Monday Musings: Success, Systems and the Challenge of Consistency

I suppose pretty much all of us have our personal "demons" we are eternally working wait... no matter how much we might believe we have the infamous "it" all dialed in.

I have often cited "a lack of ambition" as my greatest challenge in life... not ever feeling driven and goal oriented, but that's mostly a "story" I tell myself and the world around me.

Perhaps we all have "stories" that sound perfectly plausible — and usually have a very real basis in reality — but often have the one small "wrinkle" that they are mostly a deflection, of some sort.

In truth, I more often wrestle with a scattered disposition and a lack of consistency, than I wrestle with an actual lack of ambition.

My enthusiasm for the things I get involved with tends to wane rather quickly, which is ironic/hypocritical, given that I often write about the value of "sticking to things" and "showing up every day" as a typically fruitful path to success!

Helpful Tools and Systems?

On a regular basis, I go through "phases" where I try to motivate myself to being consistent in what I do, creating a variety of more or less elaborate goals and systems to help myself stay on track.

Time has taught me that the only times I come even close to success is when I place a bunch of "micro goals" inside a larger "container" of an overall goal or plan. And that's what I have been doing again, this year... and now we're a little over two months in.

So what does that "look like?"

Well, I actively track my ongoing activity across my various "microbusinesses" and other projects, but my overall "container" simple amounts to tracking my total "economic activity" per month, regardless of where is comes from, and how it is generated.

So, in January, I made my monthly total goal... but that was accomplished via completely different "components" than in February. And March will be completely different, yet again.

For example, in January my art was essentially dormant, but in February it was suddenly a substantial part of my income. My writing income ebbs and flows with my level of creative inspiration. In a month when the juices are flowing, I might make $2,500-$3,000 just from writing, but when the muse is absent, I might only make $300. It all depends.

I am hoping that my following this homemade system of tracking, I might at least learn where my high points and low points are... so I can manage my time better.

So why is this even worthy of writing about?

I suppose it's a personal thing, dating back to my days of holding down a "regular" job in the mainstream world... and often having to face the commentary that I seemed "wildly inconsistent" in terms of enthusiasm and productivity.

Which isn't to say that I wouldn't be working," but what took me two days to accomplish last month, now might take me more than a week.

Self-employment and having multiple things to work on has definitely helped. The challenge of mainstream work was often that I was there to do "one thing" rather than have the freedom to be all over the map.

Sometimes I think I am just too old for all this, but not to worry... that's a passing phase!

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great remainder of your week!

Comments, feedback and other interaction is invited and welcomed! Because — after all — SOCIAL content is about interacting, right? Leave a comment — share your experiences — be part of the conversation! I do my best to answer comments, even if it sometimes takes a few days!

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Created at 2023-03-06 23:39 PST
0762/2017