All posts
Self-Improvement

How To Fall In Love With Consistency

Ev Chapman
April 21, 2022
•
2 min read

Consistency is hard. But when you master it, it's addictive as hell.

2 months ago I started training again with a personal trainer after taking a break for about 6 months. Starting again was HARD. Especially because I know what strong feels like. But what seemed hard on that first day is now starting to feel easier (if you can call lifting weight easy!).

Here are three surprising lessons that have taught me to love consistency over the past year:

It doesn't matter how slow you go, as long as you keep moving. All you have to do is not stop. All those times I've been in 'the dip' I know all I have to do is just keep writing and one day I'll emerge. Find ways to just keep moving - even in the smallest way.

Most of the time it looks like the needle doesn't move. Consistency doesn't always show up with obvious results. Most of the time you just have to plug away and then one day the floodgates open and all of that hard work pays off.

Others are better at spotting your progress than you are. That's exactly why I have a personal trainer. She'll point out to me how much better my form is, how much more I am lifting than on day 1. It kicks me out of the drudgery of consistency and helps me look back at all the progress I've made.

Consistency breeds consistency. When you start to realise how well it works you want to apply it to EVERYTHING. And because you know how the story ends you can turn up even on the toughest of days.

Liked thIS? Then You Might Like My SPARK Newsletter...

The ✨ Spark Newsletter:
‍Join 1,500+ knowledge workers building smarter personal knowledge systems.

Every Sunday I drop into your inbox with a simple creative workflow to help you think clearer & create smarter.

Or Keep Browsing More Posts Like This...

Forget Goals, Focus on Intentions: My Yearly Planning Rituals That Set The Direction For A Powerful Year.

I used to hate yearly planning. And I think it comes down to my relationship with goal setting. I’m not much of a goal setter. A year is a long time and I don’t like to be locked into heavy goals throughout the year.
Read post

Stop Cruising Through Life On Auto-Pilot & Open Up To New Possibilities

Most of us go through our lives literally just running on a hamster wheel.We wake up, we do the same things, we drive the same way to work, or eat the same meals, and we put things back in the same place.
Read post

Why You Probably Don't Need To Be More Consistent In 2023

Consistency. I bet it's on your list of 'want more of it' in 2023. After all, it's the holy grail of productivity & self-improvement. And yet most of us feel like we're failing at it most of the time. But what if locking yourself into a rigid view of consistency is actually hindering you rather than helping you?
Read post

3 Lessons Strength Training Taught Me About Consistency

Strength training has taught me more about consistency than any other thing I've done in life (including growing as a creator). The other day my trainer programmed inverted rows (under a low bar and pulling/rowing up). Every time I've attempted them before I have had to do them in batches. So when she said 15 reps I yelled an expletive in my head.
Read post

Want To Accelerate Your Results? Find Ways To Show Up Daily

When starting something new you should probably find a way to do it daily. For years I thought the way to become a creator was to write two blogs a week (or 2 podcasts or two vlogs). After all, that seemed like a reasonable amount of writing each week.
Read post

Three Ways To Finally Do The Thing You've Been Putting Off

I almost signed up for an 8 week summer book writing bootcamp this morning on Instagram. I don't need another Bootcamp or mastermind or course to actually write my book. I have an outline, I have half the content for it already! But I thought maybe this is what I need to get this thing finished.
Read post