SHIP 30 FOR 30 SERIES

What Matters More: Intensity or Consistency?

If work output is the goal, consistency wins

Photo by Victor Freitas on Unsplash

I once did a 100 Burpee challenge with 50 other people, and I learned something fascinating.

(Burpee: Drop to the floor, do a push-up, then jump up and clap overhead.)

The challenge goes like this:

• On the first day, do one burpee.
• On the second day, do two burpees.
• Up to 100th day — 100 burpees.

You can portion them out any way you like, as long as you complete them that day.

The ones who made it all the way through were the ones who created consistent habits to get the work done. They broke them into manageable chunks of 10, and did 10 chunks throughout the day.

Easy enough, right?

Well…

• First day, everyone thought “No problem!”
• Second day, “Too easy!”
• Tenth day, “Fine.”
• 18th day, we lost a couple, but almost everyone was still on board.