Consistency³

January 30th, 2024

Winners don't just show up when they feel good; a summary after reading 'Atomic Habits' by James Clear.

The difference between people who achieve their goals and people who don't isn't talent, intelligence, or luck. It's showing up when you don't feel like it.

Everyone shows up when they're motivated. When the goal is fresh. When the excitement is high. That's easy. The hard part is showing up on day 47 when the novelty has worn off, when no one's watching, when you're tired and would rather do literally anything else. That's where most people quit. That's also where winners separate themselves.

Winners don't wait for inspiration. They don't wait to "feel ready." They show up regardless. Not because they're superhuman, but because they've figured out something fundamental: consistency beats intensity every single time.

Motivation is overrated:

We've been sold a lie about motivation. We think successful people wake up every day fired up, ready to crush their goals. That they have some secret reservoir of willpower that carries them through. They don't. Successful people have the same bad days, the same lack of motivation, the same mental resistance as everyone else. The difference is they've learned not to listen to it.

Motivation is fickle. It comes and goes. It's high when things are new and exciting. It disappears when things get hard or boring. If you rely on motivation, you'll only work when you feel like it. And you rarely feel like it. That's why motivation-based goals fail. You start strong, then life happens, motivation fades, and you stop.

Discipline is different. Discipline is doing it anyway. Not because you want to. Not because it feels good. But because you committed to it. You go to the gym on the day you're exhausted. You write on the day you have nothing to say. You study on the day you'd rather watch TV. That's discipline. And discipline builds results.

Fall in love with systems, not goals:

James Clear writes about this in Atomic Habits. Goals are about the results you want to achieve. Systems are about the processes that lead to those results. Goals are "I want to lose 20 pounds." Systems are "I'm going to the gym three times a week and eating home-cooked meals."

The problem with goals is that they're binary. You either hit them or you don't. And if you don't, you feel like a failure. Even worse, once you hit a goal, the motivation disappears. You lose 20 pounds, then what? You stop exercising because you "achieved" the goal, and six months later the weight comes back.

Systems are different. Systems are about who you're becoming, not what you're achieving. If your system is "I'm someone who goes to the gym three times a week," then every single week you do that, you win. You're not waiting for some future milestone to feel successful. You're successful every time you follow your system. And because the system never ends, the results compound forever.

Goals are about winning once. Systems are about winning repeatedly. Winners focus on the system. They don't obsess over the end result. They obsess over the daily actions. Show up. Do the work. Repeat. The results take care of themselves.

Identity-based habits:

Most people try to change their behaviour by focusing on what they want to achieve. "I want to run a marathon." But Clear argues you should focus on who you want to become. "I want to be a runner." The difference is subtle but powerful.

When your goal is outcome-based, you're relying on external validation. You ran the marathon, great. Now what? But when your goal is identity-based, every action reinforces who you are. Every time you run, you're proving to yourself: "I'm a runner." That's intrinsic. That's sustainable.

This works for anything. Don't say "I want to write a book." Say "I'm a writer." Then ask: what would a writer do today? A writer writes. So you sit down and write. Even if it's bad. Even if you delete it tomorrow. You showed up. You reinforced the identity. Over time, that identity becomes real.

Your habits are how you embody your identity. Every action you take is a vote for the type of person you want to become. Miss the gym once, it's a single vote. Miss it ten times, you're voting to become someone who doesn't go to the gym. Show up ten times, you're voting to become someone who does. Small actions might not feel significant in the moment, but they accumulate into your identity over time.

The aggregation of marginal gains:

People overestimate what they can do in a day and underestimate what they can do in a year. You're not going to transform your life in a week. But you can improve by 1% every day. And 1% daily improvement compounds into massive change over time.

If you get 1% better every day for a year, you'll be 37 times better by the end of it. That's the power of compounding. But it also works in reverse. Get 1% worse every day, and you'll decline to nearly zero. The direction matters more than the speed.

This is why consistency is everything. You don't need to make huge leaps. You don't need to overhaul your entire life overnight. You just need to make small, consistent improvements. Read ten pages a day. Do ten push-ups a day. Write 200 words a day. None of these feel significant. But after a year, you've read 3,650 pages, done 3,650 push-ups, and written 73,000 words. That's transformative.

