24. The consistency formula
Doing something every day is easy.
All you have to do is follow this formula:
consistency = having a strong why + a good environment + constant inspiration
If you have all three of those things, you will never fail.
The strong why pushes you when you feel demotivated. You dig deep as you know what you need to do because you're looking long-term. It gives you a hyper-focus.
A good environment gets rid of distractions. It makes it easier for yourself on days where you just don't want to get out, days you don't want to write, days you just don't feel like doing anything. Make it easier for yourself and create/ get in a good environment.
Constant inspiration keeps you in your childlike awe. It pushes to create when no one else is, to push the boundaries, and to be adventurous. Look around to other people in your field and make sure you are constantly getting excited.
Personally, I sometimes struggle writing every single day.
Even now I'm writing this late at night when I should be in bed. No one will probably read this, but you know why I do it? Because I don't want to drop the ball. I don't want to not be consistent. That to me is accepting defeat and mediocrity.
It sounds extreme but it’s because I’ve engrained my habits and the formula into me.
It's because my why is so strong. I want to become really great at what I do. For that, I need to stay consistent. Writing every day is the logical avenue towards that.
I have a good environment because ultimately I'm making it as easy as possible for me to write. Although I've had a really, really busy day. I have enabled this blog to go up really quickly. In a rush, I often dictate my blogs and transfer the words over, I have hundreds of ideas to already decide from the idea book I take everywhere and I don’t allow myself distraction with social media. Even in a bad physical space, you can make your environment good.
I also recognise and get inspired by other people like Seth Godin as he writes every single day that is super inspiring to me. I see him achieving great things and writing every day was a major role in that. So I do it.
Often it is simply taking action on a consistent basis where people fall short. It is the thing that actually provides the most results. People come up with ideas, they follow through but they don’t fall in love with the process (or at least make the process easy enough for long enough for them to fall in love with).
So that combination of those three makes this ability to stay so consistent really easy for me and ultimately I’ve applied it to enable me to write really solidly for close to a month so far.
People complain when they can't stay consistent with something because they are lacking maybe one or two of these things.
So if you have all three then you're set, you're golden, but you can’t be cocky and burnout- you have to continuously top them up.
So remember the formula and get to work!
consistency = having a strong why + a good environment + constant inspiration