Consistency is the key
The only thing we don’t learn in schools/colleges
I learnt this lesson hard way, failing on many occasions, failing at some of the most important things in my life. I used to be a firm believer that, it is not an issue if I am not able to give time to something for 5 days and then spend exorbitant amount of time in the rest 2 days of the week. This model worked well in many cases. As I grew, I realised, it only worked on few structured things. It worked in school, where you could just cram it up and give the exam. It is like gaming the system. You can get away with it easily. Actually it is easy to game a lot of structured things in life, you just need to understand the structure. I understood the structure for a lot of things which I am not gonna mention here, and at times, I regretted to game the structure. To others, it seemed success, but in reality it was just a series of steps who anyone could execute and get. But there are some things which you cannot find structure to, and you cannot game them. One such example is life itself. There is no shortcut to life, no structured path which you can or will follow and stay happy. The real masterpieces in this world ever created are actually a result of the most important phenomena called “consistency”.
It is the only factor which makes the difference between good and the best and also success and failure. There are a lot of people who start a medium blog and there are only few who continue writing it and stay consistent with it enough to make it big someday. It is true about everything which you cannot game like starting a business, fitness and many other important things- the things which really matter.
You cannot get a 6 pack abs working out 12 hours a day and then not working for the next 5 days, but you still have a chance if you could give one hour everyday to it for the next 5 years. I realised this through gym. I used to go to gym and work really hard. But I was not consistent. I used to miss few days in between and could barely attend 4 days a week. I did not see even a bit gains. Then came COVID, and we got a lot of time at our hand which we did not have before. This was a time away from all the distractions and gave us time to flourish and try out new things. When gyms started again, I was still working from home and I made a point that I will not miss a single day of gym and I saw a big change. I saw my muscles grow. I saw me loosing weight rapidly. It was the best feeling ever. I realised it is all about consistency. Even if I got 30 minutes, I still made a point to go to gym for those 30 minutes. The difference between success and failure is that one day which you decided not to show up because you were too tired/you worked too hard that day or you did not want to do it and you made an excuse for it.
I also realised consistency was the toughest thing of all. No motivational video would help you. That’s the problem with motivational videos. They motivate us for a short time. We think about it and work on the problems at hand with our full power. We burn out and that motivational video goes completely blown away from our minds until we stumble upon the next. Channelising our own energies is a tough job in itself. We should be able to channel our energy so that it gets released consistently rather than as a burst on one single day.
When I learned this model, I applied this model to everything new that I picked up. I started to learn guitar. I made a point to play it daily, even if it is 10 minutes until I reach the point that I can play any song by just listening it. I also started an everyday journal which I write everyday to remind myself that I am doing things consistently, and the results which I am seeing are just incomparable. I have made so much progress with just around 1 hour a day. Things which seem tough today, become easier somehow some other day. I didn’t do anything new. I didn’t search about it on the internet, reading about it and just finding a shortcut to game it too. I just played it daily, with no goals to achieve at a day, but a longer goal to be amazing at it someday. I realised my finger muscles started adapting to it and it improved, without me making any extra effort than playing it daily.
I wanted to dig deeper on this and find out how consistency actually makes the difference. Why can’t someone working 12 hours one day be at the same level as someone working for 1 hour daily. The answer was simple, it is not our mind we are training, but our subconscious mind, we are actually adapting. The part of mind, in our control is very limited. The most important functions we perform as a life on this planet are through our subconscious mind. It is the most powerful part of our body. There is one saying in fitness -
“Once you gain muscles, and lose them, it is easy to gain them back again as compared to first time”
This is simply because of our muscle memory. Once our body has a memory of being something, it is easy for it to attain that state again as compared to first time. We need to make it accustomed to something which we want to embrace completely. Therefore it is mostly advised to do things which you can sustain for a long time. This is actually the same principle as compound interest. The longer you wait, the bigger the effect. Initially, everything was tough. We did not know how to speak/walk/run. But now, we know it and we can never forget it, even if we want to. That’s what we want to achieve to be the best at something. We need to eat, live and breathe it and only then we can actually be master of it. Many of us talk to the people in the car and sometimes even on phone while driving. There are some people who even drink and drive and still reach home safe. Even when their intelligence is so inhibited, they are able to drive. It is because, when we drive, it is not us who actually drive, but our hand/legs which have the memory of how to move in different situations and they do their job perfectly. This is exactly how we type on our keyboards while listening to music and without even looking at it.
Have you ever tried remembering the complete keyboard ? But you still are able to type, even though you don’t remember it. The power of subconscious and consistency is extremely crazy. And this is true for any other thing in this world which you cannot game. To live this life to the fullest with your complete potential and make it big, just follow one thing: “SHOW UP DAILY”
