Obianuju Ndaguba: Why You Need To Be Consistent

While studying for my first degree, I discovered I had a gift; I wrote quite well. It didn’t seem like a big deal till I interned at a radio station in my second year, and a blind producer (one I enjoyed working with a lot) insisted that I wrote the scripts for all his programs during my stay. He always made sure to go through what I wrote and constructively criticized my choice of words.

It was as though he had discovered a gold mine and was dedicated to helping me write better. To be honest, I believe that why I write now is because I always remember countless episodes of him asking me to write on a topic ‘just for the fun of it’.

Years after, writing still seems like something I will want to invest time and energy in and probably not just for the fun of it. And so when I got my first writing gig, it felt like I had hit a jackpot, but here’s one challenge I believe can be detrimental to my growth as a writer….’INCONSISTENCY’.

One thing I believe we can all agree on is that you become a master of the art based on experience. These experiences that make you better skilled are born out of the desire to do more and do better.

Why you need to be consistent is very simple: time determines how far you go, and what you do with the time determines how fast you grow (whhhhhhaaaatttt!?? did I just sound like a motivational speaker. Yes, No?)

I learnt a quote which I’m often made to repeat over and over again, ‘consistency and being able to evolve with a system is what makes you relevant’. In essence, to get to your goal, you have to make sure you keep at it, don’t stop, just keep doing it.  The beautiful part of it is, the results start to play out with time.

So, let’s say you want to build your online presence, it will require you to set up social media accounts and post relevant content as often as possible. It will also mean you spend a considerable amount of time following people, investing in sponsored ads, churning out content people can repost, thereby drawing traffic to your page, and all that jazz.

One thing I discovered is that the difference between you and someone who is equally gifted in a particular area is this, while you are still thinking, the other person is already doing.

Are you one of those that see the number of someone’s Youtube subscribers and think; when will I get to this stage? Or do you look at accomplished writers and think that they are much more gifted than you are?

Be assured of this, the difference between you and the other person killing it is “CONSISTENCY”

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