Master the Art of Consistency!

Small disciplines repeated with consistency everyday leads to great achievements - John Maxwell

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit - Aristotle

Over time, I have come to realize that consistency births expertise and snowballs into success. How do I know that? Remember when you were in high school? You were made captain of the football team and all the girls loved you for your toned legs, classic movements, flexibility and mastery of the sport.  You exuded finesse and grace whenever you are on the football pitch, trashing your opponents without difficulty.

Did you ever ask how you were able to master the skills of dribbling, defending, passing and other techniques that come with football? Well, if you didn't, I'll tell! You practiced everyday. After school, at home, during weekends, you kept practicing. You knew you had to keep those girls entertained while they watch you *winks* and you couldn't afford to disappoint your fans. So you honed your skills with determination and persistence. The result? You trashed your opponents constantly with such ease that it seems you were born to play. 

Looking back 10 years later, it seems you weren't the same person. You suck at football and can't even make a meaningful pass on the pitch. What went wrong? You broke the continuum. You stopped practicing. You got carried away with the hurdles of life after school. I mean why would you waste time playing football instead of going out there to look for a job and earn a living?  Lack of consistent practice left you rusty and over time your much celebrated skills died naturally.

Consistency is the ability to maintain a particular standard, principle or habit over time. It also means the ability to repeat a particular task with minimal variation. To be great at any given task or endeavour, you need to master the art of consistency. Bill Gates wasn't born with Microsoft attached to his placenta. He worked and practiced and tried all sort of codes, programming languages and all those techy things *forgive me, I'm not so good at technological terms* before coming up with Microsoft. His regular trial and error experiments made him a master and an expert in software engineering.

Admittedly, we all have talents, gifts and skills that are given to us freely by the Creator. That is why we call some people natural artists, actresses, basketball players, make-up artists, graphic designers, entrepreneurs, e.t.c. These people have innate gifts and exhibit them with ease because it comes naturally to them. But the truth is those skills can get rusty if they are not properly harnessed and developed through regular, consistent practice. Lack of consistency can bring about lack of interest.

Professionals and experts in diverse fields did not just attain such height by depending on their natural abilities. They identified their strengths and went to work; garnering experience as they maintained consistency in learning. If you want to be a writer, then you have to consistently dedicate time to writing everyday. If you want to become a graphic designer, you need to consistently play around Coreldraw, Adobe Photoshop and other graphic tools to gain mastery of the art of design. 

If you want to be successful in any field, you need to consistently train yourself in that chosen path. Never back down. Before you know it, you are well on your way to becoming an expert or a professional. So start mastering the art of consistency and take on the world with your abilities.