Consistent Effort: How To Keep Going And Make Small Steady Progress

Putting our effort consistently on our goals is the key to success. Many people give up too soon or too easily because we live in the age of instant gratification. We want quick and easy results. But that’s hardly how the real world works. Everything requires some level of effort, especially things that have a great impact on our lives. ‘Rome was not built in a day.’ Right? So how do we keep pushing and working towards our goal or task, especially when facing unexpected outcomes, difficulties or even failures? That’s exactly what we will be discussing in this article.

Before I expand further, I do want to stress that there is nothing more harmful than investing consistent effort on meaningless and uncertain things. Working on things that bear no real outcomes will only bring you emotional, physical and mental pain.  Tell me, what is worse than spending months or even years of hard work and dedication for a goal that will never turn real? It’s like trying to wet the sands in a desert. Hence, consistent effort must only be invested on things that are productive and have value. Whether something has real value or not, that’s only for you to decide. But if you can’t, my best suggestion is to give up. There is nothing wrong with giving up sometimes.

Now then, let’s talk about how to maintain consistent effort and keep working towards your goal, something that most people have great difficulty with. I suggest we go over it one by one in small bite size portions, to make this a smooth read:

• Don’t try to control the results

‘You have a right to your actions but not to the outcomes of those actions.’ An ancient hindu wisdom. Getting fixated on the results only paralyzes you. You will try to control something that you have no power over. Your actions and efforts are something you can plan and strategize and execute however you like (sometimes, you can’t even have that). But how the real world reacts to your hard work is a different thing. We also tend to lose track of other opportunities when we get fixated on the result of one thing. We lose focus, motivation and sight of other options that otherwise could provide better results.

But hadn’t I said not to waste time on meaningless things that do not give you the desired outcomes? Yes, however, that also doesn’t mean that everything you think will work, will actually work. What then? Are you never going to try? Besides, deciding if something is worth doing is done during planning, not during execution.

Here’s my simple advice: Do your job to the best of your abilities and then let things work out naturally. After your job is done, forget about it and move on to a different pursuit.

• Small steps to complete a long journey

‘Slow and steady wins the race.’ Right? In this case, ‘finish the race’ is more appropriate. Consistent means continuously. To be able to keep something going, we must be in energy saving mode (or at least not in overdrive mode). You do not run to the top of the mountain, you hike i.e. walk at a steady pace. Our abilities, skills and resources dictate our progress, hence it is necessary to regulate and manage how much we burn and invest. You can either do rigorous training in the gym to be active and healthy or you can do daily 15 minute daily sessions of sports or home exercise. Tell me, which one is more sustainable? Most people give up on going to the gym just within the first 3 months (I am being polite here). In order to keep going, we have to keep things within our capabilities.

Furthermore, small efforts will compound over time, similar to interest on a loan. Go hiking or trekking someday. You will see two types of people. There are those that tend to sprint from the start and burn out quickly and there are those that tend to move slow but at a consistent pace. You will quickly realize the second one will make more progress at the end of the day.

• Keep things simple

Simplicity is the key to a fulfilling life. Simplicity keeps unnecessary challenges and difficulties at bay. Being simple means only doing things that are necessary. However, simplicity is more complex than complexity. Keeping things simple is much harder than complicating them. This is the reason why people suffer from unnecessary hassle and pain in life. We tend to complex things too much. Simplicity is vital for consistency. Anything that requires you to waste unnecessary efforts can not be sustainable. Is it difficult for you to eat, sleep or walk? No right!? (Unless you have some disability.) Things that are natural feel like they require very little effort and this is the key to being consistent. Simplicity keeps things natural.

Let me give you a couple of examples: You join a gym to lose weight. You can either focus only on routine and exercises that help you lose weight or you can get distracted by body building and go down the rabbit hole of exercises, equipment, supplements and so on. If you do, you just made your goal more complicated and demanding. Will you be able to keep it up? Here’s another one: You want to create a habit of reading more. You can either get a library card or join a book club. Or you can buy books which you might not finish or look at more than once. The first one is simple; you borrow books anytime, make notes if needed and return them back. The second one just complicates things; you spend more money and pile up books in your room that you might never repeat; And at some point you will even stop reading.

