Everyone I have met with a high creative output has figured out that the only way to do good work is consistently do lots of it. Show up each day to your gym, your keyboard, your boardroom or your coaching calls and do the work!
Gradually over time, doing the work transitions into a full blown creative flow that makes you lose track of time. I am sure each one of you has experienced this – a time in your life when you were so immersed in what you were doing that when you emerge from your cave, your partner or family says, “ Where have you been? You missed lunch.” And you think to yourself, “Wow, I had no idea how quickly time just passed.”
The biggest challenge I see when I coach people to create consistency is they don’t have a system to stay consistent.
You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.
— James Clear
The most important system to stay consistent is what Michael Neill refers to as programming your Inner GPS. It involves three elements:
1) Do you have a clear destination and a plan of action?
This is the end result of your dream project. Most people have this in their head but when it’s only in your head, it’s always fuzzy. Start off by writing down exactly what you believe is the finish line of your dream project. The more specific and clear you are, the better.
Then chunk it down into quarters, months and weeks.
3) Do you know how to measure your progress, the right way?
In order for Google Maps to tell you your best route, it needs to locate exactly where you are right now.
The problem is most of our clients are continuously distorting where they are right now by judging it. When you ask them how they are doing in relation to their dream, they end up sharing how they are feeling in that moment about the dream.
I often find that no matter how much success some of my clients have, they are perpetually dissatisfied with their progress. The problem here is not that they haven’t actually made progress. It’s how they are measuring it.
The only way to measure your progress the right way is to Always Measure Backwards.
Legendary entrepreneur coach, Dan Sullivan recommends asking these 3 questions to get an objective snapshot of your progress.
- Where am I right now?
- What are my big wins from the last 90 days?
- What are my desired wins for the next 90 days?
Think of this as your own quarterly board meeting with yourself. If you can do this practice even more regularly such as every week or even every day, you will experience incredible momentum in the pursuit of your dreams.
