It is pursued and obtained indirectly by doing things—consistently, deliberately, and long-term—that may not always be physically enjoyable in the moment but inevitably result in a feeling of happiness.
Instead of trying to will happiness into existence, focus on the conditions that bring about happiness—sound mind, healthy body, meaningful work, deep relationships—and perhaps it will emerge. —Clay Skipper
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“If you want to change your body, being consistent is more important than anything else.”
—Precision Nutrition, “Prepare for liftoff”
This is wonderful advice. But it doesn’t just apply to your body.
With anything you pursue, consistency is the key factor that will determine success or failure, change or stagnation.
If you want to be a writer, showing up to the page consistently—upon waking for Morning Pages or each evening on a blog—is the most important thing you can do.
If you want to start a business, showing up to work on it every day—writing copy, sending emails, building an offer—is the way to do it.
Aristotle said, “We are what we repeatedly do.” To be the thing you want to be, you have to do it day after day.
What do you want to become? What do you need to do consistently to become that?
I’m sure you’ve experienced this before: you’re tired, exhausted, stressed out… You have too much on your plate and feel like you’ll never get everything done.
You’re staring at the car keys to drive to the gym…
Or at the blinking cursor on your keyboard where you’re writing your next post…
Or maybe it’s the pile of stuff in the corner you’ve been meaning to organize and put away…
Or that stack of books you want to read but just never get around to…
And every time you look at it, you get hit with a wave of anxiety. You just don’t see how you can do it all.
And because you can’t do it all, or you can’t do it all perfectly, you don’t do ANY of it.
I’ve been there. There have been days where I just didn’t feel like dragging myself to the gym. Days when I had no desire to write another blog post…
But I learned from my Precision Nutrition coaches how to get out of the f*** it mentality and make steady progress. The secret?
Just do 1% of whatever it is.
If I don’t feel like exercising, I tell myself “I’ll just do my warm-up and that’s it.” I don’t even tell myself “I’ll see how I feel.” I just do the warm-up.
I’d say 80-90% of the time, I end up doing the whole workout. But there have been times when I just did the warm-up. And you know what? That’s okay.
It’s so much better to do 1% of something every single day than it is to do 100% of something 3 days in a row… And then burn out, not doing ANYTHING for the next two weeks (or two years in the case of me exercising at one point…)
It’s the Kaizen method, the Japanese practice of tiny improvements over a long period of time that lead to massive gains in effectiveness.
You can do this with anything that’s overwhelming you. Just take the next right step.
Doing that small step is better than nothing at all. And if that’s all you do, you still did better than zero.
But chances are, you’ll do that one thing and feel motivated to keep going. If you do, then run with it!
But if you don’t, feel satisfied knowing you did something. And that you’ll do something again tomorrow.
(H/t to James Clear for reminding me about this practice. Read his post on the subject here.)
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What comes to mind when you hear the word “streak?”
One of the first images that comes to my mind is the tail behind a shooting star. It leaves a trail of light behind it, showing you its progression through the sky.
You can take that same metaphor and apply it to any part of your life:
Just like with the comet, you’ll have a trail behind you, showing your growth and development over time. You can see where you started and how far you’ve come.
And the longer your streaks become, the harder they are to break. Can you imagine exercising every single day for 150 days? How terrible would you feel if you made it that far only to break it?
Jerry Seinfeld is famous for his creative streak: starting in the 1980s, he committed to writing one new joke every single day. That commitment seems to have worked out pretty well for him: today he’s worth in excess of $950 million.
My challenge for you is this: pick a habit you believe would have a major, positive impact on your life. Commit to it, track it on a calendar or an app, and get to a point where you’d be devastated if you broke it.
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That book you read, the TED talk you listened to, or that seminar you attended–it’s only half of the equation. The materials you absorb will not, in themselves, change you for the better (if that is what you seek).
Change is a skill, which means it is something that must be practiced consistently until whatever you seek to change becomes a habit.
The materials available to you are great: in my opinion, they are vital to get you out of whatever rut you currently find yourself. We all need another voice, a voice we trust, reminding us of what better is.
But it’s up to you to change. It requires taking action.
What will you do to change today?
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