📕𝘾𝙃5:(🐛𝙏𝙃𝙀15 𝙑Æ𝙇𝙐𝘼𝙉𝙇𝙀 𝙇𝘼𝙒 𝙤𝙛

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝟏𝟓. 𝐈𝐍𝐕𝐀𝐋𝐔𝐀𝐁𝐋𝐄 𝐋𝐀𝐖𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐆𝐑𝐎𝐖𝐓𝐇 “LIVE THEM AND REACH YOUR POTENTIAL” - JOHN C. MAXWELL- ᴾ𓂃¹ 𝐶𝐻𝐴𝑃𝑇𝐸𝑅 𝟻: 𝑻𝑯𝑬 𝑳𝑨𝑾 𝑶𝑭 𝑪𝑶𝑵𝑺𝑰𝑺𝑻𝑬𝑵𝑪𝒀 -ᴍᴏᴛɪᴠᴀᴛɪᴏɴ ɢᴇᴛꜱ ʏᴏᴜ ɢᴏɪɴɢ—ᴅɪꜱᴄɪᴘʟɪɴᴇ ᴋᴇᴇᴘꜱ ʏᴏᴜ ɢʀᴏᴡɪɴɢ “𝑇ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑚𝑎𝑟𝑘 𝑜𝑓 𝑒𝑥𝑐𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠, 𝑖𝑠 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦.”—𝐽𝐼𝑀 𝑇𝑅𝐸𝑆𝑆𝐸𝐿 When I started my speaking career, I believed that motivating people was the key to helping them succeed. If I can get them moving in the right direction, I thought, they will be successful. I would do my best to give people reasons to work hard. I’d try to make them laugh. I’d try to touch their hearts. My goal was to inspire people so much that they’d be ready to charge hell with a water pistol. When I was done, I’d walk away thinking I’d done a good job. But often whatever motivation people received didn’t seem to last very long. I’m still a big believer in motivation. Everyone wants to be encouraged. Everyone enjoys being inspired. But here’s the truth when it comes to personal growth: Motivation gets you going, but discipline keeps you growing. That’s the Law of Consistency. It doesn’t matter how talented you are. It doesn’t matter how many opportunities you receive. If you want to grow, consistency is key. ᴾ𓂃1

ᴾ𓂃2 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗚𝗿𝗼𝘄 𝗶𝗻 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆. If you want to become more disciplined and consistent in your performance, you need to become more disciplined and consistent in your growth. How can you do that? By knowing the what, how, why, and when of personal improvement. Take some time to consider the following four questions about your growth: 𝟣. 𝘋𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦? 𝟤. 𝘋𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦? 𝟥. 𝘋𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨? 𝟦. 𝘋𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘪𝘮𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦? 𝟏. 𝐃𝐨 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐊𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐍𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐞?. Journalist and author George Lorimer remarked, “You’ve got to get up every morning with determination if you’re going to go to bed with satisfaction.” That’s true, but it’s important to know where to direct that determination. I’ve already discussed this in some detail, but I think it bears repeating. You must develop yourself to be successful. All the time I see people with purpose who are inconsistent in their progress. They have the ambition to succeed and they show aptitude for their job, yet they do not move forward. Why? Because they think they can master their job and don’t need to master themselves. What a mistake. Your future is dependent upon your personal growth. Improving yourself daily guarantees you a future filled with possibilities. When you expand yourself, you expand your horizons, your options, your opportunities, your potential. “𝑌𝑜𝑢’𝑣𝑒 𝑔𝑜𝑡 𝑡𝑜 𝑔𝑒𝑡 𝑢𝑝 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑑𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑖𝑓 𝑦𝑜𝑢’𝑟𝑒 𝑔𝑜𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡𝑜 𝑔𝑜 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑠𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑠𝑓𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛.” —𝐺𝑒𝑜𝑟𝑔𝑒 𝐿𝑜𝑟𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑟 From the start of my career in 1969, if I had spent all my time perfecting my ability to do my job, I never would have grown. But because I focused on improving myself, I grew from taking care of people to leading them. I went from speaking to audiences to writing books. I expanded from influencing only small religious organizations to many different kinds of organizations. I improved my focus from institutional to entrepreneurial. My influence changed from local to national to international. I went from maintaining organizations to founding and growing them. Why has this happened to me? Because what I did was try to improve myself, not just my job or position. It opened up my future. It has allowed me to achieve much more than I ever believed I would be capable of doing. E. M. Gray said, “The successful person has the habit of doing the things that failures don’t like to do. The successful person doesn’t like doing them either, but his dislike is subordinated to the strength of his purpose.” The more tuned in you are to your purpose, and the more dedicated you are to growing toward it, the better your chances of reaching your potential, expanding your possibilities, and doing something significant. ᴾ𓂃2

