Episode 003 – Consistency

We hope this episode on consistency was helpful for you. If you like the show, please review us on your podcaster of choice! Feedback, ideas for topics and guest appearances are always welcome at podcast@raisingconfidentteens.com.

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Books referenced in podcast

The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy
Atomic Habits by James Clear

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Transcript of Episode

Episode Three – Consistency

Hudson

“Success isn’t always about greatness. It’s about consistency. Consistent hard work leads to success. Greatness will come.” – Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson

Rachel

Welcome to episode three of the Be Daring Life podcast. I’m your host Rachel and today I am joined by my co-host Hudson. How are you doing today Hudson?

Hudson

I’m doing good.

Rachel

Good. Hope you guys had a great weekend. I want to go a little further with what we were discussing last week.

Hudson

We where talked about goal setting last week. If you didn’t have a chance to listen to that episode, it’s a really good episode, and if you subscribe to our podcast you won’t miss any of our episodes.

Rachel

I hope you guys are getting some value from our podcast. I know that just preparing the content has been good for me. It is helping me refocus and get clarity on what I want to do with the rest of my life and how I want to make a difference in the world.

Hudson

The question we want to ask today is – Are the actions that you are taking every day getting closer or farther from your goals and dreams? So last time we talked about determining your goals. That is the first step – deciding where you are going. You don’t usually just get into a car and drive having no idea where you are going. So, figure out the destination, that is your goal. Once you find that goal is that all you have to do? No. You have to think about the steps that you have to take to get to that destination.

Rachel

What would be the one thing that probably is the biggest determiner (Is that a word? I’m not even sure – determiner) of your success? I think it is consistency.

Hudson

So for the people who don’t know this can you explain what that consistency means?

Rachel

Well, I looked it up in the dictionary and it said the quality of always behaving or performing in a similar way, or of always happening in a similar way. So basically, it is the act of doing the same thing over and over, kind of like a habit.

It seems like such a boring word, and it sounds boring – doing over and over – there is nothing really exciting about that thought. But if you can harness the power of consistent action in your life, you will be able to reach your goals. Sometimes we say someone consistently hits homeruns, or consistently makes good grades. How did they get to be that way? Do you think that is just happened?

Hudson

Sometimes it seems like that though.

Rachel

Sometimes it does, on the rare occasion, but usually it is the result of lots of practice. And from what I have seen those rare people that are really good, they will be outperformed in the long run by those who consistently practice their skill. We often talk about people being overnight successes. But very rarely is anyone an overnight success. They have often been working quietly in the background doing the work day after day and then all of a sudden they come out of nowhere it seems like – they are successful. But it wasn’t overnight it was after years of consistent effort when no one was watching.

Have you ever heard the saying, ”What’s easy to do is also easy not to do?

Hudson

I don’t think I have

Rachel

That means it’s easy to do the things we need to do. Taking the actions that we need to take usually aren’t too difficult, but doing them consistently day after day is the challenge. It is easy to say, Oh I will skip practicing my guitar today or working out today because I am busy, and then you turn around and a week has gone by and you haven’t done anything.

When you first start something, it feels like you aren’t making much progress, you will go out there and exercise and be like “I don’t feel like I have lost any weight” or “I don’t feel like I’m in any better shape”. It can actually feel worse because your are sore. And it won’t feel like you are making any progress. And other things can seem so much more fun to do. But every day you show up you become just a little bit better.

Rachel

Do you know who Larry Bird is?

Hudson

He was a basketball player in the NBA.

Rachel

Larry Bird was a basketball player who played mostly in the 1980’s when I was a little kid. He wasn’t known for being one of the most athletically talented players, but he was a dedicated person. When he was a kid he would get up and practice 500 free throw shots before school and because of his dedication and his consistency to always working on himself and becoming better he became one of the greatest basketball players of all time. Though some people might dispute that right Hudson?

Hudson

Yes, Stephen Curry is the best or Micheal Jordan. I don’t really have a favorite.

Rachel

Let’s talk about jobs. At any company there are people who make different amounts of money. If you are one of the lowest paid people in the company, it is not because they are paying better. Because other people at that same company are making more money. It’s because you don’t yet have the skills that would make you more valuable. If you are willing to work hard on yourself every day and improve yourself, you won’t be able to stay in the same position. Your life will change. If your own company doesn’t promote you, then other companies will want to recruit you. Especially today. I always hear people saying we can’t find people who will work hard, stay off their phone, show up on time. Just doing basic things. If you will just show up, do your job and want to learn you will be promoted. Too many people have the mindset where they do just enough to get by, and then they complain because they feel like they should be making more money. They are only hurting themselves. If you are not willing to grow as a person, you will not grow in a career. If you develop better skills, you will earn a better income.

And before I get any hate mail, I know some people who work jobs who feel like it is their mission and their calling and they are not wanting to get paid more. I’m talking about people that are working low paying jobs and they are making it sound like it’s the companies fault, that they are keeping them down, but they aren’t doing anything to improve the situation themselves.

About a hundred years ago many families farmed, and they had a different perspective than we do now. Farmers live in the present, but they are always planning for the future. They are always acting; they don’t just sit around waiting and hoping that things will work out. They are either in the planting, harvesting or planning stages. There is purpose in everything they do. Some seasons have more rest than others, but there always something doing something. And when things don’t go as they planned, they might get sad and have a bad day but then they pick themselves up and move on the next task. I think our society in general has lost that perspective. We don’t think long-term thinking and are not willing to delay gratification or what you want now, in order to get something better later.

Hudson

It’s kind of like growing a bamboo tree.

