your approach to perseverance shapes an odyssey one way or another
Way back in 1977, people across the world and of all ages sat in cinema seats with eyes bulging like eggs as huge yellow writing scrolled into the distance and what would become one of the most famous music scores of all time, thundered through the auditorium. As the heroics of Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and Princess Leia laid down the blueprint for every adventure film to follow, an important message amongst others revealed itself. To be a hero of any sex or gender, consistency in the basics of boldness is a must while becoming the lead in your own life means a way of thinking, that takes effort.
It’s a journey by any stretch while in defining the daring, you’re looking at attributes that can be turned in any direction, whether immediate, long-term or positive or negative. So, it’s inherently neutral as a process, too, and when we apply it to a personal growth that isn’t based on belittling others, we’re able to build a sense of accomplishment through our humility as well as our objectives, which is a value judgement in itself. Of equal importance, though, are the questions we meet and the answers we give, when life comes knocking at the door. Things like: what do you want from it all? Who do you really want to be? How are you going to make it happen?
The last question is the ‘engine’ question, so to speak, where it demands more than a cognitive response in asking you to form a plan. Meanwhile, projecting into the unknown isn’t one of our strengths as the pandemic taught us only too well. So, in the face of a personal challenge such as, what exactly is your strategy? Perhaps, the first port of call is to break down the idea of change while leaning on the old adage of ‘practise makes perfect.’ It feels like the right way in but beyond that, looking at why takes us into something called Bayesian thinking.
‘One of the most important conceptual developments of the past few decades is the realisation that belief comes in degrees. We don’t just believe something or not: much of our thinking and decision-making is driven by varying levels of confidence. These confidence levels can be measured in probabilities, on a scale from zero to 100 per cent.’
Michael G. Titelbaum, Psyche magazine
So, it’s all about probability as it helps us to understand the relationship between what we already know and the endless stream of information, flooding our minds. More specifically, it lets us compare life with our schemas which are the templates or models formed about the world, from infancy onwards. So, if, for example, you see a toddler pointing at a cat while calling it a dog: you’re watching a schematic model, prior to adjustment. For this to work, of course, the first animal ever seen with four legs and a tail had to be given the correct name by a sibling or adult, allowing anything with four legs and a tail afterwards to fall into the same category. When the child later learns that, in fact, it’s called a cat: a new schema emerges in which things with four legs and a tail have more than one name.
As adults and with less passivity, Bayesian reasoning feeds the status quo or the updates in our thinking, by testing new perceptions against the old and with necessary degrees of reckoning.
So, how does this relate to consistency?
Well, when we look at what it takes to sustain effort, the most striking thing is probably motivation because that drive to pursue something hinges on what we already know about our skills base and previous results. So, when our self-talk tells us that it’s possible one moment and improbable the next, we may need a Bayesian assessment to help us push through with degrees of probability that are, in fact, critical. “I can do this!” vs “It’ll never happen,” is the fog in our coherence, and it’s only when we cut through with the will to succeed and perceived percentages in an outcome that are detailed or on-the-fly estimates, that we’re able to sit down with reality. It means, maybe an Excel spreadsheet or a simple summary of past efforts, directs your consistency and ongoing reaction to it.
‘When you look at people who are successful, you will find that they aren’t [just] the people who are motivated, but [the people who] have consistency in their motivation.’
Arsene Wenger, former Arsenal manager
It’s all to play for as you merge your mistakes and failures into a situational appraisal that pushes you towards a junction, sign-posted ‘Give Up’ and ‘Keep Going.’ In fact, whether it’s losing weight or learning a musical instrument or how to drive a car or studying for a qualification, the nature of consistency is a mindset. It’s a habit formed over years that the real world may interfere with from time-to-time and in one way or another but it’s one worth retaining, at all costs. For many people, though, the steadfastness leading to success is fuelled by a reward system that’s sourced internally or externally, or intrinsically and extrinsically. In simple terms, it’s the difference between chasing a dream because you enjoy the participation and process or doing it otherwise for socially-rewarding reasons, like money and sexual success.
These inbound and outbound categories also reflect the subjective nature of consistency, where what drives you may be anaethma to others and vice versa. This makes trying to help people through your own life story fairly difficult but then there are objective steps like habit-formation, changing self-talk and, of course, measurable outcomes. Meanwhile, the way that we’re wired as people pushes us to search for balance and imbalance in our ideas and perceptions, that then allows us to settle with a comfortable if not always accurate view of ourselves. Ironically, this consistency theory may help to explain why and how we rewrite our narratives as we slide into inconsistency, with cognitive dissonance in tow.
So, if, for instance, you pressed pause on your life right now, just to ask:
How consistent, am I?
What’s your answer and how truthful would it be? As with everything else in psychology, it’s a big topic unjustly served in a short article but the substance is there, in its form and function.
‘The key is consistency. Do your ab exercises at least three-times-a-week or even, a few minutes a day.’
Denise Austin, Fitness coach, author and columnist
Whatever it is that you’re trying to achieve in life, perhaps subscribe to the idea of your work or effort being its own reward. Coined by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in a Sherlock Holmes novel, it tells a story in a just a few words while typifying the fundamentals of consistency. Obviously, outcomes are a part of that narrative, too, but in terms of getting there:
‘A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.’
Lao Tzu, ancient Chinese philosopher
Clearly, the lead role in your own life and a consistency in those steps are the things that really matter.
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Images:
Guitar student, by Pavel Danilyuk, Pexels – Main Image
Consistent Effort, by Gustavo Fring, Pexels
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