With the new year coming up I’m sure you are thinking about what resolutions you want to make and you’re probably thinking about this year's resolutions that might not have worked out so well for you. It can be a painful and frustrating reflection to realize that you went a full year without making any progress on your goals. Not because you didn’t want to do them or that you didn’t think the goals were worth the effort, but because you lack the one thing that will help you achieve your goals. Consistency.

I know this is cliche, but it’s for a good reason. Being consistent is the key, the missing ingredient, the special sauce that you are looking for to make achieving goals so much easier. The best way I can describe this is by comparing it to investing your money. We all know that compounding interest is the key driver of growth in any stock portfolio. This involves putting money in your account each month for as long as you possibly can. Go play around with a compounding interest calculator and it will have you ready to dump money into a brokerage account.

Before you do that I want to pass an idea on to you, and also cement in myself. The idea that compounding interest doesn’t only exist in the financial world. It exists everywhere. When you go to the gym every day it compounds into something much greater than if you went to the gym once a month for 8 hours. You can apply this to any skill or goal that you are wanting to achieve. However, to do this you must have consistency. Putting money into the stock market each month is easy because you can set up automatic deposits so you don’t even have to think about it. Being consistent with your goals requires much more effort. Concentrated effort. This is because consistency is a trait that implies you have other traits as well. What do I mean? In order to be consistent for a long period of time you need to be able to be flexible, manage time effectively, and have grit. Things change and you need to be able to adapt and to keep your foot on the gas and get done what you need to get done.

My challenge for you, and myself, is to choose one resolution this year. Pick something that requires consistent effort, such as reading every day, and focus on making it a habit and embed it in your day to day work. Not only are you compounding the interest in reading which has many benefits, but you are also instilling consistency in yourself. Achieving this alone will make every other goal you want to achieve much easier and the compounding interest will take you to places you’ve never been before.