Friday, Mar 4, 2022 • 14min
#243 BITESIZE | Why Consistency is Key for Success, Health and Happiness | Rich Roll
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CAUTION: This podcast contains mild swearing.
We can often find it hard to do small things on a regular basis that will slowly move the needle for our health and our happiness. But could consistency be the key to success?
Feel Better Live More Bitesize is my weekly podcast for your mind, body, and heart. Each week I’ll be featuring inspirational stories and practical tips from some of my former guests. Today’s clip is from episode 153 of the podcast with my good friend and fellow podcast host, Rich Roll.
Rich believes every success in his own life has been hard fought. In this clip, he explains why the journey is often more important than the destination, and why consistency is key.
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Rich Roll
Rangan Chatterjee
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Rich Roll
00:00
Welcome to Feel Better, Live More. Bitesize, your weekly dose of positivity and optimism to get you ready for the weekend.
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Rangan Chatterjee
00:51
Today's clip is from episode 153 of the podcast with my good friends and fellow podcast host, Rich Roll. Rich believes every success in his own life has been hard-fought, and in this clip, he explains why the journey is often more important than the destination and why consistency is always key.
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Rich Roll
01:12
The quick fix kind of hack your life mentality is a close cousin to the clickbait soundbite media culture. We all want it now, we want it immediately, we want to be the best version of ourselves tomorrow, we want to read this book or do this one thing and fix everything overnight, and it just doesn't work that way.
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01:44
I don't believe in any of that, and I think even if you were given the opportunity to snap your fingers, and you know become the person you always wanted to become. You're still robbing yourself of what's most valuable about that transformation, which is the journey to get there.
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02:01
Every success that I've had in my life has been very hard-fought and has been a process of a lot of behind-the-scenes work undertaken consistently, aggressively, and anonymously you move these mountains over a very slow period of time. You know, my podcast began. It took eight years to get it from where it was to where it is today.
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02:28
My swimming career, my writing career, my athletic journey as an ultra-endurance athlete. All of these things didn't happen overnight. They were the result of a dedication to a process that involves strategies and tactics that are not sexy, that are difficult, and that are mostly about tiny little things that you do every single day to move that ball forward imperceptibly and incrementally, and that's not sexy that's difficult. And that doesn't lend itself to a clickbait narrative. You know, it's just hard. That's the truth.
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03:09
And deadlines play a big part in that. So when I started the podcast, I made a commitment to myself that I was going to publish a new episode every single week, no matter what. And I'm very proud of the fact that I've adhered to that like I haven't missed a single week. But simply by making that rule that I'm going to put one up every week, no matter what forced me to, basically, get my ship together and find a guest and produce it and post-produce it and get it up.
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03:41
I mean, in the early days, I was editing the show myself on GarageBand. I was the only person doing it. So I had to learn every component of what's entailed in creating a podcast from how you get it on iTunes too. What mic should I be using in and how am I recording us? Now I have a team, but that didn't happen overnight. It took many years.
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04:01
So I think what happens is people want the success, they want the result, they don't appreciate the hard work that goes into it, and they're not patient enough to undertake the long journey required, and the learning that gets packed into all of that to mature and grow over time. Most people overestimate what they can do in a short period of time, whether it's a month or six months or a year, and wildly underestimate what they're capable of accomplishing over a decade or a number of years.
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04:38
And I think that's part of why people peter out on New Year's Resolutions. Like they're not seeing the results that they want right away. They haven't created a structure with interim goals and deadlines, you know, built into that where they can measure their progress incrementally, and they lose enthusiasm for it.
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04:57
So if I do have any kind of special skill, it isn't that I'm an innately talented athlete or a naturally gifted podcaster. It's that I appreciate the journey itself, and I'm willing to put in the work when no one's looking, and I've learned over time in every facet of my life that work pays off over time.
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05:21
But you have to be unbelievably patient and resist that sense of entitlement that you get, that when you undertake something difficult, that you need to be reaping the rewards. Like I'm just about the work and the process itself, and I've been lucky enough to engage in processes that I love so that I enjoy the journey itself, but by simply being about that journey and that process, that's why I've been able to, you know, move my life into the place that it is today.
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Rangan Chatterjee
05:53
Thanks for sharing that, Rich. So it's very, very powerful.
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05:58
What you have just been summarizing. There is actually something that I feel Eastern and Western philosophies, although can seem quite different at times where they really do converge, is on the idea of process over outcome journey over destination.
