How Hurrying Hinders Consistency

3 ways to carve a steady path to progress

Photo by Tien Vu Ngoc on Unsplash

Years ago, around Twitter's launch, I observed a man who seemed omnipresent on social media. He was constantly tweeting, sharing his latest, greatest ideas, and posting blogs multiple times a day. After observing his frenetic activity for a month or so, I asked him directly: When do you take a break?

His immediate response: "I'll sleep when I'm dead!"

One day I realized he had vanished from the digital landscape. No more tweets, blog posts, or videos showcasing his innovative concepts. He had simply disappeared.

Had he burned out? I'll never know, yet I think about him frequently when I'm tempted to hurry and do everything all at once. Observing this man and his eventual disappearance taught me a valuable lesson: even in our fast-paced world, the key to sustainable change lies not in speed, but in consistency.

Many believe aiming for consistency means settling for mediocrity. This couldn't be further from the truth. Consistency isn't about maintaining a low standard; it's about establishing a solid foundation upon which excellence can be built.

Around here this translates into setting my baseline at "the worst day of the worst week of the year." This approach isn't an invitation to underperform, it's a strategy that ensures I still meet my commitments to my Future Self, even when life throws its hardest curveballs my way.

By Mastering the Mundane and committing to this baseline, I create a reliable platform for growth and a mindset which allows me to consistently maintain momentum, rather than burning out in spurts of unsustainable effort. I build habits that withstand the test of time and circumstance, enabling me to achieve lasting success (however I’m currently defining it) and create that path to my Future Self.

Consider Simone Biles, widely regarded as the greatest gymnast of all time and my absolute fave. I couldn't help but smile when I learned her mother affectionately nicknamed her The Turtle, a nod to Simone’s slow and steady approach to training.

This patience and persistence, rather than rushing to perfect complex routines, helped Biles to build an unshakeable foundation of skills. I like to think her commitment to achieving consistency in the boring-basics is one of the reasons she was so phenomenally successful at the Paris Olympics.

Consistency is the backbone of progress.

Here's the thing: deep down, we know hurrying sacrifices quality for speed. We're aware rushing through tasks leads to subpar results that are neither our best work nor sustainable (and if you’re me: both).

We've all encountered humans like my social media friend who burst onto the scene shining brightly as they pursue goals with intensity. If you're like me, you've probably watched in awe as they outpace you, marveling at their commitment and progress.

Sustainable success is about finding a rhythm we can maintain, a pace that allows for steady progress without burnout. Within this consistent cadence, we discover opportunities for continuous growth and lasting achievement.

This is the face of hurry: impressive short term; ultimately unsustainable.

How do we transform The Hurry into Mastering the Mundane?

🐢 Embrace the Minimum Viable Day (MVP)

Define the bare daily minimum you need to do to maintain progress towards your goal.

Write down what the goal is (details!) and then break down the steps/work you will need to do to get there (big and small picture stuff here).

Visualize the goal completed and do the same thing: visualize all the small steps that will come together to get you to goal achievement.

Now define what you will commit to doing daily to work toward your goal. Think small. Think baby steps. This ensures even on your worst days, you're still moving forward.

Sure, as this becomes habit, you can gradually increase your baseline—but you don’t have to. The MVP is about creating a safety net for progress. On good days, you'll naturally do more; on challenging days hitting your MVP keeps you going and growing.

The key is to make your MVP so achievable you can't talk yourself out of it, no matter how tough the day feels.

🐢 Practice "Tempo Training"

Just as runners use varied training speeds to improve performance, consider applying different paces to your tasks.

Sometimes, intentionally slowing down helps us focus on form and quality, leading to better long-term results. This approach is *very* helpful in my manuscript writing. Some days I dedicate to slow, deliberate practice where I focus on details and quality. Other days, I write and write letting everything flow knowing I’ll reread later.

This varied approach not only improves my writing skills it prevents burnout and keeps my efforts interesting, engaging and always fatiguing different muscles.

🐢 Implement the Five-Minute Rule

We all know this one. Most of us don’t do it because it feels ‘not enough.’

When you feel the urge to rush or skip your MVP, commit to five minutes of focused effort. Often, this small start gives us the momentum and mindset to continue. While five focused minutes may seem insignificant over a week that's 35 minutes of progress and over a year it adds up to over 30 hours of unhurried-dedication.

Plus, we all know once we commit to those five minutes, we easily end up doing 30 which compounds into 3.5 hours of meaningful, unrushed weekly progress!

In the rush to achieve, we overlook the quiet power of persistence; mastery is emerges not from haste, but from the accumulation of consistent effort.

If you need yet another reason to slow down, I’ve seen through life and client work putting on the brakes and doing less than we initially want to towards our goals can *fuel* motivation.

When we ‘restrain’ ourselves and don’t exhaust our enthusiasm, we discover we are energized and eager to get back to our pursuits the next day. This controlled approach helps maintain a steady fire of motivation, rather than allowing it to blaze and burn out quickly.

And remember, consistency isn't the enemy of greatness—it's the very path that leads us unhurriedly to it.

Now you:

• Are you more a Biles or my Social Media friend?

• Either way (as Dr.Phil used to say) How’s that working for you?