Coach Bennett’s Pearls of Wisdom 3 – Consistency

In this blog series, I am going to share with you some of Coach Bennett’s pearls of wisdom and how they apply to my art practice.

Let’s talk about Consistency. From Merriam-Webster.com – consistency is:

harmony of conduct or practice with profession; firmness of constitution or character 

And consistent means:

marked by harmony, regularity, or steady continuity

As you can see, it is not synonym with constantly.

Steady continuity to me is the key point here. With running, or any other form of physical endeavors, we know that consistency is important. And we know that breaking that continuity causes you to lose physical strength.

The effects of consistency

The effects of consistency are some times harder to see in the short term, both in running and in your art practice. Since it is about regularity, a consistent practice will evolve over time. A while back I decided that I would paint every night after the kids go to bed. I try to be consistent about it, but life gets in the way every once in a while. There are days when I don’t want to paint, but sit down to do it anyway. There are days I don’t want to paint because I am too tired and then I don’t.

Take a look at some of my art work when I started, and some of it now:

As you can see, there is more definition, details and control on my latest painting. My style has evolved.

Consistency does not mean doing the same thing every day. It means showing up every day!

My struggles with consistency are not related to my art necessarily, but with the other aspects of the creative business, like posting on social media, writing blog posts, adding work to my online shops, and editing my portfolio. This blog series is my way of attempting consistency.

How do you stay consistent?