Patriots Coach Bill Belichick said, "It's not all about talent. It's about dependability, consistency, and being able to improve. If you work hard and you're coachable, and you understand what you need to do, you can improve."
Great quote. There's that word. Consistency. Is there a more challenging trait then consistency?
I ask because we admit to falling into the category of 80%-ers. Let us explain.
In their brand new book, The Consistency Chain for Network Marketing, author George Campbell and Jim Packard argue that there are two groups of people. The 20%-ers that are able to maintain consistent performance and then the rest of us. We are the 80%-ers.
Jim is a 20%-er, your typical super-achiever. George on the other hand, is an 80%-er who says he is capable of an occasional hard sprint: "I can sprint. But the second that I stop, I drop. I fall right back to my inconsistent 80% ways with the same 80% results."
These percentages ring true to us because we've known Jim and George for well over a decade. (Jim is such a 20%-er it's almost ridiculous. Like George, we've struggled with consistency.) It's why we found their book so fascinating and became their publishers.
Also, over the years we've watched people implement 'go for no' to fantastic success but far too often, for only a short time. Inconsistently. If this is you, you're not alone. In fact, maybe you will feel comforted by this passage from the book:
One thing all professional network marketers can agree on is that this business model is NOT a “Get Rich Quick” scheme. It can take months and years of consistent effort to build a vibrant and growing business. And during that journey, the signs of progress can be difficult if not impossible to see. The consistency-challenged 80% need a measurement system that allows them to feel pleasure in the immediate win and
still make progress toward a distant reward.
We live in a competitive and comparative world. It is easy to look at high achievers and feel shame, to feel less than. Maybe you haven’t performed at a level that you know you’re capable of doing. That doesn’t mean that there is something wrong with you.
You’re not broken. You’ve simply been handed the wrong owner’s manual. It’s like trying to operate the dishwasher with the instructions for the blender. No matter how many times you press “Puree,” the dishes don’t get clean. And what is our natural reaction to this failure? Do we question the owner’s manual? No. We kick the dishwasher.
Not anymore.
Consistency is the baseline skill that unleashes all the others. Most people (like, 80%) struggle to keep up any kind of consistent effort. If you’ve had a life-long challenge with consistency, their book will help you understand why. More importantly, you can change. And if you’re a leader (and maybe a 20%-er) you can learn how to support that change in others on your team.