ᴾ𓂃3 𝟐. 𝐃𝐨 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐊𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐇𝐨𝐰 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐀𝐫𝐞 𝐒𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐞? The question of how to improve is one of the main reasons I started to work hard at changing from being a motivational speaker to becoming a motivational teacher. I didn’t want people to walk away from one of my teaching sessions inspired but uncertain how to proceed. To grow, most people need knowledge, experience, and coaching. Do you have a handle on how to improve yourself? I have four very simple suggestions that can get you started: ✓ 𝗠𝗔𝗧𝗖𝗛 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗠𝗢𝗧𝗜𝗩𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡 𝗧𝗢 𝗬𝗢𝗨𝗥 𝗣𝗘𝗥𝗦𝗢𝗡𝗔𝗟𝗜𝗧𝗬 𝗧𝗬𝗣𝗘. Not everyone gets motivated the same way or is motivated by the same things. To give yourself a fighting chance to become consistent in your growth, start by leveraging your personality type to get yourself going. There are dozens of personality profiles and systems that people use. I like the one based on the classic personality types that has been taught by Florence Littauer. Phlegmatic Choleric Sanguine Melancholic 1.𝙋𝙝𝙡𝙚𝙜𝙢𝙖𝙩𝙞𝙘: The first type of person is phlegmatic. The strength of people with this personality is that they are easygoing and likeable. Their weakness is inertia. If you’re phlegmatic, how can you motivate yourself? By finding the value in what you need to do. When phlegmatics see the value in doing something, they can be one of the most tenacious (meaning stubborn) of all personality types. 2. 𝘾𝙝𝙤𝙡𝙚𝙧𝙞𝙘: At the opposite end of the personality spectrum from phlegmatics are cholerics. The stนrength of people with this personality type is that they take charge easily and make decisions quickly. Their weakness is that if they are not “in charge,” they refuse to participate. If you are choleric, how can you tap into internal motivation? By focusing on the choices you can make. Every person is in charge of his own growth. Choose how you will grow and stick with it. 3. 𝙎𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙪𝙞𝙣𝙚: The most fun-loving of all the personality types are people who are sanguine. They are often the life of every party. Their weakness is often lack of focus. If you’re sanguine, how can you motivate yourself to grow? By making a game of it. If that seems impossible, then give yourself rewards for incremental successes. 4. 𝙈𝙚𝙡𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙝𝙤𝙡𝙞𝙘: The final personality type is melancholic. These are life’s perfectionists. Attention to detail is their strength. But because they desire to do everything perfectly, they are afraid of making mistakes. If you are melancholic, how do you motivate yourself beyond that fear? By focusing on the joy of learning details and the potential for developing a level of mastery over your subject matter. As you can see, every personality type has its strengths. You just need to tap that strength in your personality to set yourself up for success when it comes to motivation. ✓ 𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗥𝗧 𝗪𝗜𝗧𝗛 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗦𝗜𝗠𝗣𝗟𝗘 𝗦𝗧𝗨𝗙𝗙. What is the number one mistake of first-time gardeners? The same as that of many people who approach personal growth for the first time: attempting too much. What is the result? Discouragement. When you attempt too much too soon, you’re almost guaranteed to fall short of your desired results. That is demotivating. The secret to building motivational momentum is to start small with the simple stuff. A humorous take on this thought was captured in the comic strip Peanuts by Charles Schulz. After striking out on the baseball field—as usual—Charlie Brown returns to the dugout and slumps down on the bench. “Rats!” he laments. “I’ll never be a big-league player. I just don’t have it! All my life I’ve dreamed of playing in the big leagues, but I know I’ll never make it.” Lucy, ever one to give advice, replies, “Charlie Brown, you’re thinking too far ahead. What you need to do is set more immediate goals for yourself.” “Immediate goals?” Charlie asks. Like many people, he has never considered such a thing. “Yes,” Lucy advises, “start with the next inning. When you go out to pitch, see if you can walk out to the mound without falling down!” Industrialist Ian MacGregor observed, “I work on the same principle as people who train horses. You start with low fences, easily achieved goals, and work up. It’s important in management never to ask people to try to accomplish goals they can’t accept.” If you want to gain momentum and improve your motivation, begin by setting goals that are worthwhile