> People overrate intensity and underrate consistency. > > A brief manifesto on showing up: > > Anyone can go out and bury themselves for a day, week, or even a month. It's really not that hard. > But the goal isn't a heroic day. > **The goal is to create a heroic body of work.** > > The killer workouts, the perfect bodies, the fast tracks to getting rich -so much of what plays well on the internet is an airbrushed and completely unsustainable fiction. > Lots of people burn bright. > And then burn out. > You only see the first part. > But **the full picture isn't pretty.** > **It's a clown show.** > > **The easiest way to get rich is to sell people a lie they want to hear.** > But **there are no 10-day plans to transform anything. Sorry.** > The best artists, athletes, creatives, and entrepreneurs—all will tell you some version of the same thing: > It's not about having an epic day. It's about consistently showing up for a long period of time. > > Want to do your best, sustain performance, and find fulfillment? > Then you need a mindset shift: > **You don't need to hit home runs.** > **You just need to put the ball in play. (Again, and again, and again.)** > **Become known for your consistency.** > > The first part of this mindset shift means understanding that **progress takes time and includes peaks, valleys, and plateaus.** > **Expect it to be hard.** This way you won't get thrown off when it is. > Remember: just because something is hard doesn't mean it's not rewarding. Often, the opposite is true: it's rewarding because it's hard. > > The second part of this mindset shift means **seeking simplicity and straightforwardness.** > It is easy to procrastinate with complexity but **there is no hiding behind simplicity. The simpler you make what you have to do, the more likely you are to do it.** > **Identify the main things.** > **Keep them the main things.** > > The third part of this mindset shift means **focusing on progress over perfection.** Perfectionism is poison for consistency. **If you are good enough over and over again one day you'll wake up and realize you're great.** > Keep pounding the stone. > Keep showing up. > It's not a day. It's not a month. > It's a year. It's a decade. > > **Consistency means becoming a humble badass (if there is such a thing).** > It acknowledges your limitations, that you don't need to be the best every day. > But underneath that, it acknowledges you want to be the best over the long haul. > You watch all sorts of people come and go, you watch all sorts of fads come and go, and you smile to yourself and think, "Let's talk in a few years." > > Performative greatness is obsessed with heroic days. > Actual greatness concerns itself with heroic decades. > Excellence does not come from intensity. It comes from consistency. > > -- Brad Stulberg