Video summary
The core argument presented in this video is that true consistency does not come from relentless effort or constantly recommitting after a failure, but rather from knowing when to stop and investigate the root cause of an action's collapse. The speaker uses the aviation industry as a powerful analogy, noting that airlines achieve their incredible safety records not by hoping for the best, but by assuming things will go wrong and having a rigorous system in place to address those failures immediately. When an accident occurs, planes are grounded for investigation rather than being rushed back into service; similarly, the speaker argues that we must stop trying to "rescue" our failed plans on the same day and instead pause to conduct a forensic analysis of what actually went wrong.
The primary reason people fail to maintain consistency is not a lack of motivation or laziness, but a deep-seated conditioning to overcommit and stretch themselves too far. When we fail to follow through on an intention, our natural instinct is to immediately recommit and promise to do better, which only adds pressure to an already overwhelmed nervous system. This reflexive reaction to inaction creates a cycle where we keep pushing harder until we eventually burn out or give up entirely. The video suggests that this tendency to take on too much is the hidden problem behind procrastination, causing us to ignore the fact that small, manageable goals are far more sustainable for long-term consistency than large, intimidating ones.
To break this cycle, the speaker proposes a simple yet counter-intuitive approach: when you fail to act, do not judge yourself or try harder immediately. Instead, step away from the task and give yourself space to reflect on why the failure occurred without self-criticism. By adopting a mindset of curiosity rather than panic, you can often discover that the issue was simply overcommitment or boundary issues rather than a lack of ability. This method allows you to recognize the pattern of overwhelm before it derails your progress again, helping you exit the procrastination loop much faster by addressing the actual cause of the failure instead of just treating the symptom of inaction.
Ultimately, the secret to becoming super consistent is to redefine how we handle setbacks by shifting from a strategy of constant recommitment to one of reflective investigation. The video emphasizes that consistency requires small steps and conscious choices rather than massive efforts that are prone to collapse under pressure. By accepting that things will not always go right and using those moments as opportunities to learn what went wrong, we can build a more resilient approach to our goals. This perspective is further explored in the speaker's book, which focuses on this single idea: that procrastination is not about failing to act, but about how we react to that failure, and mastering that reaction is the key to lasting success.
Read the full video transcript
I think this is an interesting way to
think about how you can become super
consistent in your goals.
And it is to think about what is the
most
consistent thing that we kind of rely on
or maybe one of the most consistent
things that we rely on in life.
Think about like um travel. Okay?
What's statistically speaking the
safest, most consistent form of travel?
And it's it's airlines, right?
If you're flying somewhere,
chances are you're probably a lot safer
and you'll
get there safely much more consistently
than with uh traveling by car or
something like that. So,
let's look at that. What is it about
airline travel that makes it so
consistent? And how can that inform your
strategy
of being consistent in your real life?
Now, this ties in with my approach to
personal productivity, which I outlined
in my my latest book, After You Don't
Show Up. You can find it below.
But, the idea is that you stop.
Okay? You stop trying to fix. You stop
recommitting
uh as as easily as maybe we did in the
past.
But, stay with me for a second. I think
there's a valid,
useful point here from this this uh
idea.
So, think about it for a second.
When an airline is trying to become
consistent,
there's a whole industry around making
sure all airlines are consistent, right?
Um and safe.
But, when something In order to become
consistent and safe, there isn't a
hopeful strategy.
It's not, "Okay, let's try our best and
hopefully things will go well." There's
a system built in
that takes into account when something
goes wrong,
what happens.
Okay? Very detailed procedure that is
followed in the event of something going
wrong. So, it's not assumed that
everything is going to go right with air
travel. It hasn't been for decades.
It's assumed that things go wrong, and
if they do go wrong, we're going to
respond or react to it in a specific
type of way.
And with that strategy, it has become
incredibly consistent and safe.
So, let's look at what they don't do.
Okay, there's not a hope strategy.
But let's say there is an accident. Um
what do the airlines do? They don't say
"Oh well, the most important thing there
is that we the we have to continue
flying. Let's get the Let's send another
plane out straight away before we
figured out what's actually gone wrong."
It's the opposite.
What happens is if there's a serious
event,
usually the fleet is is grounded
until there's a a reflective an
investigation done into what exactly
went wrong there.
And that has led to over decades that
that strategy is compounded into so much
information about air air travel safety
that it is the safest
form of travel.
So, if we're going to become consistent,
right?
You see, we don't do that typically.
What we're told is you keep trying.
So, something Let's say you have a
strategy, a plan, you're going to try
and implement it. You could think of it
as your flight plan for the day.
The wheels come off.
There's a crash. The day falls apart.
And what we do
is we go, "Well, I have to rescue it.
I have to fix this and I have to keep
pushing and have to keep recommitting
and keep repromising.
Usually within the same day.
What my book suggests is that is the
problem. It's not the inaction.
The the the failing to follow through
isn't the problem. It's the wheels have
fallen off.
Where is the investigation?
