The Greatest of All Principles

“Success isn’t always about greatness. It’s about consistency. Consistent hard work leads to success.” – Dwayne Johnson

Consistency is the greatest of all principles. It is the dominant characteristic of chief natural forces like the sun, the moon, the rain, the wind, and the ocean. 

To understand this truth, look at the fact that the precious natural gifts of days and nights have becoming from God since the beginning of time without cease.

In a sense, God is teaching us His unmatchable power of unshakable consistency.

And as it turns out, consistency is the number one predictor of success or failure in all human affairs, whether the matter is in relationship, business politics or religion. 

All other virtues birth full flower only when they are done with consistency. That is why consistency is the greatest of all moral, scientific and religious principles.

Nothing is more effective than consistency when we are concerned about lasting success. Consistency is everything because it means dependability, reliability and assurance. 

Without a doubt, consistency is the single greatest principle for significance and lasting impact. No wonder one artiste once said that he prays to be like the ocean, with soft currents, and waves at times. I prefer the consistency rather than the ebbs and the highs.

Embody Consistency

I dare you—as I dare myself— to embody consistency from now on!

Why?

This is because it's not the good that we do once in a while that really counts; it is the one we do consistently. For our contributions to be of any true value, they've got to be steady and unremitting. 

As you may know, anyone can do well once in a while, but to do it again and again is where the enduring merit lies. To aim high for good and stay up there, one must embody the virtue of consistency.

Now that you know the import of consistency, you should strive to stay the course in whatever good you may do. You should commit yourselves to mastering this powerful trait as a decorated surgeon, Antonia Novello wisely advised us all: “More than anything, be consistent. Go at it. Go at it. Go at it.” 

Consistency of performance is the best brand builder. In fact, consistency is the greatest success hack there is because excellence is not born of one remarkable effort but of our consistent positive actions.

Finally, in all walks of life: consistency determines the eventual winner; the person who can stay the course for as long as it well darn takes. This is why consistency is the greatest of all principles.

Absolute Clarity

“Clarity, clarity, surely, (absolute) clarity is the most beautiful thing in the world.”_George Oppen

In matters of values, principles and purpose, absolute clarity is of supreme magnitude.

A man without a clear purpose driving him forward will easily succumb to the suppressive forces of his immediate surroundings. 

But a man with absolute clarity on what he knows to be true can remain firm amidst the pull of confusions and subjective conclusions of other people as a Spanish poet, Juan Goytisolo once wrote: 

“As I began to discover my own truth and endeavoured to possess it with clarity, I became more and more alienated from that which my companions held or professed to hold.”

If we don’t draw a line and spell out what is really important in life, then we’ll be sidetracked by meaningless distractions and other people’s expectations.  

Absolute clarity creates emotional and mental stamina as it means having a tall purpose to organize one’s whole life by. And it involves creating a personal identity based on moral principles and sublime values. 

Absolute clarity enables us to live our lives with meaning and significance.

In any game, if we are sure of where (or what) the top-scoring target is, then hitting it is relatively easier to accomplish.  

And by the same token, if we are sure of what matters most in life, then it is relatively easier to overcome any challenges in the pursuit of that overriding objective.  

Therefore, let’s take the time to be crystal clear about who we want to be, because without absolute clarity on what we stand for, we will always be at the mercy of changing seasons and capricious events.

Finally, clarity of values, clarity of principles, and clarity of purpose are everything. Indeed, absolute clarity is the most beautiful thing in the world.

Tenacious Repetition is the Big Deal

“Repetition of the same chant, the same affirmations leads to belief, and once that belief becomes a deep conviction, things begin to happen.”_Claude M. Bristol

One of the suboptimal realities of human life is that too many of us are inconsistent, in areas where consistency matters, most of the time.  

To confirm that assertion, look around you and listen to what people claim to be their main wants—either implicitly or explicitly—then observe closely to see if their behaviours align with those claims. 

In a lot of cases, there is often a mismatch between people’s aspirations and their exertions.   

So to be among the committed few who are really sincere to their own hearts, we need to become relentless with the art of purposeful repetition. 

By that, I mean our persistent capacity to do what we need to do, when we need to do it, whether we have the impulse to do it or not. 

This is a process of repeating the basics again and again, both during the winter and the during summer; it is the discipline of loving the work and doing it, both when we feel excited to do it and when we feel bored out of our minds.  

In other words, we should be bias for the process of repetition that will invariably lead to the outcome we desire as Zig Ziglar, the author of ‘See You at the Top’ said: 

“Repetition is the mother of learning, the father of action, which makes it the architect of accomplishment.”

Commit to Tenacious Repetition

“The eight laws of learning are explanation, demonstration, imitation, repetition, repetition, repetition, repetition, repetition.”_John Wooden

Do you have a resolution this year?

If yes, write it down and don’t worry about it

Then create a plan for throwing in the work that is necessary. Create a schedule for putting in a volume of work on the things that are relevant to achieve the goal.

