I get so irritated when I hear people say they need the newest technology to be successful or that they can’t get to where they want to be without the latest and greatest app. I recently had a call with my mastermind group about this and I had to say “Time out! What about the basics?”
If you think you can’t move forward without the fanciest new technology, you’re getting yourself in trouble.
Don’t get me wrong, I love technology! I’m all for using technology to enhance your success. But if we don’t do the basics—the simple things that you need to do with consistency—even the best technology won’t get you anywhere.
New technology can definitely help to widen our audience and increase our efficiency, but there’s something more powerful than technology. Consistency. Consistency is essential to your success.
Not too long ago, one of our Community members told me he was going to write three blog posts every week. I started tracking his blog for awhile, and guess what, he wasn’t keeping up with it! Well, I got on his case and wore him out about it. I told him “You said you were going to do this, but you’re not! What are you doing? You haven’t been posting three blogs a week. It’s not going to pay off for you if you aren’t consistent with it.”
Pretty soon after I gave him that message of tough love, he came to me and excitedly told me his blog views increased from 20 to 1,000. I told him it’s because he started being consistent with it and faithfully blogging on schedule. Once he did it with consistency, he started getting the results.
My friend Dan Miller knows all about consistency. I talk about him a lot because I know him very well. He’s been one of my best friends for two decades. You know what else he’s been for two decades? Consistent. He hasn’t missed a podcast or a newsletter in 17 years.
Another friend of mine, Dave Ramsey, has never missed a radio show in 25 years. That’s consistency. He’s been giving advice about money for a quarter century now, every day. As a result of his consistency, he now has 10 million daily listeners.
When it comes to consistency in sports, I think about one of my favorite golfers on the planet, Vijay Singh. After playing in a four-day tournament, Vijay always goes straight to the driving range and hits a thousand golf balls. He does that every Sunday, without fail. Consistency.
In his playing days, Michael Jordan would get up at 4:00 AM and go to the gym to practice. He worked on his fundamentals relentlessly. Shooting foul shots, doing the little things, consistently sharpening his skills.
Look at Peyton Manning, one of the best quarterbacks of all time. You know what he did every day? He watched film. He stayed watching video non-stop, analyzing his opponents and looking for weaknesses. Peyton studied diligently, and over time he knew the other team’s defense better than they knew themselves. His consistency led him to victory in two Superbowls.
When my wife and I were building our first business, we did the same thing every day for nine years. After that, we had a Fortune 500 company that wanted to buy us.
Right now I've done 350 podcast interviews and I’ll have done 75 more before summer is over. Sure, it’s tiring. Sometimes I’ll lose my voice by the end of the day and get home exhausted, but I know that if I’m consistent with it the hard work will pay off. I’m not successful because I’m smart. I’m just diligent. I exercise perseverance.
You don’t need the newest technology to succeed. You need a plan and you need to stay with it. Don’t think you can do it for six weeks or even six months to get where you want to be. If you’re not willing to do something consistently, every day, for at least two years, don’t even do it in the first place. What you need to do is focus on doing two or three things, and do them relentlessly. It will pay dividends that are absolutely immeasurable.
If you want to be successful, I mean wildly successful, then do what I’m talking about and your life will change forever. Come up with a strategy, write down your plan, and be consistent in executing it!
You don't have to be on every platform. Pick two or three things and do those things well. Write thank you notes. Be relentless in giving endorsements. Stay with it day in and day out. Be the Dave Ramseys of the world, the Dan Millers, the Vijay Singhs, the Michael Jordans, the Peyton Mannings.
I want you to be successful, so I'm going to consistently talk about consistency until I die or Jesus comes back, whichever happens first.
I know you can do it, you just have to be consistent!
