The power of consistency

03 Nov, 2017 - 00:11 0 Views

The ManicaPost

Arthur Marara Motivation for Success
“We are what we repeatedly do; excellence then is not an act but a habit.” — Aristotle.

This is an amazing truth that Aristotle shared thousands of years ago. He was in essence calling upon people to practice one principle, consistency. If we do things consistently, they become a part of us. There are two stories that illustrate the power of consistency that I want to share with you this week.

Jadav Payeng

This man might be unknown to many people, but his work is quite remarkable. It’s one advert on National Geographic that drew my attention and curiosity to the extent of researching more on this person. He is known as the “Forest Man of India”. Since 1979, Payeng challenged by the death of several birds, and wildlife in his area, decided to plant trees. He has been planting trees every day since 1979, and by consistently doing so, he has managed to plant over 1 400 hectares of trees, creating a forest, and thus earning him the title “Forest Man of India”.

This story illustrates a very important principle of consistency. You can do so much in life the moment you decide to be consistent. Payeng’s consistency and commitment provided inspiration for the advert by Prudential’s in South for their advertisement. Imagine what you can do with consistency? Imagine how different your life will be if you consistently focused on developing yourself. If you are a student imagine what would happen if you consistently study your books, and commit to becoming a better person.

One of the things I am often asked is how I manage to speak at big audiences and many other platforms that I speak. My answer to this is very simple, I speak consistently. I consistently practice speaking, I make it a point to rehearse my talks, and by doing this I improve my communication. I write every day. I do not sleep without writing something whether I am going to publish it or not. Do something daily that will push you closer to what you want to achieve in life. No matter how small it might be, do something.

Consistency births habits

Once you start doing something consistently it becomes a habit. If something is a habit, you start doing it unconsciously. This means you need to develop positive habits, and to do so, you simply need to do something consistently until it is a part of you. Your life revolves around habits, if you want your life to change, change your habits.

The story of Cliff Young

A true story is told about a man called Cliff Young which I found inspiring. Between 1983 and 1991, Australia held an annual ultra-marathon 875 km. World’s most elite racers ran from Sydney to Melbourne in 5 days — these athletes trained specially for this event, which was considered one of the world’s most gruelling races. One day, in 1983 a 61-year-old Australian potato farmer named Cliff Young entered the race. Cliff wore overalls and work boots. To everyone’s shock, Cliff wasn’t a spectator. He picked up his race number and joined the other runners. The press and other athletes became curious and questioned Cliff. They told him, “You’re crazy, there’s no way you can finish this race.” To which he replied, “Yes I can. See, I grew up on a farm where we couldn’t afford horses or tractors, and the whole time I was growing up, whenever the storms would roll in, I’d have to go out and round up the sheep. We had 2 000 sheep on 2 000 acres. Sometimes I would have to run those sheep for two or three days. It took a long time, but I’d always catch them. I believe I can run this race.”

All of the professional athletes knew that it took about 5 days to finish the race. In order to compete, one had to run about 18 hours a day and sleep the remaining 6 hours. The thing is, Cliff Young didn’t know that!

Cliff continued jogging all night and claimed he would run straight through to the finish without sleeping. Cliff’s story illustrates the power of consistency. Speed is not everything consistency is. You can arrive at your destination should you remain consistent at what you are focusing on.

Arthur Marara is a corporate law attorney, keynote speaker, emotional wellness speaker commanding the stage with his delightful humour, raw energy, and wealth of life experiences. He is a financial wellness expert and is passionate about addressing the issues of wellness, strategy and personal development. Arthur is the author of the “Personal Development Toolkit” among other inspirational books. Visit his website www.arthurmarara.org or contact him on +263772467255 for bookings.

Share This:

Sponsored Links

We value your opinion! Take a moment to complete our survey

This will close in 20 seconds