One of the essential things in life is to be consistent. Unfortunately, some people believe that they need to be perfect to succeed. However, this is not the case. Being perfect can hinder your success. Why? Because it's impossible to maintain perfection over a long time. On the other hand, if you are consistent, you will make progress, even if it's not at a fast pace. So don't strive for perfection – aim for consistency instead.

Consistency is different from perfection.

When you can do something regularly and turn it into a habit, one might think you are perfect. The fact that you can diligently do something every day is laudable. Not everybody has the discipline and willpower to commit to something. However, just because you can consistently do something doesn't mean you are perfect. Perfection lies almost in the realm of fantasy. Being perfect means the absence of any flaw. Sure enough, you can sometimes accomplish work or any activity in an ideal state but not all the time. When you remain consistent in doing something, you don't get a perfect result every day with your job or any other activity. Consistency is different from perfection, depending on how you utilize it.

The all-or-nothing approach

Putting consistent effort in anything we do is essential for success. However, one may confuse consistency with perfection in not missing a beat with your activities. One may think that being consistent means not missing a day regarding doing something or not failing whenever you do something. Unfortunately, it can quickly evolve into a mindset of absolutes: it's either 100% or 0%. This kind of thinking is where it can get problematic.

Failure has no place when it comes to perfection. However, one may start to obsess about becoming flawless. So what happens is that when you do something and then fail once or miss a day doing it, you can tend to drop it and start doing something again. However, you can end up wasting a lot of time by doing this. So instead of continuing and getting back up after a failure or a missed day of activity, you start over again, hoping to achieve that perfect streak to attain the ideal result. Progress gets sacrificed as a result.

Consistency doesn't mean 100%

Staying consistent in anything doesn't mean 100%. It's vital to remember that failures are still a part of the equation. Consistency is more important than perfection in the sense that you still consider failures as part of making progress in something and having the plans to deal with them. No matter how diligent and excellent you are in doing something, there will be times when you get sick, or setbacks happen, and as a result, you might have to skip on doing something and make adjustments. A single day of missed opportunity or work doesn't mean it's all over. You can take a break for one day and use that moment to rethink your strategy, then work the next day again. Your long-term success won't disappear just because of a few mistakes. There's always the option to bounce back.

Consistent effort can put you closer to the finish line.

One can achieve more consistency by taking action towards achieving anything one wants. Therefore, it's an excellent idea to combine progress with consistency. Knowing why you have to do something and making small strides of accomplishment every day can work well for you. The small triumphs you make every day can eventually accumulate and form part of the larger goal you are pursuing. Focusing too much on the results will only make you worry and instill fear when you fail. Instead, focus on the process and work every day to contribute to your goal. One must also realize that results can take time before they happen, so one must learn to wait and be patient. Consistency means regularly doing something, with some room for error, and knowing how to get back on track even if failures occur.

While perfection might seem like a bad thing compared to making progress and achieving consistency, it can still act as a motivation tool in giving high standards for you to try to achieve. However, don't turn perfection into the only right path to achieve something. Strive for perfection if you can, but don't make it the only acceptable result. Instead, focus first on doing activities daily and turning them into habits. Then, once doing something becomes second nature to you and you can now deal with failures, you can try aiming for a higher standard, as long as progress and time don't get sacrificed. The point is that before trying to achieve a very high standard, one must learn the ability to do something consistently first.