Consistency and the Power of Accountability

One of the main things that I've noticed which really makes or breaks our ability to reach our goals is consistency.

When we lack consistency, it's very unlikely that we'll be able to find meaningful success in life. In the physical realm, everything requires energy to either build or create. And where we direct our energy is determined by where we direct our focus. And where we direct our focus is that we ascribe value or meaning to in life.

So everything that we want to achieve or manifest in our lives, requires that we be consistent over the long term. As a kung fu, tai chi and qigong teacher, I've had plenty of students join my school over the last 16 years who were super excited to be training traditional kung fu, tai chi or qigong.

They tell me how grateful they are that they've found me and that the practice really resonates with them. They're excited to learn and practice and push themselves to their physical, mental and emotional limits. They talk about how the training has been helping them in life. And they ask questions about what they'll be learning years down the road.

And then all of a sudden, they disappear. I might not hear from them ever again.

Sadly, this is a pattern that some people often repeat. Over and over again in life. They often don't find long-term success in anything, because the common denominator that they're bringing to each goal in life - is themselves. So it's so important for us to figure this out.

And just to be clear, when I'm talking about consistency, I'm not talking about a perfectionistic kind of consistency. Sometimes, people will hold themselves up to such an impossible standard of consistency (namely 100% consistency) - that they end up quitting or don't even start in the first place. So if we set such an impossible standard for ourselves, we're doomed to fail. We are human, after all, and not robots.

However, I think we can all agree just how important consistency is in learning a skill or achieving success in some area. Whether it's learning to play a musical instrument or building a business.

We're always going to be faced with new opportunities or hobbies that may seem fresh and exciting. They can distract us from our goals. But here is when we need to exercise self-discipline.

We have to focus on whatever it was we felt was so important that we had decided to commit our energy and attention to in the first place. When we're able to stay mentally and emotionally connected with whatever vision of success we wish to achieve, consistency becomes a lot easier since we don't have to always be forcing ourselves to show up. It's something we're excited to do because it's bringing us closer to what we want. It's something we "get" to do, rather than something we "have" to do.

And so, it's so important to have the ability to discipline ourselves and focus on that "one thing" until we're able to achieve success with it. And one thing that I sometimes tell my students is that you have to trust the process. When things are tough or aren't going your way, the mind will come up with every possible excuse for you to quit - or convince you that you didn't really want whatever it was that you had set your sights on. Or that, this path isn't the one for you.

So we must finish what we start. That doesn't mean that we can't change directions later. But it's so important to not build a HABIT out of not being consistent - of not committing to things.

We don't need a gazillion half-finished projects or half-baked ideas in our lives. Because the unfinished things really don't get us anywhere. We're just spinning our wheels and wasting energy. So if you start something, finish it. When we finish something that is meaningful to us, we're automatically successful.

And so, I often get asked the question, "How can I become more consistent?"

I would say one of single most helpful "tools" I've encountered is accountability or mastermind groups.

It can be challenging to hold ourselves accountable when there are no real consequences if we don't follow through on something. We can easily just back out because - nobody will know.

But if we must hold ourselves accountable for others, we're much more likely to follow through. So that's why being a part of an accountability or mastermind group is so helpful in keeping us consistent.

Or, it could just be having a coach or a mentor. For example, with my students, holding my students accountable for their practice is one of the key roles I play. Having a coach can be so helpful because they're able to notice our blind spots or our self-limiting beliefs. They can often see things from a different perspective.

All that said, coaches and accountability or mastermind groups are meant to make sure that we're performing at a higher level. We want to surround ourselves with people who will support and challenge us to grow, in the ways that we want. People who will tell us the truth and call us out on our bull when we're making excuses to hide or not fully show up.

And I'm a firm believer that everyone can benefit from an accountability system of some sort. Yes, usually as time goes on we can develop a pretty strong consistency muscle and don't need it as much. But even if can do it by ourselves, I feel having other people helps us to hold ourselves to a higher standard. And perhaps more importantly, we can stop expecting ourselves to be able to do it all on our own.

Our lives are often a direct reflection of the expectations of the people we surround ourselves with. So, if we have people around us that are demanding high levels of performance from us, we typically live up to them. For example, if we want to get fit or we want to live a healthier lifestyle and we're around people who have low standards for that, it's definitely going to influence us. Just like, if we're around people who are active and fit and have high standards around healthy living, they're going to help us to show up for those higher standards.

So our environment and who we choose to surround ourselves with is so important in shaping our future. For most people, a negative or apathetic environment is very difficult to overcome. So we must try to consciously create one that will empower us. That will support us. That will push us to stay consistent on our journey towards our goals and challenge us to strive towards our greatest potential.

