The 20 Mile March: Why Consistency is the Key Ingredient For Success
One of the most underrated attributes that’s rarely discussed or celebrated is: consistency.
Hearing that word doesn’t exactly get the juices flowing, does it?
I don’t know about you, but when I think about the most desirable traits, I think about things like:
Charisma
Great problem-solver
Assertiveness
Wise beyond their years etc.
And those are good. But I believe that consistency needs to be on that list too.
Think about the bad leaders you know.
Often they’re terrible leaders because they’re so inconsistent and therefore unpredictable.
I once had a boss that was highly unpredictable. Some days he’d come to work on cloud nine and be super passionate and excited - he would hold impromptu huddles to “get the team fired up.” Other days he’d unload all of his stress on everyone the moment he walked in the door and you just wanted to stay out of his way.
This unpredictability or lack of consistency created a culture of distrust and fear. Because no one knew which version of their boss they were going to get each day.
Practically speaking, the best way to implement consistency is with the ’20 Mile March’ concept from Jim Collins.
If you’ve heard this before, keep reading. If you haven’t or need a refresher, watch this 5min clip.
This line sums it up perfectly:
"It doesn’t matter whether it’s cold, or hot, or perfect conditions or wind… we are going to do our 20 mile march. We are going to stay [the course] no matter what hits us.”
Whether it’s summertime or wintertime… whether we’re in feast or famine mode... there are activities we can do every day to set ourselves up for success.
Here are the seven elements of a good 20-mile march as outlined in his book:
Clear performance markers
Self-imposed constraints
Tailored to you
Largely within your control
A proper timeframe — long enough to manage, yet short enough to have teeth
Designed and self-imposed by the individual
Achieved with high consistency
Why is this important? Because every single day we will succeed - not because we reached a goal, but because we hit our 20-mile march.
My 20-mile march looks like:
Inbox zero each day
Arriving and leaving at similar timeframes
Making progress on the “6 things that a CEO can’t delegate:”
Building the team
Keeper of the vision
Chief Strategist
Managing the investors
Critical relationships
Company Culture
And then I have personal things like intermittent fasting to keep my brain sharp
It’s worth thinking about what your 20-mile march could look like in your seat and what it would take to implement that as a part of your daily KPIs.
Who knows, maybe consistency is the exact thing you need to keep making progress and stay calm amidst the obstacles and challenges you encounter.
-MT
By the way, Leadr is a leadership development software that helps you implement and track the small, consistent habits that are foundational to great leadership. Let me know if you want to see how you could implement Leadr within your team for better leadership and better performance.