Move the Story Forward

Living with total commitment to move the story forward consistently keeps me on track. Progress most days. It motivates me. Life is full of unwieldy-but-golden opportunities and challenges that take months, years, decades, or a lifetime to complete. It seems consistently plowing forward, no matter the weather, is the best approach. Because this strategy has been such a game-changer for me, I want to share the wealth with you.

Better Results

I’ve been using this consistent approach at home, work, with finances, health, my blog, and my book. My results are not perfect, but they’re satisfyingly good and much better than my younger years when I was more inconsistent. I still have a loooong way to go to accomplish everything I want to accomplish in life. There are so many things to figure out and improve. But I feel a great sense of agency and possibility. Consistency creates order, courage, progress, and trust, in this chaotic world we live in. Consistency is empowering.

We can’t control everything. There are no guarantees. Not even close. But there are many areas in life in which consistency pays off. It’s a lifelong effort to make the best of what we’ve got.

I’ve developed this ideal of consistency inspired in part by a couple authors.

20 Mile March

In the business book, “Great by Choice”, Jim Collins and Morten T. Hansen introduce the idea of the “20 Mile March”. They explain the benefit of choosing worthy goals, then pushing forward with consistency, even in extremely unfavorable conditions. With a sustained approach, marching a figurative 20 miles per day, results pile up day after day, adding up to significant progress, and in many cases, accomplishment of the goal. The authors warn against over-reaching, for example marching 80 miles in one day, because you risk exhausting your energy and resources needed for sustained effort in the days and weeks to follow. It’s important to pace yourself and protect yourself. Sometimes less is more. Consistency at a reasonable, healthy pace is truly the goal.

SMaC Recipe

Also in “Great by Choice”, Collins and Hansen present the concept of the “SMaC Recipe”, which stands for “Systematic, Methodical, and Consistent”. It’s basically a carefully chosen, ironclad-yet-amendable constitution, or a set of operating principles, meant to keep progress consistent according to your core beliefs. It’s a way to ensure ideals get lived, using systems, routines, and habits. This way top priorities get tended to day by day, bit by bit, so results can get accomplished. Read more about “Great by Choice” in the book review I wrote awhile back.

Exciting Possibility

I love these concepts of moving the story forward consistently. They’re close to my heart, at the front of my mind, and deep in my subconscious. They make great sense to me. They inspire me to continue my work to improve myself and the world around me in ways that matter. I have a lifetime of figuring things out and consistent-but-hearty effort in my present and future. I look forward to it. Hopefully something in this article speaks to you and sparks in you a powerful sense of personal agency and exciting possibility in your own life.