Rachel

Right. The Chinese Bamboo Tree. It is a plant like any other. It needs good soil and water. So, you plant the seed and water it, and nothing happens. Nothing happens for a whole year, and then nothing happens for another year, Year three goes by and then the fourth. And finally, in the fifth year – kaboom! It starts growing. And what growth it is! The Chinese Bamboo Tree grows 80 feet in just six weeks! But does the Chinese Bamboo Tree really grow 80 feet in six weeks?

Hudson

No, because in those five years it’s laying a foundation and building roots.

Rachel

No, it grows in five years.

I learned something when I was researching for this podcast called the Seinfeld Strategy. Do you know who Jerry Seinfeld is?

Hudson

Is he a millionaire?

Rachel

He is a millionaire, but that’s not my point. He is one of the top comedians of all time. He had a longtime running sitcom that he co-created and co-wrote and acted in that won all kinds of awards. So there’s this story about a young comedian that once asked Seinfeld for tips for a young comic and this is what he told him… He said the way to be a better comic was to create better jokes and the way to create better jokes was to write every day. He told me to get a big wall calendar that has a whole year on one page and hang it on a prominent wall. The next step was to get a big red magic marker. He said for each day that I do my task of writing, I get to put a big red X over that day. “After a few days you’ll have a chain. Just keep at it and the chain will grow longer every day. You’ll like seeing that chain, especially when you get a few weeks under your belt. Your only job is to not break the chain.”

He didn’t say a single thing about results. He didn’t say if you feel like writing today then write and put a read X. He didn’t say if your joke is good put a red X he just said do it every day and then put a red X. It is just doing something productive every day that leads you closer to your goal. What does that sound like to you?

Hudson

It sounds like consistency

Rachel

Right, it sounds like being consistent with your goals.

Rachel

What’s our favorite fast food place?

Hudson

Chick-fil-a

Rachel

Why do you think we like Chick-fil-a so much?

Hudson

Because their quality is always consistent and their service is always great.

Rachel

They are probably the most consistent fast food place there is. When you travel to another state you can trust that you are going to be treated the same and get the same food as you would at your hometown Chick-fil-a. Unless you are at certain locations where they have bonus food like fried okra. Shout out to the Dwarf House in Atlanta. We love our fried okra. You northerners will not get that, but it’s a tasty little treat.

So it’s the little everyday decisions that determine your destiny. It’s the decision what am I going to eat, what am I going to drink, am I going to healthy, will I watch TV or work on a skill, how am I going to treat others, will I spend time learning.

Have you ever heard the illustration would you rather have a million dollars in cash right now or a penny doubled every day for a month?

Hudson

Yeah, I’ve heard of it

Rachel

Most people would think that the million dollars would be the better deal, but is it really?

Hudson

Nope

Rachel

If you choose the penny doubled on day 5, you have 16 cents. And your friend who chose the million dollars is laughing at you, and you can’t even buy a pack of gum. And then on day 10 you have $5.12 – you don’t even have enough money to go buy a ticket for a movie. On day 20 you have $5243 and you are probably wondering if I made a bad decision because it’s been almost three weeks and my friend with the million dollars is buying all kind of stuff and I’ve only got five thousand dollars. But on day 30, you end up with $5,368,709.12. So you end up with more than five times what the guy who picked a million dollars got.

So, habits work like the compound interest on the money, the effects of your habits multiply the longer you do them. If you look back at one day’s worth of exercise, it doesn’t seem like much. But if you look back after a couple years the results of your good habits will be very obvious to you and to the people around you. They will be like “have you been lifting weights?” If you save a few dollars for a few weeks, you are not a millionaire, but if you save that amount consistently you can end up a millionaire. So, here’s the good news massive success doesn’t require massive action. And here’s the bad news – massive success doesn’t require massive action. So Hudson’s giving me this confused look. Like, what in the world do you mean by that? So the good news is that it doesn’t take anything great any big wonderful amazing thing to be a success. So anyone can do it. But the bad news is that it takes kinda sometimes boring consistent behaviors, day in and day out. And that is where you will win. If you can learn to discipline yourself to be consistent like that.

Do you think if you practice every day you could get one percent better at whatever you are practicing?

Hudson

Yeah

Rachel

One percent doesn’t seem like very hard. But if you got 1% better after one year you would be 37 times better than when you started. But the opposite is also true. If you start to let your habits slide and just slip 1%, you can turn around in a year and be out of shape, not any further along in your progress towards your goals. And if your friend had been practicing and getting one percent better and you where going backwards the difference will seem even more vast right? Because he is reaching his goals and you are just sitting there. You really don’t just sit – you are either moving ahead or going backwards.

So we have talked a lot about goal setting and the consistency that comes along with goal setting.

Our goals are not the be all and end all. If you set your sights on winning a championship and you lose, does that mean all that you did was worthless? No, it doesn’t. Because in the striving you became a better version of you. I have this necklace that I wear and it says “The journey is the reward.” So if you are only striving for goals and you get that goal a lot of times people don’t know what to do after that. Or, they didn’t get the goal and they are so depressed or upset. Just realize that as long as you gave your all-out effort you are only competing with yourself. Right?

Hudson

As long as you are better than you where yesterday

Rachel

You don’t have to beat anyone else. You just need to say am I improving, am I becoming better? Right. Just remember consistency is what transforms average into excellence.

So that’s all we have for today. If you want to go deeper yourself into this topic, I’ve put the titles of a couple of books in the show notes. If you want to contact us you can always find us on our website at raisingconfidentteens.com or on our FB group at Be Daring Life.

Hudson

If you really like us and you really want to let the world know how much you like us, give us a review on ITunes. The more reviews we have, the more visible our podcast is. That helps others find us and the great community we are building.

Rachel

Thanks so much for joining us today.

Hudson

And remember to go out and Be Daring!