Do you know that "to be consistent" is far better than "to be hardworking"? Oh yes, it is...but that's a story for another day. 
 

Personally, I believe that consistency is the most important attitude towards becoming successful in whatever you do. The main reason being that consistency gives you the ability to make your craft a habit.

 

Right now, I could go on to give you more reasons why consistency is priceless but that's not the purpose of this piece. Rather, my goal is to make you understand that consistency is deeper than we all think.

 

Check out this scenario:

 

On a blissful morning, James was surfing through the Internet just like every other day without any definite purpose when he was struck by a clickbaity video titled "EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT PROGRAMMING".

 

He couldn't help but notice this, so he jumped in and spent the next 4 hours of his day watching this video. While he watched he kept retrospecting on how great it would be if he became a programmer, how much he could be making, the stuff he could create, and so on.

 

Ladies and gentlemen, after a while he acclaimed " I WOULD BECOME A PROGRAMMER". Wow, good for him, right? Well, let's see how that went.

 

He immediately got a lot of videos and kick-started his learning process. It all started with immense joy just like it is normally when you begin to learn new things.

 

Fast forward to two weeks down the line, James is beginning to feel stressed out about the whole programming thing so he decided to go for an indefinite break.

 

Ladies and gentlemen, some two months down the line James still hasn't returned. Okay, let's keep waiting.

 

On this faithful morning, during the fourth month of his indefinite break, James bumped into another video titled "NEVER GIVE UP" which was crafted and structured by our Motivational Brothers. So, he quickly tapped, spending the next ten minutes on a hardcore motivation diet.

 

So, as we all expected, he came out motivated and decided to go back to programming. He started with a high spirit.

 

After about two weeks again, James was fed up but this time, he had a more definite decision which was "I QUIT" and that was the end.

 

Now, forget about the fact that this may be fictional; you have either experienced something very similar to this or you know someone who has.

 

The problem with James was this: He was only after what he could gain but never thought of what it would take.

 

Mind you, there is no feasible way to know what a learning process would be like except you experience it. That means he was actually lacking something else, right?

 

James lacked a WHY

 

Your WHY is what motivates you when the road gets tough.

 

Your WHY is that thing that rekindles your fire anytime you think about it.

 

Your WHY is what gives you clarity.

 

Your WHY is what encourages you when you face challenges.

 

Your WHY is WHY you started.

 

What is your WHY?

This was originally published on Medium