The goal is just an event; an occurrence that is not immediately up to you. However, the repetition of a few critical inputs is what you have control over— right away.

Understand that repetition of the same relevant action is what develops into a habit. And enabling habits are what will help turn any lofty resolution into an attractive reality. 

By the foregoing, I like to think that setting up a system for putting in the work is far more important than choosing the goal. 

If you disagree, honestly answer the following questions.

If we ignore the goal and focus only on the tactical repetitions; won’t we attain the goal?

But if we daydream all day about the goal and become lax on doing the boring, repetitive work that must precede good outcome; are we going to make it?

Since habits are defined as repeated performances, we want to make sure that the actions we repeat on a daily basis are relevant to the outcomes we want.  

Therefore, let’s commit ourselves to tenacious repetition of necessary disciplines, if we want exciting results to be ours—in the end.  

Let’s Be Wary of Small Errors

“Failure is not a single, cataclysmic event. Failure is a few errors in judgement, repeated every day.”_Jim Rohn

I once read an article written by the author of ‘Willpower Doesn’t Work,’ on how fatal the consequences of certain little lapses in life can turn out to be. 

Ben Hardy narrated the sad occurrence that happened in 1979 due to a little error of just two degrees. An airplane that was well-loaded with people began flying two degrees off the right coordinates.

Eventually, those tiny degrees of errors put the plane away from its desired destination by more than forty-five kilometers apart in the course of its journey.

Worse still, the unexpected destination was nothing like the sightseeing adventures the passengers had originally intended as the plane flew straight toward Mount Erebus: the dangerous zone of active volcanic pulse.

Long story short: the mere two degrees of errors led to the fatal end of more than 255 lives aboard. A simple oversight started as something trivial but it ended as an unforgettable tragedy because it was left uncorrected minutes after minutes. 

To quote the words of Ben Hardy from that painful story: “Small things—if not corrected—become big things, always.”

The above narrative is a negative analogy human life. Small errors of judgment that continue uncorrected will accumulate into a big problem, every time. 

However, on the positive side, small wise choices we make every day, if they continue unblemished will accumulate into something great, without fail.

Now, the essence of this article is to goad us to examine our lives for any such error that could give birth to outcomes of lethal consequences down the line.

So let’s think deeper to ascertain that we have a proper-control system to steer us toward a desirable destination of health, spirituality and fulfillment at the end of our brief sojourn on earth.

You should never be too careless with little lapses in your life. Read the following the words of Alan S. Kesselheim, the author of ‘Let Them Paddle’ to get this point direct from his astute observation of human history. He said: 

“Small mistakes, the lack of care, little accidents, and somewhere a tipping point is passed and things go badly wrong. Expedition history brims with tragedies built out of incremental missteps.”

Finally, we need to understand that little leaks can sink even the biggest ship. Therefore let’s be proactive to patch any weak spots that could degenerate into a leak, and subsequently impair the voyage of our life.

Master the Art of Showing Up

“Don't be daunted. Just do your job. Continue to show up for your piece of it, whatever that might be.”_Elizabeth Gilbert

The secret of self-confidence lies in showing up consistently to do what needs to be done in key areas of life.

And as it turns out, the most effective people among us are those who have mastered the art of showing up; they are the ones who show up every day. 

Based on the foregoing, I think we can agree that it is good thing to always strive to make ourselves show up better in important areas of our lives.

The author of the international best-selling book, ‘Atomic Habits,’ James Clear has an insight for us in this direction. 

In order to master the art of showing up, James Clear says we should only aim to be one percent better, every day. 

Yes, you read that right. We don’t need to try and be hundred percent better on any single day, but we need to try and be at least, one percent better, every single day.

Be wary of pushing yourself to the very limit of your capacity on any one day, which can, and almost invariably will lead to burnout, and failure to show up the very next day. 

It is far better to improve by a tiny percentage everyday than to make sporadic moves in progress every now and then.

To avoid the insidious danger of showing up only whenever we are motivated, we should learn to show up every time by making consistency the hallmark of our process.  

This means we need to make every session incredibly easy to do. 

So if for example there is a book you’ve been putting aside for months due to its volume, now change your mindset from wanting to read the whole book to just showing up to read at least a page per day. 

Do this today, tomorrow, and then the next day.

If you do this for 300 days in a row, not only will you end up finishing the book, you will have established the character-identity of someone who can show up every day for a non-urgent, important thing.

Though there is nothing quite remarkable about this slow progress, but what is remarkable about it is that it helps put a good behavior on autopilot in our lives. 

This strategy can help turn us into the type of person who not only shows up every day but also the type of person who shows up no matter what, especially when it is easier not to.

You see, optimization comes easy after standardization is already in place. Improvement in any area is easy for someone who already has the habit of showing up every day in that area.

Showing up is essential to anything worthwhile in life; showing up unremittingly is powerful indeed because when we truly master the art of showing up, we can get good at almost anything else. No wonder an American writer, Woody Allen believes that, “showing up is 80 percent of life.”