Stay the Course: Mastering the Art of Consistency for Great Success

In my first essay, I listed the three reasons most struggle to manifest their innermost desires.

Number one was lacking a supporting belief system (aka appropriate self-concepts).

Number two was the lack of persistence. And number three was the lack of consistency.

I covered how to build a winning belief system in How to Change Your Beliefs: A Practical Guide.

I showed you the secret to persistence in How to Be Persistent: Winning the Battle Against Your Inner Saboteur.

In this post, I teach you how to be consistent.

However, before we move on to our detailed discussion about consistency, let me point out the obvious. Being consistent and being persistent are closely related.

Persisting means continuing firmly or obstinately in a course of action despite difficulty or opposition. Being consistent means acting in the same way over time.

In effect, persistence is consistency on steroids. When you persist, you not only act in the same way over time but you do so while facing difficulties/opposition.

Since my discussion about being persistent centered on the various forms of difficulties, this post fleshes out the overarching acting in the same way over time requirement.

1. The definition of being consistent

Most of us understand the general definition of consistency, but what does acting in the same way over time mean when it comes to manifesting?

Merriam-Webster defines the word consistent as “steady continuity: free from variation or contradiction.”

This definition leads us to a crucial question: what exactly needs to be free from variation or contradiction (which is the ultimate form of variation)? In other words, what does acting in the same way entail regarding manifesting?  

The answer is simple. Your imaginal acts related to your desired outcome must be free from variation. You cannot imagine being a billionaire for ten minutes and then worrying for hours about next month’s rent. These are two contradicting imaginal acts, where the variation is so extreme everyone knows they must avoid it.

But what if the variation is not as striking as in the example above?

What if one simply changes his affirmation of “I am financially free” to “I am a money magnet”?

How damaging are these types of changes in one’s imaginal acts? Do they even matter?

Unfortunately, my experience tells me that even slight alterations are of consequence when one makes them before realizing full results with the discarded affirmation/visual.

Before I elaborate further on this point, let me remark that alternating between synonyms does not qualify as a change of importance. Accordingly, you can switch back and forth between “I am filthy rich” and “I am insanely wealthy” as much as you want. As long as the core meaning of your affirmations or visuals is the same, you don’t interfere with the manifesting process.

However, if there is an identifiable difference in the meaning of the affirmation/visual you used and the one you switched to, you risk finding yourself back at square one.

Why? Because your subconscious is a goal-striving machine that works with military precision. And this is both a blessing and a curse.

The blessing: you get what you visualize/affirm.

The curse: you get what you visualize/affirm.

Put another way, your subconscious lacks artistic license. It doesn’t have the liberty to deviate from the nature of the goal your conscious mind handed over to it. It can and does overdeliver, but it never mixes up orders. For example, by affirming specifically for $15k, you can very well realize $20k instead (at the end of the day, it’s just more of what you wanted: money). However, you won’t become an A-list actor by affirming for money alone. And that is obvious to most of you.

So what’s the problem with switching from being financially free to being a money magnet? Aren’t these two the same?

Well, not entirely. Both relate to financials, but being a money magnet does not necessarily mean you are financially free as well. When you give the assignment to your subconscious to make you a money magnet, it can satisfy it by manifesting random sums of money for you. However, it does not convey the requirement to put you into a state where you have enough savings and investments to live the life of your dreams without having to rely on a job. In that sense, these two affirmations set two different goals for your subconscious regarding money. By all means, I am a money magnet is an excellent affirmation that can bring a lot of extra money into your life. However, it is no guarantee of financial freedom.

To summarize, there are two ways to fail at being consistent with your imaginal acts.

Failure type 1 is when you keep changing your affirmations/visuals. Again, this does not refer to oscillating between synonyms but veering from one goal to another before realizing full results with the discarded affirmation/visual.

For example, suppose you start by affirming that you earn a thousand dollars daily for a fortnight. However, upon not witnessing any tangible results within that period, you abruptly abandon this affirmation in favor of a new one, focusing this time on manifesting your dream car. Then, after another two weeks pass without the manifestation of your dream car, you find yourself reverting to the original goal of generating a thousand dollars each day. In this cycle, you then find yourself oscillating between these affirmations, occasionally introducing a third, entirely new goal into the mix, further complicating your focus and efforts.

Failure type 1 is essentially the conscious creators’ version of the shiny object syndrome.

Failure type 2 is when you do stick to your affirmations/visuals; however, you spend most of your day entertaining thoughts and visuals that contradict your desire (aka you waver).

For instance, imagine you hold a deep aspiration to find yourself in a blissfully happy marriage. Yet, paradoxically, you spend your days vocalizing grievances about men/women and voicing dissatisfaction with your romantic experiences.

Therefore, if you want to be truly consistent, you need to:

  1. refrain from changing your affirmations/visuals before realizing full results;
  2. and simultaneously refrain from entertaining thoughts and visuals that contradict your desire.

This is what acting in the same way means in the realm of conscious manifesting.

Now, let’s take a closer look at the over time part of the requirement; the trickiest part of being consistent.

What if I told you that all you need to do to manifest any of your desires (whether it be a tangible thing or a change in self-concept) is to affirm/visualize it only once for five minutes? Do you think you would be able to do it? I bet you would! You can do anything for a mere five minutes.

