3 Ways Consistency Changed My Life

By Karla Hardin, MS LPC

What I learned from a Navy SEAL, an ant, and a seminary professor that changed my life and can change yours!

I have had the privilege of meeting quite a few famous people in my life. But I have only had the experience of knowing one before he became famous. We went to the University of Texas together and he married my best friend. I stood beside her on their wedding day as her maid of honor and even though I was sad that I was losing my best friend who was about to marry a Navy SEAL and move all over the world, I was confident he would love and protect her for the rest of her days.

Knowing him for over 40 years and reconnecting in person when he was honored along with Laura Bush as alumnae of the year at UT; and later visiting with them when he became the Chancellor at our alma mater, I found him to be the same young man that I knew would love my friend over a lifetime. Bill truly has and continues to live out the first point he made in the Commencement address in 2014 – the power of consistency is in the small things.

This leads to my first point that changed my life.

1. You don’t have to be amazing, super skilled or talented to live a fulfilling life and leave a legacy. You just need to be consistent in the tiniest of things.

Luke 16:10 says it so well, “Whoever is faithful in the little things, you will be faithful in the large things.”

My friend Bill ended up being entrusted with a very big thing – the protection and safety of our nation and stopping our arch enemy. Wonderfully for all of us – he did just that!

My second big learning about consistency I learned from the smallest of creatures.

Yes, an ant.

Aesop’s fable of the ant and the grasshopper was a childhood fable I grew up on that shaped me at a very young age. The premise was not to wait until the last minute to do things simply because you didn’t want to miss out of the “fun” in the here and now.

It taught the value of delayed gratification, saying no to the tempting impulse to be lazy, and simply following through on daily, perhaps even boring, duties to insure a better and safer future.

The second ant I have learned from is the ant in Proverbs 6:6-11.

6 Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones.
    Learn from their ways and become wise!
7 Though they have no prince
    or governor or ruler to make them work,
8 they labor hard all summer,
    gathering food for the winter.
9 But you, lazybones, how long will you sleep?
    When will you wake up?
10 A little extra sleep, a little more slumber,
    a little folding of the hands to rest—
11 then poverty will pounce on you like a bandit;
    scarcity will attack you like an armed robber.

This ant, too, is held up as a model of consistent work versus being lazy.

But what really challenged me about this ant, which I found interesting and encouraging, was that he “wasn’t being told what to do by a higher up.” He took personal responsibility for himself. It also implied that he was enough to run his own life!

These two ants led me to my second insight about consistency,

2. I can delay gratification and make simple, responsible, daily choices to initiate the change I want to see in my life. I am not powerless or a victim when it comes becoming who I want to be. I am enough.

My third point of learning, and possibly the most helpful to me in my present life journey, came from a seminary professor when I was on the staff of a Christian ministry right out of college. The course was excellent learning that summer, but the greatest lesson came from the example of the professor’s own life.

The professor was a marathon runner.

He had been running marathons for over 20 years at that time -which was practically as long as I had been living! We were all in awe of him.

Of course, the inevitable question was asked as we heard story upon story of the races he had participated in, the injuries he had sustained, and the everyday challenges he faced – “How have you kept it up over all these years?”

His answer was probably the most life-giving words I had heard up until that point in my life. He said:

“Oh, it’s simple! Every time I quit; I just start again!”

At that time in my life, I was operating on a good-bad; all or nothing; now or never; view of how I needed to live my life. I didn’t understand LIFE IS A PROCESS.

My wrong understanding put me on performance and kept me aiming at perfection.

And when I could not achieve perfection, I felt self-loathing shame. I basically felt I could never achieve or be the person I wanted to be.

Sadly, I believe a lot of people stay stuck like I was because we think failure is fatal. We think our missteps are a final judgement of where we are destined to go.

But the life-giving example of my professor showed me my third truth about consistency -

3. Consistency is not found in perfection but rather in the small decision to start again when I quit.

Focusing on simply starting again takes away the power of shame.

Every time I start again, I show myself I am not stuck or controlled by imperfections.

The choice to start again is my constant reminder of what Christ procured for us on the Cross – sin is no longer our master! I can actually turn my missteps into an offering of thanksgiving and praise that I am no longer a prisoner to sin in my daily life!

In recent years, I have learned that these three lessons I have learned about consistency actually matches what scientists have learned about the brain.

True change in brain patterns is best achieved by small steps simply repeated over and over. (Start with 7 days, then 30 days, then 90 days)
If you try to do an “all or nothing” change (perfection) your brain will resist it, and you will fail.
Neuroplasticity of the brain means that it can continually grow and change over the entire lifetime. In other words – it is not too late to become the person you were created to be!

So, get excited and start today!

Think of small steps you can take:
Make your bed
Read a proverb a day
Drink 2 extra glasses of water a day
Tell your spouse & children you love them daily

These itty-bitty steps can change the direction of your life like a small rudder can change the course of a cruise liner.

And DON’T FORGET:

…EVERY TIME YOU QUIT –JUST START AGAIN!

Karla Hardin is a Licensed Professional Counselor and Trauma Specialist for Hardin Life Resources

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