T.I.P.S. 101** Consistency is the Key

Consistency is the Key
By Gil C. Schmidt


There are times when you get tired of doing your best, of giving an A-1 effort, of striving for excellence when the world around you seems to glorify mediocrity. You feel like a lunatic for trying so hard and seemingly nobody notices or cares, like you’re trying to crack a huge brick wall with a wet noodle.

At times like these, remember one thing: Excellence is always rewarded. It may take time, but doing things with your best effort is the only true path to success.

Think of this when you provide service to that umpteenth customer that doesn’t even say “Thank you.” Or when you handle another difficult situation and the person acts like nothing special has happened. What is at work here is not some metaphysical intangible, but a very real law: the Law of Numbers. As you accumulate more and more experiences and do so with your best effort, you are acquiring knowledge and laying the absolute foundation for success.

Is it hard work? Of course it is. But what are the shortcuts and what do they lead to?

• You give someone a mediocre effort: That’s one experience less in your pursuit of the Law of Numbers, for you haven’t learned anything and you lose a potential voice in your favor.
• You cheat someone: Obviously a negative number (worse than a zero, it takes away from what you’ve already done) and a potential enemy where you could have made a friend.
• You do excellence at first, then slack off: The natural pattern as people lose patience with the process. If you’re lucky, you might be successful before the good will you’ve created wears off, but as time goes by, you will be wasting that good will and end up back at square one.
• You ignore excellence and just drift: Your only hope here is to win the lottery, marry a rich person or get elected to public office.

It is easy to lose sight of the Big Picture when engaging in everyday activities. I once read where a famous baseball player, a man who got more hits than all but 5 other players in the history of the sport, said “If you truly focus on every at bat, your career will take care of itself.”

So the next time you feel that weight of seeming indifference, remember that all you have to do is take care of just one thing: the task at hand. That’s all. Give that person in front of you your very best and, by doing so, you are doing exactly what you need to do to let the Law of Numbers work for you and have the Big Picture take care of itself.