By: D. A. Slinkard
If you want success in life, then you must learn how to Be Consistent. I have been reflecting upon what contributes to the success of an individual, a group, a team, or even an organization, and I believe the biggest impact that can be made is to be consistent. What does this mean? What does this look like? The definition of consistent is, “acting or done in the same way over time, especially so as to be fair or accurate.”
One can say that the words, be consistent, is all about the process the individual, group, team or organization has in place for how they go about their daily routines, and I could not agree more. We are all consistent in our lives whether we understand it or not. We have all built consistencies in our lives that impact the successes and the failures we will see in our lifetime.
Sometimes we obtain failure because we are consistently taking the wrong actions or behaviors. Other times we obtain success because we are consistently taking the right actions or behaviors. What we must do though, is take the time to become students in the game of life. We must slow down enough to properly evaluate what we are doing on a daily basis that brings us triumphs and brings us tribulations.
I love the positive consistencies of life; and that would be why I wrote about the importance of the daily “To Do List” in the last article, because we have the power to decide how our days will go. Either the day will run us or we will run the day, but either way there will be a result. Why not try to impact that result and be in control?
In fact, once we take the time to examine our lives and home in on the good, the bad and the ugly, we can actually use the daily to-do list in our favor. We can begin to teach ourselves how to be consistent in various areas of our life that previously we thought were beyond our control. The funny thing is that when you start to pay attention to certain areas of your life, you’ll notice quickly both good and bad changes in these areas. If the change is positive, keep on doing it but if the change is negative, then you must re-evaluate the action you will be taking.
The bad thing with being consistent in a positive manner is the amount of work it actually requires. This goes back to the self-discipline article I wrote which basically stated that if it was easy, everyone would be doing it. As I have touched upon before, we all know what we should be doing, but knowing and doing are two completely different things. This is where we have to take the time to be intentional, as we set out to be consistent.
In Galatians 6:7, the Bible states, “…For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” – and this is a leading reason we must focus on the intentions of what we want to achieve. If we go at it half-heartedly when we sow, then the result is we are going to reap half-heartedly. You are going to get back what you put in. Now, this is another hard point for many people. Take a look in the mirror and tell me what you see? Do you see a person who is giving 100% of everything that you have, or do you see someone who is cruising through life?
If you are just cruising through life waiting for someone else to bring your dreams to you in the middle of the night, I’m going to go ahead and tell you it is just not going to happen that way. If you want to achieve your dreams, you’re going to have to go get them for yourself. You are going to have to be consistent in everything that you do to help ensure the success you are looking for.
If you say that you have already figured out how to be consistent, then might I kindly ask you to mentor someone else so they too could hopefully achieve the same level of success. Let’s be honest; we all are consistent in our lives but the question that remains is simple. Is it a good consistent or is it a bad consistent? What are you going to do to make yourself better today than you were yesterday?
By: D. A. Slinkard
D.A. Slinkard is the manager of the Athens Staples store