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06:18
You know, whether it's the stories talking about it or whether it's Lord Krishna in the
Bhagavad Gita
talking about not enjoying the fruits of your labor. You know you do the labor for the sake of the labor.Share
06:30
You really, I think you beautifully demonstrate in that, that if you didn't have a goal to be the number whatever podcast in the world or it to be this big juggernaut of a show which is listened to all around the globe. It was a commitment you made to yourself. I'm releasing once a week, every week without fail. And that word to yourself, I think, is very powerful.
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06:51
A lot of us break the words that we make to ourselves, and I think that's potentially the start of when friction starts to arrive in our life, which can lead us down a slippery slope. But I want to know, Rich, that value made to yourself. Was it always a good thing, or did at times it become a noose around your neck?
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Rich Roll
07:14
Yeah, I would say it's a little bit of both. I mean, I think there's a this is particular to me in a little bit of self-understanding. Like I'm somebody who is a bit of an extreme personality. And I need these rules to like stay on track, right? Because I know for myself if I miss a week, nothing changes like the earth still spins on its access, and I can still release an episode later than that.
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07:46
But personally, if I break that rule, then it just becomes easier to break it again. And I know myself well enough to know that if I break it once, maybe I won't break it again in the next month, but six months later I'll be like well, you know, I didn't put up an episode that week, so I can do another week like what's the big deal, and then it'll be a month before I do it again, and then I'll just break it all the time.
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08:14
Like I just know that about myself, which is why I create these rules for myself, and I do it across the board in various aspects of my life, like I don't eat meat or dairy, I have that rule for myself. I don't drink or take drugs like that's a hard rule for myself, and I need those in order to kind of stay on track.
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08:34
Now, those rules can also work across purposes with your goal if you are too rigid about them, this works for me, and I try to create rules that are still very doable and the construct of my life, I think the problem occurs when you establish a rule that isn't sustainable, right? So putting one podcast up a week, it's not that hard, like it's pretty sustainable.
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08:59
But if I was to say I'm going to put a podcast up every single day, I wouldn't have lasted very long before I broke that rule, and perhaps I would have flamed out on podcasting altogether and just quit.
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09:10
So the trick is creating guidelines, you know, sort of signposts along the way that you, you know, privately adhere to that are sustainable and workable within the construct of your life that are still healthy and manageable, but also difficult enough that they keep you honest. I mean, I think the macro rule, if you're the telescope up to 30,000 ft is really are you living your life intentionally or are you living your life reactively.
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09:41
And I think a lot of people are living vast aspects of their life in reaction to the world around them, rather than intentionally in accordance with, you know, a plan or a rubric or, you know, a set of personal guideposts to help them make the proper decisions to lead them in the direction they want to go.
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10:06
And it's never been more easy to live your life reactively. Like we're constantly stimulated, we've deprived ourselves of the ability to be bored, to engage in our, you know, creative minds. We don't have the downtime that we used to have were too busy, too stressed under arrested, you know, overly stimulated.
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10:30
And I think when you're in that state, it's very easy to live your life on autopilot and just proceed, this is my life, this is what I do, and never step outside of it to question or to analyze why is it that you're doing things this way? Is there a better way? Is this leading me where I need or want to go? And then years go by until you reach some inflection point or, you know, endure some kind of crisis that forces you to stop and take inventory of how you're living and make appropriate changes.
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11:07
So really, you know, the rules or the guideposts, whether it's I'm putting up a podcast a week, or I'm gonna wake up at this time of day, or I'm going to exercise three times a week, or I'm going to eat these foods and not these foods, or I'm going to go to bed at this particular time or no screens, you know, within an hour of sleep or whatever it is.
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11:27
I think being proactive about those things, making a commitment to yourself is an act of self-love, and then recruiting community for purposes of accountability to keep you on track.
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11:42
These are tools that I've deployed and employed in various aspects of my life, both in the podcast and outside of the podcast, to simply be a better human and to live more consciously, mindfully, and intentionally. And I think that's applicable to everybody no matter who you are or where you find yourself on this carousel of life.
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Rangan Chatterjee
12:08
I really hope you enjoyed that BITESIZE clip, do spread the love by sharing this episode with your friends and family, and if you want more, why not go back and listen to the original full conversation with my guest.
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Rangan Chatterjee
14:18
Hope you have a wonderful weekend to make sure you have, press subscribe, and I'll be back next week with my long-form conversation on Wednesday and the latest episode of BITESIZE next Friday.
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Rich Roll
Rangan Chatterjee