Ryan Holiday argues consistency is a superpower, using Lou Gehrig's 2,130 consecutive games and Cal Ripken Jr.'s record-breaking 2,131st game on September 6, 1995 as proof. The lesson: just show up, even on the hard days, and you build something great.
Hi, this is Brian. Welcome back to another heroic plus one. In Ryan Holiday's latest book, Discipline is Destiny, he tells us that consistency is a superpower. I, of course, agree. Let's take a quick look at how Ryan frames it today. Then in our next plus one, we'll use his perspective as a jumping off point into a discussion on how to activate your heroic soul force. First, Ryan, he tells us, and I quote, don't worry about setting any records. Just report for duty, no excuses. And here's the irony, this is also a way to break records. Then he tells us consistency is a superpower. Day to day, willpower is incredibly rare. You don't have to always be amazing. You do always have to show up. What matters is sticking around for the next at bat. And he tells us the ability to do that, coupled with the ability to endure what John Steinbeck called the doddle days while writing east of Eden. Those days when everything seems out of whack, when you're just not feeling it, when the distractions won't stop, is the first step to greatness. Literally, you cannot be great without the self discipline to do that. One thing a day adds up, each day adds up. But the numbers are only interesting if they accumulate in large quantities. Now, that's from a chapter in part one of his book called Just Show Up. The very first chapter of the book features a case study in discipline on the legendary Lou Gehrig. Gehrig played for 2,130 games in a row and was known as the Iron Horse for his durability. He set the record for consecutive games played in Major League Baseball history. That stood until the guy who happened to be my favorite player growing up, Cal Ripken Jr. Played in his 21:31st game on September 6, 1995. Now, when I read Ryan's line that consistency is a superpower, I smiled, circled it, and then wrote out our sole force equation, which we'll talk about more in our next plus one for today. How's your consistency? Can you see that it's a superpower? Remember, discipline is destiny. And here's to your heroic consistency plus one plus one plus one today, tomorrow, the day after that, and for as long as we're blessed to be on our quest together.
