The Value of Being Consistent




Wheel of Life Podcast: Business|Productivity|Accountability show

Summary: There is nothing stopping you from changing directions or tracks and doing something the polar opposite of what you are previously doing. As an entrepreneur, you have absolute authority and control over your actions and decisions. No one is going to stop you from doing what you like. You can choose to destroy the business which you have built from scratch. People would mind but they cannot stop you from doing so. Whatever you choose to do, make sure you are consistent with your behavior. The Importance of Being Consistent When you set goals for yourself, you keep your abilities and capacity to perform in mind. You know that if you performed optimally for the near future, you would be able to meet those goals. Hence, you have to be consistent with your performance to achieve the goals you set for your business. If you perform below your capacity or don’t make use of your abilities, your business would suffer. Simply speaking, you have to be consistent to achieve your goals and fulfill what is truly important to you in life. In the same way, you have to be consistent with your decisions and actions. For instance, if you give an employee a slap on the wrist for an infraction, you would have the same in the future if any other employee committed the same offense. Handing out a punishment greater or lesser than the one you gave the previous employee would demoralize one of the two (depending on the punishment). As you can see, consistency is important for any successful business person. Consistency helps you maintain a sense of stability in what you do. This rubs off on your business and you can take it towards a level where it becomes stable as well. There are some other ways in which consistency could be the key to your success. Contradictions Are Roadblocks If you are consistent, you will achieve what you set out to achieve. Only extremely bad luck can stop you from attaining the success you envisaged. However, inconsistency of behavior could be the stumbling block which you fall over and all your ambitions of taking your business to the next level crumble to pieces. You need to have perfect symmetry between your thoughts, actions and decisions. For an entrepreneur, being consistent is perhaps one of the most important factors to achieve success. On the other hand, contradictions between your words and actions lead to chaos in your personal and professional life. You won’t be able to concentrate on the business. Rather, your mind would be occupied by what you should do instead of what is best for the business. Being consistent will enable you to learn from the mistakes you make. At least you wouldn’t repeat them. 4 Benefits of Being Consistent Let’s talk about several benefits for you to learn to be consistent. 1. Avoid Repeating Mistakes If your behavior remains the same regardless of the outcome of an action or decision, you can at least learn something even if you fail. That way, your knowledge increases, and you can avoid making the same mistake again. As mentioned before, inconsistency and contradictions are roadblocks to success. Making mistakes along the way further creates problems for you and you will find it extremely difficult to move towards success. 2. Develop a Code of Values The biggest advantage of being consistent in your behavior is that you can develop a core code of values and ethics you can follow. Rather than changing your stance depending on the situation, you should be clear in your mind about what needs to be done next. Entrepreneurs often try to think on their feet and in the spur of the moment make a decision which they later come to regret. This is not the case when they have a code of values to follow. 3. Consistency Breeds Persistence If you want to be successful as an entrepreneur, you have to learn to be persistent. Some people don’t have it in them to keep moving forwards after experiencing failure. A small loss is all it takes to deflate their spirit and cause them to break do