It's a new year and though I have not actually heard anyone’s resolutions for the new year, I can imagine a few of those out there are focusing on creating new habits or breaking old ones so that is where I would like to start . There is a phrase or statistic I’ve heard that goes something like - do something consistent for 28 or so days for it to become a habit. I’ve found this to be pretty good advice. When I have wanted to change a behavior, consistently working on it for about a month has yielded some positive results. Results that last long beyond the thirty-day mark. However, I believe beyond the practice & repetition over those thirtyish days, what really leads to building life-long habits starts with consistency.

I believe there is more value in doing something consistent than timeboxing and repetition, though there is still some value there I believe what really drives home the habit is in the consistency. For me the consistency part revolves around how to fit the habit into my regular routine; which means it must be frictionless, effortless, or as I say, the path of least resistance. Or, I must specifically allocate the time. I've found that merely trying to do something in a month often fails to result in a new habit if I forgo or excuse or make exceptions or even feel like I'm forcing myself. In the end, a month later, yeah, it’s been a month, yes there was some repetition, but if I hadn't figured out how to work it easily into my daily activity, I often failed at making a change.

On the flip side, I have been able to see much better success more often, and even sooner than thirty days by developing a path of least resistance toward my goal, working it into my daily routine, and remaining consistent. So why am I sharing all this? Well I that it sets the tone for something I've seen more and more in recent years as everyone is ‘starting their own business’ and ‘building passive income’. Somewhere among that Instagram or Facebook post about how they are so proud they took the risk or whatever and a nod to the #hustle or #grind.

I don't mean to sound like the ‘get off my lawn' or 'back in my day’ guy but I really question what sort of grind, hustle, or work ethic these people have finally discovered. To me, it looks like someone took 5 minutes to grab a photo and craft a decent size post with hashtags so they could feel like they were being ‘productive’ and share it with everyone. And I could rip hard to these folks but I'll save that fora dedicated post - what I will talk about is what they are lacking - and that's consistency.

You can't ‘grind’ part time - nah you can, and that’s okay but hats not the message these folks are sending. I'm talking about the ones that are ‘too busy’ or in their posts they've been working ‘so hard'. Someone should let these people know that ‘working hard’ and being so busy only leads to stress and a heart attack. No one whom I have met tells me that their level of success came from being as busy as they possibly could be, and they certainly don’t try and be ‘busy’ for the sake of it now. It's just another one of the ideals that has popped up along with every self-employed wannabe of this generation -> they all have to be ‘busy’ doing something.

There is a saying I grew up with that goes ‘don't confuse activity with progress’. I think the perception of a lifestyle full of activity for some of these fork has led to this belief that they have to ‘be busy’ doing something but I would bet much of their time really isn't spent being productive - nor consistent.

And this brings me around to my second point - consistency. It’s easy to keep busy doing nothing productive. It's easy to make some posts about the hustle and grind. It's easy to talk about whatever it is you think you are doing - but as they say, ‘talk is cheap'. The thing is you don't have to be super busy - you just have to be consistent. If it feels tough, find a way to make it easier – or a way that will keep you doing it without you feeling like its keeping you busy. There is always going to be something which tempts you away from whatever activity or behavior you are trying to obtain. If you are constantly fighting yourself to maintain that behavior, you will eventually lose. And you will lose when it matters. That’s how life works.

One other thing I want to caution against when it comes to the #grind is complacency or feeling like ‘you’re in a good place’. Anyone seen that TV show? SPOILER – I hear it turns out to be hell. How fitting. You stress yourself out, you work hard, you fight & push yourself and lo and behold you make it. Feels good, right? Now you can let off the gas, relax – feels better. Ten years later, you wake up and wonder what the heck happened and where the decade went. This is what happens when you don't figure out how to turn these habits and behaviors into a lifestyle. Get them into your daily routine when you aren't thinking of then, aren’t posting about them – don’t think twice. You don't fight them because they are the easiest path. And when push comes to shove, the cards are stacked, and it’s time to deliver, to you it’s just another day.

Truth is the lifestyle isn’t glamorous, you're not ‘too busy’ - you learn to be efficient; you find time. You execute reliably & consistently. You maximize your interactions and situations. You delegate. You negotiate. And you do it all effortlessly. #hustle #grind #habits