The Battle between Intensity and Consistency

written by Simone on Wednesday, April 28th, 2010

Left to my own devices, I am an intense person – laid back but intense. If I could, I would exercise for one grueling four hour session and then not again until next week (or next month), eat all the healthy, nutrient rich, antioxidant, cancer fighting foods for one giant breakfast for the week.   I would rush in and tackle my fears in one fatal swoop rather than let them unfold as the process of life. In the past, when I wanted to make change, incorporate a new habit, reach a goal, I worked at it with a high level of intensity for as long as I was able, or as long as I remembered to, and then … I crashed. 

Like eating a row of cookies, drinking too many banana daiquiris or watching too much television in one sitting – no matter how great 13 episodes of Lost is – physics tells us how high we go so shall we come down.  The effect of living this kind of intensity is  the goal is lost, forgotten, or covered up by the constant engagement in the ups and downs we create.

Solution: Consistency.

Being consistent rather than intense allows me to first be in the world in a nicer gentler, ‘even-blood-sugar’ kind of way. Never going too far up or coming too far down; a joyful natural way of being unfolds.  In terms of reaching my goals, I work consistently rather than intensely. E.g., I schedule a couple of work-outs a week rather than trying to run everyday to reach my fitness goals. The outcome, not rocket science, I reach my goals easily and effortlessly (well except for the torturous work-out classes I show up for every time).

Consistency doesn’t sound as sexy as intensity but it wins every time.

I know the moral of this is taken directly from the story of ‘The Tortoise and the Hare,’ but in terms of the way we are (the way we experience our world) and what we do (setting and reaching goals, creating good habits) it is worth remembering. If you want to write a novel, write one page every day. If you want to be a peaceful serene person, practice being peaceful and serene for a minute or two every day.

It works, just read the ending of The Tortoise and the Hare.