What does it take to successfully implement a major life change, such as changing careers and starting your own business? You might say: hard work, courage, or connections with the right people. And you’d be right. But it’s simpler than that.
When attempting to make a career transition to self-employment, there’s only one thing an outsider needs to observe to accurately gauge your likelihood of success: consistency.
How consistent are you in doing what it takes to succeed? Do you work on your new business every day, rain or shine? Or do you work on your projects sporadically, picking it up at times and then forgetting about it?
Consistency is the essence of accomplishing anything meaningful. Major projects, such as the construction of a large building, can’t be accomplished in one sitting. Nor can a complete revamp of your career.
If you consistently work on something day in and day out, even if it’s just 30 minutes at a time, you stand a much better chance at success than if you work on it occasionally for an hour or two when you ‘feel like it’. In other words, success is much more likely, in many cases highly likely, if you make a daily habit out of working on your new business.
Consistency builds momentum, develops your skills and keeps them sharp. Momentum helps you run through obstacles that might otherwise derail or de-motivate you. Many skills can only be developed with consistent, daily practice. Failure to practice daily is the number one reason why many young piano students perform terribly at recitals.
Consistency fuels your motivation, drive and passion. Seeing yourself make tangible progress towards completion of a project is one of the most satisfying and motivating elixirs out there. Outside help is attracted to motivated, driven, and passionate people. When you consistently return to work on a task or project, as though you had an addiction to it, completion of your project is almost inevitable.
Consistent action plants thoughts and ideas about your new career path in both the conscious and (more importantly) subconscious parts of your mind, helping to spark new, creative ideas and solutions to problems even when you’re not working.
Consistency also harnesses the Law of Addition. What in the world is that? If you work 30 minutes a day on a project, that may not seem like much time – but do it that every day for a year, and you’ve put in 180 hours of work, or the equivalent of nearly 5 work weeks. In other words, time adds up.
This is especially important for those trying to start their own business while working a day job and taking care of family. It can be near impossible to take large chunks of time off to work on your new career – but you consistently put in at least 30-60 minutes a day, you can make significant progress over a period of time.
Spreading work out over a period of time can also make your work more sustainable. Think about it this way – if you were to start a new exercise routine, are you going to get better results if you exercise 45 minutes every day consistently, or if you try to cram in 5 hours of exercise into one day? You’d probably burn out and give up if you tried to cram a week’s worth of exercise into one day.
Your body does a lot of beneficial work in-between exercise sessions, building muscle and strengthening connective tissue. Your mind does a lot of creative processing in-between work sessions, devising creative solutions and strengthening synapses. For this reason, it’s important to have breaks in your work, while simultaneously being consistent with it.
At the end of the day, career change is a marathon. There’s always an endless pile of tasks to do and new skills to learn. You’ll likely never feel ‘on top’ of everything, but you’ll get a lot further through consistent, daily action, even if it’s just 30 minutes a day. You may feel like you’re going at a snail’s pace, but the irony is that one year from now, you’ll likely be further ahead if you go at a steady, consistent snail’s pace, than if you burn out the first week trying to do it all and run like a leopard 
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Alex,
Your discussion of “30 minutes a day” strikes an important chord with me. Back when I was still working full-time and looking to get a new website started up, I knew I had to figure out a way to allocate my limited time to my new venture.
My solution was so simple it bordered on laughable: I set up a calendar next to my desk at home, and I set a goal of writing and working on my site for a minimum of 30 minutes a day. On those days I met that goal, I’d put a big checkmark on that day in the calendar.
You’d be shocked at how that silly-seeming ritual kept me on a streak of writing nearly every day for almost three years after that! And of course the side benefit is, once you sit down to write, those 30 minutes will often fly by–and then turn into a flow-based, multiple hour writing session. I live for those.
Dan
Alex, excellent point. I am in the first stages of getting things running and am fortunate to be able to put consistent time into progress each day and I can see the rewards springing up before my eyes.
Now, if only I could put that into practice with exercise! I’d be that tall, thin blonde chick in no time! heheh (I know, I know. Not in this lifetime but maybe start now for the next one.)
Your consistency is commendable
Well thought out and written Alex. I used to think that I only prepared my speeches by sitting down and pounding them out with pen & paper, and then practicing. I used to chide myself for not sitting down and “working” more, but then I realized that I do work on my speeches whenever I think about them – in the car, on the couch watching TV, in the shower. I often think about my speeches & presentations and that is when I usually come up with my best ideas, or even just a better way to say something.
@Dan – love the idea of putting a checkmark on your calendar every day
Even though I’m doing something I enjoy and feel passionate about, I still have to kick my own butt and commit to achieving goals and projects.
@Lisa – I hear ya about the health! Visiting Sonya Sidky right now – she’s given me a good bop over the head about my love of processed foods. Hopefully this results in a consistent daily habit of preparing fresh, raw foods.
@Arun – thanks! I enjoy putting up new articles and the only way to do that is being consistent. It might be hard to succeed in this kind of business otherwise
@Bill – thanks for reading! Yeah, that’s how I also get some of the best lines in speeches – they pop into my head almost spontaneously when I’m doing something unrelated
Well I was looking for the 3rd part of a 30 day trial focused on productivity… this is definitely the winner
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