Consistency

The first ingredient in the recipe for building a meaningful life is consistency. In fact, there is no other way to build anything, other than with consistent action. Brick by brick. Step by step. Most people are already quite habitual, but how many of these habits were intentionally cultivated rather than inadvertently developed? Are we building the lives we want, or merely accepting those we’ve been given? Not all practices need to be constructed, we should double down on the healthy ones that come easy, but there will always come a time when we don’t feel like taking action. Consistency is the commitment to a pursuit larger than our current state of mind—regardless of our mood, and regardless of our clarity on where the path may lead.

The most tangible consequence of consistency is achievement. Crossing the finish line, getting the degree, passing the exam—these are the monuments of a life, the resume builders and the wikipedia entries. Nothing of this caliber is built in a week. If we can anchor the work we must do in our daily, weekly, and monthly rhythms, our efforts will compound, and our goals may come easier than expected. 

Consistency, however, leads to much more than achievement: it is the breeding ground for meaningful relationships. Consistency puts us in the same spaces at the same times, which will inevitably overlap with others spaces at their particular times. Only then can we ever truly understand someone. And what else does it mean to have a real connection than to repeatedly understand and to be understood? 

Perhaps the greatest dividend we receive from consistency however, is not the relationships we build with others, but the relationships we build with ourselves. The more controlled variables we have in our routines, the greater our understanding of what is changing within us. Consistency provides the baseline—the control in the experiment of our lives. When turbulence arrives, we can identify its source and navigate toward joy with greater precision.

So what kinds of lives are we building? Habits won’t wait for you to create them; they will form in the vacuum of your indecision. Be intentional with your time, even the spontaneous kind. Keep your promises and finish what you started—a completed something is better than a fleeting nothing. What are we aiming to accomplish and who are we sharing that with? Answers will vary, but the method shouldn’t: be consistent in your ways. The best things in life are won, not given.