Is Consistency worth it?
I considered three alternative titles for this, but I’m still unsure which one best captures my ideas. Recently, I have given a lot of thought to the silent season, consistency, and luck. I’ve been wondering how these three concepts interact and whether consistency can ever produce or finally lead to luck. I’ve read quotes that claim that opportunity meets hard effort and preparation to create luck. While I’m typing this, the first thing that pops into my thoughts is, “Nonsense,” lmao. This isn’t because I don’t believe in hard work or preparation; rather, it’s because when I think of people who are born extremely wealthy or lottery winners, I start to wonder what kind of preparation or hard effort they put in to be where they are.
I have always taken pride in being someone who is highly consistent. On good days or bad, I would always endeavour to do what I said I would do and show up. If I put something on my Todo list on a certain day and don’t get to it, I always beat myself up. Typically, I don’t require outside pressure to accomplish goals. Just carrying out my commitments brings me joy and satisfaction. Regardless of how I feel or what I feel, doing what I have to do makes me incredibly happy. But I’ve been thinking a lot about consistency and hard work lately in this stage of my life. I have questioned the possibility of being consistent in the incorrect thing. What if you are unsure of the appropriate course of action? Does perseverance finally result in success? What are the advantages of perseverance? I have given these and other inquiries concerning consistency a lot of thought, and during that process, I have thought about concepts like luck and silent/practice seasons. I still firmly believe in the value of consistency since, in my opinion, it develops character, fosters tenacity and hard work, and may even set you up for success. However, I wonder if consistency is a catalyst for chance or good fortune.
Anyone can get lucky? Not everyone can persevere.
What exactly is luck? According to Wikipedia, which is my favourite, luck is defined as something that happens to a person without their consent. This term perfectly suits my present thinking, and I don’t believe it to be biased. This is good for me since it demonstrates that you can’t make luck happen by working hard or being consistent. The phrase “you generate your luck” has also been used, in my experience. Again, in my opinion, Nonsense; I would prefer you to say that you make the most of your good fortune. Although we strive to make luck seem as though the person was directly responsible for the outcome, luck is more concerned with occurrences than with specific people. Humans’ desire for control causes us to often identify ourselves with luck, yet in reality, our participation in luck is largely passive. We don’t know when it will occur, who it will affect, or what the incidence will be. How do we believe or think that we make our own luck? We also do this because, in our minds, luck is divided into good luck and bad luck, and we frequently assume that good luck is something we produce while bad luck happens without our consent. When we start to believe that we make our own luck, we start to tie our consistency to bringing us greater luck and start putting pressure on ourselves. But you must understand that consistency and luck both operate separately. Luck is an outside job, consistency is an internal job. Although it may not be possible for you to create your own lucky circumstances, consistency can help you maintain them. Character development, as opposed to luck, is a benefit of consistency. One idea or query that has persisted in my mind while I’ve been writing this is that people who have developed consistency seem to be more susceptible to the compounding effects of luck. Why does this matter? Let’s examine two recent lottery winners as examples. While the other just “falls into the money” without any kind of plan, one person has invested time in developing financial discipline and expanding their business. It’s possible that one individual uses their money wisely and opens up additional options for themselves, while the other person simply ends up wasting their money. Once more, it’s possible that I’m just mixing up luck with opportunity, but the thesis is still the same: Luck is luck; you have no control over when or how it happens and it just happens.
I believe the root of my frustration has always been my unrealistic expectations of receiving a reward for my perseverance. I had assumed the universe would reward me for maintaining my consistency throughout time, but perhaps that isn’t the case. Perhaps the benefit of consistency is that it improves you. While consistency may raise your chances of luck, it cannot ensure it. This is what I sometimes battle with because, in all honesty, I want my perseverance to someday pay off, but I believe my definition of what the result could look like is distorted, making it difficult for me to understand how it will benefit me. Building trust through consistency has enabled me to earn the belief of others that I will act as I promise to do so. Sincerely, consistency has kept me sane during this trying time when so much is up in the air. My trust in my abilities to do the task and consistently show up has grown as a result of my commitment to consistency. My odds of getting lucky are increased because consistency does the inner work for me. I keep telling myself that while anyone can be fortunate, not everyone can persevere.
Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might
Luck does not validate the hard work of men, luck comes to the lowly and poorly talented. Luck is not a respecter of person or hard work or circumstance, but perseverance rewards, it keeps you grounded and focused despite whether luck comes or not. You get to keep going when others quit, you push through by building the blocks daily with fortitude, and resilience and if/when luck finds you, it meets that with you and a combination of these makes you unstoppable. I know I debated the title of this article when I first started it, but now that I’ve written most of it about luck and perseverance, I’m assuming that’s what we’ll call it. A continuation of this would be to discuss the Silent/Practice seasons.
