In an era where we specialize in instant gratification, often people having a difficult taking on larger projects. Our society is continually moving towards a time where everything is instantaneous. ATM machines allow us to get money on the spot. We can order anything at anytime on the internet. The meteoric rise in fast food sales shows that many people do not wait long even to get their food. These activities all create the mindset where gratification is needed immediately.



The video game era forged an interesting situation. Many are conditioned to receive all the benefits from a particular activity in one sitting. If it takes longer than that, we lose interest. This is evident when it comes to handling different projects. People generally want to finish things in a short period of time. They lack the discipline to spread the work over multiple sessions. A daily regimen is a foreign concept to them.

Exercise is a prime example of how the “I want it now" mindset is taking hold. Whether one is looking to lose weight or gain muscle mass, the concept is the same. Working out regularly 3-4 times per week over the period of 6 months to a year will have a definite impact on your body. If this is mixed in with a healthy diet, the results are increased. However, we seem to encounter people who want to try to disprove this theory. The desire to have it all instantly causes many people to try to take shortcuts. In the end, none of them seem to work.

Establishing a routine to break activities into multiple sessions is a healthy way to progress forward in any endeavor. When confronted with a mammoth activity, individuals tend to put a lot of action in initially. Then, as they burn out on it, the activity begins to fade. Consistency is a worthwhile ideal to strive for. By breaking the project down into a variety of different components, one can keep the enthusiasm up while moving it forward in a steady manner.

I encountered a situation where I had to make a choice similar to this. We needed to submit an article to over 1,000 different locations. Fortunately, we were able to do it online which was saving a great deal of time. Yet the size of the project still required a terrific amount of work. I was confronted with how to best handle this. There were times in the past where I would have spent every waking moment doing as much as I could for the first few days. This always led to the situation where I would get tired of doing it and back off. Thus, I decided to break the project into a daily activity for a month. Over that time period, I submitted to at least 30 locations a day. On the days I was a bit more industrious, 40-50 were done. However, I made sure never to go over 50. I was able to get it all completed in 24 days.

Apply this technique to your life. Consistent activity yields much greater results that a short burst of extremely high productivity. Sales organizations prefer to hire salespeople who produce a steady amount of sales over the superstar who is up and down. It is much easier to plan and build off consistency as opposed to volatility. Similarly, it is easier for you to make drastic jumps in your abilities if you are consistent in what you do. The discipline one has from doing the beneficial things consistently lays the foundation for phenomenal success.

Focusing you attention onto consistent activity will enable you to tackle any project. People often complain that they lack the physical energy to get done all they need to get done. That is because they often burn themselves out handling one major task. The total focus is on that task to the exclusion of all else. Learning a little patience while resisting the desire to gain instant gratification is paramount for high achievement. Each step moves us closer to our pre-determined goal. The extra energy we gain by not burning ourselves out creates more balance in our lives. We are transformed into steady producers.