The Key to Success - AUG 2021

I regularly read articles about business success. What makes an entrepreneurial venture successful? How does one find financial success in a new business?

The one thing in common in these articles I noticed, is consistency.

It is something I realise I tend to lack. It's painful to admit, but I am by nature, more of a sprinter. It's not healthy, but I think part of me enjoyed the mad dash to complete IBM's Data Science Professional Certificate Program in 1 month.

I am conflicted. I see how everyone says that consistency is key. And I am willing to change, to adapt if that's what it means to make my projects a success. This is also painful to admit, but I set out to complete 1000 Paintings in about 3 years.

The maths behind this timeline was, averaging 1 painting a day, I could complete 365 paintings a year. Back when I started, I thought, well I can surely make more than 1 painting a day. Somewhere along the line I even created 7 paintings in 1 day to see if I could.

Painting 001 Random elf girl, was completed more than 3 years ago.

I should be done with the 1000 paintings by now.

Clearly my ideas of sprinting with these paintings have not worked. In the past I would hold a small streak where I would paint daily, and then nothing. Nothing for months. Nothing for many months. I do really need to apply myself to a consistent schedule.

The truth is I don't know exactly how I can guarantee it won't happen again, where my next daily streak ends and is followed by months of nothing. I suppose the best I can do at the moment is to set up a plan, and come back every month to see how my progress is. I think I also need to learn to forgive myself for missing a day here and there.

So far, there have been areas of my life where I have managed some level of consistency. For example, on Duolingo I have a 538 day streak. Did I practice my languages on every single day in that streak? No. With Duolingo's system, you can miss a day here and there if you have earned enough points to buy a streak freeze. But it does mean I practiced my languages almost every day for the last 538 days.

As another example, I have averaged 1 job application per day for the last 3 months. This routine was a bit more complicated. On weekdays I tried to complete 2 applications per day so that I would not need to do any applications on weekends. Trying to stay on track every month meant that my routine was more resilient, where things came up and I could not complete any applications on a given day, I allowed myself time to catch up or move ahead as needed.

Based on these existing routines I am making a lite version of my 1st Life project around the habit I want to start having, to build that consistency I seem to lack. This will be a rough minimum viable product that simply tests how effective it is in helping me build these routines for my projects.