Less than four weeks ago, we began a New Year. Another 365 days of opportunities, challenges, and new goals. The aim can be personal, like running a half-marathon, while others can be business-focused, like expanding your customer base. Whatever your goal is, consistency is one of the most vital elements to achieving personal and professional success.
One of my favorite children’s books, The Carrot Seed, beautifully illustrates the benefits of the undervalued practice of consistency. Most likely, Ruth Krauss’ childhood challenges inspired the story. She suffered from several health issues, including a severe autoimmune disease that caused her skin to blister. But despite her hardships, she committed to a writing practice at a young age and became one of the most cherished children’s book authors of all time.
The Carrot Seed exemplifies Ruth’s commitment to consistency. On the first page, an ordinary boy wearing a white shirt and brown overalls plants a single carrot seed. Then, he returns to the site to weed and water each day. Despite his brother, father, and mothers’ negative mantra, “I’m afraid, it won’t come up,” the boy remains dedicated to caring for the seed. In the end, the boy’s devotion to his goal pays off, and an enormous carrot stalk emerges from the ground, “just as the little boy had known it would,” writes Ruth.
Growing up, most of us faced similar negativity that confronted the young boy. Society is full of cynics, and I feel they are more vocal as you get older. All the more reason to realize how important consistency is to achieving your goals. Consistency focuses on maintaining the same commitment to a task or action despite the changes or challenges. The unwavering concentration on the small steps helps develop habits that increase drive and create growth. Too often, people stop making an effort because the results do not show fast enough. Our tech-driven society has made us accustomed to immediate gratification that distorts our view of how long it takes to achieve results. Unfortunately, success often does not happen as quickly as we may want or think it should. Bestselling author and leadership coach John C. Maxwell, says “Small disciplines repeated with consistency every day lead to great achievements gained slowly over time.” The boy in Ruth’s story spent many days watering and pulling weeds despite any visible growth. But the giant carrot would’ve never appeared if he would’ve stopped his consistent care.
The boy’s consistency is the key to reaching 2022 goals. Whether you are trying to run a half-marathon or expand your Digital Customer base, a commitment to small, steady actions is the most critical element to success. It’s easy to set a goal, but you have to know how to reach it. The first step involves creating a realistic and manageable plan to get there. The design must illustrate all the steps and a matching timeline for each stage. For example, if a company wants to grow its Digital Customer base, it first must determine how to reach its customers. A Newsletter sent out to its existing email list and social media channels is a great idea. Still, it needs to offer consistent value for customers to care enough to read, share, and subscribe—all actions that expand a Digital Customer base. Just as the boy in the book understood that the seed required water and weeding, a company needs to determine what its customers need. Once a company creates value and delivers it consistently, it will develop the momentum to reach its ultimate goals, as the boy did in the story.
No matter how lofty or small your 2022 goals may be, it’s important to remember that a straightforward strategy that relies on consistency can lead to the most significant results. The boy in The Carrot Seed started with just a seed, just like you will begin with only an idea. But if you are willing to commit to cultivating it every day with consistent but straightforward actions, it will slowly grow over time, “just like the little boy knew it would.”
Please contact us if you’re interested in learning how Tansley can help you and your business create a consistent strategy to reach your 2022 business goals.
