Unexpected Benefit of the Six-Pack Experiment
24 Aug
After doing MyBodyTutor for the Six Pack Experiment for several months….everyday…..I learned something:
The sheer power of consistency.
It’s blatantly obvious being consistent in something is powerful, but I never really HAVE been consistent at anything. Look at my blogging habits for example. Right now I’m blogging everyday, but there have been MONTHS in between posts at times. Inconsistency.
Even through school I would have strong periods of doing well in all my classes…followed by a total fall-behind. Inconsistency.
So when I did the Six Pack Experiment and used MyBodyTutor I had to answer everyday to Adam (whom I didn’t want to disappoint), and also to NevBlog readers (whom I also didn’t want to disappoint). I also had a solid end goal in mind (getting a six pack) which I didn’t want to miss. TRIPLE accountability definitely helped me stay on track.
Adam probably used the word “Consistency” more than any other during that experiment…and how true it was.
As Earl Nightingale put it:
Plan out what you want to do for the day. Accomplish it, and that will be a successful day.
Have 5 or 7 successful days in a row, and you’ve had a successful week.
Do this 4 times and you’ve had a successful month.
…then year.
…then lifetime.
Imagine a bricklayer building a wall. He starts with laying a single brick. He may be able to lay 200 bricks in a day. Everyday he continues laying the bricks, and after a while an immense building can be made. However it all happened with single bricks, day after day, week after week of diligent work.
It’s such a simple concept I truly don’t think I’ve ever applied till this Six Pack Experiment! Imagine…I’m 27 years old and never ONCE have been consistent for over 3 months in anything. Definitely a late bloomer.
However lately I’ve been keeping the consistency up. I learned that after about 120 days of MyBodyTutor the eating habits I developed stuck around. I’ve done 30 day experiments before in consistency, but it seems it takes me 4X longer to learn than most people to learn.
The crazy thing is, when I’ve applied consistency to something and its done very well….I wasn’t even working that hard! Usually I would just do a moderate amount of work each day towards the goal, and if I do that little work EVERY DAY it usually ends in a BIG RESULT.
SO I can either be inconsistent and garner decent results with periods of laziness followed by working very hard.
-or-
Just be moderately productive EVERY DAY and garner BIG results.
I choose the 2nd.
I’m hoping you’ll read this repost from a comment I left a few days ago. You’ve got to really give this a try.
You’re always trying new things. So I’d like to recommend a quick and easy experiment for you- concerning getting in shape.
Get a 35lb kettlebell and do one exercise (swings, snatches, etc) as soon as u wake up (stretch or do some jumping jacks first to warm up) and before you go to bed. The most important thing (besides good form) is to do this TABATA style. Google it and download the app tabata timer or use the website. Takes only 4 minutes, but holy $h!t will u feel this and notice a difference.
Definitely have to try this!
awesome post.
kind of shamed me for cheating and reading your blog.
weak 4 of the artist’s way is to not read.
it was worth it though!
Something I’ve been curious about: using an exercise ball as an office chair to improve posture. Perhaps you could leverage your powers of consistency to try it out for a week?
I’ve heard about this and even tried it at home. Eventually you just get comfortable on the ball and start slouching again.