HERBISM #106 – Great Leaders Promote Consistency Over Intensity

What does brushing your teeth do for you?

Without asking a follow-up question, “how often do you brush your teeth?,” it’s hard to provide a proper answer.

If your response to the follow-up question is “once every few months” then I would suggest brushing your teeth does very little, no matter of how intensely you brush, except maybe remove some of what has accumulated and a hint of fresher breath.

If your response to the second question is “twice daily, 365 days a year” then I would suggest brushing your teeth does a lot, not only keeping your teeth clean and providing fresher breath year-round, but also promoting better tooth and gum health, minimizing cavities, and significantly increasing the life of your teeth.

Doing something once, or sporadically, regardless of the intensity, is rarely as effective as doing something less intensely, but regularly, repeatedly, and consistently.

Simon Sinek does a good job of highlighting this reality in the following short video:

So simple and profound, yet such a struggle for most people.

From what I have learned from research, consistency is just not a part of our human nature—at least not for most people. Some personalities, those high in compliance, find consistency much easier, but the rest of us find it a struggle. Why?

It seems that other desires compete for limited resources, which include: time, money, energy, etc. For example, the rush of endorphins from eating sweets competes with our desire to lose or maintain our weight, going out with friends late into the evening competes with our need for sleep, hitting the snooze button competes with our morning exercise routine…and so on. Sound familiar?

Research also shows that while consistency is hard to achieve it is easier to sustain and more effective than the start/stop lives we typically live.

The condensed version of the research suggests that will power is a depleting resource in our brains. Every time we start a new routine it takes will power to overcome inertia and the other competing interests and desires. Habits, on the other hand, do not utilize will power.

That is why good habits are so powerful and why lifestyle changes produce better results than intense diets, exercise programs, or binge anything.

The auto industry seems to thrive on intensity: getting each month off to a fast start, pushing for a strong finish, contests, incentives, spiffs, hype-filled sales meetings, meetings only to deal with issues, etc. all only elicit temporary bursts of effort.

That is why great leaders promote consistency, by instilling daily disciplines, rather than relying on periodic intensity.

So what can you do to become more consistent and reap the benefits of consistency? The intentionality model has the answer: