The Lasting Legacy of Consistency

“The signature of mediocrity is not the inability to change, it is chronic inconsistency.” Jim Collins

People who make a lasting impact  are those who seem to always do or say at least one thing consistently.Therefore the signature of a lasting legacy is intentional consistency.

Thomas Edison for instance, famously attempted for 14 months to invent the light bulb and during that time he made 1,400 individual attempts before he finally was successful. Where would we be without the Edison’s intentional consistency?

My middle school basketball coach would consistently say to our team, “If you do it right, you will do it light. If you do it wrong, you will do it long.” There’s a reason I remember that phrase.

My childhood pastor used to say at the conclusion of every sermon, “The invitation (response) time is the most important time of this service.” I don’t remember a lot of what he said over the course of hundreds of sermons, but there is a reason I remember that consistent phrase.

Jesus Christ, the greatest teacher in the history of Planet Earth said over and over again that He came in flesh to die to ransom the souls of many.

But this raises a question, if not the most important question: “How does a person choose what they should consistently do and say?”

The truth of the matter is that all people do a thing or things consistently. Some people watch TV consistently. Some people exercise consistently. Some people are consistently inconsistent. And therein lies the answer to “the question.” We do consistently, whether intentionally or not, what we value. If you spend quality time with your family, then it stands to reason that it is your family that you value since you intentionally give them the best of your time. If you consistently spend most of your time with your 50 inch LCD, then you can identify what you value.

It seems to me that the key to consistently doing and saying things that will truly impact others is to intentionally decide what you value and then making a plan to maximize the consistent communication of that value. We might say that this is what discipline is. Discipline is doing with diligent and painstaking effort that which would normally not be done.

Let me illustrate from my own life an effort to try to be more intentional and consistent based on what I value..

When I seriously assess my life there are two predominant values that drive me. I value and make constant effort to try to value Jesus Christ and His whole person with all of my actions and words. I also value and make constant effort to try to value my wife and my two boys with my actions and words. In the last year I have been consistently trying to weave these two big ideas into the fabric of our family. They are summarized in two purposes that are constantly spoken:

1. My partnership with my wife, and my job as a dad is to do everything that I can to teach and model for my boys the absolute worth of obeying Jesus in everything. Jesus is to be championed as supreme in everything we do and say. My summary statement to the boys is this: “Daddy’s most important job is to help you love Jesus.”
2. My partnership with my wife, and my job as a man is to do everything that I can to teach and model for my boys what it means to be a man. There is a difference between being a male and being a man. Being a man means being tough, yet sensitive. It means keeping your word and treating others the way you would want to be treated. Being a man means taking initiative and being a leader. Being a man is being like Jesus. My summary statement to my boys is this: “Daddy’s second most important job is to help you become a man.”

Occasionally I will ask one or both of my sons, “What are the two things?” They answer: “Loving Jesus and becoming a man.”

I’m not perfectly consistent at these things and I fail often along the way, but one thing is for sure, I won’t accomplish either of these things with my boys  if I don’t discipline myself to be intentionally consistent at teaching them.

You and I may not be destined for the history books, but we can deeply impact and shape the lives of people and perhaps generations of people for eternal causes. But we must be clear about what is worth valuing and we must have a plan to consistently communicate and reinforce those values.

So what do you value and how are you communicating it? Few people get to the end of their life and are glad they left a meaningless legacy. A lasting legacy that matters in eternity won’t happen by accident. May God give us everyday the strength to fight mediocrity with the weapon of consistency.