It’s what you do in private that you’ll be rewarded for in public—How consistent are you?
No matter your goals for the future, I believe everyone should focus on developing this one specific skill:
Being consistent.
Without consistency, all of your talents and creative ideas will be pretty much useless. Incredibly talented people fail when they’re not consistent, while lesser talented people succeed simply because they are consistent.
“Little things done repeatedly lead to big changes in our lives.” — Srinivas Rao
Consistency is the differentiating factor between success and failure. It’s the foundation of peak performance.
Consistency as a superpower
I consider consistency to be my superpower.
Truth is, I’m not the fastest learner. I’m not the most creative person. I’m usually late to discover trends. And I’m not the most motivated person.
But I’m incredibly consistent.
I can stick with problems, challenges, and habits much longer than most others — and that’s my superpower.
Where others might be faster (in creating, spotting trends, learning), I’m more persistent. Where others give up, I feel like we’re only getting started.
Consistency Is The Key To Extraordinary results
If you want to succeed at anything — business, fitness, investing — focus on being consistent. Learn consistently. Create consistently. Do consistently. It’s the key to extraordinary results.
For example:
-
has consistently published multiple articles per week on Medium for years
- Seth Godin has written a blog post every single day for over 10 years
- Drake has released nearly 200 songs, much more than most other hip-hop artists
- Thomas Edison has made more than 1,000 inventions of which most completely failed
For all these people, consistency has been a major factor in their success.
As author James N. Watkins said, “A river cuts through rock, not because of its power, but because of its persistence.”
With your habits, it’s what you do consistently that leaves a lasting impact on your health, mindset, finances, and productivity — not what you do every now and then.
In sports, it’s the athletes who consistently give it all during training who perform the best on game day — not the ones who only train hard when they feel like it.
On Medium, it’s the writers who consistently publish that eventually succeed — not the ones who write every now and then.
And in building wealth, it’s those who consistently spend less than they earn who get ahead financially — not those who save everyone now and then.
You get the point. Be consistent.
Do the work when no one is watching
Self-improvement author Jim Rohn said, “What you’ll do in private is what you’ll be rewarded for in public.”
You see, most people only work hard when other people are watching them — whether their manager, colleagues, or friends. They’re only their best-performing self when they can get some sort of praise or recognition for their effort.
Only when the manager is in the office do they work hard.
Only when their friends are in the gym do they lift heavy.
Only when the camera is pointed at them do they show their best self.
But, most of the time, there’s no one watching our performance. Therefore, it’s what you do when no one’s watching that makes the difference between an extraordinary life and a mediocre life.
Take-Home
The message is clear: How different would it be if you start to act in private just like you act in public?
How much more productive would you be? How much more intense would your workouts be? How much better would you perform?
As writer, Srinivas Rao said, “If you want to change your life, start by changing your behavior, and make the new behavior something you follow through on consistently.”
Jari Roomer is a popular writer on medium. If you find articles like this valuable, support his work and consider signing up on medium. There, you get unlimited access to articles from thousands of writers using the membership link here.
