(Expressed opinions are personal.)
How consistent are you in your actions? Consistency and perseverance will decide the amount, range and timeline of success for you. It's true that hard work is the most important component in achieving success in any of our endeavours. But that has to be consistently maintained. Even a small amount of work, regularly, can lead to unimaginably glorious success. The biggest tunnels are dug with a small chisel and hammer, stroke by stroke, rock by rock. Similarly, the biggest edifices are built with bricks, one over the other. The distance of thousands of miles is covered step by step, taken consistently, in the right direction. Therefore, it is important that step by step, consistent measures are taken in the direction of our goal.
How can we make sure that we are consistent? That is the most important question. Let's follow the five steps to maintain consistency in our actions to achieve success:
1. Decide an action: To reach a target, decide what action is required to be taken at your end. It is as easy as it sounds. If you want to reduce weight, decide whether it is by following a diet or by doing some exercise or both. If you wish to learn graphic designing, decide how will you do it - by joining a course or reading a book or by watching YouTube videos? It is very important to make a clear decision about the course of action you will choose to achieve your goal. Changing actions frequently will lead you nowhere. Consistency in action is important.
2. Decide the amount of action: Once you have decided what action you will take to achieve the goal, decide how much action will be required for success. In other words, if you are following a diet plan, how long will you follow it? How many days a week will you do the dieting or exercise. If you are joining a course, how many lessons will you need to learn? If you are reading a book, how many chapters does it have? Decide this based on the availability of time that you will devote. Don't be over-ambitious - a course of three months cannot be completed in two weeks. Therefore, the amount of action should be decided in a way that you can pursue without much burden. If you have limited time, then divide the total action required by the availability of time. You will have no other choice but to take that much action. This is true for students who are going to write an exam.
3. Decide a routine for action: Once you have decided what type of action will you take for achieving the goal and how much action will be required on your part, make a routine to follow. If you are going to the gym in the morning, follow it. If you are going to take some action every alternate day, maintain that schedule. Having a committed time for the routine activity will make sure that you don't miss any action. It is noted that maintaining a disciplined routine maximises the chances of success. On the contrary, random work and actions do not produce a satisfactory result.
4. Decide milestones to measure: If the path is long, milestones give us an assessment of the distance covered. Break your goal into smaller milestones to make it easier to achieve. If the target is to reduce ten kg, keep measuring weight regularly and each kilogram will give a sense of achievement. Without such milestones in mind, the journey becomes difficult. Don't keep such milestones unidimensional but make them at least two dimensional, i.e. rather than just keeping a stage in mind, keep a timeline attached to it. So, reducing each kilogram of weight in a certain number of days should be the milestone. So, you don't miss the final timeline for achieving success.
5. Decide rewards and nudges: Giving yourself rewards for achieving each milestone towards success or giving a mild or strong nudge is important to maintain the schedule and commitment. If you are doing good, at every part of the success, reward yourself, pamper your ego and boost your confidence. In case you fail, a little bit of nudge, a milder punishment or if required, self-admonishment should not be avoided. Don't shy away from accepting failure during the course of action. It will give you a chance for course correction and avoid bigger failure.
These five steps will make sure you maintain consistency in actions which will resultantly lead to glorious success. Finally, I would quote E James Rohn, “Success is neither magical nor mysterious. Success is the natural consequence of consistently applying basic fundamentals.”
