#Middlebury
WINNING WAYS
Insights for Constructive Living
by PAT IANNUZZI
It’s an accepted fact that some people achieve incredible success while others who seem to be just as talented and work just as hard achieve very little. Many factors – talent, perseverance and even luck – contribute to one’s success, but one component that can be more important than anything else is consistency.
Every significant personal achievement can be attributed to a series of productive attitudes and behaviors that are essential to its realization. The more regularly, reliably, and uniformly these productive thoughts and actions are applied over time, the greater are the possibilities for positive outcomes. This principle is called Consistency of Action. In general terms, it means thinking and acting in certain productive ways over and over again without lapses or deviation.
Consistency, however, also can work against us. It can cut both ways. People can – and often do – the wrong things in a consistent fashion, which results in consistent failure. For consistency to work in our favor, we must continually apply it to recognized positive behaviors. Deep down, we usually instinctively know what those right behaviors are, but instead of consistently applying them, we sometimes get lazy and take short cuts or for some mysterious reason, abandon them altogether.
Success results from doing the right things in the same way frequently and repeatedly. Consistency of action can make the difference between success and failure in any field of endeavor and is often the key to high levels of achievement. Consistency results from a commitment to continually do the right things until we achieve our objectives. Consistency is about being disciplined and holding ourselves accountable for the daily behavioral choices we make without excuses or exceptions.
For example, a surgeon who is known for his skill in performing a certain delicate operation will consistently apply the same established techniques in each procedure. Similarly, a professional baker famous for a particular type of pastry is going to consistently use the same recipe and process each time to create the pastry so that its flavor and texture always will be of the same high quality. Such people never simply wing it. They don’t just jump in and hope for the best. Regrettably, however, many of us do.
Why aren’t we all more consistent in our daily thoughts and actions? One reason is that we tend to think mostly in terms of the present. Since we usually don’t see immediate results from our actions, we struggle to stay consistent over the long-term. We’re impatient.
The reward of developing the habit of positive consistency, however, isn’t about obtaining quick results. Rather it’s about sticking with what you know are the right attitudes and behaviors over time until they produce the results you desire and inherently know will come.
It also helps to have a clear vision in our minds about the end results we desire. It reminds us why we do the things we do and reinforces the need to be consistent. Without consistency in our lives, we fall into the trap of stopping and starting. Stopping and starting is hard and can cause us to give up. Don’t stop and start. Keep at it. Make consistency a habit.
“It’s not what we do once in a while that shapes our lives. It’s what we do consistently.” – Anthony Robbins
Pat Iannuzzi of Symbiont Performance Group, Inc. is a performance consultant, trainer and coach focusing on selling, presentation and interpersonal skills. He lives in Litchfield and can be reached at 860-283-9963 or piannuzzi@symbiontnet.com.
