Why I’m not aiming for Greatness anymore
The fight between consistency and momentous achievements.
I’m the sort of guy that goes all-in. Wants massive things to happen. Momentous occurrences happening on a daily. Yet this is often far from reality. After months of this perspective, you can develop somewhat of a bad view of life due to the fact you are constantly being let down. Maybe it's me being idealistic or not wanting to implement hard daily habits.
A recent book that was monumental in my change of view was ‘What I talk about when I talk about running’ by Haruki Murakami… never heard of it. Can’t blame you. I found it amid a late-night online book shopping trip. As the title suggests it talks about running quite a bit, however, my main takeaways were actually found in how the author expressed his routines, musings, and reflections.
Throughout the book, he reiterates how he isn’t talented, special, or clever but instead dedicated to his craft. It was his discipline learned through running that enabled such ease into a career where that is the focus. Inevitably we have fluctuations of emotions, bad days, and stints of procrastination. I think it’s simply through recognising this which is key. We don’t just wake up with an unlimited supply of motivation. We just have to turn up every day.
“For me, running is both exercise and a metaphor. Running day after day, piling up the races, bit by bit I raise the bar, and by clearing each level I elevate myself.”- Haruki Murakami
So you may be wondering what I’m trying to get at. Maybe to be good and consistent at work you must run? No, I’m definitely not saying that (although as somewhat of a running obsessive I always advocate for the sport)!
The key takeaway is the change of mindset from aiming for massive moments to small routines. It provides lots of benefits such as:
it’s rewarding to achieve little habits each day
relieving the pressure to achieve something ‘great’
it is often unobtainable to go from zero to something amazing, even if you don’t achieve your small habits one day you won’t feel as deflated
working on small daily habits doesn’t take much
the routine of focus and taking a long term perspective positively spills into lots of areas of your life rather than just the one intended habit
“In each shave lies a philosophy”- Somerset Maugham
Weird quote eh? I love it. No matter how mundane some actions might appear, keep at it long enough and it will become this sort of meditative, contemplative act. Consistency beats the all-or-nothing approach every single time.
I personally went through a long period of having a bit of anxiety about my future and self-sabotage due to me feeling like I’d not achieved something big. Taking that shift from trying to go big and reach the momentous I’ve gone after small attainable goals. Sleeping better, having a routine in exercise, eating healthy, writing and reading often, and reaching out to friends and family on a regular basis.
Although I can’t say I’ve gone and gotten a Nobel prize or changed the world I feel much more content and happy than I have in a while. Multiple people have mentioned they’ve noticed a difference in me. Being at peace with the future not being 100% laid out but happy that what routines I am doing today will set me in great stead for anything coming my way.
“Success isn’t always about greatness. It’s about consistency. Consistent hard work leads to success. Greatness will come”- Dwane Johnson
I believe we are all gifted with opportunities in our life. Sometimes we are prepared and other times we’ll have no clue what to do. Using the mundane to refine, reflect, and reposition ourselves can be the preparation for when the big things do happen. It does take some work though and a whole bunch of consistency.