Consistency

We are all familiar with the famous proverb - "Little drops make the mighty ocean". Or its variants. சிறு துளி பெரு வெள்ளம். Mountains are climbed one step at a time and marathons run one K at a time. Of course, the marathon version is a little close to my heart and I have really lived through this. At the 25th Kilometer marker of a marathon, one often does not feel the exhilaration of having run 25K, one feels the dread of having to run another 17K. More often than not, runners just employ the "take one K at a time" attitude and finish the race. I personally keep going back to this every time I encounter a problem that appears fairly formidable to begin with. Recently, I read this nice article where the author gives tips on how one can read more. The answer is simple -- just keep reading a small number of pages, for example 20, every day. I just employed this technique to finish a 1100 page novel in less than a month. I set a goal of reading 25 pages every day, so I should have been able to complete it in about 44 days. However, there were a few holidays in between where I read more and hence completed this in just a little lesser than a month. All that is good, but I feel there is one small factor missing in making this "small effort at a time leading to a big reward" thingy. It is this -- you need to be consistent in your small effort. We cannot say -- "Let me run 1K at a time and then loiter around before running the next K". We may still complete our marathon, but it will take an inordinately long time. Also, the chances are that we may bail out much earlier. Putting in effort on a task, over and over again, is difficult if we are unable to realize the progress. That progress is achievable only with regular effort. The key word here is "Consistency". In the above referenced article, while the answer is to read "x" pages every day, the key phrase to make this reality is "every day". To achieve any big task, you not only need to take tiny steps towards it, but you need to do it regularly. Needless to say, using will power to achieve this consistency is not only difficult, it may also not be sustainable. One has a better chance of being consistent if one can weave these as habits and slowly ingrain them as a part of life. Like all good things, it is easier said than done. Nevertheless, we should definitely strive for it.

சிறு துளி பெரு வெள்ளம் will happen only if the  துளி flows in consistently!