BASS PRO MIDWEEK MOTIVATION-The power of consistency

Hello runner friends! 
Welcome back to the Bass Pro Fitness Series 
MIDWEEK M😊TIVATI😊N blog. 

Now let's get started by talking about something that can make or break your goals--running or otherwise--for 2021. 

CONSISTENCY

Let's look at what it means to be consistent though and how striving to obtain consistency above perfection can help keep you motivated to achieve those things you placed on your list of “what I will accomplish in 2021”.

As defined, a person who is consistent acts or does something the same way over time. They are not perfect but are unchanging in nature, standard or effect over time. Over time is an adverb phrase that describes something which happens gradually. It is not used to describe long hours at a job or an extended period of play in an athletic game. Over time means something happened gradually, progressively, with time, consistent, by degrees, little by little, bit by bit, steadily, slowly but surely. Here is a great example... over time, water carved the Grand Canyon into the landscape of what is now Arizona.

And perhaps one of the greatest examples of something great being achieved or accomplished over time is the building of Rome. After all, it wasn't as they say built in a day right? Of course not. In fact, it took time; lots of time and lots and lots of bricks. Which is why the process of building serves as a great reminder to keep laying those bricks--or to keep doing those workouts. After all, each run gets you closer to your ultimate goal. Think about it... you're not going to run a marathon overnight or in the course of a week even. Good things take time to accomplish and are the result of consistent efforts over time... they are the result of laying one brick on top of another, and then another and then another... day after day after day after day until the building that you envisioned (which is you) is completed. And even then, the work is never done. There's always going to be that pesky maintenance, upkeep, repair and remodel. 

So envision yourself then as a work in progress. What do you want to look like when the last brick is laid? What do you want to feel like as you build yourself up? And most importantly, what is it that you want to ultimately achieve?  No matter what your answers are, being consistent in your daily habits is the only way to make it happen. And remember... one missed run, one neglected rest day or the occasional cheat meal won't ruin the work you may have put in or defer the work you are trying to achieve. Consistently grant yourself the grace to be imperfect and to fall short from time to time because it WILL happen. The important thing is to be consistent MOST of the time and to pick yourself back up each time you aren't. 

So in an effort to inspire you to remain consistent and persistent in working towards your goals, check out these motivational quotes.....

We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit. – Aristotle

What is the source of my success? I think it’s a combination of consistency and balance. – Mark Allen

The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones. – Confucius

Success is no accident. It is hard work, perseverance, learning, studying, sacrifice and, most of all, LOVE of what you are doing. – Pele

Patience is the key which solves all problems. – Sudanese proverb

A one hour run is 4% of your day. No excuses.

When it’s pouring rain and you’re bowling along through the wet, there’s satisfaction in knowing you’re out there and the others aren’t. – Peter Snell

One run can change your day. Many runs can change your life.

We all know that if you run, you are pretty much choosing a life of success because of it. – Deena Kastor

The obsession with running is really an obsession with the potential for more and more life. – George Sheehan

It’s my own space, my own time, when I’m just out there letting my thoughts go. It’s part of my day like eating, and it’s one of my favorite parts. – Louise Kent

The miracle isn’t that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start. – John Bingham

Mental will is a muscle that needs exercise, just like the muscles of the body. – Lynn Jennings

Tough runs don’t last; tough runners do.

Success isn’t always about greatness. It’s about consistency. Consistent hard work leads to success. Greatness will come. – Dwayne Johnson

Consistency is the fruit of the tree of success. The more you do something effectively and with a goal in mind, the better you will get at it and the more you will feel fulfilled.” – Dan O’Brien

Courage and perseverance have a magical talisman, before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish into air. – John Quincy Adams

Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out. – Robert Collier

Perseverance is a great element of success. If you only knock long enough and loud enough at the gate, you are sure to wake up somebody. – Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

I’ve learned from experience that if you work harder at it, and apply more energy and time to it, and more consistency, you get a better result. It comes from the work. – Louis C. K.

When you look at people who are successful, you will find that they aren’t the people who are motivated, but have consistency in their motivation. – Arsene Wenger

Small disciplines repeated with consistency every day lead to great achievements gained slowly over time. – John C. Maxwell

Look at a stone cutter hammering away at his rock, perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred-and-first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not the last blow that did it, but all that had gone before. – Jacob A. Riis

I will persist until I succeed. Always will I take another step. If that is of no avail I will take another, and yet another. In truth, one step at a time is not too difficult. I know that small attempts, repeated, will complete any undertaking. – Og Mandino

When you have a great and difficult task, something perhaps almost impossible, if you only work a little at a time, every day a little, suddenly the work will finish itself. – Isak Dinesen

Success is the result of perfection, hard work, learning from failure, loyalty, and persistence. – Colin Powell

Ambition is the path to success. Persistence is the vehicle you arrive in. – Bill Bradley

Paralyze resistance with persistence. – Woody Hayes

Champions keep playing until they get it right. – Billy Jean King

Your mind will quit a thousand times before your body will. Feel the fear and do it anyway!

Look in the mirror. That is your competition.

There’s not one body type that equates to success. Accept the body you have and be the best you can be with it. – Mary Cullen

I often hear someone say I’m not a real runner. We are all runners, some just run faster than others. I never met a fake runner.– Bart Yasso

I always loved running…it was something you could do by yourself, and under your own power. You could go in any direction, fast or slow as you wanted, fighting the wind if you felt like it, seeking out new sights just on the strength of your feet and the courage of your lungs. – Jesse Owens

Today I will do what others won’t so tomorrow I can do what others can’t.

As athletes we have ups and downs. Unfortunately you can’t pick the days they come on. – Leena Kastor

So there you have it friends. I hope you were inspired to start building today that person you want to be tomorrow or a year from now. Almost any goal that you have--whether it's to run a 5k, 10k, half-marathon, full-marathon, technical trail run or even an ultra-marathon--can be achieved by consistent effort and relentless perseverance. If you’ve ever watched a bricklayer, you know that small things done consistently over time make something worthwhile in the end—knowledge that makes it easier to get started and stick with it, even when it’s challenging. So lace up those shoes and start laying those bricks. 

Happy Running!!!