Do you want to know how to be consistent? Let’s start with Spergon Wynn. Have you heard of him?
I didn’t think so.
He was the 183rd pick in the 2000 NFL draft and the sixth quarterback chosen. You may have heard of the next QB selected as the 199th pick out of 254.
His name is Tom Brady.
The man who NFL General Managers overlooked 198 times went on to win seven Super Bowls and become the greatest player in NFL history, or the GOAT. He wasn’t born with gifted athleticism or a physical specimen. Brady admits he wasn’t born a child prodigy.
Then how did he overcome the odds to win five Super Bowl MVPs and three league MVP awards in his 22 seasons?
He harnessed the superpower of consistency.
Brady sums it up perfectly.
“The more good behaviors you have, the better things turn out. It’s just, do people have the discipline to repeat those behaviors? That’s the tricky part.”
And that’s the part Tom Brady mastered. He consistently repeated good behaviors that produced positive results.
Brady was kind to say, “tricky” because there’s no trick or secret to mastering consistency. You can learned how to be consistent when you understand its five requirements.
Learn How to Be Consistent By Mastering 5 Essential Steps
1 — Know your why
Why do you want to lose weight, get out of debt, or earn a night school college degree? You’ll lose your resolve when the family is passing around apple pie a la mode if you don’t know your why. Is it to look good, feel better, or be able to play badminton with your grandkids?
Brady knew his why.
On a hot, rainy Spring morning in 2020, two hours before a golf exhibition with basketball legend Charles Barkley, 43-year-old Brady was doing sprints in the parking lot. Barkley asked, “What the hell are you doing?”
“I’m trying to win a Super Bowl,” Brady replied.
Start with your why or consistency throws in the towel by halftime.
2 — Build structure
Knowing your why gets you out of bed at 4 am to study, but structure defines how you do it. Structure is knowing exactly what you’ll do without aimlessly wasting your time. You’ll spend 15 minutes reviewing your notes from the last class, 30 minutes reading the next chapter, and 15 minutes making note cards and outlining what you learned.
I do six exercises every morning at 6:30, Monday through Friday, and I know exactly what they are. I’d fail without this structure because I despise exercising.
3 — Give yourself grace
Someone said to live for the line, not the dot on the line. The line is your journey, experiences, and progress. You want to lose 20 pounds by the end of the year, not by Thursday.
So, if you indulge in the apple pie a la mode, enjoy every last bite, and don’t trip over the dot on the line. Don’t beat yourself up and quit because you had a moment of weakness. You won’t gain 10 pounds from this one miss; no more than you’ll transform from fat to ripped with a 10-hour workout session.
Give yourself grace, get up, and get back on the line.
4 — Create a vision
What will your life look like when you get out of debt? Write down how you’ll feel, what your victory lap will be, and who you’ll help from the lessons you’ve learned. This vision will pull you along when the going gets tough and the tough needs to get going.
My vision is writing from a shady beachside cabana listening to Jack Johnson and Jimmy Buffet while sipping something cold and amber from a short glass.
5 — Ask for accountability
No one likes accountability. Accountability tells you that you’re not always right. Or, as da Vinci said,
“The greatest deception men suffer is from their own opinions.”
Don’t fall for it. Swallow your pride, breathe in a dose of humility, and accept some accountability. I spent hours upon hours editing my book and thought it was near perfect when I submitted it to my editor (my wife). I expected we’d hash out a few changes in an hour or so and publish. Five days and 20 hours of editing later, I put it on Amazon.
In the context of consistency, accountability is your reminder to stay the course. It’s the person you allow to ask why you’re still in bed when you should be studying or working out. Accountability keeps you humble and honest.
Because I never want to waste your time, I have a bonus to help you seize the superpower of consistency.
Bonus — Be patient with your results
If you’re meeting the top five requirements to master consistency, trust the process, keep going, and wait patiently on the results. They will come. You may stall and feel nothing is happening, but push through or pivot. Stick with the plan, but change the routine. I hit many plateaus on my weight loss journey and shifted to a different routine each time.
Patience and pivoting keep you in the game instead of quitting and will allow you to tap into consistency’s greatest weapon — momentum.
Now put on your cape and go get your superpower!
PS. Special thanks to Spergon Wynn for serving as my story starter today. The man accomplished a tremendous feat by being drafted and starting in the NFL. He’s just one of 1067 NFL quarterbacks drafted since 1937 that Brady surpassed. Not bad for a 199th draft pick.
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