consistency

Schalk
, , , , ,
0

A Decade of Tracking Consistency

I started collecting data for my first Graph of Life towards the end of 2009. Back then, consistency was nowhere near the top of my agenda. I just wanted to understand which aspects of my life had the biggest positive or negative impacts. 

The main findings from almost 10 years of data are as follows (more details can be found here): 

  • Healthy eating and exercise really are as important as everyone says. Healthy eating habits affected my life more than any other factor. 
  • Productivity was not far behind. It was particularly interesting how strongly the number of items I ticked off on my to-do list correlated with the overall quality of my day. 
  • My stress levels and my stuttering problem both had surprisingly small influences on the quality of my day. This was a great relief.
  • I tended to have multi-day or even multi-week good or bad spells. Yesterday is a good predictor of what today will look like. 

The last point is particularly important. Positive or negative streaks have disproportionately large impacts. And these streaks can be controlled through things like diet, exercise and to-do listing.

It certainly took me long enough, but this data finally made me appreciate the power of consistency.

My consistency obsession is still less than a year old, but this year’s data already shows wonderful effects. On average, I now get almost twice as much out of every day as I used to. This is a massive improvement!

It’s also the reason I started this blog. This stuff just has to be shared 🙂

The Graph of Life won’t turn every day into sunshine and roses. What it will do though is to quickly bail you out of potential tailspins and cheer you on as you embark on upwards spirals.

It really is very simple: if you spiral up much more than you spiral down, your life will be awesome. 

The Graph of Life can give you that. I really hope you let it 🙂

See you tomorrow for this weeks wrap-up! 

Schalk
, , ,
0

The Consistency Tracker

Yesterday’s post introduced the “Graph of Life” – a great way to measure your consistency in less than one minute every morning.

The simple act of measuring something can lead to significant improvement simply by raising awareness. Thus, even if we disregard any interesting insights it might bring, the Graph of Life still holds great value. 

Getting started with the spreadsheet is the biggest obstacle to this great habit. Thus, I’ve tried to make this first step as simple as possible. Setting this up should take just 5-10 minutes. 

If you have MS Excel, please download the Graph of Life template here and watch the short instructional video below. 

If you don’t have Excel, you can use Google Sheets. In this case, download this file and watch the instructional video below. 

 

Lastly, I want to extend an offer to help you further customize this simple template to better suit your needs. Just email me at mail@schalkcloete.com so that we can set this up. 

All I ask for in return is access to the data you collect. I’m very interested to see whether the links between different aspects of life I reported here are similar for other people. 

Tomorrow, I’ll share a bit more about the insights I gained from my own Graph of Life. See you then!

Schalk
, , ,
0

Want to Improve Something? Measure It!

This blog is all about the superpower of consistency. This superpower can truly enrich your life and the lives of those you care about, but it continues to elude most of us. 

One important reason for this inconsistency is that consistency is hard to measure. Yes, the results of consistency (weight, fitness, wealth, productive outputs, etc.) are simple enough to measure, but the problem is that these results only come after months or even years of consistent good or bad actions. 

Humans are notoriously bad with delayed gratification. We want to see progress now! If we don’t, we easily get discouraged and quit before we gave ourselves a fair chance to achieve real results. 

This week, we’ll discuss a tool for measuring consistency directly. I like to call it the “Graph of Life” and it has the power to greatly improve your consistency. 

So, let’s get started…

Monday 5-minute action Get started with your own Graph of Life

 

The tricky thing is that there is not yet an app for making a good Graph of Life. Thus, we’ll need to do some spreadsheeting using MS Excel or Google Sheets. 

An Excel template for your own Graph of Life can be downloaded here. Click on this link if you have MS Excel. If not, click on this link for a version suitable for Google Sheets. 

Don’t worry If you have no experience with spreadsheets. You don’t need to insert formulas or anything like that. All you need is one minute to insert a couple of 0-10 scores every morning.

Thus far, I’ve asked a couple of family members to try out the Graph of Life. Their experience shows that, if you manage to get past the initial resistance to getting started, the data you collect becomes so interesting that you’ll have no problems maintaining this habit. 

So, please push through this initial resistance to download the file and try it out. The sheet should be quite intuitive to use and also contains some user guidelines to help you along.

To make it even easier, tomorrow’s post will give a short video tutorial. See you then!

Schalk
, , , , ,
0

Recap: Personal Constitution

OK, we’ve now spent a good two weeks on the idea of a personal constitution. Time to wrap up. 

The purpose of maintaining a personal constitution to do the right things every day, not because you’re forcing yourself, but simply because of who you are. It lets you become the best version of yourself. 

Getting ourselves to do the small things right every day is the central theme of this blog. It’s the key to unlocking the superpower of consistency and the most powerful force in the universe: compounding. 

A good personal constitution is therefore a fundamental building block of a great life. 

I really hope you’ll give it a try!

