I’m writing today’s newsletter on a high-speed train just outside of Paris.
When we boarded the train this morning to leave Paris and head to Nice for the weekend, I realized that it was a Thursday and that I hadn’t written anything for this Friday. I honestly haven’t really used my brain all week except to read a book to pass the time on the trains and planes I’ve been aboard.
While it wouldn’t be the end of the world if I took this Friday off and while I don’t know if anyone would really take offense, I couldn’t allow myself to avoid publishing something on this Friday morning.
See, since I created my newsletter a little over 3 years ago, one thing has remained true every single week:
No matter what’s happening in my life — whether I’m jet-setting across the world, getting ready for a brutal grappling tournament, or whether I’m in the hospital with an infection — there’s always a newsletter in my reader’s inbox every Friday morning.
I am consistent and I have been for years.
Today, we’re talking about consistency and how to find a good enough reason to keep showing up.
The prison of inconsistency.
I find comfort in my routine.
When I’m home, I am at training every day at noon like clockwork. I am in the weight room 3 times per week as if I’m being paid by the bicep curl. I write every morning and have for so long that at this point I could not imagine doing anything else.
At times, I go through phases where I feel “trapped” in a prison of my own efforts. I don’t feel “okay” with the day until some effort has been made at chipping away at some sort of grander purpose. Some sort of goal.
Sometimes, this makes me frustrated. I wish I could just “let go” and not care about how well I perform in everything. I wish I didn’t need the consistent effort to feel complete.
But when I really think about it, I realize that this just the life of any artist or entrepreneur or athlete or creative person. You’re damned if you do and damned if you don’t, so you might as well do good for as long as you can.
The prison of inconsistency, fragmentation, and lack of discipline is far worse than the prison of daily effort toward a meaningful goal.
You have to choose your suffering.
Da Vinci never finished the Mona Lisa.
At the Louvre in Paris this week, my girlfriend and I did what every single visitor to the museum would do and we looked at the Mona Lisa.
The Mona Lisa is a pretty painting, but what’s really interesting to me about it is the story behind the painting. My pallet for art consumption is not refined enough to truly appreciate the intricacies of the world’s most famous piece of artwork. I don’t care about what brush strokes Da Vinci used, I care about what ideas kept him up at night when trying to finish this great masterpiece.
Da Vinci, when I read about him, is interesting because, he was kind of a mess.
He didn’t finish a lot of his artwork — the Mona Lisa included. He gave up on a lot of projects — the Mona Lisa included. He was a perfectionist to a fault.
With the Mona Lisa, Da Vinci was obsessed with perfecting the painting. He brought it with him everywhere he went. Although it’s widely agreed that the bulk of the painting took place between 1503 and 1506, it’s possible that Da Vinci was still tinkering with his masterpiece as late 1517 (he died in 1519).
Most people today can’t fathom working on something for more a few hours. Da Vinci spent 3 years on the Mona Lisa and then tinkered with it for 15 more years.
When he died, the Mona Lisa was still in Da Vinci’s studio — unfinished. Over time, it became the most valuable painting in the world.
Da Vinci was trapped by painting — but he was also consistent. This seems to me like a better hell than the alternate reality where he gave up on the Mona Lisa the second he got frustrated.
Your own masterpiece.
Da Vinci was a visionary. Obsessed with perfection.
So much so that it wasn’t he who decided to finish the Mona Lisa, it was his paralytic hand that stopped his brush from moving.
Essentially, he retired due to injury.
For me, when I think about the life of Leonardo Da Vinci, I don’t just see a talented artist, a polymath, and the guy who created the most famous painting ever.
I see decades of devotion to the craft of visual art. Thousands of hours of practice. Obsession. Perfection in the eyes of everyone but him.
He had a motive for his work so strong that his consistency to his craft lasted a lifetime — until he literally couldn’t work anymore.
And that leads us to the point of today’s post.
True consistency doesn’t come from doing the bare minimum. It doesn’t come from “just showing up”. It doesn’t come from simply “enjoying what you’re doing”.
The raw truth is that the secret to years of consistency — whether it’s on the mat, in the gym, or trying to create your great work — is a vision to create something that’s bigger than just satisfying your ego through external perception.
The secret to consistency is to have a vision.
Closing Thoughts
When it comes to Jiu-Jitsu, I’ve had a revelation regarding this in the last 12 months.
For years when I was younger, my goals were primarily based on satisfying my ego. I wanted accolades so other people would think I was good. I wanted to win just so I didn’t have to deal with the pain of losing.
I worked extremely hard, but not because I wanted to make something good. I just wanted to get the job done.
And I think that’s why I used to feel so burned out all the time. I couldn’t see the bigger picture.
What I’ve started to learn is something that is second nature to great artists like Da Vinci — the goal is not to win, the goal is to become excellent at your craft.
This is a game that’s never going to get old.
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