I read a quote recently that struck a chord – “What is mastery? At the heart of it, mastery is practice. Mastery is staying on the path.” (From the book, Mastery by Robert Greene)

Staying on the path. What does that really mean? To me, it means continuing to try even when you don’t see results straight away, or even for a very long time. I think society in general tends to be too results-orientated, and I am definitely guilty of caving in to those same pressures too, and always expecting instant results. I will get angry or frustrated if I don’t get things right the first few times I do something and of course feel the urge to quit.

What does consistency mean in practical terms, aside from ‘just don’t give up’. At its most basic level, it means forming habits – habits that are productive and ideally result in a marginal improvement from the last time you performed that habit (and ideally not a habit of regularly binging a Netflix season in one day). I have formed the habit of studying for 1-2 hours every evening after work for my Masters degree, an activity that was very difficult and tiring at first to maintain for the first few weeks, but quickly became something I now do without even thinking or questioning it. Just reflecting and looking back over the past 10 months, I have learnt so much and acquired so many new skills through small steps over an extended period of time. I knew next to nothing about software engineering, programming or computation – and I am still no expert, but I know a lot more than what I did at the start which is the main thing.

Of course it is important to note that you should probably not stay consistent in things that aren’t working for you, or keeping your routines too rigid and inflexible. It means finding what works for you and building it into your life in a manageable way. Another example I can give is my morning routine – I started a 2 week yoga challenge at the start of 2021, which meant getting up a bit earlier to do 25 minutes of stretching every morning before work. I enjoyed it so much that I decided to carry this on after the challenge, and I now have a formed a habit of getting up earlier to practice yoga before work- even if I really don’t feel like it, I remind myself of the all of the benefits and push through. And because of the consistency I have kept, I am seeing improvements in my flexibility and strength. Of course I don’t do this every single morning (usually 5 days a week), carving in some time for rest is a must to ensure you don’t burn out and completely lose momentum.

So whatever the goal you are working towards- ask yourself, what are the consistent and sustainable habits that I am going to form in order to reach this goal… and then just start! Not to worry if you don’t always stick to them, or if things change. Just keeping consistency in your intentions will keep you on the path.