10 Tasks That Show Consistency Is Boring (That’s Why Most People Don’t Stick With It)

How did I move from being an utter and complete failure, to the success I am right now? One simple technique. Consistency. 

I know, I know! It isn’t as exciting as winning money in a lottery or hitting a really great penny stock.

But it is the only thing I know of that has been the secret to success for hundreds of thousands of people. Those people who are quietly and boringly making a tiny little bit of progress every single day in their chosen fields are the ones who end up being ‘Overnight successes’ ten or fifteen years later.

That’s the thing about success – it’s all about little gains over a long period of time, leading to the compounding effect (something Darren Hardy speaks about in his book ‘The Compound Effect’).

In fact, success is BORING.

I think of this story whenever I think of boring consistency. There is a track and field centre near my parent’s house. When I would be going to an early hot Yoga class on the weekends, I would drive past it around 7am (my class was at 8am, but I like to get there early to seep in the warmth). I always noticed this young man (late teens) running on the track every morning, by himself. He had a hoodie on (it was winters in Toronto), and he would be going around the track over and over again.

Think about what this person had to give up in order to running on this track early morning like this:

1. Most probably he didn’t go out drinking or partying the night before. If he wanted to be in his peak condition, he would have had to go to bed early.
2. From what I could see, he was extremely fit – so he was probably eating like a healthy fiend to stay in such great shape.
3. Instead of spending time with friends, he was on the track working out and building his stamini.
4. Instead of spending time shooting the shit with family, he was getting up early and running around the track god knows how many times.

I don’t know what happened to this individual or what he’s doing now.

But I can be certain of one thing.

He is a success.

He is a success in my mind because he’s doing the hard things – he’s doing the things no one else wants to do.

People Hate Consistency. Most people just want to:

1. Eat crappy food and still look skinny and toned.
2. Sit around on the couch all day and still be able to look hot in a bathing suit.
3. Sleep in everyday and still be able to make oodles of money.
4. Dance and party till late all weekend and still be able to be a success.
5. Treat people any which way and still have great harmonious relationships with everyone.

The list could be longer, but you get the gist.

Everyone wants to be a success, but they don’t want to do the work.

They want to chill, relax, have fun, party, sleep in, eat fries and still be an absolute raging success.

But when they are not, they get upset about it, or start blaming the Conservative government, Bill C-51, Global warming, the Big Bang Theory, or other implausible conditions.

The successful people are the ones who did the hard work for decades before they got any recognition for it. They did the work because they know that Consistency pays off in the end (no one knows how long it takes).

From the outside success is all about the little tasks that no one else gets to see and no one will ever appreciate.

Successful people will work on these unappreciated tasks over a long period of time without seeing any results. 

That’s the hard thing about success and consistency:

1. You have no idea when the fruits of your labour will come (or if they will).
2. Usually the tasks you need to work on consistently are boring, repetitive, and not FUN (this is the key).
3. Everyone in your life will be trying to get you to quit these tasks, because you don’t see any instant results from them.
4. You have to keep on working on these tasks even after you are a success!! This is a big one. Once you are a success, you have to keep on working on these tasks, because otherwise, you are going to sabotage your success and you will slide back.

Some tasks that I have found to be important in success and consistency, but are boring as F*ck while you are doing them:

1. Meditation – this is a given. Meditation is one of the most powerful ways to change your life that I know of.
2. Visualization – Imagination is the key to all success.
3. Exercise – A healthy body hosts a healthy successful mind.
4. Reading – Reading and modeling other successful people builds your success.
5. Journaling – Getting all of that shit from inside of you onto paper clears up all the cobwebs.
6. Eating healthy – This is such an important one – eat for success by removing processed crap.
7. Sleeping early, waking up early – Establishing a great sleep routine and sleeping for at least 7 hours is crucial.
8. Morning routines – Routines and habits change lives. Establish good routines and your success will follow.
9. Long walks in nature – Humans need to be in nature everyday in order to reset and reconnect to themselves.
10. Long periods of silence – We are all afraid of being alone and in silence. They are both crucial to connect to your intuition.

There are other tasks that are crucial to you depending on what industry or field you are in. For example, for sales people, prospecting is crucial. For writers, writing everyday is important. For marketers, social media is essential.

But I have found these ten tasks to be crucial for creating the foundation of a great set of habits, and building your consistency muscle.

So what are you going to do when you wake up tomorrow? Are you going to choose to do the hard tasks? Or will you take it easy and live a comfortable, but mediocre existence without much stimulation?