CONSISTENCY over Intensity but QUALITY over Quantity

There’s a terrible myth that we’ve been conditioned on. Well really there’s several. 

I’m referring mainly to this idea that, to get anywhere, we have to hustle at 100% intensity 24 hours a day and 7 days a week!

Consistency Over Intensity

That can’t be right. Here’s Firas Zahabi on Joe Rogan talking about the importance of consistency over intensity

The principle is simple. If you train today at 10/10 but are too sore to train for two days, that is an inferior return to training every day at 7/10. 

Don’t forget as well, you’ll find it easier to train, work, create or whatever if you find your daily tasks FUN. 

We need to give ourselves permission to prioritise FUN. If what we are doing feels like PLAY then it will be hard to compete with us or slow us down. 

The Law of Sustainability

I refer to the Law of Sustainability as the rule that something cannot be judged, cannot be considered good or bad, if it is not first sustainable. 

It’s simple really. We first applied it when we were trying to do charitable and nonprofit work in Nepal. People love building shit for poor people – but if they don’t know how to use it, and can’t fund it, what point is there in building it? 

Take the example of David Damberger who discusses two organisations who built taps for fresh drinking water in Malawi, ten years apart, who repeated the same mistake – the locals did not have the skills or financial resources to maintain the breaking pipes. 

The Law of Sustainability relates back to the Law of Personal Sustainability too, which is best established with MVL.

Quality over Quantity

At Sydney Listings, I got into the habit of making a lot of content, in an attempt to pioneer an inbound marketing approach in real estate. I think that too much attention was put into creating volume than quality, which we later started to tweak.

But I don’t regret this at all. Most of us fail to do things with regularity and consistency, and so, I still focus on consistency first and then refinement… I just try to carry out this refinement sooner. 

It’s great to hit the quantity consistently, but not to the point where it impacts quality. 

The Television Network gives us a model

Television networks don’t play back-to-back hits day-in and day-out. They have a staggered approach: the flagship programs get ‘prime-time’ slots – the evening news for example. 

During the day, you’ll be watching reruns of old movies that weren’t even big in their time. Why? They need to fill the content. 

This model might not be overly great or overly bad either. A television network, by giving itself hours to fill every day gives itself a slight problem. 

Streaming services like Netflix by contrast are not posting content once. They feature a library, where the underperforming content is cut over time, to make way for the new and better.

The Takeaway

Consistency is more important than intensity. The marginal gains add up to a whole bigger than the sum of the parts – a 0.7 for 30 days adds up to way more than 21. So, a 7/10 is the minimum you must achieve every day. 

The consistency and frequency is good but not if it compromises quality. What use is there regularly delivering on something that’s value is only 60% or lower? 

Finally, this must all be sustainable. It applies to whatever your creation is- whether you make family dinners or art, or sell your time as a freelancer or consultant. 

What quality are you going to deliver consistently?

Join the Intentional Sharing Movement, where we change the world by sharing things worth sharing. If this piece would ‘open a door’ for someone you know, please share it with them. 

Don’t just read! Discuss today’s idea so we can benefit off your wisdom. Sign up for conversations that matter below so you can contribute to more conversations and ideas.