The thing about consistency...
Hello You,
How are you doing today?
Oh you want to know how I am?
I’ll tell you.
I’m typing this directly on the substack platform sitting on my yoga mat dressed in my pyjamas pants.
I had something planned but it seems the universe read last week's letter and decided to give me a real taste of what it means to be comfortable doing difficult things, during difficult times.
And let me tell you one thing.
I AM DEFINITELY NOT COMFORTABLE!!!
The irony
This feels like the time where the Christians will pray, “Lord, do not let my enemies put me to shame.”
It’s as if my village people - the universe - wants to put me to shame.
But as my father, who's also a pastor, likes to say, “they shall surely gather, but their gathering will be in vain!”
Amen?
So yes I am writing this without any premeditation, without any excessive editing and without any gifs/pictures
Because like Moses said when he divided the red sea, we move.
I have a lot of bible references today for some reason
Oh yes,
I was going to tell you why i’m writing this even though I didn’t plan to
It’s All About Consistency
Let me explain…
When you do something you find good or productive
Like working out for example
When you finish the diffictult task your brain produces chemicals that make you happy for the amount of effort you put in
Now everytime you do that productive thing, your brain produces even more happy chemicals
And over time, it begins to associate production of happy chemicals with completion of productive task
This hard-wires your brain in a way that compels you to do the task again, even if you’re not in the mood for
That's the thing about consistency…
If you’re intentional about it in the beginning, soon your body makes it into a habit for you.
But there's also something else…
Some thing worse than creating the happy chemicals of a consistency streak
And that is breaking it.
Think about those times you decided that it was finally time to get your summer body
What happened after you let yourself miss a day?
That’s right
The next day you convince your mind it’s easier to stay in bed than it is to work out
And soon it’s a week….
Then a year later and you’re still panting like a dog anytime you climb the stairs
The knowledge that you’ve failed at a task causes a depression that is harder on your body than the happy chemicals
And in my opinion, the difference between the consistency of happy chemicals and depression is effort.
I suppose what I’m saying is
If you give yourself the excuse to not show up, you’ll give yourself many excuses to not show up down the line.
The difficulty of consistency is doing it everyday
And while some days aren’t perfect like others
You have to show up anyhow
Even if you aren’t prepared
Or you won't hit it as hard as you would on a good day
Show up anyhow
Your mind, body and soul will thank you for it.
Your future self will thank you for it.
Because, as I've found out, if you get consistent at doing something you find important, your body will encourage you to keep being consistent
And the greater reward is you’ll begin to get consistent in other areas of your life
Slowly at first, but surely.
As for the difficulty of my week,
I had a black out for 48hrs which led to unproductive hours
A storm that made me do laundry again
A postponed assignment which came back to bite me in the ass - they moved up the deadline.
And a whole bunch of other things that I forget to talk about
And in the past, I'd have let this deter me
Wait a whole week before I gave you another letter
But no more
Every week at least once I’ll send a letter out
No matter how shitty my week has been
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Thank you for reading
I’ll talk to you next week
Till then,
Stay easy,
Dave.
P.S: I’m trying to share my words and ideas with the largest number of people
If you liked what you read, I’m sure you know others who will too.
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