The Consistency Struggle
This is the 9th article I’ve written on Medium in 9 weeks. I force myself to do it every week because I struggle with consistency across everything I do. Writing seemed to be the lowest barrier to entry and I could just word vomit on the page. I have this cognitive dissonance where I know I want to build an audience but my brain is so sporadic that I have to force myself to focus on staying consistent enough to build that audience. How do you build a relationship with people on the internet when I’m not even that good at building relationship in real life. My introversion is showing.
I recently read Susan Cain’s book Quiet and it explains a lot of things about introverts, but my take-away is that we’re all mailable to a point. We’re like a rubberband, we can be stretched but only to a certain point.
I can be very personable and I’ve learned how to have a conversation. I used to be terrified of speaking on the phone because I never knew what to say or how to end the conversation. Same thing face-to-face. Sometimes that still happens. It can all be worked on and stretched.
I can be situationally extroverted but I don’t seek it out. The extrovert seeks stimulation but can force themselves to be recluse when needed. For example, they need to study all week but need a release on the weekend at a kegger. In contrast, introverts can speak publically all week long but need watch paint dry on the weekend. I believe this, it makes sense. Not a lot of things in the world is binary, except binary of course.
This article is basically word vomit and just something that was on my mind. I feel almost embarrassed to even share it publicly but here we are.
Will writing these articles help me with consistency? Help form the habit of creating something every week that could translate into bigger and better things? Fuck if I know, but it’s about putting in the time. Publish enough bad articles a good one my eek out from the depths of my brain.
I’ve been watching the Spirited Man by Van Neistat. The Neistat’s are interesting people and I think Tom Sachs had some serious influence on them in the most positive way possible. Not only that, they seem to have a super power of never giving up no matter what.
In a recently interview with Van Neistat, he seemed to have this epiphany where things take 10 years to really come to fruition, which is really interesting because I have anecdotal evidence of this.
The Evidence of Consistency Working
My wife started a photography business on a whim back in 2008. She was in school for Micro & Molecular Biology and needed to get a job. She enjoyed photography so she figured she get a job Target’s portrait studio. She loved it and learned the basics. Entrepreneurship is her blood so of course she decided that she wanted to give this a try. She almost inherently knew what to do but now it seems obvious:
Step 1: Offer a service.
Step 2: Find customers willing to pay for that service.
Step 3: Profit.
A shitton portraits, weddings, advertising, networking, and education later, here we are in 2021 and she’s flourishing as a photographer. I could detail everything she did to lead up to this point but I think the key was NEVER giving up and put in the deliberate practice, never get too comfortable. Try new things within the business.
I have a lot to learn from her and she’s always pushing me. I didn’t come from an family of entrepreneurs, I didn’t even know how to start a business, let alone run one. I’ve been trying to find my place in the entrepreneurship world since 2013. It seems like a long time but it’s only 8 years and I finally feel like I’ve getting somewhere. Getting off the plateau of latent potential as James Clear puts it.
So, if I take a look at my own anecdotal evidence, I’ve been consistent at building skillsets that tie into one another. Seth Godin puts is best,
“Consistency Is the Way Forward Not sameness. Not repetition. Simply work that rhymes. That sounds like you. We make a promise and we keep it.” — Seth Godin, The Practice
I’ve gained enough knowledge and realized I have a lot to say about the things I’m interested in. I’m now pushing myself to publish and see if anyone else cares.
Is there anybody in there? Just nod if you can hear me. Is there anyone home?