One of the biggest illusions we have is that every day will be a good one. At the same time, one of our biggest excuses we hide behind is when we state that today is not a good day for us personally. So two questions come to mind: what is a good day and why should any of this affect what we do?
Good days are subjective. We feel like we are having one or not. When exploring a good day more deeply, we fnd that there are two types: an external and an internal one. An external good day is one where an event or two satisfies us. We won the lotto today. My boss surprises me with a raise.
Internal good days are judged more on either accomplishing what you set out to do that day or when nothing goes wrong around you. But are these the only two possibilities? A possible third revolves around how we feel that day. Angry from the day before? Up late last night with little sleep going into our next day? Worried about this or that, your mind constantly wanders? Certainly things like this will lead us to feel we are not having a good day. For there is little energy to confront or complete what is in front of us.
It’s this third possibility which causes us the most problems. We become erratic in our performance because our demeanor and capacity become highly variable. Constantly distracted by things that did not go well the day before. The stress of life pushes us to extremes. Taking away our ability to take care of ourself with good nutrition and proper sleep so that we are physically recharged for the next day.
This is exactly why consistency is important. All of us have many days when we are not at our best. For multiple reasons. To live in the moment or be present in what confronts us today, demands our attention and our entire being without distraction and with energy. Consistency is the muscle that smooths out our uneveness. Making it easier for others to understand, work, and trust us.
Consistency gives us the chance to focus. Forcing the easy excuse of not having a good day out of our mind. Giving us the strength to keep moving forward even when we are not at our best. Consistency also gives us the opportunity to push aside what we can’t control. It overcomes worry by redirecting us to continue working for it knows how powerless we are to easily extinguish our worries. We simply get more done when we are more consistent.
The imagery of the turtle and the hare gives us a wonderful analogy when we associate consistency as an important trait of the turtle in this story. With life presenting us with so many challenges, consistency’s strength is its ability to make most of our days productive. Making it so valuable for us to practice more thoughtfully.