Are you Consistent?

I don’t know about you, but sometimes I communicate in general terms… I don’t really know everything I want to say - still processing. Other times I may be trying to keep from the truth by hiding in the labyrinth of Generality. Either way I’m want to talk about an issue that I have grasped but am still struggling with: Consistency - Steadfast adherence to the same principles, course, form, etc.:

I want to be specific. I am an author. As more people discover this fact, more people ask me questions. One of the questions often asked is, “Are you going to write another book?” I usually smile and tell them that I’m working on four manuscripts - which I am - and they are usually surprised. But here’s my issue - Consistency.

I have four manuscripts that are at various stages of production. However, days will pass where I won’t do any work on them at all. Days turn to weeks and then I look back and wonder where the time went and how come I keep having to push back my writing deadlines. Have you ever been at this point where you wonder where the time went and why you didn’t get more work done? I believe that the answer to my dillemma is Consistency. If I want to finish these manuscripts then I have to buckle down and write them. They will not write themselves…

How many times do I pray for direction and then stop after the prayer? How often do I begin to walk in the direction that I should, but then stop along the way? I’ve been good at that in the past - at quitting, at slowing down momentum. But this has to change. I remember Morgan Freeman, in the movie Bruce Almighty, where (as portraying God) he says, “Ah, you’re always looking up” (paraphrased). He’s talking about the fact that we pray, relying on God to do everything and we don’t even do what we know we need to do, what we should do. A big portion of the mess we find ourselves in often has to do with our own inactions about things we know. I’m tired of being frustrated in this area of my life.

What about you? Are you tired of the inconsistency in your own life? What are you going to do about it?

So I have determined to take advantage of every opportunity God has made available and continues to make available to me. The prime opportunity, in my opinion, being TIME. The bible tells us to number our days, to plan out our time, to develop a strategy for our actions because night comes when no one can work. Time allows us the opportunity to develop experience and to prepare ourselves in order to grasp continually greater accomplishments that have the potential to change and impact the world. I don’t want to get to my night and discover that I’ve lived so far below the abilities God placed in me.

Do you? What will you do about it? One of my brothers in Christ said not too long ago, “God wants you to truly want what you say you want.” I’ve talked about this premise in one of my other blogs - how we disqualify ourselves from things.

So I’ve discovered three things that I must do on a daily basis in order to link my experiences up to the opportunities that are encountered along this path called life: Plan - Organize - Be Consistent. Many of us have no planned direction for our lives. We just go with the flow. But what if the ‘flow’ is leading to our demise? Once we develop a plan about where we want to go and how we want to get there, then we’ve got to organize our time, money and resources so that our lives will begin to head in the direction we say we want to go. If we’re spening up our resources on things that don’t propell us in the direction of our dreams… instead of investing our resources so that we can fulfill our potential - then we don’t really want what we say we want. Once we plan and organize, then we’ve got to be consistent in carrying out the plan in an organized fashion that will ensure the successful attainment and completion of the God-given dreams that live within us!

By themselves, these three parts cannot be fully successful, but together they complete the equation which will yield the right results!

What about you? What will you do?

My personal definition for Consistency is, “Doing what you already know you need to do.” I may have a long day and be tired, but I can’t allow my tiredness to keep me from the dream. What other reasons come to mind when you think about not being consistent?

I figure at the very least, I spend time watching a 1/2 hour sitcome. So why not devote to spending a minimum of 30 minutes working on my writing every day? It’s better to do something… than to do nothing.

My pastor says, “You put nothing in… you get nothing out.” He also says in reference to giving of our time, money and other resources, “It’s not about equal giving, because we all may have access to different amounts of time, money and resources, but it is about equal sacrifice.”

So what will you do? What can you do to take a step, each day, towards realizing the dream that burns within you? Remember, the manuscript (whatever that may be for your own life) won’t write itself.

You and I have been given gifts and talents for a purpose. It’s time to get to work. Let me know about your dreams and what you think about this writing.

-Allen Paul Weaver III “Excellence overrides how you feel.”

Filed under: Book Publishing • Self-Help • Transition News

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