The greatest secret to staying fit through exercise, really the secret to any achievement in life: CONSISTENCY
Lack of consistency is subtle but the stealer of all dreams, goals and ambitions. This stop and start process is what kills progress in any pursuit. You can ultimately accomplish what seems like incredible, extraordinary results in short amount of time in short spurts but if it is not continued, it will be all ultimately for nothing.
Inconsistency – The achilleas heel of our human nature
Every child starts out with a grand and imaginative dream but few stick with them to make them real. Almost everyone makes new year resolutions, sets new goals, starts a new diet regimen, a new workout routine, makes promises to their kids, to their boss, to their spouse, promises to themselves and then over time, ever so slightly, they just start drifting until they drift completely off the cliff of their declared goals professed resolutions and proclaimed promises. Humans find it very hard to sustain commitment over a long period of time.
“Commitment is doing the thing you said you would do long after the mood you said it in has left you.”
When we make a new resolution, set goals, start on a new diet, we are in a certain mood, an empowered and ambitious maybe even angry and resolved mood. It is easy to be committed when we are in that mood, but eventually that mood leaves us and there comes the real test of commitment, the test humans eventually fail every time. Lack of consistency is the subtle stealer of dreams, the start and stop process kills progress in any pursuit, and this is why most people don’t achieve their goals and don’t end up living the life of their potential – and live a life of frustration and disappointment instead.
A good analogy for consistency is when pumping water up a well for the first time. Think about a well like back in the old times when people had to go out to the well to fetch water. A pipe was drilled beneath the earth’s surface to reach water table. In order to suck the water from below you had to crank a lever to build up pressure and force the water up the pipe. To achieve any result, you have to pump and pump for a pretty long time before you see any sign of water. This is what it’s like when somebody starts a new exercise program. They are excited, they got their brand-new workout outfit and they step to the well and start pumping. They pump hard for a week but no water, for two weeks, still no water, they step on the scale and they haven’t lost a single pound. Of course, by then they certainly should have absolved themselves of years of neglect in just two weeks of working out, they see no water, no result and that’s where many quit. They walk away from the well or gym never to be seen again until next year’s new year resolution.
The smarter ones keep on pumping even with no visible results. They have faith knowing that it takes time for the water to travel up the pipe to get above the ground so that the see the measurable results. Finally, a few drops of water emerge and by that time you are into your 4th or 6th week of exercise plan. After weeks of sacrifice you step onto the scale and you see that you’ve only lost two pounds. You are now certain that this isn’t working. You start finding excuses, “it’s just my body type, it my genes, I am big boned, I’m too busy, too old.” This is where another mass of people just quit.
The key here is just keep pumping and eventually water will begin to flow. You will start seeing results from the aggressive effort that you’ve sustained for a long period of time. It then becomes easy, once water begins to flow you can ease up on the lever, you only need easy consistent strokes to keep water flowing at full throttle.
“It is easier to stay in shape than it is to get in shape”
This is what people don’t understand, this is where they mess up their life and mess up their results. A lot of people can do the hard work hard, they persevere for the first two or six weeks and they will definitely get water flowing. Think of all the people who you know who have had that eureka moment, they’ve lost a bunch of weight, they’ve gotten into great shape, they grew a really successful business, made a bunch of money and then lost it all and gained it all back… Why? They even did the hardest part of all. They failed to sustain the easy part! If you let go of the lever because you went on vacation for two weeks, you got really busy at the office whatever normal life event that happens to all of us, if you let go of that lever the water goes all the way back to the water table below. You have to once more pump the lever really hard for a long time all over again just to get the water flow back to where it was. This is why “lack of consistency is the subtle stealer of dreams. The stop and start process kills progress in any pursuit.”
“Inconsistency is one of the biggest reasons why people don’t achieve their goals and instead end up living a life of frustration and disappointment.”
Life, progress, achievement is a whole lot easier if you just stay consistent. That is why consistency is one of the most important attributes of success. It is not how you or your competition start it is how you continue. If you stay consistent, even slowly (the tortoise), ultimately, you will beat the most talented of competitors (the hare). Consistency is why the tortoise beats the hare every time.
