Join the revolutionary movement spearheading the fight against mediocrity. Sharing a story + perspectives every Saturday to help you cross off more goals & win.
Consistency is Overrated (What To Focus On Instead)
Major Announcement:
I just launched a blog.
Yeah, EVEN MORE writing. What is it going to be about?
It’ll be more niche for creators. Growth, consistency, content, all that fun stuff that a lot of you try to pick my brain for ;)
You can go read it on Medium.
I’ll post there three times a week. I already have a few posts up so go check them out in the meantime.
Go subscribe to my blog for free.
Alright, let’s dive into this week’s newsletter.
Consistency is a Myth
These past months, I’ve had zero fitness motivation.
I’d dread hitting chest, back, legs, arms, and everything in between.
I even dread going on runs.
But the wild thing?
I’m still going and haven’t missed a single session.
This newsletter isn’t going to bash your head with the message “You need to be consistent to win”.
You already know that.
But the issue with only showing up is that you ignore why you feel resistance in the first place.
Resistance and friction are the problems when it comes to showing up for a long period of time.
Every creator goes through a stretch of weeks or months where creating content feels like a drag.
You drag yourself to your desk.
Your writing doesn’t hit.
Your ideas run bland.
These are the stretches that make the majority of people quit.
They bash their heads against a wall and try to force their creativity. This simply doesn’t work.
Every time a creator quits, it’s for one of two different reasons.
Resistance.
Friction.
Let’s break both down.
Resistance vs. Friction
These two words are often mixed and matched.
Most people think they’re the same thing.
But they’re very different things.
We’ll first define these two, then showcase them in action in your day-to-day life.
Resistance
Resistance is the fear of starting something.
When I started my journey on X my fear of judgment, sharing my voice, and starting from zero caused resistance.
Those things made me not want to start.
The result?
I sat around for weeks doing nothing. I froze.
That is resistance at its core.
It’s slowing you down from starting. There are two forms of resistance.
Internal: Your doubts, insecurities, and fears
External: Not having resources, guidance, or experience
More often than not, your internal resistance holds you back. External resistance stems from your internal resistance.
No resources? It’s your mindset of thinking you need resources to start.
No experience? It’s your mindset of thinking you need experience to start.
The reason you can’t start is resistance.
Friction
Friction is flipped.
It’s the reason why you can’t continue doing a habit or task.
This is the opponent you face when you’re in the flow state. Notifications, distractions, and focus disruptors
This is the small-picture angle of friction.
Big picture?
It’s the thought of continuing something years and decades down the road.
Think of this.
If you hated reading poetry and someone forced you to read it every single day for the next decade, how would you feel?
Not so good right?
That’s the issue most creators face.
They hate the process.
They don’t find enjoyment and view things as chores.
You’ll never stick around this way.
Similar to resistance, we break friction into two categories.
Internal: Mindset, hating tasks, low interest.
External: difficulty of task, distractions.
Creators who face resistance AND friction at once are the ones who quit.
They fall into a concept called The Hole.
The Hole
The hole is where your focus is pinpointed to every problem you face in the current moment.
Your long-term vision disappears.
Your goals disappear.
Your focus is only on the problems you face right now.
There are two main problems with this.
1. Obsession
You obsess over the wrong things.
Every tiny hiccup is another reason for you to quit.
Instead of remembering your big-picture vision, you’re tossed around by the tiny road bumps along the way.
2. Narrowed Thinking
Every decision you make comes from a place to solve the problems you have now.
You sacrifice long-term success for short-term gain.
A prime example?
Binge eating.
But Now What?
The hole is a dark place.
Everything feels like it’s caving in. Everything seems to go wrong.
The result?
You think this single battle is the end of the world.
How do you get out of The Hole?
Digging Your Way Out
As a creator, you’ll face hundreds of fights.
You’re here to win the war. Losing a single battle doesn’t mean the entire war is lost.
But when you’re in The Hole it feels like you’re fighting the entire war.
The reality?
You’re facing a single battle.
There are dozens to hundreds of more battles you’ll face.
You’re all good if you lose this one. You can’t win every single one.
Think of every sports team.
Eventual champions usually don’t win every single game. They lose a handful but still bounce back.
One of the few sports that defy this is combat sports.
But in nearly every other sport, you’re going to lose at some point. The cool thing is everybody loses.
It isn’t just you.
But we’re competitive.
You want to win. You want to conquer resistance and friction.
How?
Four simple things you can do immediately to keep your long-term consistency.
1. Zoom Out
Remind yourself of your bigger picture every single day.
Look at your goals.
Look at your vision and anti-vision.
These things will keep you grounded when life is all over the place. The key point is to do this every single day.
The result?
You gain awareness to realize every battle is part of the process, and you embrace them head-on.
You can’t lose.
2. Weekly Reviews
Weekly reviews are awareness gold mines.
Think zooming out but on a smaller level.
I broke down my entire weekly review system in a previous newsletter.
(LIAQ Framework)
But to sum it up, write down your lessons, ideas, things to apply, and questions for the week.
This combines reflecting with planning.
3. Remove Resistance
Want to get started faster?
Simple.
Get up. Move.
It’s tougher said than done.
But the longer you sit around and overthink, the more time you’ll waste.
I spent weeks on the couch thinking about starting on X.
I finally took the jump and now crossed 1,000 followers in 2 months.
Get up and go.
4. Simplify The Process
Friction happens when things are complex.
Complex content systems.
Complex ideation systems.
You don’t need advanced stuff. You need stuff that works.
What does this look like?
Don’t make complicated notion templates if you have no idea what you’re doing.
Want to learn? Sure. But gain experience first before making the shift.
Friction comes when things are out of your control.
Flow state requires you to have a level of difficulty.
But too much difficulty ruins everything. Keep your stuff simple and upgrade only when you need to.
Tying The Knot
“You gotta stay consistent” is out of date.
Focus on minimizing resistance and friction instead of consistency.
Consistency is the end result.
Knock out resistance and friction and you’ll never think of consistency again.
If you made it this far, you’re a legend.
DM me on X and let’s break down resistance and friction. Always down to chat :)
Again, I just launched my blog.
Keep killing it.
-Trung
This Week’s Podcast(s)
Matt and I are doing two episodes a week now.
Our latest one is with Emma Cheung. She’s killing it on X spaces and has hosted spaces with your favorite creators.
Tons of fun making this episode. Go check it out.
The Standout Newsletter
Join the revolutionary movement spearheading the fight against mediocrity. Sharing a story + perspectives every Saturday to help you cross off more goals & win.
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