What would you say is the #1 reason someone/anyone achieves something great, something truly amazing, something that inspires awe? How did they achieve such an incredible feat?
They must be very talented, right? These lucky rascals must have won the gene lottery.
According to author Stephen King, “Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.“
Calvin Coolidge, the 30th President of the United States, said the following, “Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.”
And renowned leadership author John C. Maxwell has stated, “Consistent is often a cringe-worthy word. But no matter what it is you are doing and how good you are at doing it, you will never be successful if you are not consistent at it.“
Achieving greatness, achieving legendary, is possible to each one of us.
The key to manifesting the greatness, the genius inside of us, is not a magical property endowed in an aroma of mystery and sensation (as much as it may have been, in many ways, more appealing).
It is something very simple and, probably, a little boring, which is likely the reason few people give it any significant attention, nor does it get the recognition it deserves.
The key is Consistency.
Taking action consistently, every single day, on something you want to achieve, will eventually lead to greatness, even if it might require time, patience, commitment.
Consistency is the ability to continually take action every day, and do the right thing, regardless of whether the mood or whether the odds are for you or the circumstances are favorable.
“Small disciplines repeated with consistency every day lead to great achievements gained slowly over time.”
— John C. Maxwell
I will readily admit that being described as, and/or being praised for being consistent doesn’t exactly raise eyebrows, turn heads, or make people fall off their chairs with excitement.
You’d rather be associated with the words talented, charismatic, or gifted. And, yet, as magical as these words sound, consistency is the key, the hidden cause, behind every great achievement.
As John C. Maxwell puts it, Consistency is a non-sexy word that leads to greatness.
Being consistent may not be “sexy” but if you consider it, if you really give it some thought, it is liberating and empowering, because it is not something given to you but something you attain yourself, something that comes out of your actions, something you can control.
Ironically, this may very well also be the reason that consistency is so unappealing to us. It takes away our excuses and feels threatening to our insecurities and fears.
It is up to us make good use of the power of consistency to achieve our goals, achieve our purpose, achieve greatness.
I can personally associate consistency with some of my greatest achievements, like excelling at my math exam and ending up at MIT. Could it have been because I am a genius? Well, yes, of course I am (sorry for the banal humor). But…
Even though I was always good at math, after consistently studying it for over a year (about 3 hours every day without exception), I could, at that time, feel that I was at a completely other level. I would easily solve mathematical problems which, a while before, if you’d show one such at me, I’d look at it as if it was an extraterrestrial life form.
At the same time, to achieve our goals and purpose, we need to understand, really take it into our hearts, that time is our most valuable resource. And we need to invest it wisely.
Here’s one fact about our modern society, a little irony if you will, we always seem to be running around for one thing or the other, and we always seem to be out of time. And yet, consider how much of our time is used wisely and how much of it is getting wasted in activities that give us little reward or growth.
According to one account Americans now spend an average of 4.7 hours a day looking at social media on their phones. According to another report the average social media user around the world spends 2 hours and 25 minutes on social media each day, equating to roughly one waking day of their life every week.
Now consider how much time is wasted each day in front of a television watching “junk food” shows like Big Brother, Survivor, The Bachelor, Keeping Up With the Kardashians, American Idol, Next Top Model, the list goes on and on and on, you name it. And these shows are really on the rise. It truly amazes me.
So, what is going on? Undoubtedly we live in the age of distraction and instant gratification. To remain focused, and to consistently go after activities that grow you and help you achieve your goals and your dreams is more difficult than ever.
Despite that, the good news is that we actually have a lot more time than we think we have. All we have to do is consider how to make better use of it, we need to allocate our time more wisely.
Instead of using so much of our time poorly, and then discovering that there’s little time for what really matters (e.g. our relationships, health, personal growth, finances), then forced to play catch up and seek quick fixes, shortcuts, and make poor choices in general that lead to nowhere at best, to a catastrophe at worst, there’s a case for a more balanced approach where most of our time is used purposefully and constructively.
“I’d just encourage you, if you want to go to greatness, don’t go to greatness, go to consistency. Practice it. That’s the path that will eventually lead you to greatness.”
— John C. Maxwell
Every day, we need to give priority to activities that grow us and bring us closer to our goals, bring us closer to legendary.
It’s not necessary, neither is it wise generally speaking, that we spend too much time on one single activity or goal. In other words, you don’t have to spend every waking hour on your goal (after all, perfectionism is the enemy of productivity and leads to procrastination and inaction), but you need to find some time for it every single day, you need to be CONSISTENT.
Consistency is also key to achieving your online business goals.
If you haven’t done so already I encourage to sign up for our online business training series, and get instant access to our brand new On-Demand Online Workshops FREE.
They are condensed with valuable content, to the point, and they are real, giving you the facts on the possibilities and what it takes to build a profitable online business.
Learn the exact steps to turn your interests into income and much more.