EMAIL #192-31ST OCTOBER 2022 - "CONSISTENCY BEATS TALENT"
Consistency Beats Talent.
If you struggle to reach your goals, you don’t lack talent you lack consistency.
I really don’t like pushing my own barrow (i.e., boasting about myself), it just doesn’t feel right. But there is one thing I will admit about my success, it’s mostly due to my consistency of effort.
Every weekday I get up at 5.30am and put in a solid 9 or 10 hours of productive work and I have done so for 30 ++ years. Nothing revolutionary or earth shattering, but extremely consistent.
This consistency of effort has paid off big time especially with my children. My three adult children all have a great work ethic.
You may be aware that my youngest daughter has just finished school and I am incredibly proud of her. Two weeks ago, she received an academic award and topped her year in the subject “Health & Human Development”. I suspect she is not the smartest in the class, but I’m certain she put in the most consistent effort throughout the year.
“A lack of talent is an excuse. Consistency has no excuses.” Tim Denning
What I love about consistency is it’s completely black or white. You either did the work or you didn’t. In contrast talent is very grey. It’s a spectrum. Everyone has talent but it’s impossible to quantify or judge how much.
It’s easy to hide behind “your talent”, but there is no hiding from consistency.
Consistency reveals the truth and exposes the lies we tell ourselves.
I don’t love many celebrities, but I do love Jerry Seinfeld. I have listened to dozens of his interviews, and he often admits that the key to his enormous success is “not breaking the chain”. His superpower as a comedian is writing every single day. Some days it’s absolute garbage and other days it’s pure gold. But the critical thing is, he does it every day, because if he doesn’t write one day it will break the chain and that is something he will never let happen.
“Repetition can be boring or tedious, which is why so few people ever master anything.” Hal Elrod
Most jobs have inbuilt consistency. To get paid you have to show up each day and do the work. But personal/private ambitions are more complicated. No one else compels you to put in the effort or do the practice and there are no immediate consequences for being inconsistent. Achieving long term goals all comes down to effort and consistency which is tedious and hard.
“It’s not what we do once in a while that shapes our lives. It’s what we do consistently” Tony Robbins
What ultimately makes the difference for success and achieving your full potential is passion.
“Consistency + passion = top 1% in the world”
A proven formula for success in any field = find an activity you like. Make this activity a daily habit. Then build a system around the habit and apply 5+ years of consistent practice.
Consistency is what transforms average into excellence.
For the final word I look to Jerry, “You have to motivate yourself with challenges. That’s how you know you’re still alive.” Jerry Seinfeld
Thanks for reading,
Stay safe and keep plugging away at what you love.
David
