The problem with inconsistency

Inconsistent actions cause most people to struggle. These individuals put in the work. They put forth the effort to succeed. But because they are inconsistent, they don’t reach the levels of success and happiness that they deserve.

Our society doesn’t put enough emphasis on the importance of consistency. We attract to the outlier events, so we gloss over the common patterns.

This doesn’t sound like a problem, but it is. Recently my wife and I went to a new local restaurant. We ordered our food and commented on the relaxing atmosphere. We were impressed with the helpfulness of the waitress.

Then our food came. We ordered basic items. But when they arrived they looked much more fancy than we expected based on the modest price.

The quality of the meal surprised us. We did what most would do. We told our friends about the great experience that we had. And we returned 3 more times in the next few weeks, always pleased with the quality of the meal.

Following our advice to check the place out, some friends went in to see it for themselves. When we asked them how it was, they said it was terrible.

We dove deeper to find out that the wait staff was rude. The table next to them was so loud and obnoxious that they couldn’t relax. The food was cold and rubbery.

The first thing that I thought was that I don’t want to keep promoting this new restaurant! With such a poor experience, it made us think twice about going there.

This one bad experience ruined our positive impression. We still didn’t give up on the place. We tried it again and found that some things were great, while other aspects were not. We went a few more times but felt that we never knew what to expect when we walked through the door.

Would it be the five-star experience or the one-star experience?

When we choose a restaurant, one of the things we want to know is that we will have a certain quality level. We don’t go to expensive restaurants but we don’t want crumbs on the table and rude staff.

For us, and many others, consistency is more important than the chance of a high-quality meal. Consistency helps us know what others will experience when we tell them to check out the new restaurant.

Places like McDonald’s have thrived by focusing more on consistency than on quality. Go to any McDonald’s location in the United States and you will have a similar experience. It won’t be great. But you will know what you get when you head there.

The reason is because consistency is much more important than we think. Consistently working towards a goal is much better than fleeting efforts. Consistent approach to disciplining your children is more important than the severity of that discipline. Consistent attitude is more important than today's mood.

The systems and habits approach to improvement differs from other attempts at self-improvement by focusing so much on consistency. Consistency overrules effort.

The approach says that by being consistent we gain much more than the benefits from that individual action. It says that the sum is greater than the parts.

Each workout is just one workout. The overall trend is more important. How often we workout is more important than the specific exercises we do or the amount of weight we lift.

Eating healthy is more about the overall patterns. If we tend to eat unhealthy but decide today to eat nothing but broccoli, we aren’t going to see any appreciable benefits.

But if we start to eat a small portion of vegetables every day, we will start to see some benefit. The consistency is much more important than the effort or the quantity. Those only matter after you develop consistency.

To start out with a new self-improvement goal, start by focusing on doing everything possible to be consistent. Form the habits. Create the routines. Then, after those become automatic, start to build them up. But don’t start building before the foundation (habits) are built.