One of the hallmarks of successful people is that they are consistent. They forge routines that, from the outside looking in, don’t seem so incredibly hard to do. But what does make those routines hard is that they engage in them day in and day out. They are relentlessly consistent.
When Stephen King, author of Carrie, Cujo and many other blockbuster books, is writing a book, he will consistently write at least two thousand words a day for three months at a clip. He will write on weekends, holidays, even Christmas. Two thousand words a day works out to about ten pages a day. After three months, his first draft is complete.
My fifty year old sister-in-law, who has a body of an eighteen year old, runs virtually every day. She’s been doing that for more than thirty years. Earlier in the year, she began a one hundred day challenge in which she would run every day for one hundred days. She is closing in on two hundred straight days of running. She is a mother with two children and has a demanding full-time job. There are days she can only run a mile or two. She does the one or two miles, no matter what. Running two miles a day might not seem hard. Running two miles a day for two hundred days, however, is hard.
If you want to be successful, you need to develop daily routines that move your forward in achieving your dreams and your goals. And you need to consistently engage in those routines even when you don’t feel like it. Over time, those who are relentlessly consistent, will outperform or outcompete or outgrow, those who are not. Consistency leaves your competition in the dust, given enough time.
About Thomas C. Corley
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