Talent is no guarantee of success.
I know I’ve said this a thousand times, but I can’t emphasize this enough. Hard work is much more effective than a skill. And if you are not a skilled person for that goal you want to achieve, compensating that lack with smart and consistent work will get you to heaven, if you set your mind to it.
Personally, I believe that the only true formula for success is the following:
Visualization + Preparation + Implementation + Discipline + Perseverance = Success
But consistency is precisely one of those crucial aspects in which many of us fail.
Why is it so hard for us to be consistent?
Especially these days, when everything is so fast-paced, we want what we want, and we want it now. We are used to not waiting, and we think we will see the fruits of our efforts as if it were a Google search: instantly. But that is not the case.
Let’s use an example we can all relate to: being healthier.
A person with this goal takes advice on dietary changes and physical activity to reach their ideal weight or improve their well-being. Therefore, they change the can of soda for water or start training at the gym. However, a week later you see they stopped running because they still have the same weight, or eating junk food because they went out with their friends, or simply because the weekend is here.
I’m sure we’ve all been through something similar at some point in our lives. And at that stage, we lacked perseverance. It’s pointless to define a goal, try hard to figure out what to do to achieve it, and stop just after you started fighting for it. It doesn’t make sense, does it?
One trick to practice consistency that has worked for me and that I always share is, for example, if you want to improve your knowledge, set a goal to read for at least 10 minutes every day. You will be eager to learn more before you know it. You will realize that if you can achieve so much with so little effort and without help, you can grow much more if you continue to be consistent.
Consistency makes the difference
What those who abandon their processes are not able to see is that through consistency, small steps will make a huge difference in their future results. It’s just a matter of time, as long as we don’t stop.
The hardest part is getting started and sticking with it
The beginnings are the hardest because we see that we invest a lot of valuable resources and that the results are far away. But the important thing is to keep fighting consistently until we reach the point of no return.
What is that point? The one marked with the arrival of the expected change. It shows us that what we are doing is working. We get a small milestone on our long road and it inspires us to continue.
And best of all, our effort will no longer be so hard because there has already been a positive outcome that will help us. This can be a skill, an understanding, a result, some income, a positive effect of your actions.
We cannot stop, especially not before achieving any results. Stopping means losing in vain all that we had been doing and that was about to bear fruit. And that only implies having to start from the beginning, all over again.
What do you prefer…
To strive and be consistent and achieve your goal in a reasonable time? Or start from scratch again and again and again, wasting resources and time, without achieving anything?
An effort sustained over time
Not trying, or failing, is not the real failure. You fail when you decide to give up what you had already achieved and what you could accomplish because you want overnight results. Just consider, no plant grows from a seed the day after it is planted. A bean sprout can be seen in a couple of days, and a cactus sprout can take 3 months.
How long does it take for a Chinese bamboo tree to grow? 5 years. A Chinese bamboo tree takes 5 years to grow. It has to be watered and fertilized in the ground where it has been planted every day. It doesn't break through the ground for 5 years. After 5 years once it breaks through the ground it will grow 90 feet tall in 5 weeks.
With that I mean every goal is different, everyone takes their time to achieve it through their skills and effort. But don’t throw it all away if your results don’t materialize in the time you envisioned. Keep working, watering, and sunbathing it every day, when that talent begins to sprout in you it will become the motivation to grow into the tree you dreamed of.
Before adversity, consistency
The bigger the goal, the more obstacles you will face along the way. Those great athletes you admire are not at the top of the podium by pure chance. Nothing has been bestowed upon them by the genie in the lamp.
For this, they had to get up to train while everyone slept; stay and train when everyone else has left; fight against fatigue, loneliness, frustration, and failure more times than you can imagine.
So don’t stop. Your dream is there, waiting for you to run to achieve it.
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