| Achiveing
Consistency In Your Life And Career
By Daniel Theyagu
So now you’ve finally got the job you’ve
always wanted. Or you’ve got the academic
qualification you’ve worked so hard for. Or you’ve
got the promotion that you’ve
targeted for.
Now what?
Becoming successful and achieving your dream is hard
work. What is harder is your
ability to maintain that same level of success that
you’ve worked so hard to achieve.
To do this you need to achieve a sense of consistency
in what you are doing and stay
tune to the rapidly changing environment.
There are many people who have achieved success only
to lose it as they did not have
the perseverance power to maintain consistency. In the
manufacturing sector, you will
find that the key task of the manufacturer is to maintain
consistency in the product
that they are manufacturing. This is important if they
want to ensure customer loyalty
and continued business. Likewise, to remain successful
in your life, your career and
everything else that you do try to remain consistent
in what you are doing. When you
achieve a sense of consistency in your life you will
realise that you can always be on
top of things and able to strive even when uncertainty
strikes you.
There are several ways you can achieve this.
1. Write down your goals and aspiration
This may seem the simplest thing to do. People talk
about it but only a few engage in
it. If you want something badly you could start by writing
it down. This will
internalize your goals and aspiration and creates a
desire in you to achieve it.
Another reason is that when you write down your goals
and aspirations you ensure
that you do not forget why or how to get what you want.
This process also engages
you in self-reflection and self-analysis thus creating
a sense of self-awareness of what
you are doing and perhaps even why you are doing it.
2. Set a Clear Vision
Goal setting is easy. Having a clear vision is challenging!
A clear vision will serve as
a roadmap of what you’ve achieved and how you
are performing. Once you become
successful, there will be new challenges that will confront
you. You need to be clear
as to what you always wanted and to take the necessary
steps to maintain this. Setting
a clear vision is like wearing the right spectacles
with the appropriate degree so that
things appear to you sharp and focus.
When you have a clear vision you have plan on what
you want to do and that will
guide you forward. Norman Vincent Peale said: “Plan
your work for today and
everyday, then work your plan.”
3. Keep a Positive Mindset
Life is never certain. There is a saying: “When
the going gets tough, the tough gets
going”. What makes you stand out in the crowd
is your ability to maintain or exceed
your level of consistency. A positive mindset will make
you tenacious. You will not
be easily swayed by public opinion or what others are
saying about you. When you
remain tenacious you take charge of yourself and not
easily fall prey to challenging
situations that might confront you.
Keeping a positive mindset also will allow you to
remain motivated. However if you
want to be consistent in your life you also need inspiration.
This will give you a
reason to move forward in your life. Thomas Leonard
puts this succinctly:
“Motivation is an external, temporary high
that pushes you forward. Inspiration is a
sustainable internal glow which pulls you forward.”
4. Stay Relevant
Charles F. Kettering said: “The world hates
change, yet it is the only thing that has
brought progress”. This statement is indeed profound
as people generally fear
change. Such a fear is normal. What is not is when the
fear of change traps you in
your own comfort zone such that you are unable to keep
up with the success you’ve
acquired. Note that change is perhaps the only constant
that you’ve in your life. It is
only when you embrace change in your life that you can
stay relevant and ensure a
sense of continued success that is measurable and consistent.
Learn to let go of obsolete ideas or ways of thinking
that you have. When the
typewriter was invented it was considered a marvellous
invention. Each model of the
typewriter was made more efficient than the previous
one. However, when the word
processor started to appear on the scene, many of the
typewriter manufacturers did not
see the need for change. Soon the personal computers
evolved and that became
another nail in the coffin for the typewriter makers,
many of whom had to close down
their operation. This is analogous to the need to stay
relevant so that you can be
consistently successful in your life.
Ultimately remember that nothing in life is permanent.
Success most of all is really a
failure if you are unable to maintain it. Dennis Waitley
has a profound quote that
captures the very essence of how you can be consistent
in your life. “You must look
within for value, but must look beyond for perspective.”
About the author:
Daniel Theyagu is a keynote speaker and seminar leader
for conferences and training
programmes. He runs Lateral Solutions Consultancy which
designs and conducts
competency-based training for organizations He is also
an adjunct lecturer with
Management Development Institute of Singapore (MDIS)
.
For seminars and workshop enquiries:
E-mail: dtheyagu@singnet.com.sg; website: www.thinklaterally.com.
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Achieving consistency in life