We’ve all heard famous sayings and aphorisms such as: ‘Consistency beats talent,’ and ‘Consistency beats motivation.’
And so, we come to understand that consistency is key to changing our habits and creating more of what we want in life.
But most people get stuck in creating positive change because they can’t be consistent.
I know, because I was one of those people.
And although I still struggle with some things, I’ve done so much better at many things since I learned this secret:
Being consistent is a mind thing.
And so, we have to focus our efforts on training the mind at first. Only then should we shift our focus onto ramping up the intensity of the activity involved.
So, if I wanted to become a runner, it’s more important in the beginning for me to just get out and run regularly, than it is to try and run as far as possible, in the shortest possible time.
All of that can come later, once I’ve been running regulalry for some time. (This is why smart people say, ‘Consistency over intensity.’)
But most often, we get far too involved in the thing we’re trying to do or change, and we totally miss out on training the mind.
And so we fail, and get caught in a cycle of repeatedly starting out but not being able to sustain any positive changes.
The Self-Image Rules Our Behaviour and Our Results
As Dr. Maxwell Maltz so beautifully points out in his amazing book, Psychocybernetics:
‘The self-image is the key to human personality and human behaviour. Change the self image and you change the personality and the behaviour.’
Dr. Maltz explains that we’re all working with a self-image that’s rooted in our subconscious mind.
And try as we might, we will not succeed in doing anything that is inconsistent with our self-image.
So, we have to change our self-image before we can move any closer towards our goals.
Changing the Self-Image
Dr. Maltz’s prescription for changing the self-image involves numerous techniques that aim to re-program the subconscious mind.
More or less all of these are aimed at letting the mind experience success in whatever it is that we want to accomplish. It includes techniques such as visualising ourselves living the end result, while in a state of deep relaxation (self-hypnosis).
I won’t go into too much detail here, but I would encourage anyone to pick up his book as it is full of useful ideas and information.
But going back to my own experience, I use these simple techniques to help myself:
First Train the Mind
Although there’s usually some action or goal that involves action or effort, I minimise how hard I go on that.
I focus on just building the (mental) habit first.
I train myself to show up regularly and consistently and make that the main goal, at first.
This helps me to shift my self-identity.
It helps me to go from seeing myself as someone who ‘doesn’t do’, ‘can’t do’ and ‘struggles to do,’ to someone who ‘does.’
The rule of thumb I use to help myself is ‘little but often.’
So for example, when it came to exercising consistently, I would run very short distances at first. But I would run daily.
Preparation Creates Success
Knowing what I now know, I do everything I can to help myself do the thing when it’s time by doing everything I can do ahead of time to prepare.
When it came to running, I would have my clothes ready the night before.
I would even have my food ready for when I completed my run, so I didn’t have to prepare meals when I was tired. I could just relax and enjoy healthy food as a reward for my run.
Same Time, Every Day
Being consistent with timing helps in two ways: it helps to train the mind through repetition, and also it helps by taking any uncertainty and guesswork out of when and whether you’re going to take the necessary action.
Summary
To summarise:
Consistency is the key to making positive changes in our lives.
In order to be consistent, we have to train our minds and shift our self-image.
The easiest way to do this is to repeatedly show ourselves that we can do whatever it is we want to do.
We do that by taking small, baby steps, regularly.
And preparing everything we need ahead of time, plus getting into a routine will help us do this easily.