Change is real.
This year has been full of change. Whatever you walked into 2020 expecting it to be, things drastically changed. Expectations kept falling short of reality, because aren’t able to see the future. As much as we can prepare, we have learned that flexibility is key in maintaining both our health and sanity.
But where there is flexibility, there must also be consistency. Flexibility allows us to make the most of the short-term circumstances. Yet consistency is key in maintaining effectiveness across circumstances as we grow over the months, years, and decades. Yet beyond this year and its impact on each person’s individual life… we still experience shifts and changes every day in each aspect of our life.
On a recent call with our team of interns, we discussed the different trends they each subscribed to. Answers ranged from diets to celebrity workouts, monthly fashion trends, social media interactions, to trying different daily schedules and routines. Needless to say, there exists a plethora of personal and professional trends that have the potential to be beneficial. So how does one test them out, without losing our individual consistency?
How to Remain Consistent in a World Full of Trends
Identify your Values. Your values will be the pillars on which everything else rests. At Third Lens, we test out trends in Marketing, but nothing we test out will ever contradict our values of being Christ-Centered, People-Driven and Stewardship-Focused. Things will change, but our values must remain the same.
Identify your Purpose. Your purpose will give you direction and support the “Why” behind what you are doing. If you don’t know why you are participating in a trend or reacting to change, go back to your purpose. If your actions don’t support your purpose, step back and re-evaluate. Your purpose is the foundation you must build your life on.
Prioritize your Actions. The actions you take will directly impact your results. Know what you will do every day, regardless of the changes you make. This ties into John Maxwell’s Rule of Five, which explains the power of priority. By prioritizing five non-negotiable actions that you take daily, you will reach your goals, no matter the circumstantial changes. These can be as simple as reading a chapter in a book, calling your mother, or serving a stranger.
Understand your Process. People lack consistency when they focus more on the outcome than they do on the process. Anything worth doing is uphill. The value is in the process. The law of growth states that growth is slower than you expect and simpler than it may seem. We give up on consistency when we don’t understand the process by lacking perspective.
The key to continual growth over a period of circumstantial change?
Know what you are building on
Know why you are doing it.
Know what you are doing.
Know where you are going and how you’ll get there.
And do it every day.
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