I've been inconsistent – here is what I will do about it
Consistency beats intensity.
Meaningful growth can only happen through consistent effort. If you spent one year training with low to medium effort, this will get you further than working your ass off for three months to then fall back into old habits.
But consistency is also harder to achieve than intensity.
Everybody can be motivated for two weeks and put in great effort. When working on a project for months or years, motivation fades.
This is where it gets interesting.
I've started to become inconsistent. First, I uploaded only every other week. At last, I did not post in the past four weeks. That's dangerously close to stopping altogether.
I am now back at it. Here are my thoughts –and actions– regarding inconsistency…
Chose wisely (1/3)
There are only so many things you can be consistent with. Hence, you should pick things that you still want to do years from now. I believe for me that's:
- reading books
- writing in some form or another
- doing sports
I tend to think that I can neglect these temporarily to study or work and get back to them once I have more time available. That's stupid. I am a student now. I am my only responsibility. If I can't make time for them now, it won't get easier in the next 20 or 30 years.
Find those for you!
Pick a challenge (2/3)
Motivation is not sustainable.
But that doesn't mean it's useless. Occasionally, we can take on a new challenge to rethink what we are doing, get some new motivation and rework our routines.
It’s about setting a new perspective.
Regarding my reading, I am happy with the challenge I set for myself in Q1: Reading 10 books. I ended up reading 9 books –which is still a big number to my mind.
As my reading challenge, in Q2 I want to read 10 books. Let's see if I can get it this time…
Regarding sports, I feel like getting back into endurance disciplines. I do strength training , but that doesn't make up for endurance work. It's another quality. I want to get back into running.
As my sports challenge of choice, I signed up for a marathon.
Want to run with me? Hit me up!
I have no pace goal yet. We'll see how preparation goes. 20 weeks from now on to prepare should make a decent run.
Regarding my writing, I want to focus on volume. As my writing challenge, I settle with: Post every week. Write less filtered. Write whatever.
I can worry about writing something decent once I write at all.
Plan and track a progression (3/3)
Once I am content with just maintaining a certain level, I always slowly decline in the following weeks or months.
I need the feeling, that even small decisions matter.
Because they do. In the long run.
In respect to my running preparation, this will mean an increase in the running volume week by week (more kilometres). Another metric could be an improved Vo2 max (the maximum rate of oxygen consumption by your body under physical load) –sounds fancy, but that's a common metric in endurance sports.
For my writing, this would take the form of longer articles. For my reading, this could mean reading more challenging books. Right now, I am reading Moby Dick, which is a tough one for me –given the length and the language.
For the purpose of outsourcing some accountability, here are the challenges I set for myself in summary:
What challenge will you face?