The Importance of Consistent Effort in Achieving Your Goals

By: Michael Beiter

In today's world, we are bombarded with multiple commitments, from work to family care, managing relationships, and dealing with stress. It can be overwhelming, and we often find ourselves struggling to keep up with everything on our plate.

One of the biggest challenges we face is setting unrealistic goals and expectations for ourselves. We want to do everything, and we want to do it perfectly, but the reality is that this is not possible. We need to refine our goals and expectations to match our abilities and the reality of our situation.

The key to achieving success in this environment is to do less but do it more consistently. There is no such thing as perfect, and there doesn't need to be. Imperfect action done consistently is a better strategy than excellent action done rarely.

Precision Nutrition's client base has over one million data points that show even 10% effort, done consistently, produces results for people trying to lose weight. Of course, more effort more often produces more results, but there is a natural cutoff line that is drawn far before "perfect."

When we put in less effort more often, we can stick to our goals long-term. It's about sustainability. However, when we suggest this to people, we are often met with resistance because they associate lower expectations with laziness, no ambition, or poor ethics.

The truth is that we need to introduce the concept of the 'minimum effective dose.' This is borrowed from pharmacology, and it asks what is the lowest amount of dose of a drug that will work. Applied to our work, it asks, "What is the minimum amount of effort I need to put in to see results?"

Over a million data points say: only a little, about 10% effort. By setting realistic goals and expectations and putting in consistent effort, we can achieve success in all areas of our lives. Remember, it's not about doing everything perfectly, but it's about doing what we can consistently.