but highly achievable. Master the basics. Then practice them every day without fail. Small disciplines repeated with consistency every day lead to great achievements gained slowly over time. This is an especially good idea to implement when reading a book. In fact, when I wrote 25 Ways to Win with People, I suggested that readers working on their people skills practice one of twenty-five skills each week. It creates an easy way to make progress doing something simple day by day. Small disciplines repeated with consistency every day lead to great achievements gained slowly over time. If you want to grow, don’t try to win big. Try to win small. Andrew Wood asserted, “Where many people go wrong in trying to reach their goals is in constantly looking for the big hit, the home run, the magic answer that suddenly transforms their dreams into reality. The problem is that the big hit never comes without a great deal of little hits first. Success in most things comes not from some gigantic stroke of fate, but from simple, incremental progress.” ✓ 𝗕𝗘 𝗣𝗔𝗧𝗜𝗘𝗡𝗧 When I give the advice to be patient, I am the person who most needs to take it. As I mentioned in the last chapter, impatience is one of my greatest weaknesses. I think it comes from having unrealistic expectations—for myself and others. Everything I want to do takes longer than I anticipate. Every endeavor I lead is more difficult than I believed it would be. Every project I attempt costs more than I expected. Every task I hand off to another person is more complicated than I hoped. Some days I believe that patience is a minor form of despair disguised as a virtue. I’m not alone in this. If you’re an American, as I am, you may agree that as a culture, we have a problem with patience. We want everything fast. We live in a country with fast-food restaurants and fast-weight-loss clinics. How ironic. Persian poet Saadi instructed, “Have patience. All things are difficult before they become easy.” That’s wise advice. Most people never realize how close they are to achieving significant things, because they give up too soon. Everything worthwhile in life takes dedication and time. The people who grow and achieve the most are the ones who harness the power of patience and persistence. “𝐻𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑝𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒. 𝐴𝑙𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑑𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑢𝑙𝑡 𝑏𝑒𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑦.” —𝑆𝑎𝑎𝑑𝑖 ✓ 𝗩𝗮𝗹𝘂𝗲 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 One of the best things you can do for yourself as a learner is to cultivate the ability to value and enjoy the process of growth. It is going to take a long time, so you might as well enjoy the journey. Several years ago I was having dinner with my friends Vern and Charlene Armitage. Charlene is a successful life coach who works with many clients. I asked what she focused on when coaching. Her answer highlighted the importance of the process that people must develop in order to grow and change the direction of their lives. She said, “Life goals are reached by setting annual goals. Annual goals are reached by reaching daily goals. Daily goals are reached by doing things which may be uncomfortable at first but eventually become habits. Habits are powerful things. Habits turn actions into attitudes, and attitudes into lifestyles.” You can visualize tomorrow using it as motivation to grow, but if you want to actually grow, your focus needs to be on today. If you value today and find a way to enjoy it, you will invest in today. And the small steps you take today will lead to the bigger steps you take someday. In their book Winning: The Answers, Jack and Suzy Welch assert, “Too many people believe that one big, public success will solve their self-confidence problems forever. That only happens in the movies. In real life, the opposite strategy is what works. Call it the ‘small victories’ approach.” They go on to describe Jack’s first experience as a speaker. Even with detailed notes and lots of practice, the fifteen minute effort was a disaster. So he made it his goal to improve incrementally, which he accomplished by valuing the process. Instead of letting fear or failures overwhelm him, he stared defeat in the face, figured out what went wrong, set a new goal, and started again. They explain, “In time, you will discover that all failing really does teach you something you needed to know—so you can regroup and stretch again, with ever more… nerve.” That strategy has paid off. “Today,” they write, “answering questions without notes in front of thousands of people is the opposite of nerve-racking; it’s fun.” That kind of progress cannot happen if you don’t value the process.

