Don’t Obsess Over Quick Wins. Build Something That Lasts.
Insight of the Day: Consistent effort over time produces greater results than quick fixes
Everyone’s looking for the magic bullet, the overnight success story. But here’s the truth: real, lasting success is built on showing up day after day. It’s not sexy. It’s not exciting. But it works.
Insight of the Day: Consistent effort over time produces greater results than quick fixes
Today’s stories are coming from James Clear & Tim Ferris:
James Clear says:
Two years, not two months.
The visible progress you’re hoping for usually comes slower than you’d like. Even with consistent effort it can take a long time before progress feels significant. It might be a year of writing and editing before the book really starts to come together. You may need two years of recovery from a major injury before you notice just how far you’ve come. It may take two years of yoga before you realize how flexible you have become.
Take a deep breath, stop worrying about immediate results, and settle into a nice routine.”
The coach of Tim Ferris sent this letter to him about on being consistent:
Hi Tim,
Patience. Far too soon to expect strength improvements. Strength improvements [for a movement like this] take a minimum of 6 weeks. Any perceived improvements prior to that are simply the result of improved synaptic facilitation. In plain English, the central nervous system simply became more efficient at that particular movement with practice. This is, however, not to be confused with actual strength gains.
Dealing with the temporary frustration of not making progress is an integral part of the path towards excellence. In fact, it is essential and something that every single elite athlete has had to learn to deal with. If the pursuit of excellence was easy, everyone would do it.
In fact, this impatience in dealing with frustration is the primary reason that most people fail to achieve their goals. Unreasonable expectations timewise, resulting in unnecessary frustration, due to a perceived feeling of failure. Achieving the extraordinary is not a linear process.
The secret is to show up, do the work, and go home.
A blue collar work ethic married to indomitable will. It is literally that simple. Nothing interferes. Nothing can sway you from your purpose. Once the decision is made, simply refuse to budge. Refuse to compromise.
And accept that quality long-term results require quality long-term focus. No emotion. No drama. No beating yourself up over small bumps in the road. Learn to enjoy and appreciate the process. This is especially important because you are going to spend far more time on the actual journey than with those all too brief moments of triumph at the end.
Certainly celebrate the moments of triumph when they occur. More importantly, learn from defeats when they happen. In fact, if you are not encountering defeat on a fairly regular basis, you are not trying hard enough. And absolutely refuse to accept less than your best.
Throw out a timeline. It will take what it takes.
If the commitment is to a long-term goal and not to a series of smaller intermediate goals, then only one decision needs to be made and adhered to. Clear, simple, straightforward.
Much easier to maintain than having to make small decision after small decision to stay the course when dealing with each step along the way. This provides far too many opportunities to inadvertently drift from your chosen goal. The single decision is one of the most powerful tools in the toolbox.
Look, you don’t need a complicated system or a fancy 10-step plan. Just pick something important and do it consistently. That’s it. That’s the secret. It’s boring, but it’s effective. And in the long run, it’s what separates the people who actually accomplish things from those who just talk about it.
Emre
