Consistency is a lie

Finding the energy to do things - I’m pushing hard to write ten blog posts this month. Not publish. Just have them written. I realized that after I “finish” something like publish a blog post. I end up coasting and it’s hard to get back to writing another one. Maybe the idea of consistently publishing just doesn’t work for me. Maybe I should work in seasons. Like every quarter I’ll load up on 10 blog posts that I can release throughout the quarter.

Addy Osmani just posted about motivation: https://addyosmani.com/blog/motivation/.

The idea of consistent habits is really appealing to me. Atomic habits talked about it. Honestly, everyone talks about consistency.

But there has to be exceptions to the rule. No matter how hard I try, I’m really bad at being consistent. There’s something that stops me from doing the same thing every day. For example, I had a habit of looking at my Todo app, Things, to help me get prepped for the day. Eventually, I just stopped looking at it. There wasn’t a conscious effort. It wasn’t even like “oh I needed to do this today but I didn’t”. I just stopped.

At first i felt kind of bad. Like, “wow I really can’t stay consistent on anything”. But I’ve been thinking a lot about my energy, where I put it, and how it recharges. For me, my energy comes like tides and seasons. It ebbs and flows at a shorter timescale such as throughout the day. At a larger timescale it’s like a season where I can experience a burst of energy at a time followed by a long winter of hibernation. I don’t think this is new news to anyone.

But it’s taken me a while to be okay with a few things:

I get motivation and energy from extrinsic sources. Sharing my goals with others and hearing about their goals and what they’ve accomplished gets me super hyped up.

I only have limited amount of energy and motivation. I shouldn’t spend it on things that don’t matter. Thinking social media. Or doing easy stuff - do the hard things and learn something.

Do I really want to be disciplined outside of work? I spend a lot of my mental energy at work. Some days are more draining then others. Do I really want to be like every 6pm I need to write for 30 minutes. No. I want to pick the times I’m able to do it. Discipline is really hard for deep work - deep thought work. Like writing or programming.

Unfortunately, the idea of consistency still matters. But what if you could fake it? When you have your burst of energy focus on all the important things. Build the things you want to build. I’m trying to write all the content. So that when I do get in a lull, I can drip feed that content out.

For those like me who hyperfocus on need to disconnect aftewards maybe this would work. My hope is that I operate in sprints throughout the year taking breaks when I feel my energy ebbing away. But so I don’t feel bad about not doing anything then I can take the things I worked on previously and release them. It’s the illusion of consistency.

I don’t want to say, don’t put the work in. Or that doing two weeks of intense building will be the same as consistently building something over 2 years. I want to offer an alternative way to think about things. Especially, if consistency is something you’re struggling with. What I don’t want it to sound like, is that I’m not giving you an out. But I feel like something is wrong with me every time I switch away from something “why don’t I have that discipline to keep doing it”? “What is wrong with my routines”? “Is something wrong with me”? It’s hard self talk, and I’m realizing that I don’t need to tell myself these things. Because I operate a little differently.

This method requires you to prioritize the most valuable thing, something that will give you the most return. Because you know you don’t have much time until your energy runs out.

The main idea I’m trying to present:

You don’t need to develop discipline to be successful. Deep work is pretty hard to do as a habit. And consistency can come later. I offer a different view on what energy looks like. Where I try not to give you an excuse to not do anything. But a way to give an illusion of consistency. While still allowing you to have that time of recharge and nothingness.