The checklist

Here is the short and simple blueprint to a good personal constitution:

  1. Draft your own version with elements for health, creativity, people and burdens.
    • Make it as personal to yourself as possible.
    • Keep it simple and short.
  2. Passionately recite your constitution for a minute or two each morning.
    • Integrate it into your morning routine to ensure consistency. 
    • You need to feel it, not just ramble it off.
    • Preferably get some inspirational background music.
  3. Be patient. It will take several weeks before you start noticing behavioral changes.
    1. Be aware of these changes and pat yourself on the back when they happen.
    2. If a certain part of your constitution is not working or becomes outdated, modify or replace it. 

So, there you have it: a simple 1-2-3 to a good personal constitution 🙂

Good luck!

Schalk
, , , ,
0

How Not to Implement a Personal Constitution

Yesterday‘s post described the short and simple daily practice required to become the best version of yourself using a personal constitution.

I really wish I knew this stuff all the way back in 2012 when I started playing around with the idea. Unfortunately, I didn’t. And so, this fascinating personal development concept brought me very little joy for many years.

This post is written to prevent you from making the same mistakes. 

First off, it’s crucial to recite a personal constitution passionately every morning. For many years, I just had my constitution written down and tried to remember it in the right moments to guide my behavior. 

In retrospect, it’s pretty obvious that this wouldn’t work. I was still far from the best version of myself, but somehow expected that version of me to just magically start acting like my ideal self. 

Simply defining the best version of yourself is not enough. The way this ideal version of you will act must be thoroughly embedded into your head through emotionally charged repetition. 

The next thing I eventually learned is to keep things as simple as possible. Looking back at the first version of my constitution is pretty funny. It was simply far too long and complicated to be of any real use. 

Several iterations later, I arrived at a version that is much shorter, uses simpler wording and is much more explicit about the tangible actions that my ideal self will take on a regular basis. 

The final piece of the constitution puzzle is patience. Too many times I got a flash of inspiration to capitalize on this interesting idea, tried to implement it, didn’t see immediate results, and quit. 

Rewiring your brain takes months. This is just a fact of life. Adding emotion to your daily constitution recital can accelerate the process, but it still takes a long time. 

So, there you have it: consistent practice, emotional engagement, simplification, and patience. Employ these principles to your personal constitution and you have a real shot at becoming your ideal self 🙂

See you tomorrow for the wrap-up of this week’s topic!

Schalk
, , , ,
0

Your Personal Constitution

Last week we put together four elements of a good personal constitution: health, creativity, people, and burdens. This week will be all about integrating this constitution into your life.

As a quick reminder, a personal constitution is a clear and concise description of how the ideal version of yourself will act. 

The idea behind a personal constitution is to upgrade your definition of yourself. Then you’ll start doing the right things not because you’re forcing yourself, but simply because of who you are. 

Reprogramming your brain in this way takes plenty of time though. That’s why your constitution needs to have an honorary position early in your daily morning routine.

So, let’s to this…

Monday 1-minute action Read your constitution out loud (with feeling)

 

This minute or two every morning will gradually reshape the way you view yourself: 

  • Healthy living will become the default (with the occasional fun splurge on a special occasion), in contrast to today’s standard unhealthy lifestyle (with the occasional crash diet or fitness program). 
  • Consistent, proactive and calm productivity will become the norm, replacing today’s frantic bursts of reactive, high-stress crisis management.
  • You’ll become a nicer person to be around, get more joy from your close relationships and stop hurting your loved ones. 
  • Whatever burden you have to carry will become lighter and could even be reforged into a powerful tool for building a better life. 

Rewiring your brain into the best version of yourself will need several months of daily constitution recitals. But each recital takes only a minute or two. And the final result sure is worth it!

I really hope you give this a try!

See you tomorrow when we take a closer look at the daily constitution recital. 

Schalk
, , ,
0

Consistency Art

The word “consistency” is a regular on this blog. It’s generally associated with good health, personal finances and productivity. But believe it or not, it also has an art connotation. 

“Consistency art” is anything where you do some small action consistently over an extended period of time to eventually create something beautiful. 

There are many possibilities. With 10 minutes a day over a couple of months, you can come up with a very cool painting, composition or sculpture. Something like a perfectly shaped Bonsai tree is another example of consistency art. 

My recent interest is long-term timelapse photography. I basically just take a photo from the same spot every once in a while and then add them all together later on. 

The first attempt is shown below. It’s a nice illustration of the changing weather patterns in Norway. 

I’m really looking forward to the change in seasons. Such a series of photographs should look very cool over the entire green-orange-brown-white-brown-green seasonal transformation in Norway.

The main challenge is getting the images to line up well. It seems there is no software that can do this automatically at present. Manual labor is therefore the only way, which is fine if the number of photos is small enough. 

I’ll be exploring this a bit more over coming months. Let’s see what comes out of it eventually.

Have a pleasant weekend and I’ll see you on Monday!

