Consistency

A few weeks ago, a friend sent a text in response to my newsletter.

“You are so damn consistent!”

This, to me, did not feel like a compliment.

“Consistent” felt like one of those things we say when we’re not exactly blown away - kind of like calling our most boring acquaintance “nice,” or saying that our colleague who doesn’t produce very good results “works hard.”

As I pondered this word - consistent - I realized that some of the people I respect most are incredibly consistent.

Seth blogs every single day and has for over a decade.

Joe produces multiple podcasts in a week and focuses not on editing or perfection but on having conversations with a variety of interesting people.

Austin blogs regularly and tackles various 30 day challenges - aimed at doing something every single day for a month.

Melissa recommends eating whole foods for 30 days.

In Art and Fear by David Bayles and Ted Orland, the authors share a story about a pottery class. The pottery teacher divided his class into two groups. One group had the entire class series to work on making one perfect pot. The other group was instructed to create as many pots as possible during the same time period.

The result was that the quantity group produced better pots, because they had more practice. The quality group spent more time studying and trying to figure out how to make the perfect pot; they didn’t have time to practice or learn from their mistakes.

There is value in consistency - doing something regularly, repeatedly. Taking imperfect action and learning along the way.

What’s one consistent action that you could experiment with this week?

Thank you, T, for your text; for inspiring this post; and for what I now recognize as a compliment. ;)