Why Consistency Matters.

Due to our constant media intake, from movies to news to social media, we are inundated daily with highly visible, highly successful people. Are these people more intelligent, talented, or better than we are? Or was their success due to mystical knowledge or plain old luck? Although none of those things hurt, it turns out the most significant indicator of success is something far less exciting. It turns out that it’s all about how consistent we are.

Have you seen the quote: "Hard Work Beats Talent When Talent Doesn't Work Hard.” This short piece of wisdom by Tim Notke speaks to our topic. Broken down into its most essential parts, consistency is the convergence of time and action. Achieving consistency relies on creating and maintaining a schedule for a particular activity or behavior, be it working out, making sales calls, learning a language, or even our bedtime, and then abiding by that schedule.

If you think back on most things you have accomplished in your life, did you see success in one day, or was it after many days, months, and sometimes years? Likely the latter. And why is that? In the interview, "Why Consistency Matters in Relationships and Leadership,” Simon Sinek points out that when you try to determine the one thing that pushed you over the edge to success, it can often be impossible to pinpoint. Instead, the daily practice, the monotonous, boring stuff accumulates and combines to create success.

If you make one call, you might get a sale, but your odds increase dramatically if you make 100 calls. If you lift weights one day, you will see no change in your physiology. You will see a difference if you lift weights every week for six months. It comes down to doing the same thing repeatedly.

How do you know if that same thing is the right thing? Consistency is also about measurement. Eric Holtzclaw of Inc., Magazine says that when he begins a new initiative or process, he gives it at least six months before deciding if it is a success or failure.

Measurement gives us a buffer between outcomes and expectations. Often, we begin a new program or process and expect to see results after our first or second effort. When we do not, we give it up, believing there must be a flaw in the plan or in the execution of it, when in fact, we did not give it enough time to work.

Rebecca Patterson of Forbes Magazine sums it up nicely, “It’s an absolute fact that if you can learn to do something consistently, you will discover much greater strengths and opportunities within yourself than you could ever imagine.”

Small, targeted behaviors, measurement, and patience are essential when building consistency in your work or business life. What are your best examples of how consistency has worked for you, or where can you begin to build consistency to create the success you are looking for?

https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2020/11/02/the-power-of-consistency/?sh=196b7d3028c7

https://www.contractormag.com/management/business-coach/article/20879869/the-power-of-consistency-by-weldon-long-get-your-mind-right

https://www.inc.com/eric-v-holtzclaw/consistency-power-success-rules.html

Simon Sinek - Why Consistency Matters in Relationships and Leadership: https://youtu.be/njeAb4CLQeI

3 Steps to Be Successful with Your Accountant

3 Steps to Be Successful with Your Accountant

Wouldn’t it be nice if you had a successful relationship guide? Here you go! Here are three ways to be more successful with your accountant, get your money’s worth, and meet your accounting needs!

Be on the same wavelength.

Do you know what your goals are? Is it to buy a house in the next year, retire in 5 or pay down your tax debt? What are you trying to accomplish? Or are you just getting your taxes prepared?

Accountants can help with all that and more, but they need to be clear about what you are trying to do. Come with goals, and they can get them sorted out!

Tell them...everything.

Sometimes people are unsure what documents they should bring and what information they should share. Bring everything you might think is essential or related and tell your accountant about everything to do with the money situation that brought you to their office.

Know the limitations of the relationship.

Communicating your goals and sharing vital information is critical to having a successful relationship with your accountant; however, so is understanding the limitations of the relationship.

An accountant’s job is not to make sure you don’t pay taxes. Instead, it is their job to help you pay the least amount of tax required. Healthy, profitable businesses will pay some taxes.

Accountants help guide you and provide up-to-date information about financial and tax laws. They know their job well and are ready to help you; help yourself!

Choose Constant Improvement

As a business owner, I have found that one way to be successful is to focus on constant improvement. If that sounds impossible, you may be thinking at too large of a scale. Think small with me for a moment.

What if that minor improvement is:

· Reading an article a week about your industry or product?

· Making one call a day to a prospective client?

· Finding all your receipts and then finding one place to keep all of them?

· Gathering all the sticky notes on your desk (pile) and reading them, tossing the ones that are no longer relevant?

Do you get the picture? Often we think of improvement only in terms of big-ticket items like increasing our profit margins by an impressive percent or closing the deal with a client we have been talking to for a while. Improvement is more about the small, seemingly insignificant actions and tasks we complete daily.

The big, sustainable wins we are looking for are always stacked on top of these ordinary things.

“Don’t be afraid to give your best to what are seemingly small jobs. Every time you conquer one, it makes you much stronger. If you do the little jobs well, the big ones will tend to take care of themselves.” -Dale Carnegie.

What do you think? Will you take a moment to write down four small things you can do to improve your business today and choose constant improvement?