Consistency is underrated and it’s your secret weapon

I asked my fitness coach what he thinks the most important trait is when it comes to aging gracefully. He didn’t hesitate. “Consistency.”

It may sound boring, but consistency is a secret weapon many leaders find too tedious to embrace. But to be great, you’ve got to be consistent.

Humorist David Sedaris told the New Yorker, “I started writing one afternoon when I was twenty, and ever since then I have written every day.”

Rapper Eminem says, “I’ve made a lot of songs. And I make a lot of songs for each album. I write and write until my brain hurts — and I write every day.”

Buddhist teacher Ethan Nichtern says, “We are going to face resistance and hard times with any practice. We should think about the kind of relationship to our mind we want to cultivate several years from now, not 10 minutes from now. Expect resistance, expect obstacles, forgive yourself, and then show up to practice every day.”

Leaders love to talk about innovation. We love to talk about disruption. We love to talk about thinking big. There’s a time and a place for that. But true greats also focus on the structures and behaviors that help themselves, their teams and their organizations show up and do the work each and every day.