On today's MMPT episode and Module #3 of Take Flight V4.0, I will compare CONSISTENCY in your business to FUEL for an aircraft. I'll make the point that if you do not create consistent effort in your life and business, you will not produce the momentum needed to get to 30,000 feet. It is at this point of Take Flight V4.0 that I ask for your commitment to implement the proven habits, rituals, systems and processes that I will teach in this course. To be simply interested will result in the same reality you are experiencing today. What I will teach over the coming weeks and months will not matter if you do not commit to the level of consistent effort to build your dream life and business.
Why is consistency so important?
You may have heard me explain the "PUMP THE WELL" metaphor that Darren Hardy uses to describe the compounding effect of consistent effort in his book "The Compound Effect.” He describes pumping the well as a process that requires consistent effort and patience. In the beginning, you can’t see the results of your efforts despite loads of effort. Eventually, you’ll start to see a small flow of water after working at it for a while. If you stay at it, gravity will take over and the constant flow of water will happen as a result. At that point, momentum kicks in and it takes way less effort to create a steady stream of water flow. Success is the same way - you can pump away for a long time without any results. You feel like you are getting nowhere and then all of a sudden, you start to see tiny drops of momentum in your business. That momentum, if managed properly, turns into a constant flow of business.
The 97%, those who are just interested, stop their momentum at 2 very key times. They quit before they see results because they think their efforts are fruitless. Their efforts go for naught just before things start to happen for them. The other quitting point for the 97% is once they’ve had some success, thinking the work is done and the momentum is created. Both of these situations stop momentum. Once the momentum is stopped, the water goes back into the ground and you have to start all over to regain it. This is why the 97% have a career-long journey of peaks and valleys and never experience and enjoy the power of true momentum. It took me 5 years to create that constant flow of momentum.
As part of your "homework" this week, grab Hardy’s book and read Chapter 4: Momentum. If you've not read "The Compound Effect," push it to the top of your reading list and study it. For the first few years of teaching my course, this book was mandatory reading. Again, consistency requires commitment to manifest your desired end result along with the habits, rituals, systems and processes needed to create consistency.
This is one of my favorite guiding principles and something I live by:
"If you see consistency, look for a habit, ritual, system or a process.”
Take Flight V4.0 is a series of different habits, rituals, systems and processes that the 3% (ELP's/super achievers) use to build their dream lives and businesses. Here’s a glimpse of the 10 areas where ELP's/super achievers put their focus on consistency:
1. Morning Ritual
2. Meditation/Visualization/Gratitude
3. Review of your 3 Year Vision, 1 Year Theme and quarterly initiative
4. Planning of your Day
5. Exercise/Diet
6. Show Up
7. Follow Up and Follow Through with clients and prospects.
8. End of Day Wrap Up/Review
9. Save/Invest with the future in mind
10. Prioritize rest
On a scale of 1-10 (1 being "never" and 10 being "every day for an extended period of time"), where do you rank in these areas?
When we get to Section 2: Habit, Rituals, Systems and Processes (The Tail of Your Plane), we will spend much more time on the details. I have seen people literally change their trajectory in a matter of days and weeks by recommitting to those areas that they know work for them. Not just thinking about doing it, but actually putting in the consistent effort.
Once momentum takes the wheel, life gets easier. In Take Flight V4.0, we'll talk about the difference between discipline and motivation. You need to rely on discipline because motivation comes and goes. Motivation is based in emotion. If you don't "feel it" that day, you don't execute consistently. 1 day becomes 2, 2 days becomes a week and before you know it, it's been six months since you created the necessary action to build your business. Three to six months after that, "there is no harvest because you didn't plant the seeds." At this point, the agent experiencing the rut gets nervous/anxious and plants a bunch of seeds hoping that some of them will be ready for harvest immediately. It doesn't work like that. To even out the peaks and valleys in your business, you need a disciplined, consistent approach. Your aircraft needs fuel.
Today, I am asking you for your commitment to be consistent and to grab the handle of the pump and create that gravitational pull of new business and new experiences. Darren Hardy states that “Consistency is the key to achieving and maintaining momentum.” I'll go on to say that there is zero chance you are getting to 30,000 feet (flow in your life and business) if you don't create momentum through consistent action.
I wish it was easier but it's not. That's why only 3% get to 30,000 feet and are able to pull the engines back and let their business work for them. On this journey with me through Take Flight V4.0, consistency will be your fuel.
