What If Consistency Is the Missing Piece?

Maybe I don't need another answer.

Maybe I need to stay with the answer long enough.

It’s early in the morning. I woke up five minutes before my 3 a.m. alarm, and I’ve been thinking about something that hit me harder than I expected.

Yesterday, I watched a video about persistence and consistency.

And it kind of stabbed me.

Not because I had never heard those words before. Of course I have. We all have. Be consistent. Don’t give up. Keep going.

Nothing revolutionary there.

But this time I heard it differently.

Because deep down, I know this has been one of my problems for a very long time:

I don't always stay with something long enough.

I can get excited. I can dream. I can research something endlessly. I can make plans. I can work incredibly hard when I’m inspired.

But have I stayed with the same important things, consistently and persistently, long enough to find out what could actually happen?

That's a harder question.

I've Been Searching for Answers for a Long Time

If there is one thing I have been consistent about, it's my fascination with the mind.

For at least a decade, I’ve been reading about the law of attraction, manifestation, beliefs, the subconscious mind, success and why people become who they become.

Actually, the fascination started much earlier than that.

I remember being a kid and wondering: How does my mind know what is true? If I think something, how does my mind know whether it is actually true or not?

I didn't even have the vocabulary to explain what I was wondering about. I certainly didn't have an answer.

But I was already thinking about it.

As I got older, I started finding books and ideas that seemed to answer some of those questions.

And then I kept digging.

One book led to another. One teacher led to another idea. One answer created another question.

I've been doing this for years.

So now I'm asking myself something uncomfortable:

What if my problem hasn't been a lack of information?

What if I've learned plenty?

What if I simply haven't practiced what I've learned consistently enough?

Maybe I Didn't Need More Knowledge. Maybe I Needed More Repetition.

I wouldn't say that nothing I've wanted has happened.

Actually, when I look around at my life, so many things I have today were once things I dreamed about.

And that makes me wonder.

Maybe I didn't dream big enough before.

Or maybe those were simply the things I genuinely wanted at that point in my life.

We change. We grow. We become aware of possibilities we couldn't see before. Naturally, our desires can change with us.

My dreams today are much bigger than some of my dreams from ten years ago.

And maybe part of the journey has simply been getting myself to believe that those bigger dreams are possible for me.

There is probably a lot I could unpack there.

But I don't want to overthink this anymore.

I actually want things to become simpler.

I know what I want.

I can see the vision.

The dreams haven't left me.

So what if the thing I need now isn't another book, another method or another breakthrough?

What if I just need to persist?

Decide. Persist. Consist.

I don't even know if “persist and consist” is the proper way to say it. 😂

But that's what came into my head this morning.

Decide. Persist. Consist.

First, decide what you actually want.

Because being consistent means very little if you don't know what you're being consistent about.

Then persist.

Keep going when you're excited. Keep going when you're bored. Keep going when the results aren't obvious yet. Keep going when yesterday didn't go the way you planned.

And then consistency.

Do the thing again.

And again.

And again.

Maybe that's what I've been missing.

Because persistence and consistency seem to show up everywhere.

If you're learning a new skill, you have to practice.

If you're building a business, you have to keep building.

If you're writing, you have to keep writing.

If you're trying to change a habit, you have to keep choosing the new behavior.

We seem to understand this easily when we look at other people.

But somehow, when it's our own dream, we start wondering whether something is wrong because it hasn't happened fast enough.

I'm Sick and Tired of Disappointing Myself

Maybe somebody reading this knows exactly what I mean.

You're not confused about what you want.

You're not lacking dreams.

You're not even necessarily lacking knowledge.

You're just sick and tired of watching yourself procrastinate.

Sick and tired of starting.

Stopping.

Getting inspired again.

Starting again.

And then being disappointed in yourself because somewhere inside, you know you're capable of more.

I've dealt with procrastination and disappointment in myself for a very long time.

And I'm tired of it.

Maybe sometimes getting sick and tired of a pattern is useful.

Maybe there comes a point when you finally say:

I don't want to do this to myself anymore.

Not because you hate yourself.

Because you know you're ready for something different.

Do I Really Need to Be Ruthless With Myself?

I also watched something about being ruthless with yourself.

And I thought about that.

Do I really need to be ruthless with myself to become successful?

I don't think I do.

I can be serious about my commitments without being cruel to myself.

I can hold myself accountable without talking to myself like an enemy.

I can expect more from myself and still give myself grace.

Actually, I think I need that grace.

There will be days when I don't get everything right. There will be interruptions. There will be days when I'm tired, annoyed, distracted or simply human.

Persistence can't mean never having a bad day.

Maybe persistence means coming back after the bad day.

That feels much more sustainable to me.

Maybe This Is the Shift

I don't know if something has shifted in me.

It's too early to make some dramatic declaration about that.

Maybe the only way I'll know is by looking back months from now and seeing what I actually did.

But I do have more clarity this morning.

The decision has been made.

The vision has been visualized.

The dreams never really left.

Maybe persistence and consistency were the ingredients hiding in plain sight.

And maybe I don't need to figure out everything else today.

I just need to know what I want, decide what matters, and return to it tomorrow.

Then return again.

And again.

And again.

Decide. Persist. Consist.

Maybe it really can be that simple.