Consistency is not a highlight reel.
It lacks the magic of the start, the can-do energy that makes resolutions, plans, and goals. It does not have the cinematic glory of overcoming adversity and tribulations. It certainly does not possess the glamour of the triumphant finish.
Consistency is boring.
It is actually quite hum-drum. It involves doing the same thing regularly regardless of motivation or desire. Through rain and sunshine, through summer and winter, and morning, noon, or night depending on when the work must be done. It is dull to the point of disappointment—this is why most fall-offs are presaged by a cooling of fervour or dwindling interest.
Consistency is punishing.
It requires that one perform to the best of their ability regardless of temperament. And, harder still, it asks the pursuer of a certain goal to ensure that the barest minimum is done to the most superlative standard even at the worst of times.
Consistency is slow-burn.
It is a hard grind kind that sometimes feels like a punishment, an endless cycle of investing without seeing meaningful returns. Day 30 and Day 300 can share similarities, both paying out the smallest of dividends, or delivering milestones that seem inconsequential.
Consistency is a currency.
Like effort, it compounds. Bit by bit, day by day, failure after failure, time after time.
And what it buys is success: hard-earned, slowly gained, and not easily lost.
Consistency is the tortoise, not the hare. Everyone knows how that story ends.
Rémy Ngamije is an award-winning Rwandan-born Namibian author, editor, publisher, photographer, literary educator, and entrepreneur. He is the founder of The Forge.