ᴾ𓂃4 𝟑. 𝐃𝐨 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐊𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐖𝐡𝐲 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐖𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐊𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠? Knowing what to improve and how to improve are critical to consistency in personal growth. But so is knowing why. The how and what will take you only so far. The why is what keeps you motivated long after that first rush of energy and enthusiasm wears off. It can carry you through when willpower isn’t enough. Think of it as why-power. I love the story of the salesman who looked out the window of the hotel restaurant at a blinding snowstorm. He asked his waiter, “Do you think the roads will be clear enough in the morning to travel?” The waiter replied, “Depends on if you’re on salary or commission.” Having a strong why will help you to keep going when the discipline of learning becomes difficult, discouraging, or tedious. If your growth is connected to your values, dreams, and purpose, you’ll know why you’re doing it. And you will be more likely to follow through. One of the ways to judge whether you have tapped into your whys is to take what my friend Mike Murdock calls “The Why Test.” Your answers to the following seven questions will let you know if your why is solid enough to motivate you to consistently grow: 𝙌𝙪𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝟭: Do you constantly procrastinate on important tasks? 𝙌𝙪𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝟮: Do you require coaxing to do small chores? 𝙌𝙪𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝟯: Do you perform duties just to get by? 𝙌𝙪𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝟰: Do you constantly talk negatively about your work? 𝙌𝙪𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝟱: Do efforts of friends to encourage you irritate you instead? 𝙌𝙪𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝟲: Do you start small projects and abandon them? 𝙌𝙪𝙚𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝟳: Do you avoid self-improvement opportunities? If you answer yes to many of these questions, you haven’t tapped into a strong enough or big enough why to keep you growing. When I was a child, my mom continually gave me whys to keep me going. She would say things like, “If you eat your vegetables, you can have dessert.” She knew I needed to know the benefits of eating vegetables when I didn’t want to do it. That kind of training set me up for success, because I started to learn the relationship between motivation and discipline. If you think about it, you can see that discipline and motivation are two sides of the same coin. If you have the motivation you need, discipline is no problem. If you lack motivation, discipline is always a problem. “Once you learn to quit it becomes a habit.” —Vince Lombardi You have to give yourself more and bigger whys so you can keep wanting to put in the effort to grow. In my book Put Your Dream to the Test, I teach that the more valid reasons you have to achieve your dream, the higher the odds are that you will. That principle is also true of growth. The greater number of reasons you give yourself to grow, the more likely you will be to follow through. Of course, in certain circumstances one really compelling why can also be enough, as Kenyan world-class runner Bernard “Kip” Lagat demonstrated when he was interviewed during the Sydney Olympics. He was asked how his country was able to produce so many great distance runners. His answer: “It’s the road signs: ‘Beware the Lions.’ Legendary NFL coach Vince Lombardi said, “Once you learn to quit it becomes a habit.” If giving up has become a habit for you, then I suggest you take the advice of my friend Darren Hardy, who wrote a wonderful book called The Compound Effect. In it he writes, The Compound Effect is the principle of reaping huge rewards from a series of small, smart choices. What’s most interesting about this process to me is that, even though the results are massive, the steps, in the moment, don’t feel significant. Whether you’re using this strategy for improving your health, relationships, finances, or anything else for that matter, the changes are so subtle, they’re almost imperceptible. These small changes offer little or no immediate result, no big win, no obvious I-told-you-so payoff. So why bother? Most people get tripped up by the simplicity of the Compound Effect. For instance, they quit after the eighth day of running because they’re still overweight. Or, they stop practicing the piano after six months because they haven’t mastered anything other than “Chopsticks.” Or, they stop making contributions to their IRA after a few years because they could use the cash—and it doesn’t seem to be adding up to much anyway. What they don’t realize is that these small, seemingly insignificant steps completed consistently over time will create a radical difference. When you make the right choices—however small—and do it consistently over time, it can make a huge difference in your life. If you remember why you’re making those choices, it becomes easier. ᴾ𓂃4