Schalk
, , , , ,
2

Recap: Early-Morning Reading

This blog is all about mastering our superpower of consistency to awaken what Einstein called “the most powerful force in the universe”: compounding. Information is a very interesting application of this awesome force.

Since we live in the information age, our value to society is strongly influenced by the quantity and quality information we have fully internalized.

Note the use of the word “internalized” here. Just reading or hearing something is not enough. It must be understood on a deep level and ingrained through application and experience. 

These days, how smart you work is more important than how hard you work. Don’t get me wrong – working hard is still important. But it’s the intelligence with which you direct your productive powers that really makes the difference. 

Simply put: those with lots of high quality information deeply internalized in their minds can direct their productive powers more intelligently. 

Smarter productivity leads to exposure to more interesting environments and information. Gradual internalization of this new information then leads to even smarter productivity. And so the virtuous cycle continues…

The checklist

Getting this virtuous cycle rolling takes plenty of patience and consistency, but it really is very simple:

  1. Find something interesting or inspirational to read or listen to and buy it.
  2. Commit to 5-10 minutes of absorbing this information every morning.
  3. Once you finish a book, make your own summary:
    • Focus on tangible things you can implement in your own life. 
    • This is crucial to ensure that you internalize the new information. 
  4. Stick to this habit for the long run and see how much more interesting your life becomes 🙂

I’d venture to say that regular consumption of educational material is one of best predictors of success today. In my experience, it’s also one of the easiest habits to form and maintain. Please give it a try!

Have an inspired day and I’ll see you tomorrow!

Schalk
, , ,
0

Week 3 of Getting 1% Better

The 1% better philosophy is built on the power of compounding. Tiny gains made with great regularity tend to accumulate exponentially over the years. This is the superpower of consistency in action. 

Mastering this superpower is what this blog is all about. 

Here are my top three 1% improvements over the past week:

  1. Most of my week was dedicated to writing my first paper on energy system modelling. This is something I’ve been wanting to do for years, but I only recently managed to get the contacts, software and expertise to actually do it.
  2. Another 32 km of rollerblading and near-perfectly clean eating habits.
  3. A rapid and complete recovery after the sporting gods tried their very best to spoil my week. 

Although point 1 certainly represents my most important progress this week, point 3 is also noteworthy. 

Indeed, last Sunday was one of the most disappointing sporting weekends ever. First, Ferrari were totally outclassed by Mercedes at the British F1 race. This was somewhat expected, so it wasn’t all that bad. 

But then came the double whammy. First, Roger Federer managed to win every stat apart from the final score in the Wimbledon final against Novak Djokovic. After a tortuous four hours, he finally earned himself two championship points on serve and then proceeded to lose four points in a row. Eventually Novak managed to force a third tie-break, where he showcased his inhuman big-match temperament and took the title.

In parallel, New Zealand were playing England in the cricket world cup final. I really wanted New Zealand to win, but they managed to draw not once, but twice, and then lose the world cup on a technicality. A draw in cricket is highly unlikely and doing it twice in a row is unheard of. In addition, England just managed to reach the first draw based on one of the biggest pieces of luck I ever saw on the third-last ball of the innings. 

These sporting dramas not only led to huge frustration, but also ate up a lot of time. But I managed to shake it off, realize that the world is still turning and start another highly productive week (see the red bit in my consistency graph below). 

Yes, life will always have its bad days. The key is simply to get back to growth ASAP and to avoid a multi-day slump at any cost.

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday and see you tomorrow!

The graph shows my cumulative performance against a target of 35 points daily. Until recently, I’ve only been averaging a bit more than 33 points per day, hence the slow downwards trend. 33 points per day is still good, but I really want to get back above the 35 point target! Almost there… 🙂
Schalk
, , , ,
2

Week 2 of Getting 1% Better

People tend to overestimate what they can do in a day or a week, but underestimate what they can do in a year or a decade. 

That pretty much sums up the whole 1% better philosophy. 

The fact of the matter is that the magic of consistency happens slowly, painfully slowly at times. As a result, most people give up before seeing any meaningful results. 

Our mission on this blog is simply to keep on doing the small things right, day after day, week after week. Such consistent positive action is guaranteed to deliver great results in the long run. 

Here are my top three 1% improvements over the past week:

  • We got two peer-reviewed papers accepted in high-ranking journals. This is a rare privilege indeed 🙂
  • I started an important collaboration to bring specialized expertise about advanced gas turbines into our research work. 
  • Thanks to some good weather (finally), I managed 36 km of rollerblading this week. 

My daily consistency tracker (below) continued upwards, although at a slightly lower pace than last week. Still a very satisfying week though. 

So, did you grow your 1% this week? I really hope so!

See you tomorrow!

The graph shows my cumulative performance against a target of 35 points daily. Until recently, I’ve only been averaging a bit more than 33 points per day, hence the slow downwards trend. 33 points per day is still good, but I really want to get back above the 35 point target! A couple more weeks like this one should do the trick 🙂
1 2 3