Inconsistency: The devil inside

There is one enemy I can abashedly attribute to my lack of desired progress in reaching my goals.  This enemy is pervasive and continually attacks many individuals around the world. We have often attributed our lack of progress to external forces inter alia lack of resources, time and support. Seldom have we looked inward to find the problem. This devil inside is called inconsistency. Inconsistency is a subtle deterrent but its effects are impactful. It usually creeps in unnoticed or more sleekly justifiable. Inconsistency is a cousin to procrastination and can even masquerade as progress. Inconsistency is going to the gym four times in one week and taking a break for two months, and then resuming the vicious cycle again. Going to the gym for almost a week consistently is really progress, but the subsequent two months break makes an appalling average of twenty four days of exercising per year. Yes, twenty four days out of three hundred and sixty five days a year.  The total sum of the collective efforts is scant to even move a scale.

Once inconsistency pattern sets in, it’s difficult to break. Waffen Buffett once said “Chains of habit are too light to be felt until they are too heavy to be broken”. Once you have developed some inconsistency syndrome in one area of your life, it ripples through other areas. 

The inconsistency syndrome has decidedly held hostage the progress and advancement of many individuals. According to Frank Clark, “What great accomplishments we’d have in the world if everybody had done what they intended to do”. How much weight would you have lost had you been consistent at going to the gym? How much knowledge would you have acquired if you have been consistent in reading all those books you bought which are now gathering dust on the bookshelf? How spiritually mature would you be today if your spiritual pursuit had been more consistent? Where would you be in your career had you been consistent in the efforts of improvement?

It is worth noting that inconsistency is costly. The consequences of inconsistency are not immediate, but just like a slow virus, the effects eventually surface. Jascha Heifetz, one of the greatest violinists of the twentieth century said “If I miss a day of practice, I can tell. If I miss two days of practice, my conductor can tell. If I miss three days of practice, the rest of the orchestra can tell. If I miss four days of practice, the audience can tell”. There is a consequence to your inconsistency. Take a moment to reflect on how inconsistency might have negatively affected your progress. 

What’s the root cause of inconsistency? Two things can be said to breed inconsistency: lack of discipline and lack of commitment. These are really by-products that ensue from not having a clear intention when a goal is established. The most important question is why you want to achieve your desired goal. Furthermore, what would be the consequence of not achieving your desired goal? These questions might appear to be trivial but if the “why” behind the pursuit of your goal is not strong enough, invariably lack of commitment and lack discipline will result. The former and the ladder are precursors to the inconsistent pursuit of that goal. It is difficult to stay committed and disciplined to something which is not very important to us. Having a strong “why” for our goals, will help us be consistent and keep going even when the road becomes tough.

There’s a story of a salesman who looked out the window of the hotel restaurant at the blinding snowstorm. He asked his waiter, “Do you think the roads will be clear enough in the morning to travel and do business?” The waiter replied, “Depends on if you’re on salary or commission.”

How important is losing weight to you? How important is finishing the book you started years ago, or starting that company that you always wanted to start, or improving your career or finishing your studies or even learning how to play the piano. How important is reaching that goal to you?

You are “consistency” away from reaching your desired goals. Consistency is an impetus to hope; Hope, like a path in the countryside: originally there was no path yet, as people are walking all the time in the same spot, a way appears. As you consistently follow through the plan towards your desired goals, you will achieve them. My wish is that you become more consistent in pursuing your goal this year. Happy and fruitful New Year. Namaste!

Running your life like a business

Every New Year’s Day we wake up with exuberant vivacity at the prospect of an exhilarating year ahead. This dawn of the New Year often comes with those resolutions, plans and goals to put into force. It is increasingly becoming more apparent each year that more people have become weary of New Year’s resolutions and plans as a possible aid to conduct. Consequently, very few people actually sit down quietly to craft them. Although this exercise is better than nothing, it is often rendered ineffective as it does not consider the individual's big picture. If your goals and plans do not align with your strategic objectives, then chances of consistently pursuing them will be minimal, let alone enduring amid obstacles.

 Every year, senior executives of many companies spend hours in strategic planning sessions. These intense, high profile, C-suite chaired meetings are usually signature events of a company. It is a sign of status to be present in these meetings, as this is indubitably where the overall company's strategy is hammered out. The chief purpose of these meetings is to re-evaluate the strategic objectives of a company, report on what was achieved, evaluate current projects and how they align to the strategic objectives, identify the gaps and re-evaluate the strategic roadmap. The success or failure of a company can often be traced back to the decisions that ensued from these meetings.

How many people have their own personal strategic planning sessions every year? Do we ever take time to re-evaluate our own strategic objectives, report to ourselves on what we have achieved, evaluate our current plans and how they align to our strategic objectives, identify gaps and institute new plans and re-evaluate our strategic roadmap? The more coherent we become in our lives, the higher chances of succeeding in what we wish to become, else the achievement of our goals is aleatory. Too often incoherence continues to plague many individuals, with dangling and temperamental plans that are incongruent with their big picture. Successful companies invariably have two important elements: Vision and Strategy. Every strategic meeting has to deal with these key organisational elements. This is a reminiscence of one of Steve Jobs’ famous quotes “If today were your last day, would you do what you are about to do?” This question is less about action than about value. In other words, is your plan aligned to your vision and adding value to the execution of your strategy. If this year was your last year, would you be pursuing the plans and goals (if any) that you are currently pursuing? 

Richard Boyatzis in his book "Resonant Leadership" proposes what he dubs, "Intentional change model". This model gives a direction of how to follow through your plans and goals with effectiveness and efficiency.  The model rests upon five key concepts: Ideal self, real self, gaps and plan, experimentation and finally support. The first step is to identify your ideal self, or what can be described as living in your perfect future. This is invariably your vision. Your vision articulates your full self-expression, consequently, it eliminates any temporal states that you may be tempted to want to be. Vision speaks about the end state, the person you aspire to have been at end of your life. 

This first step is the hardest, as it requires true and honest evaluation of desires. 

The second step of the model is to identify your real self. This is really your current state. It goes without saying that, this also requires an honest evaluation of yourself, your present true state. 

Thirdly, identify the gaps between your ideal self and your real self. This involves identifying your strengths, which denotes the similarity between your ideal self and your real self. Furthermore, identify the gaps. Gaps signify the difference between your ideal self and your real self. These differences are important and they bring light to things which you need to focus on in order to perfect them. A creation of a plan to address these gaps is vital. 

The fourth step in the model is experimentation. This means practicing and adjusting your behaviour to align it with your ideal self. Lastly, support. Support means finding a person or a group that can be supportive to your learning and journey.