The Power of Consistency: 4 Keys to Unlocking Your Potential

One of the most powerful forces in the world is a product of the human mind and will. That product is — consistency.

With consistency, you have the ability to push past frustration, indecision, procrastination, and all sorts of -ions and -isms.

Without consistency, even the best laid plans remain unfulfilled and gather dust as time passes and dreams become passing visions.

In this article, you’ll learn:

• What consistency is
• Why consistency is so important
• A mindset and philosophy you can use to help you be more productive
• Nuanced tactics to help you be more consistent

If you find it difficult to remain consistent or you want to be more consistent in your life, then you’ll want to read on.

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What is Consistency and Why Is It So Important?

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines consistency as:

marked by harmony, regularity, or steady continuity : free from variation or contradiction

The key words in this sentence are harmony, regularity, and continuity. Meaning, consistent actions are in harmony with other like actions, they are a regular occurrence, and they continue frequently.

Consistency helps to create the things we want and need in our life.

Consistency is the cornerstone of habits and behavioral change.

Everyone wants to be a new person but that “new person” is the composite of hundreds or thousands of consistent actions done daily over a specific period of time.

James Clear says it so clearly (no pun intended) in Atomic Habits:

Improving by 1 percent isn’t particularly notable—sometimes it isn’t even noticeable—but it can be far more meaningful, especially in the long run. The difference a tiny improvement can make over time is astounding. Here’s how the math works out: if you can get 1 percent better each day for one year, you’ll end up thirty-seven times better by the time you’re done. Conversely, if you get 1 percent worse each day for one year, you’ll decline nearly down to zero. What starts as a small win or a minor setback accumulates into something much more.

Consistency is to self-improvement as iron is to steel. Without it, true and lasting results are impossible.

In the same token, consistency paves the way to mastery via habit formation because it sets a foundation for the elusive state of mastery to occur.

In this scenario, who is more likely to attain high levels of skill?:

• A person who plays guitar for 15 minutes one day, an hour the next, then doesn’t play for a week
• A person who plays guitar for 30 minutes a day, every single day with an objective goal in mind

It’s pretty obvious — the second guy.

By repeating specific actions over and over again, you develop an environment for change to occur and eventually settle into your identity.

You take something that was in the realm of the unfamiliar to “this is who I am” all by repeating an action over and over repeatedly until it becomes part of who you are.

Most importantly, consistency fuels and is fueled by the concept of incremental gains.

Consistency and Lag vs. Lead

Once again, from Atomic Habits:

Your outcomes are a lagging measure of your habits. Your net worth is a lagging measure of your financial habits. Your weight is a lagging measure of your eating habits. Your knowledge is a lagging measure of your learning habits. Your clutter is a lagging measure of your cleaning habits. You get what you repeat.

You only see the results of actions after you do them. That sounds sort of “duh” but you’d be surprised how many people actually live their lives this way.

Lots of people expect to have a super-ripped body or to be financially independent with a minimum of effort. Many people want to see results before they achieved the goal.

This is why a lot of people fall for “get rich quick” schemes or “hacks”. It’s difficult and strenuous to develop a strong work ethic or concentrate on goal achievement, so many people will opt for the fast and seemingly easy way to achieve goals.

But life doesn’t work that way – the goals are always achieved after the results.

Conversely, the damage always comes after the action is done. You get the hangover after the drinking. You realize you don’t have enough money for rent after you spend it.

This is basic cause and effect, which is a natural law, as illustrated in this podcast episode:

How to Be Consistent (Over Time)

The act of consistency is a multi-faceted discipline that contains many parts. Here’s a model you can follow to build consistency into your life and daily routines.

1. Establish a Goal

In order to know whether you are on the right track or not, you need an objective measure of your progress (or lack of it). This is where goals comes in. Goals help you orient yourself and your efforts towards accomplishing something.

Take the example bulking up in the gym. You currently weigh 175 pounds and you want to get to a weight of 200 pounds. You decide that it would be feasible to add .5 pounds of lean mass per week, making a cumulative total of 2 pounds per month.

If all goes well, you will have hit your goal in about a year (2 pounds x 12 months = 24 pounds in a year).

In order to hit this goal, you need to consistently go to the gym, eat right, and sleep well. This means doing these things over and over again until they become routine and habitual.

If you’re not consistent, you’ll never close the gap between who you are and who you want to be.

2. Scale Up

Once you’ve established the goal, you’ll need to scale up your efforts to achieve that goal, especially if they’re already minuscule or non-existent.

As you start to scale up, you’ll find yourself hitting on your productive capacities in different areas. For many people, these limits are self-imposed/haven’t been tested, so they are artificially low by default.

The act of being consistent is to expand these capacities bit by bit.

Going back to the example of adding muscle mass, lifting more amount of weight over time is how you do so.

This means constantly pushing the limits of what you’re capable of over time. This means expanding your comfort zone.

3. Master the Art of Habit Formation

A tool that’s good to have in your arsenal is knowing how to build and break habits. Habits are at the cornerstone of all the we do and your life will be dictated by them in a sense. Your habits will be the “invisible hand” that shapes the trajectory of your life. J. Paul Getty says it plainly:

“The individual who wants to reach the top in business must appreciate the might and force of habit. He must be quick to break those habits that can break him and hasten to adopt those practices that will become the habits that help him achieve the success he desires.”

If you want to be consistent, you need to establish habits that propel you towards the goal you are being consistent towards and break the habits that prevent you from doing that.

And in my opinion, breaking your bad habits will go a long way to help you become the man or person you desire. Think of bad habits as a brake on a car. As you press down on that brake, the car starts to slow down. When you press down all the way, the car comes to a complete stop. Bad habits are the same way.

For each bad habit that you have in your life, it will weigh you down until eventually they stop you from going anywhere.

You may not reach your destination when you develop good habits but you will almost by default ensure you never make it there with a bunch of bad habits.

4. Stay Motivated

The act of being consistent can be very taxing. You’re working day in and day out, doing repetitive activities with seemingly little or no results. Over time, that can wear on you…IF don’t have the right mindset – and that mindset comes from motivation.

There are two main types of motivation: external (or extrinsic) and internal (or intrinsic). External motivation is usually a trigger to start action, intrinsic motivation is the fire that propels action.

A good example of extrinsic motivation is getting rejected by your crush and then deciding to get jacked or improve your game, a good example of intrinsic motivation is the desire to get a better paying job so you can provide for your immediate family.

Both can be good, but only intrinsic motivation will sustain you through the days where you ask “what the hell am I doing this for?”

To learn more about how you can get motivated, check out The Science of Deep Motivation: How to Get and Stay Motivated.

Wrapping Up + Next Steps

There are many ways to achieve your version of success but without consistency in whatever you do, you’re never gonna make it. Whether it be saving money to buy a house or go on a trip, doing repeat workouts to get fit, applying to jobs when you’re unemployed, or even getting a social life – consistent day in and day out efforts will get you closer to your goal(s).

Consistency takes advantage of the natural learning mechanism of the human brain and the natural law of the slight edge to create momentous shifts over time.

The real way to be consistent over time is to set a goal, scale up your efforts to achieve that goal, master the art of habit formation, and to stay motivated.