There are many sayings and most have some “truth” to them, but none, to me, are as powerful as this one.
Consistent action over a long period of time leads to amazing results.
I am not sure I am even saying it completely or where I heard it. However, that is the saying I remember. What it means to me is:
Consistently doing small things over a long period of time leads to something big.
Take blogging as an example posting 3 times a week leads to 150 blog posts in a year. That is some pretty good results compared to the average blog. Each blog post is also an easy small achievable thing you can do.
However, the opposite can take place leading to have to DO extraordinary things to catch up. Take my Discrete Math class. If I would have stuck with my
plan of at least 30 minute every other day of study. I would have done a lot better over the long haul. Now as it stands I have spent the last 2 weeks cramming and cramming trying to pull of a miracle of studying to pass the class. (thus I am not doing a whole lot of anything else, like blogging)
This can also come into play when studying Japanese. I find I do better when I study a bit every day and push myself a little harder everyday rather than GIANT spurts of study where it is hours on end for a few days or week then 2 weeks or 3 weeks off.
If you think about it the math kind of adds up and leads to a lot less stress. There are 2046 kanji to learn out of “Remembering the Kanji“. If you take on 30 a day, which is manageable, then in a little over 2 months you will know 2046 kanji. “Consistent action over a long period of time leads to amazing results”. The kanji is just one great example.
So the question is what are your goals and how can you break them down into small consistent things you can do to create your amazing results.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
This is a great and wonderful thing you have posted. It's true cramming does suck. You are trying to cram a lot of imformation that you will probaley forget in the long run. Like my Japanese I enjoy myself and I seriously believe in doing small sprints. Strangely this does apply to people who only do japanese 1 hour a day. Someday in about a couple of years they will be fluent someday. It's also a part of not giving up. Every dreamer who made their dreams come true proabley never give up no matter how much they got on the first run. They just had to keep running till they got it. It's better to just enjoy life sometimes and just take it easy. Having fun is the main ideal in this. I believe if it's not fun it's probaley not worth doing. If your hurting yourself I say just try to make it interesting.
Along the same lines, I heard one that went "we overestimate what we can accomplish in a day while underestimating what we can accomplish in a year."