One of the main things that I've noticed which really makes or breaks our ability to reach our goals is consistency.

When we lack consistency, it's very unlikely that we'll be able to find meaningful success in life. In the physical realm, everything requires energy to either build or create. And where we direct our energy is determined by where we direct our focus. And where we direct our focus is that we ascribe value or meaning to in life.

So everything that we want to achieve or manifest in our lives, requires that we be consistent over the long term. As a kung fu, tai chi and qigong teacher, I've had plenty of students join my school over the last 14 years who were super excited to be training traditional kung fu, tai chi or qigong.

They tell me how grateful they are that they've found me and that the practice really resonates with them. They're excited to learn and practice and push themselves to their physical, mental and emotional limits. They talk about how the training has been helping them in life. And they ask questions about what they'll be learning years down the road.

And then all of a sudden, they disappear. I might not hear from them ever again.

Sadly, this is a pattern that some people often repeat. Over and over again in life. They often don't find long-term success in anything, because the common denominator that they're bringing to each goal in life - is themselves. So it's so important for us to figure this out.

And just to be clear, when I'm talking about consistency, I'm not talking about a perfectionistic kind of consistency. Sometimes, people will hold themselves up to such an impossible standard of consistency (namely 100% consistency) - that they end up quitting or don't even start in the first place. So if we set such an impossible standard for ourselves, we're doomed to fail. We are human, after all, and not robots.

However, I think we can all agree just how important consistency is in learning a skill or achieving success in some area. Whether it's learning to play a musical instrument or building a business.

We're always going to be faced with new opportunities or hobbies that may seem fresh and exciting. They can distract us from our goals. But here is when we need to exercise self-discipline.

We have to focus on whatever it was we felt was so important that we had decided to commit our energy and attention to in the first place. When we're able to stay mentally and emotionally connected with whatever vision of success we wish to achieve, consistency becomes a lot easier since we don't have to always be forcing ourselves to show up. It's something we're excited to do because it's bringing us closer to what we want. It's something we "get" to do, rather than something we "have" to do.

And so, it's so important to have the ability to discipline ourselves and focus on that "one thing" until we're able to achieve success with it. And one thing that I sometimes tell my students is that you have to trust the process. When things are tough or aren't going your way, the mind will come up with every possible excuse for you to quit - or convince you that you didn't really want whatever it was that you had set your sights on. Or that, this path isn't the one for you.

So we must finish what we start. That doesn't mean that we can't change directions later. But it's so important to not build a HABIT out of not being consistent - of not committing to things.

We don't need a gazillion half-finished projects or half-baked ideas in our lives. Because the unfinished things really don't get us anywhere. We're just spinning our wheels and wasting energy. So if you start something, finish it. When we finish something that is meaningful to us, we're automatically successful.

And so, I often get asked the question, "How can I become more consistent?"

I would say one of single most helpful "tools" I've encountered is accountability or mastermind groups.

It can be challenging to hold ourselves accountable when there are no real consequences if we don't follow through on something. We can easily just back out because - nobody will know.

But if we must hold ourselves accountable for others, we're much more likely to follow through. So that's why being a part of an accountability or mastermind group is so helpful in keeping us consistent.

Or, it could just be having a coach or a mentor. For example, with my students, holding my students accountable for their practice is one of the key roles I play. Having a coach can be so helpful because they're able to notice our blind spots or our self-limiting beliefs. They can often see things from a different perspective.

All that said, coaches and accountability or mastermind groups are meant to make sure that we're performing at a higher level. We want to surround ourselves with people who will support and challenge us to grow, in the ways that we want. People who will tell us the truth and call us out on our bull when we're making excuses to hide or not fully show up.

And I'm a firm believer that everyone can benefit from an accountability system of some sort. Yes, usually as time goes on we can develop a pretty strong consistency muscle and don't need it as much. But even if we can do it by ourselves, I feel having other people helps us to hold ourselves to a higher standard. And perhaps more importantly, we can stop expecting ourselves to be able to do it all on our own.

Our lives are often a direct reflection of the expectations of the people we surround ourselves with. So, if we have people around us that are demanding high levels of performance from us, we typically live up to them. For example, if we want to get fit or we want to live a healthier lifestyle and we're around people who have low standards for that, it's definitely going to influence us. Just like, if we're around people who are active and fit and have high standards around healthy living, they're going to help us to show up for those higher standards.

So our environment and who we choose to surround ourselves with is so important in shaping our future. For most people, a negative or apathetic environment is very difficult to overcome. So we must try to consciously create one that will empower us. That will support us. That will push us to stay consistent on our journey towards our goals and challenge us to strive towards our greatest potential.