There's there's the the the attempts to
recommit the the to salvage the day, if
you like,
are the very thing that is making you
lack consistency moving forward. So, the
book invites you to try a an approach
for 5 days, which is basically, okay,
had an intention,
didn't follow through.
Instead of going into re-promising and
re-committing to salvage the situation,
we pause and we give ourselves some
space
to do a deep
forensic investigation, if you like. You
too, well, why exactly did I not do that
thing that I said I would do?
Instead of judging ourselves or again
re-committing. Re-committing is the big
problem. It's the hidden problem. It's
been the problem all along.
Except it never gets talked about, cuz
it's so counter-intuitive. The The
intuitive thing is to keep trying. You
want to get back up on the horse and
give it another go.
But that's actually unhelpful. Imagine
again if that was the strategy with
airlines.
How consistent would we be at this stage
with with airline safety? Not very.
So, we take that lesson and we can apply
it in our own lives. Instead of forcing
and
trying to rescue,
we do we get interested and we don't go
into self-judgment. We go into
>> [snorts]
>> what happened there?
A curiosity to do a an actual
investigate. Now, not like a
interrogating yourself type of way, but
in a way where you're just saying,
"Okay, right now we're not doing
anything.
We're going to figure out what happened
there." And that usually involves giving
yourself a little bit of space and time
away from trying or making additional
commitments.
You can go and do something else. Maybe
uh that wasn't that thing, but you're
stepping away from that task.
Right now, in my experience,
what you will find,
probably
eight times out of 10,
is that what went wrong
is that you over-promised things.
You stretched yourself too far.
Okay? That's typically that's the Now,
it's not the only reason we fail to
follow through on things, there could be
boundary issues
and uh there can be self-talk issues.
There can be um
things where you overcomplicate the the
the project and and things like that.
But by and large, the main thing is that
we overcommit. We overstretch ourselves.
We put too much pressure on ourselves
to follow through and the nervous system
gets very guarded. Even though you think
you want to do it and you could be able
to do it, it has this different reaction
to it.
So
usually that's the reason. But we don't
usually find that reason. We don't
usually even come to understand how
overwhelmed we are
if we are in this busy thing of
reflexively repromising and recommitting
trying to salvage the situation after
there's been a catastrophe. You feel
like right after we failed to follow
through. It's not a catastrophe. I'm
being dramatic here for to make the
point.
But
so this is what you're asked to do with
this approach. It's not to try harder.
It's not to mean it better than you did
before. You meant it the first time.
It's just you were lacking a little bit
of insight into what will make this
journey or this attempt
have the best possible strategy. And
again, the biggest one by far is the
tendency to overwhelm yourself.
Take on too much at once because that's
our conditioning. It's to do more. More
is better.
Right? More isn't always better.
Certainly if you're if you're trying to
be consistent in life. Really with
consistency, what we're looking for is
small small small to be consistent.
Right? You can't be consistent with big
big big. That doesn't work.
Nobody is consistent with big efforts.
So and I'm talking about consciously uh
chosen goals, right? You can be If you
wake up in the morning with a conscious
uh goal of I can do a small bit in this
thing today,
you will stay consistent in it. But if
you're just waking up unconsciously, you
know that you're about to attempt
something quite large and intimidating.
You may be able to stick to it for a
while, but you won't be consistent with
it. So, the huge part of of becoming
consistent and overcoming
procrastination
is learning and usually we have to learn
it through failure.
Because the conditioning is so strong,
it's going to tell you it's going to
convince you after a few days and a few
weeks to take on more.
And you're going to run into a problem
with it in that there's a lack of um
there's a lot of resistance now coming
up and you're not following through.
Usually, step back from it and you'll
realize, yeah, there was it came back.
The conditioning came back and I put way
too much pressure on myself yet again.
But it's much you get out of the cycle
of procrastination a lot quicker if you
can catch yourself doing that, going to
reflection, and realize, okay, happened
again, no problem.
But once you start to step away from it
and reflect on it and see the thing
happening again and understand that it's
not to do with you being lazy or lacking
motivation.
It's a tendency to overwhelm yourself.
You you get good at recognizing it and
you don't get derailed by it for very
long periods of time.
Okay? So,
the idea in this video is a pretty
simple one. To be consistent, what is
required is not further efforts.
What is required is to take a step back
and reflect on without judgment what
happened.
Honestly, what happened there?
So, keep in mind the link for the book
uh after you don't show up is below and
it goes into 160 pages. It goes into
this one idea really.
Which is why I I I think the book it can
be helpful is like it's not like a
15-step program. It's just one idea.
The problem is the recommitments we make
after inaction because the I define
procrastination
it's not a
not as a problem of of inaction. It's a
problem of reaction to inaction. It's
how we react to when we don't follow
through that causes this to become a
chronic problem for us.
So, the link is below. My information is
below if you want to reach me also.
[music]
Thanks for being with me. I'll see you
soon. Bye-bye.
>> [music]