In yesterday’s post, Three Reasons for Practicing Consistent Action, I outlined three reasons for practicing consistent action. For today’s post I wanted to share some tips and bits of wisdom that I’ve picked up that helps in practicing consistency.
1. Think Before You Act - This is an easy one. It’s something that I used to hear all the time from my parents. Things like: Don’t touch the oven it’s hot! Don’t touch the electric circuit, you’ll get electrocuted! Don’t walk into the street without looking both ways, or you’ll get hit by a car! Parents tend to exaggerate negative outcomes in an effort to protect their children. And yet most children, despite what their parents say, end up doing exactly what their parents warned them not to do.
A mystery? Maybe. But I think the more plausible reason is that children tend not to think before they act; kids are more impulsive than adults because their instincts are less honed. That’s why kids are encouraged to make mistakes early on; the hope is that by the time they become adults, they’ll have learned their lesson and can make better choices and decisions.
In the same way, when it comes to practicing consistency, it’s important to think before you act. When you wake up in the morning do you think about what you’re going to do or do you just operate on autopilot? Most people would probably say the latter holds true for them. You wake up brush your teeth, take a shower, change, eat and then go to school or work. Minutes turn to hours and before you know it the day’s over. What happened to that new exercise plan you were going to start? Or what about calling up your friends to set up dinner plans after work?
Living consistently requires that we think before we act. If we want to follow through with our plans consistently then it’s important to think about those plans before we commit our time to a task. Living life on autopilot will never yield the kind of consistency that you get from thoughtful action.
2. Say No To Compromise - There’s nothing wrong with compromise. Everyone needs to compromise with some things in life whether it be with a loved one, a boss or friend. However, excessive compromise can actually be self-defeating especially when it comes to practicing consistency. For example, if you make a promise to yourself that you’re going to spend an hour every day to study for a test (LSAT, GMAT, MCAT, SAT etc.) you shouldn’t compromise that time under any circumstances because once you do, you’ll have lost any momentum you had going into it. One, “I can study later, it’s only a quiz,” leads to “I’ll study tomorrow, it’s only a test,” which can lead to “It’s okay if I fail the final, I’ll still pass.” The road to excessive compromise is a road to diminishing returns.
When it comes to studying, consistency is essential. That’s why teachers and professors always say 15-20 minutes a day is better than a 10 hour cram session the day before the final. If a friend asks you to hang out, watch a movie, or play outside during your study time, you NEED to say no.
This is something I’ve noticed with my writing. My routine is usually to leave the house around 10am and go to my local book store and write for about five to six hours. Today, I got side tracked by some bad news on Wall Street which resulted in me leaving my house an hour later than usual. By the time I got to the store it was close to 11am. That hour lost may not seem like much, but that was precious time for brainstorming and setting the pace and direction of my writing session. Although it’s difficult to quantify the loss in productivity, I noticed that it took me longer to get into my writing groove than it usually does. That’s time gone forever.
3. Be a Monk Chant Your Goals - Chanting is a technique that is used to induce a trance-like state, which helps the mind achieve a greater level of concentration and focus. It’s used in a number of religious traditions including Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, and Islam. Chanting is a technique that I’ve found to be extremely helpful in practicing consistency especially when it comes to focusing on specific goals.
When I was in grade school I used to chant my times tables and vocabulary words. I even took it as far as creating a whole cardiovascular workout that involved me running and jumping while I chanted “nine times nine - eighty one, nine times ten - ninety.” Though it may seem silly and embarrassing, it certainly paid off in the end. (I did pretty well on my SATs and never had much trouble with Math)
Lately I’ve been testing this strategy out with my writing. I first list the scenes in my script that I want to write for the day and then I begin saying the scenario out loud. With each pass my script gets longer and more complex. This method works exceptionally well for extroverts like myself who need to hear their thoughts for them to really solidify in our minds.
Try this with the short term and long term goals you’ve written down. If you repeat these a few times in the morning and a few times in the evening, before long, you’ll have them ingrained in your memory. Once locked in, they’ll be able to withstand any turbulence that may come your way.
4. Limit Your Possibilities - The more options you have the less focused you are. There’s no really way around it; the two are opposing forces. When you have ten things to choose from it’s easy to just flip between them and never buckle down and pick one. This type of behavior is apparent in college students who switch majors, professionals who jump careers, and investors who “trade” stocks.
Practicing consistency requires focusing your attention on a few tasks and seeing them to completion. It’s better to have completed one task then to have ten half finished. Would you rather be known for having achieved one thing in life, like being an famous painter, or a world renowned businessman or would you rather be known as a mediocre painter, businessman, parent, spouse etc. You can’t be good at everything. Pick a few things and be consistent with them.
Consistency is all about focus, limit your choices and focus will come naturally.
While it’s easy to say, this is something that I’ve found extremely difficult to follow in my own life. I tend to have more ideas and thoughts than I should on any given day and it’s easy for me to spend my day thinking about possibilities rather than focusing on what I need to get done. The challenge is to limit possibilities and close doors. I touched upon this point in my article a few months back, Don’t Put Your Feet in Two Boats , take a look if you haven’t read it.
5. Seek Accountability - When trying to break a bad habit or develop a new one, it’s tempting to follow the I-can-do-it-myself approach. Although it leaves your pride intact, it’s usually not effective. Trying to do things on your own, whether it be to break a bad addictive habit or embarking on a new career, is tough without the proper support. That’s why there are support groups for pretty much everything (watch Fight Club in case your skeptical).
Having people to keep you accountable is a great strategy for practicing consistency. When the only person you have to answer to is yourself, it’s easy to shirk responsibility, but when you have the expectations of others on your conscience, it’s much harder. Take for example, the typical work environment. When your boss or supervisor expects you to get something done, you get it done because you don’t want to disappoint them and risk losing your job. The expectation of another person is a powerful motivator.
Accountability is powerful. Use it.
Practicing consistency is a life long challenge, but it’s a muscle like most other skills. The more you do it the better you get at it. So start small and build up. Write down your goals, chant them out loud, get yourself a support group and , before you know it, you’ll be on your way to better and more consistent living.
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