The Con of Consistency
Sometimes I wonder if consistency is a trap we fall into without even knowing it’s there.
The idea of doing something consistently does lead to greater prowess over time, but what if the thing you’re being consistent with isn’t worth it?
I publish here every day. The idea was to build a consistent writing habit. But I often batch these blog posts so there are stretches of days where I don’t blog at all. I publish consistently, but blog sporadically. Maybe I’m doing things backwards. Maybe I should be blogging daily, but publishing sporadically. Or, better still, writing daily, but publishing weekly.
But now I’ve got a streak going. I keep that streak alive by publishing shorter posts every day. Is it the right streak though? Should the streak be longer blog posts weekly? Have I fallen into a trap of consistency for the sake of just being consistent?
As with anything, taking a step back to assess this is a good call. I’m not going to stop the streak today — obviously based on the fact you’re reading this post. But I might stop it out of nowhere, without reaching a milestone date of any sort, if I find that the consistency of this action is the wrong thing to be consistent about.
There are definitely things that I’m being consistent with that have a domino effect. Making my breakfast shake the night before, flossing my teeth nightly, keeping a daily journal — all of these things stretch beyond just keeping a streak alive. They will benefit me today and tomorrow.
I’m not entirely sure posting daily here does that.
So if one day you find that the daily blog posts have seemingly stopped without warning, consider this the warning. There can be a con to consistency. Ultimately, you need to figure out it’s a long time, a short time, or not really a con at all.