• Build habits

Habits are the engine of consistent progress. By definition, a habit is a repeated task or behaviour. Plus it is something you do sub-consciously. No extra mental overload or fatigue. If you have a habit of reading, you will naturally be good with words and language. If you have a habit of socializing, you will be good with people. Humans are by nature habitual creatures. If we miss a daily habit, we will start to feel uncomfortable, even if it's something hard like reading or exercising. And that’s the key here. If you make a habit of doing hard things, you will keep going even if you do not see any results or fail once or twice. If you do have difficulty with building habits, read my ‘Habit Building 101: How To Create Long-Term Productive Habits That Maximize Success’.

Again, let’s go over some examples: If you have a habit of saving money and investing it in stocks, land or gold, you will eventually become financially stable even if the results, at first, are not visible. Or If you build a habit of reading books, you will eventually get better with writing articles yourself as well as improve your communication. Or If you create a habit of socializing with new people, you will eventually expand your network and connections. These small patterns and actions that you repeat consistently will compound over time and their output will become more apparent.

• Mindset is crucial

Frankly, I often try to avoid speaking about ‘Mindset’ because of how abused the term has become. ‘Change your mindset and you will change your life.’ Have heard this a million times. But things are not that simple. Still, it is true that mindset is crucial since it shapes our personality, expectations and behaviour. But our mindset is also shaped by our reality and anything that conflicts with this reality will be immediately rejected by our sub-conscious brain. So how to change mindset while preventing our sub-conscious brain from rejecting this positive change? Brainwashing. Yes, you read that right. We need to mentally brainwash ourselves with what is called ‘mental pictures’. You repeatedly picture yourself as the type of person you envision to be and eventually you will be that. Our brains can’t differentiate between reality and illusion so we can trick it with these ‘mental pictures’. Try to picture yourself doing a thing consistently and slowly you will be consistent with that image of you. You will start to consistently do that because you are the type of person that does that regardless of results or effort or willpower. Read more about this in my ‘Habit Building 101: Key to Building Long Lasting Habits’ article.

• Be committed but flexible

Consistent effort requires commitment and dedication which is pretty obvious. After all, if we are not serious about something, there will be no motivation to invest our time and effort. However, being too committed can make us rigid and paralyze us if we are not careful. This is where flexibility acts as a counterbalance. Being flexible is extremely crucial. It helps us adapt and adjust to changes and makes us more resilient. Try reading ‘Things Never Go As Planned: How To Deal With It’ to understand more.

Let’s go over a couple of examples: I can be committed to my exercise goals by putting effort daily in the gym but I also need to be flexible enough to skip my exercise if I get sick or busy or the gym closes. I can be committed towards my career goals and invest my extra time searching for better opportunities but I also need to adjust my expectations and strategy in case I do not meet the required qualifications or miss an application date or face bad luck in my interview. I can be committed to my relationship goals and invest my time and effort deepening my connection but I also tolerate when conflicts occur or things get busy or interest is not reciprocated. Being flexible helps us tolerate and adjust to such unexpected turn of events.

In conclusion, being consistent largely depends on our thinking and behaviour. Changing our perspective on progress and growth as well as adapting behaviour that focus on action not outcomes, is the key to long term consistent effort. Only consistency can provide us sustainability by making any task feel easy and natural, like a daily routine. If you still face difficulty in keeping your efforts going, I recommend trying an Action Plan, which is a strategy made up of small tasks and actions that helps us get closer to a specific goal. Read my ‘Action Plan 101: Create The Perfect Strategy To Become More Productive And Successful’ to learn about Action Plan and try for yourself. It will help you boost your focus and productivity while being consistent.