Consistency IV
Remember “the Diderot effect”? Continuing from the previous chapter.
This is what the takeaway from it is.
Why does the Diderot effect work?
When you give something you are also setting yourself up to give a bit more of yourself.
For example, when you buy running shoes because you want to go running every morning, from reasons varying from, “ looks cool” to “you want to say healthy”: you are also setting yourself up to spend on the socks, your shorts, your running Jersey, and maybe an iPod because duh music!
This is what happened with Denis Diderot.
What you see is the backward spiral of “The Winner Takes It All” effect/syndrome.
It also happens with slight changes but in the wrong direction.
Remember slightly” from the first chapter about consistency?
It is important to know that when you enter any spiral good or bad, your journey on it will often continue due to slight changes that you make.
This will continue to the point when you are at your worst.
Yes, the good news is that even the backward spiral has a limit.
When anything you do will be better than everything you have done so far.
This means that whatever you do next will mark a shift in progress in the forward direction.
The takeaway (from chapters 1, 2, and 3 of this article) is that the defining quality which keeps a spiral going forward to backward to again forward, is the consistency with which you make slight progress in any direction.
Consistency can solely chart your journey through life at a positive beginning or a negative ending or at a negative beginning and positive ending or any end result that you would like to reach.
If you understand this then all you know that you have to keep creating and making an effort.
Good or bad doesn’t matter.
After all everything is like a sine wave.
The general law of nature is that whatever goes up has to come down, and whatever goes down will come up.