The Power of Consistency
How small habits repeated consistently turn into big things by Calvin Harris
The truth is, the process of success and achieving your wildest dreams is not a matter of Will-Power or positive thought, as much as the Simple habit of showing up day after day.
When you show up with focused attention day in, day out for a set period of time, no matter how small, it’s inevitable you will reach where you truly want to be. Opportunities will begin to present themselves.
Author, Ayodeji Awosika, says:
“When you show up and keep putting your work out there, good things start to happen. You make new connections, people reach out to you, opportunities start to present themselves.”
But before we get there, Austin Kleon a writer and artist living in Austin, Texas who wrote the book “Steal Like An Artist”, makes the observation - “Lots of people want to be the noun without doing the verb. They want the job title without the work.”
The world seems to be facing an epidemic, and are in shock right now and that is because everyone wants to be successful, yet no one is willing to put in the work to be successful. You Can’t Be the Noun Without Doing the Verb.
We as a culture have become instant gratification seeking drones, that have been dumbed down and turned into dopamine seeking instant messaging, Facebook likes, and Netflix zombies at the expense of our dreams and desires.
For many, it is easier to simply talk about the work, rather than to actually do the work. What I mean by doing the work is to put into action the power of thinking, and comprehending, an orderly and rational way to carry out activities. While in the motion of carrying out those activities one arrives at a state of satisfaction and accomplishment.
Blogger Anthony Moore suggest:
“Most people will continue getting high on the dopamine of solely “dreaming” and journaling about their ideal life, without ever doing any meaningful work to make those goals happen.”
I go along with the idea that ‘Its time’ that people start realizing you can’t be the noun without doing the verb.
You can’t be an athlete, if you never train.
You can’t be a writer, if you don’t write.
You can’t be a mathematician without using the principles of mathematics.
In what areas of your life, are you calling yourself the noun without doing the verb? It’s time to get consistent.
‘Consistency’, Anthony Moore puts it this way
“Consistency is a bit like a million dollars. Everyone wants it, everyone knows it will make their life better, but it seems impossible to ever achieve it.”
Becoming consistent at anything you want is not elusive, it can be as simple as rethinking badly formed habits or finding how things are being put in the wrong order. To start forming new habits.
This does not mean, that this correction, or becoming the best version of yourself is likely to happen overnight, old behaviors don’t shake loose that easily.
Start with small steps. Focus on constancy and frequency, rather than intensity and allow the habit to slowly become a natural part of your Being. Become the Conscious builder of your life. Srinivas Rao wrote,
“Build the identity of the person you want to become.”
Blogger Reece Robertson tells us:
“This is preciously how I developed my morning journaling habit. I didn’t force myself to write an entry straight away. Rather, I would get up every morning, write the date in my journal, and then close it again.
Once that was a natural part of my morning routine, I began to journal for 15 minutes before getting into my reading and writing and haven’t stopped since.
Start small, learn the routine, and develop a process you can stick to.”
To recap, own the fact that you want to build the identity of the person you want to become. That you will cultivate the power of consistency. That you will make a pact with yourself to show up today, tomorrow, the day after that, and so on.
It will be a certainty that your life would be very different in a year.
Own that You are done holding yourself back, and you will be making more progress. having more joy and satisfaction from life. To develop more confidence, through self-discovery of being the Noun by your action as the Verb.
It starts now.
“The majority of goals people pursue don’t require innate talent, or working a 12-hour a day — in most cases, they lack old-fashion consistency.” -Zdravko Cvijetic (content creator, entrepreneur and the founder of Zero to Skill).