The mistake people make is they want dramatic results, so they take dramatic action. They go all-in for a week, burn out, and quit. Then they're back to zero. The better approach: make the smallest possible improvement you can sustain forever. Tiny changes. Daily repetition. Infinite timeline.

Make it easy to start:

The hardest part of any task is starting. Once you're moving, momentum carries you. But that first step feels impossible when you're unmotivated. So make it as easy as possible to start.

Want to go to the gym? Don't commit to a full workout. Commit to putting on your gym clothes. That's it. Once you've done that, you'll probably go. But even if you don't, you've still won. You followed the system. The barrier to entry was so low you couldn't say no.

Want to write? Don't commit to 1,000 words. Commit to one sentence. Want to read? Commit to one page. The goal is to make starting so easy that you do it even on your worst days. Once you've started, you'll usually keep going. But even if you don't, you've reinforced the habit. You've cast another vote for the identity you want to build.

This is why Clear talks about the two-minute rule: when you start a new habit, it should take less than two minutes to do. Not "run 5 kilometres." But "put on running shoes." Not "study for an hour." But "open the textbook." The full behaviour will follow naturally, but you've removed the friction from starting.

Track your progress:

What gets measured gets managed. If you're serious about building a habit, track it. Put an X on a calendar every day you do it. The visual feedback matters. You'll see the chain of X's growing, and you won't want to break it. It's a simple trick, but it works because humans are wired to avoid loss. Breaking a 20-day streak feels painful. That pain keeps you consistent.

Tracking also gives you clarity. You think you're going to the gym regularly, but when you look at the calendar, you realise you've only gone twice this month. The data doesn't lie. It shows you the gap between your intentions and your actions. And once you see the gap, you can fix it.

But here's the key: if you miss a day, don't miss two. Life happens. You'll skip occasionally. That's fine. The rule is never miss twice in a row. One missed day is a blip. Two is the start of a new habit (the habit of not doing it). Get back on track immediately.

Don't announce your goals:

There's a temptation to tell everyone about your goals. "I'm going to lose 20 pounds." "I'm writing a book." "I'm starting a business." It feels good to say it out loud. People praise you for the ambition. But that praise is dangerous.

Psychologist Peter Gollwitzer ran studies in 1982 and 2009 that found people who shared their goals publicly were less likely to achieve them. Why? Because the praise they got gave their brain the same "reward" as finishing the goal. They felt accomplished just for announcing it. The motivation to actually do the work decreased because their brain had already received the dopamine hit.

Keep your goals to yourself. Or share them only with people who will hold you accountable, not praise you prematurely. Let your results speak. When you've lost the weight, people will notice. When you've written the book, you can talk about it. Until then, shut up and work.

Environment matters:

Your environment shapes your behaviour more than your willpower does. If you're surrounded by junk food, you'll eat junk food. If your phone is next to your bed, you'll scroll before sleep. If your running shoes are buried in the closet, you won't run. Design your environment to make good habits easy and bad habits hard.

Want to read more? Put books everywhere. On your nightstand. On the coffee table. In your bag. Want to eat healthier? Don't buy junk food. It's a lot easier to resist at the store (one decision) than at home (dozens of decisions). Want to stop wasting time on social media? Delete the apps. Add friction to the bad habits and remove friction from the good ones.

This is also why surrounding yourself with the right people matters. If your friends are disciplined, you'll become disciplined. If they're lazy, you'll become lazy. You're the average of the people you spend the most time with. Choose them carefully.

Just show up:

At the end of the day, it's simple. Show up. Not when you feel motivated. Not when conditions are perfect. Just show up. Do the work. Even if it's bad work. Even if you don't feel like it. Especially if you don't feel like it.

Because that's the day that counts. Anyone can work when they're inspired. Winners work when they're not. That's the whole game. Consistency. Systems. Identity. Small improvements. Daily repetition. The rest is just noise.

So stop waiting to feel ready. Stop waiting for motivation. Stop announcing goals and start building systems. Show up today. Show up tomorrow. Keep showing up. The results will follow.

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