How Blogging Taught Me Consistency

Just this morning I was reading @ Srinivas Rao’s article on Medium, The Profound Power of Consistency, and it got me thinking. I have not been the most consistent person. I can think of at least a few friends who might be reading this laughing and saying, “Ya think?” Yeah it’s true. I’m the person who one week wants to start a donut truck and the next week is building a chicken coop and the following week has the idea to get on the map by building the largest ball of tape (those are all real things I’ve done attempted). When it came to school I attended at least 4 different colleges with probably more majors than that, struggling with the idea of choosing one and sticking with it. I finally did but it was a self-designed major that encompassed a few of the others. But I’m not here now, writing to you, because of these inconsistencies of my past.

I’m here now because I at least feel that I’ve seen the light. I’ve always partially known that I was inconsistent. I had thought about getting the word, “DEDICATION” tattooed on my wrist to remind myself but even that idea didn’t stick around. I recently read, Charles Duhigg’s book, The Power of Habit. And I’m beginning to see how the formation of a new habit is fulfilling a craving and creating a habit of consistency that I am finally seeing results from.

I started reading a lot of advice posts on Medium. Things like, How to Be a Better You, or Do This to Make It. And I started taking note of the things that just about every article brought up. And the one thing that stuck out was consistency, showing up every day. And since I write everyday anyways (at least I’ve been consistent with that) I began posting daily. And the result is so obvious I can barely believe my eyes. Consistency works and I’m now a convert!

But now I need to apply it to more than just my blogging life which has skyrocketed in the last month and really gotten me excited. I’ve tried blogging about 10 different times each time falling off after about a week of sparse posting. But adding this new, shall we call it, tool, to my creativity has really brought things to a new level. If I can see that change so blatantly here blogging, think of where it can take any of us on other goals in our lives. How about that book I’ve been meaning to write? Or that garden I’ve been wanting to plant? Or that bass I’ve been trying to play for 4 years?

I suppose consistency is something we all know about. It buzzes in our ears like a pesky fly and we swat it away. “I know Consistency, I know. I’ll get to it. I promise.” But then we don’t. But seeing tangible results from consistency is empowering. I challenge you. Write a post EVERY DAY FOR A MONTH about anything you want and you’ll see results. And even if you don’t plan to be a blogger, seeing results here might just help you find the motivation to apply consistency in other areas of your life.

As @Srinivas Rao brings up in his article, there are 4 things that go along with this new power of consistency: momentum, willpower, habitual identity, and growth of your skills. And I’m seeing it in action.

So far, so good, for me. Why don’t you give it a try?

If you liked this please check out my other post on 7 Techniques I’ve Found for Better Blogging … I bet you can’t guess what number one is.

(photo from stocksnap.io)

This is my own work but is also posted on Medium. I figured I'd share it with you all here. I'm guessing we'll have a @cheetah bot sighting though.