“A jug fills drop-by-drop.”
– Buddha
Two disclaimers.
One, I’m not sure hyphens were a thing in Buddah’s day, but Grammarly says so. Two, yes, I know I don’t often quote Buddah, but bear with me, please.
Consistency matters.
I had a boss once who was a wacky dude. A short-trigger and a quick tongue, high intellect and low patience. He was also extraordinarily committed and consistent. We literally knew when something was hitting him wrong and we’d re-direct. We loved him and he loved us. He’d have taken a bullet for any of us, and we for him. Because he was consistent. Consistently excellent, sure, but consistent first.
“No surprises” is a decent way to approach a business day. When we set high expectations with our clients and meet them, consistently, relationships deepen and commerce grows. When we show up every day, our co-worker across the hall or across the country begins to know that they can count on us, and when we see / talk to them every day, we grow into the trust that we can count on them. If our boss keeps giving us more to do, or asking our input on different topics, consistency is probably at play. She knows she can count on us to think, weigh in and not succumb to the allure of emotion or be reactive or irrational.
Consistency isn’t perfection, it’s predictability. It’s establishing credibility in a way that combines experience, empathy, EQ and curiosity.
How consistent can we be today and every day? How much of a difference will that make?
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