ᴾ𓂃5 𝟒. 𝐃𝐨 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐊𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐀𝐫𝐞 𝐒𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐈𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐞? The final piece of the puzzle is the question of when. When do you need to improve? First the obvious answer: right now. Today. Author and education professor Leo Buscaglia noted, “Life lived for tomorrow will always be just a day away from being realized.” So you need to get started if you haven’t yet. More important, you need today to be every day. You will never change your life until you change something you do daily. That means developing great habits. Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishments, and that bridge must be crossed every day. Over time that daily crossing becomes a habit. And ultimately, people do not decide their future; they decide their habits and their habits decide their future. As author and speaker Brian Tracy says, “From the time you get up in the morning to the time you go to sleep at night, your habits largely control the words you say, the things you do, and the ways you react and respond.” What are you doing daily that needs to change? What needs doing? Maybe more important, what needs undoing? Advice columnist Abigail Van Buren quipped, “A bad habit never goes away by itself. It’s always an undo-it-yourself project.” What are you willing to change doing today in order to change what you will be doing tomorrow? In the end, hard work is really the accumulation of easy things you didn’t do when you should have. It’s like diet and exercise. Everyone wants to be thin, but no one wants to make the right choices to get there. It’s hard work when you’ve neither eaten right nor exercised day after day. However, if you make small right choices each day, day after day, you see results. ᴾ𓂃5

ᴾ𓂃6 𝗠𝗮𝘆𝗯𝗲 𝗜𝘁’𝘀 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝗦𝘁𝗼𝗽 𝗦𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗚𝗼𝗮𝗹𝘀. Consistency isn’t easy. Novelist Aldous Huxley asserted, “Consistency is contrary to nature, contrary to life. The only completely consistent people are the dead.” Even so, to be successful we must learn to become consistent. You must figure out what works for you, but I’ll be glad to tell you what has worked for me. Instead of being goal conscious, I focus on being growth conscious. Here’s the difference:ᴾ𓂃6

ᴾ𓂃8 I am such a strong believer in people and in human potential—not only in others but also myself—that I don’t ever want to put a lid on it by setting goals that are too small. I did that early in my career, and I realized it would limit me. If you can believe in yourself and the potential that is in you, and then focus on growth instead of goals, there’s no telling how far you can grow. You just need to consistently put in the work as you keep believing in yourself. ᴾ𓂃8

ᴾ𓂃9 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐏𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 Author Ernest Newman noted, “The great composer does not set to work because he is inspired, but becomes inspired because he is working. Beethoven, Wagner, Mozart, and Bach all settled down, day after day, to the job at hand. They didn’t waste time waiting for inspiration.” That has also been true of one of today’s most famous and productive composers: John Williams. No doubt you know the man’s work, even if you don’t know his name. Do you remember the five musical notes that were the communication key in the movie Close Encounters of the Third Kind? Or the ominous music that always accompanied the appearance of the shark in Jaws? How about the themes from Star Wars or Raiders of the Lost Ark or the Harry Potter films? All of those were John Williams’s compositions. Williams, the son of a jazz musician, was born in Queens, New York, and grew up in Los Angeles. He showed musical promise early and studied with Italian composer Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco. After a stint serving in