Welcome to issue No. 66 of the Lever

Consistency simply means showing up every day.

To improve your core skills there will be some action you need to perform.

- Designing
- Writing
- Editing
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And then you need to perform it again and again and again. Big buildings are built with small stones, and incremental improvements are the only sure path to success.

Make it Easy

The first question to ask:

How can I make this really easy?

Especially in the beginning, you want this activity to be so small and easy that it is literally impossible to fail.

The instinct is to apply overwhelming force to the activity. There is a place for that, but not at first. The focus is on building the habit of practicing that skill again and again.

If you want to write a book, start with a minimum daily wordcount of ten words. That’s one sentence.

It may sound silly, that such a small thing could be your daily goal, but in the beginning, it is all about small wins, and actually practicing the habit daily.

As time progresses the volume of work you perform will naturally increase, and you will usually do more than the minimum required; but on those runaway days you’ll still be able to meet your minimum goal, ultimately moving the needle in the right direction.

Its all about the trend of your progress.

Pull the Trigger

Every habit, good or bad, has a trigger. In The Power of Habit, author Charles Duhigg lays out the three-step path that all habits follow:

- The Trigger
- The Routine
- The Reward
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A new habit needs a new trigger.

There are five primary habit triggers:

- Time
- Location
- Other people
- Emotional state
- Preceding event
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For creative work, time is probably the easiest trigger to influence, followed next by location. Therefore, the best way to build a consistent habit is to do it first thing when you wake up.

That way nothing “more pressing” will come up and you’ll be assured to have enough energy to complete it.

Do It Every Day

Dan Gable, the famous wrestling coach, famously said:

If it’s important, do it every day. If it’s not important, don’t do it at all.

The people who are the best in their field are those that do that work every day, often to the exclusion of everything else.

We only have so much time and we have a responsibility to use it well. It is important therefore to consistently practice those things that provide the most value to our lives.

Does your daily routine encourage consistency?

Are your actions consistent with your stated goals?

I think about this congruence of actions and outcomes a lot and would love to hear your thoughts.

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