Gaining Consistency In Our LivesHey everyone, I recently listened to Brandon Zhang’s podcast with James Clear, the Habit expert. There have been lots of discussions around prioritising consistency over intensity; doing things regularly over a prolonged period instead of short sharp bursts. But often this doesn’t make it easier to follow consistency; that’s because it is hard work and often there are little results, especially early on. Brushing our teeth shows us that consistency is a slow game. If you miss brushing them for a day or two, no harm is done. But if you don’t brush them for weeks and months, the problems start to show. This is consistency in action. Small, repeated actions lead to desired results in the long run, even if not always visible initially. James said that we should think of whatever we want to work on as ‘putting in the reps’. For me, this has been one of the most helpful framings in trying to put into practice the idea of consistency. If you think of something as just a rep, it seems like less of a commitment. And it is well evidenced that putting in reps repeatedly and consistently means you are more likely to achieve your desired results. I sat exams the other week, and exams and revision is a perfect way to think about putting in the reps. At the start, you don’t know the content or what the exam is like. But with each day of teaching, you start to build up the required understanding. And with each practice question you start to improve the ability to do the exam. You put in the reps over a period of time, and you progress massively during this. We don’t expect to be able to pass the exam on day 1 of teaching, but for some reason we want results to all sorts of other things that same day. I am now trying to view a lot more of what I do in the framing of ‘putting in the reps’ in order to improve consistency in my life. I am not expecting results instantaneously just as you wouldn’t after lifting one barbell at the gym. But, over time, results should hopefully start to show. Are you placing intensity over consistency? Think about what things you are doing where consistency may be useful, and where you can use the putting in the reps framework.
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