Show up every day...
Consistency is about showing up day-in-day-out. You have to put in consistent work in order to see results. Once you understand the importance of consistency you can use it to its full advantage...
Happy New Week,
It’s good (kinda) to be back at my desk writing this newsletter. It’s been nice receiving compliments that I've remained consistent with the newsletter while I’ve been away. This week, I want to talk about why consistency is an important habit. Once you understand why consistency is an important habit to have, you can use it to your advantage.
Consistency is about showing up day-in-day-out. You have to put in consistent work in order to see results. This can be applied to relationships, business, investing, exercising, etc. When I started this newsletter I made a commitment to write weekly for a year to develop the habit of consistency. Being consistent will help you build momentum, establish awareness and build trust.
Consistency also has an effect on the people around you. Without realising, through being consistent, I have created a routine for my readers. For example, I have a few people who have mentioned that they read the newsletter during lunchtime every Monday. This has helped me build loyalty amongst my readers as they now have an expectation of me. If I was posting whenever I felt like, that uncertainty would lead to confusion and distrust.
“Small disciplines repeated with consistency every day leads to great achievements gained slowly over time.” John Maxwell
Here are 3 reasons why consistency is an important habit:
It develops discipline. Creating new habits can be challenging as it’s easier to stick to what’s comfortable. To be consistent you must have self-control so you don’t allow yourself to get off track. This will help you develop the discipline required to keep going. By committing to be consistent you form habits that become almost second nature.
It can fast track your progress and lead to overall self-improvement. Consistency will lead to progress, which can speed up the achievement you’re working towards. It is easier to achieve a goal by taking small actions repeatedly than trying to tackle it all head-on. Challenging yourself repeatedly builds your self-confidence which will help you set bigger and more challenging goals, ultimately living a fuller life.
It will help you stand out and be noticed. Success requires a track record of success and consistency helps you build a track record of performance. You can’t establish a track record if you keep changing lanes and never seeing things through. Being consistent allows you to build traction as people will begin to have a predictable flow of information from you. I.e every Monday you can expect a new newsletter from me.
Most people struggle with consistency due to a lack of patience, desire for instant gratification, or not having supporting habits or triggers. Consistency is actually a double-edged sword as we can also be consistent with bad things. It is important we evaluate ourselves and become aware of what we consistently do, whether good or bad.
Developing consistency isn’t as difficult as it seems, it requires a mindset shift. To achieve consistency you need to have willpower, ‘where there’s a will there’s a way’. If you’ve made the decision to achieve something and you have the will to achieve it, one way or another you will do whatever it takes to achieve it. You can accomplish anything you want in life if you have the right strategies and perform the right actions consistently. Use consistency to your advantage.
Following the tragic news of Virgil Abloh's passing, this week’s something interesting to watch is a video I first watched last year highlighting Virgil’s journey. Virgil showed us all it is possible to achieve whatever you put your mind to no matter your background. May he continue to Rest In Peace.