Scott Young knows the value of consistency:

What’s the best way to be in shape? Exercise, for five years. What’s the best way to launch an online business? Practice running one for a decade. What’s the best approach to enhance your social life? Put yourself outside your comfort zone, every day, for years.

Running and me

I hated running for most of my life. Running and I didn’t get along because, each time I got on a jogging jag, inevitably, I would have a day when I did worse than the day before. Then another. And another. So I quit.

I hated failing at running. When I stopped running, the failure stopped.

A few years ago, I got nutty. I decided to stop caring about my running progress. Yep, that’s right. I stopped pushing myself. I decided that I no longer cared about my time or distance. All I cared about was that running happened.

The result? It started happening a lot.

Failing at running three days a week for a year is a shit-ton better for your health than sitting still.

The same philosophy can be applied to almost any life context. For example, writing: People who consistently fail at writing generate more words than those that never even try.

A perspective for consistent success

All endeavors, in a sense, end in failure. Success happens only when you cross an arbitrarily placed finish line. A 5K is a failed 10K. A blog post is a failed book. A lemonade stand is a failed corporation. A single family home is a failed sky scraper.

You have more control over the finish lines in your life than you’re likely to ever realize. Set them, and cross them. Consistently.