the U.S. Air Force, he studied piano at Juilliard, then played at clubs and studios in New York City. He broke into the movie industry by working for composers such as Franz Waxman, Bernard Herrmann, Alfred Newman, Henry Mancini, and Jerry Goldsmith playing piano, scoring, and eventually composing. His first screen credit came in 1960. Williams has been working steadily in the movies for more than sixty years. In that time, he has written 121 film scores, a symphony, a dozen concertos, and many other symphonic works. He has been nominated for Academy Awards forty-five times, winning five times. He’s been awarded four Golden Globes, five Emmys, and twentyone Grammys. And he’s still going strong. How does he do it? By being consistent. Williams says,I developed from very early on a habit of writing something every day, good or bad. There are good days, and there are less good days, but I do a certain amount of pages it seems to me before I can feel like the day has been completely served. When I am working on a film, of course, it’s a six-day-a-week affair, and when I’m not working on films, I always like to devote myself to some piece, some musical project, that gives me a feeling that I’m maybe contributing in some small way or, maybe more importantly, learning in the process. Williams doesn’t look for motivation. He doesn’t wait for inspiration. He gets up every morning and practices the discipline of writing. He doesn’t expect it to be perfect. He just expects it to be done. And what about writer’s block? Williams says it’s not a problem: I never experienced anything like a block. For me if I’m ever blocked or I feel like I don’t quite know where to go at the next turn, the best thing for me is to keep writing, to write something. It could be absolute nonsense, but it will project me into the next phase of thinking. And I think if we ourselves as writers get out of the way and let the flow happen and not get uptight about it, so to speak, the muses will carry us along. The wonderful thing about music is it never seems to be exhausted. Every little idea germinates another one. Things are constantly transforming themselves in musical terms. So that the few notes we have, 7, 8 or 12 notes, can be morphed into endless variations, and it’s never quite over, so I think the idea of a block is something we need to work through. John Williams’s life and work is proof that the Law of Consistency can work. Anyone who does what he must only when he is in the mood or when it’s convenient isn’t going to be successful. The secret is following through. Williams’s body of work is the evidence of a lifetime of self-discipline and perseverance. And it verifies what SuccessNet founder Michael Angier says: “If you develop the habits of success, you’ll make success a habit.” That habit of success hasn’t gone to Williams’s head. “If the music is well known,” he says, “it speaks to the ubiquitous nature of film in our society. With time I suppose everything, all but the greatest works of art, are erased from memory, but I feel lucky and very privileged that people respond in the way that they do.” I find John Williams’s music and his life very inspiring. I hope you do too. But never forget: Motivation gets you going, but discipline keeps you growing. That is the Law of Consistency.  ᴾ𓂃10

ᴾ𓂃10 𝗔𝗽𝗽𝗹𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗟𝗮𝘄 𝗼𝗳 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗰𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗟𝗶𝗳𝗲 1. Align your methods of motivation with your personality type. Use whateverpersonality profile you prefer to study your personality type. (If you haven’t used one before, then find one. Examples include Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, DiSC, and Personality Plus.) Once you have a good handle on what makes your personality type tick, then develop a daily growth system that is simple and plays to your strengths. 2. It’s difficult to remain engaged in anything if you have not found a way to valueand appreciate the process. Make a list of everything you like about personal growth. If your list is very short, really work at it. Anything you can find as motivation will help you to develop better growth habits. 3. The more whys you have for pursuing personal growth on a daily basis, the more likely you will be to follow through. Start compiling those whys. Think of immediate benefits as well as long-term ones. Consider reasons related to purpose, vision, and dreams. Think of how it will help you relationally, vocationally, and spiritually. Any reason to grow is a good reason as long as it’s your reason.