Persistence is the catalyst of change

Each day we wake up, we encounter our first test of perseverance. The alarm clock is neither friend nor foe. But each morning, it puts our minds into a feeling of discomfort.

Persistence is an hourly test. When no one else is around, the only person that can count our reps, the only thing that stands in the way of straying from our desired path is the willpower to maintain our consistency. 

No one is perfect at this. However, many people in the world today exemplify what it means to remain disciplined. 

Energy x Consistent application = Persistence

The famous first expedition of the South Pole demonstrates just how powerful this equation is. 

Many authors have written on this event, and its implications to the everyday human.

At its core. There were two groups. One group traveled as far as they could each day. On good weather, they could make it 50 miles; bad weather, they would try to sit out the storms. The second group traveled 20 miles each day, no matter the conditions.

Can you guess which group made it to the South Pole first? 

The group that consistently traveled 20 miles each day not only made it there first, but they were the only team to return alive. 

In this example, not only was the group’s consistent travel schedule the fastest, but it was also the thing that kept them alive. 

The South Pole is such a tumultuous region of polar storms. Out of nowhere, there will be a storm that lasts 3 days. Then there might be a few hours of light. Then the cycle repeats itself. 

Group one traveled when it was most convenient. When the world made travel difficult, the group did what was comfortable and easier.

Group two shows that even in a place in the world where no one else is watching you, consistency affords success. No matter what the world threw at team one, no matter how difficult the challenge, they stuck to their plan. 

Take this concept and apply it to your life today.

“Start by making your bed,” says Admiral William H. McRaven.

“If you make your bed every morning you will have accomplished the first task of the day. It will give you a small sense of pride, and it will encourage you to do another task and another and another. By the end of the day, that one task completed will have turned into many tasks completed. Making your bed will also reinforce the fact that little things in life matter. If you can't do the little things right, you will never do the big things right.”

People are creating meaningful change today as well.

Protests around the world are making light of the great racial injustices in America. Far more than that, the movement we are seeing today is a fight for the rights of every man, woman and child, regardless of age, sex, race, color, ethnicity, or nationality.

Black Lives Matters proves how remaining consistent can create long-lasting change. BLM didn’t start a couple months ago. This movement was founded on July 13, 2013.

Over 60 years before BLM, the civil rights movement wrote a new chapter in the story of American history. 

100 years before the civil rights movement, the civil war divided a country. It took the level-headed leadership, and calm, bold words of Abraham Lincoln’s emancipation proclamation to spearhead a new era of American civil rights. 

If you want to see what persistence can achieve today, look towards those who have followed in Martin Luther King’s footsteps. When you see the conviction and bravery in the eyes of those fighting for this cause, we can see just how powerful persistence is. We can see how powerful it can make us, and we can see just how important it is in creating positive change in our world today. If you feel like you’re struggling during these uncertain times to remain consistent in a specific practice or habit, that is perfectly okay. We will never be perfect superstars every day. 

But the next time you face a challenge, just remember why you started, and how your decisions will impact your end result. 

Remaining consistent, remaining disciplined in unprecedented times is what powers individual and cultural changes.