to know.

You will then join me and a small group of like-minded achievers once per month on a Zoom call where I will share powerful tools to help you. Then I/we will listen to you, encourage you, answer your questions, solve what’s holding you back, and hold you “kindly accountable” for your progress each month.

Gold Mine Zooms are for you if…

LEARN MORE

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