Daniel Ngari .com – Inspiring Friends

The Value of Consistency

“In essence, if we want to direct our lives, we must take control of our consistent actions. It is not what we do once in a while that shape our lives, but what we do consistently” – Athony Robbins.

A powerful personal brand is consistent. Consistency does not mean stagnation. It does not mean lack of growth. It does not mean doing the same thing over and over. Consistency in personal branding means sending a uniform message to your target audience. It means maintaining a standard and avoiding actions that could damage your personal brand.

One of the quickest ways to damage a personal brand is through inconsistency. When people stop paying attention to their personal brand, the results can be disastrous. They slide back to old habits or do things that damage people’s perception of them. For example, a successful businessman can damage his personal brand by being charged in court for domestic violence. An elite footballer can damage his personal brand by being exposed as having a drug problem.

To maintain a consistent brand image, it is important to set giant personal branding goals. These goals can then be broken down into sub goals. Consistent achievement of those sub goals over time gives a consistent brand direction. Those baby steps add up.

Powerful personal brands take years to develop. It is not the radical changes that you make to your personal brand that count. It is the small, gradual, never ending improvements that shape people’s perception f you.

Consistency Applied

• Health - Consistency in exercise and good eating habits help maintain a healthy body and mind. Regular exercise helps develop discipline and good health. This manifests itself in other areas of life and directly impacts on personal branding efforts.

• Finances – Having a consistent investment/saving plan helps protect a person in times of hardships. Putting aside a percentage of your earnings will ensure your personal brand is protected in tough times.Financial difficulties can be damaging to a personal brand. Being consistent in the way you prudently manage finances is insurance for your personal brand.

• Networking – Consistently meeting new people and developing existing relationships has a big impact on personal branding. It helps improve recognition and trust. It takes time for people to trust new contacts. It is not enough to attend one business networking meeting, collect business cards, and call it a day.Think of contacts as an investment. Think of how you can benefit from each other over the long term. Work on solidifying your relationship over time. Follow up with your contacts regularly by providing value or friendship. Do not just approach your contacts when you need something from them. Let the power of compounding work in your favor. Be consistent in the way you approach networking.

• Mind – You need to put your thoughts on a leash. Don’t let them wander off too far from where you want them to be. You can do this through constant affirmations and consistently reminding yourself what it is that you want to achieve.If you let your thoughts wander too far from your control, you will miss the bus. The bus that leads to success. This is one area of life where you are allowed to be a dictator. Dictate your thoughts. Consistently feed your mind with empowering thoughts that will help in your self improvement efforts and personal branding.

• Relationships – The best relationships are built through consistent communication. Consistent actions such as love, honesty and generosity are rewarded through fulfilling relationships. It is not what you do once in a while that builds a fabulous relationship. It is the small consistent things done regularly that count.

• Character – This is the area of lasting success that is unfortunately ignored by many who aspire to be successful. Setting and reaching character goals will make you a better person. Character is who you are when nobody is looking. Are you a man or woman of honor? of integrity? are you honest? Are you self disciplined?Character is different from talent, it is shaped over time by the events, decisions you make and actions that you take. The strength of someone’s character refers to their inner person, whom they really at the core.When a man loses every single earthly possession all he has to fall back on is his character. The strength of character consists of virtues such as integrity, courage, fortitude, honesty, and loyalty, good behaviors or habits. Character is what determines a person’s ultimate destiny.

• Contribution – Giving value to others is the perfect way of building a personal brand. Developing a consistent habit of giving to others is like planting seeds of a powerful personal brand. Be a cheerful giver. Give something of value to people you meet. Not necessarily money but what you have in your reserves.When you give you are making a deposit in your spiritual account and you will reap your rewards with the same measure you give out. Obsess on consistently giving to others; whether it is through your time, ideas, money or gifts.

Summary

Consistency means sending out a consistent message regarding your personal brand. It means avoiding extremes and focusing on growth through taking baby steps.

It is the small steps that you take consistently in business, health, mind, relationships, finances etc that make the ultimate difference. Protect your personal brand through consistency.

I would love to hear your comments regarding the value of consistency. How has consistency helped you in your life? What areas of life do you think can improve if you were consistent? Your comments are most welcome.

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Comments

3 Responses to “The Value of Consistency”

• Prince Miyake says:

  June 12, 2009 at 6:10 pm

  to be consistent..takes patience and practise…and the ability to communicate these values requires complete focus on those ideals, chopping and changing as we progress in life but still maintaining the basic fundamentals of that brand..it may years to perfect and master but we must remain unwavering and by applying the kaizen principle we will get there..slowly but surely..Thanks Dan

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• Joy says:

  June 9, 2009 at 8:07 pm

  well said Daniel. Cant add anything more, than agree there must be consistency in direction. Whatever course we pursue be it in health, family career, for any one direction, there must be consistency.

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• paula says:

  June 8, 2009 at 7:49 am

  Consistency sounds alike something I was learning from a friend last month… The benefit of sticking to the correct to the same answer positively and waiting for it to pass… I call it patience… waiting on God or something to come to pass without waivering..

  [Reply]