This week, I want to dive into a topic I’ve been struggling with my whole adult life:
Staying consistent.
I was first introduced to this topic when I read Atomic Habits by James Clear, where he explains how if you were to get one percent better every day, you would be 37x better in a year.
I want to couple this thought with an idea from another book I read called Slow Productivity by Cal Newport. One of the rules he outlines in the book is to do fewer things.
It seems that all my life, I’ve bounced around from hobby to hobby, skill to skill, habit to habit without mastering any of them. When it got difficult, I jumped to a more exciting and newer alternative, only to repeat the process when that got old.
But to be great at anything, you have to do that thing again and again and again over a long period of time.
The ideas from the two books I mentioned combine to bring this reality to light: You get better by being consistent over a long period of time, and to make it easier to stay consistent, you should focus on the few things that matter the most.
Here are two examples from my life:
Learning Spanish
I’ve always wanted to learn Spanish, and I know enough to get by, but I’m far from being fluent. It’s something that I tell myself every month or so when it crosses my mind, but I’ve yet to take true, consistent action on it. Maybe you have a goal or aspiration in which you can relate.
Prayer
Even more important, I’m called to be diligent in prayer. And sometimes this is true, but at other times, I get lazy. Since I’m called to “pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests (Eph 6:18),” that is what I should be doing without excuse. The more I pray, the more my relationship with God grows.
My goal this week is to crack down on the things that are taking up my time and energy and instead focus on the few things that matter most to me. To become fluent in Spanish, I must consistently set up meaningful time to learn and practice. To grow in my prayer life, I must consistently pray.
It seems so self-explanatory, yet these are often the truths that evade us the most.
If you haven’t yet, consider checking out my website meant to clearly explain the gospel for those curious about or interested in the Christain faith
I hope you enjoyed this week’s message.
Keep making progress. Change for the better. Live the Hemingway
God bless,
Trevor
p.s. 1 Thessalonians 1:10