How about if I said you need to keep putting in those five-minute reps, and at some point, sooner or later, you will get what you want? Sounds a bit more challenging, right?

Sad to say it, but the latter version is the Law.

“For an assumption, though false, if persisted in, will harden into fact.”

Notice that the Law doesn’t specify in time units or rep numbers for how long you must persist/be consistent. The timeframe is unknown, as well as the amount of repetitions you need to put in. The only sure thing is that if you don’t stop being consistent, you will eventually achieve what you want.

It goes without saying that unless you manifest your desire in an instant, you will have to experience an interval of time (aka the manifestation period) where you still don’t have what you want. In these cases, what you do after the moment you decide to manifest your desire is crucial. Do you succumb to impatience and change your affirmation right before it would manifest? Do you contradict your visualization sessions by entertaining your doubts? Do you fall into the pit of despair if the opposite of what you want manifests? Or do you hold onto your vision no matter what?

A lot of people claim that they are consistent and persistent but still see no results. Let’s make one thing very clear; manifesting something for a long time doesn’t necessarily mean that you are actually persistent and consistent.

Throughout the manifestation period – where the start point is the minute you decide to manifest your desire and the end point is the minute you materialize your desire – the frequency of your chosen, desired imaginal acts should form a steady continuity. The biggest reason most fail is because they manifest in fits and starts. (I discussed this point quite extensively in my Controlling Your Imaginal Acts post.)

Imagine lighting a fire with sticks, using friction to generate the spark that will ignite your kindling. At first, you rub the sticks together with enthusiasm and energy, motivated by the vision of a warm, bright flame.

Similarly, when individuals embark on conscious manifesting, they start with a burst of energy and determination. They rub and rub, expecting the spark to catch immediately. But after a short while – be it days or weeks – when they see no spark or flame (results), their arms tire, and they are tempted to toss the sticks aside. They underestimate the consistency required to produce that initial spark and to nurture it into a flame.

Just as with igniting and maintaining a fire, manifesting your biggest desires requires initial effort, patience, and consistency. Many give up too soon. However, those who persist in their efforts, who continue rubbing the sticks with faith and dedication, will eventually see the first wispy smoke and then the small glow of an ember. At this point, most people feel disillusioned. “All this effort for a tiny ember?” they think, and they are tempted to quit, their dreams of a crackling fire seeming futile.

But here’s where the magic lies: for those who keep at it, adding gentle breaths and more kindling, the ember quickly grows into a small flame, and with steady care, it becomes a robust fire. Success is achieved! Once the fire is established, it doesn’t require the same frantic effort to maintain. A consistent addition of logs and occasional adjustment is all it takes to keep the fire alive and well.

Yet, if you neglect the fire for too long, letting it dwindle to ashes, you are back to the beginning, needing to start the whole process over with fresh sticks and renewed effort. This cycle of intense effort followed by neglect is how many of us try to manifest our biggest dreams. We ignite a new assumption with enthusiasm, let it burn brightly for a short while, but then we get distracted – going on vacation, basking in the glow of a small success, or simply losing interest. Before we know it, we are back to rubbing sticks together, trying to reignite what we let die out.

This pattern is all too common in the manifesting community. We start with fire, let it fade, and then wonder why we are back to square one, struggling to create a spark once more.

In sum, if you want to realize your biggest desires, you should practice your new thoughts in a steady, consistent manner.

However, this practice doesn’t require absolute continuity. You don’t need to murmur affirmations 24/7 or visualize every minute of the day. However, you should entertain your new imaginal acts every single day until you achieve what you want.

The importance of daily consistency

So why is daily consistency so crucial, and why should you avoid missing days, weeks, or months when working toward manifesting your biggest dreams?

To answer this question, let’s delve back into the core tenets of manifestation.

Rule number one: you always manifest. Every minute of the day. 24/7.  When you don’t do it consciously, you do it unconsciously. There is no dead air. You can’t stop the show, only change the play you are entertaining.

Rule number two: when it comes to any particular matter, you always manifest your dominant thoughts/assumptions/beliefs relating to – directly and/or indirectly – said matter.

These two rules can be distilled into a single principle:

Every moment of every day, you are constantly manifesting your reality through both conscious and unconscious processes, guided predominantly by the strongest thoughts, assumptions, and beliefs you hold about any given subject. This ceaseless manifestation reflects your prevailing mental patterns, shaping your experiences and outcomes concerning all aspects of your life.

If you haven’t figured it out already, the whole reason why you even need to engage in conscious manifesting is that your current, dominant thoughts/beliefs/assumptions conflict with your desires. If it were otherwise, your desires would have already come to fruition (or would manifest quite fast and easily for you and you wouldn’t resort to conscious manifesting).

What I’ve observed as an issue within the manifesting community is the misconception that embarking on the journey of conscious manifestation turns your mind into a clean slate, with expectations that whatever you focus on will materialize within a day or two.

Many overlook the crucial detail that when you begin to manifest your life-changing desires, your subconscious is already filled with prevailing thoughts, beliefs, and assumptions that may contradict them. Moreover, you come into daily contact with your external, physical world, which continuously mirrors the negative assumptions you previously internalized since your 3D reality is simply a crystallized version of your past assumptions.

This daily contact with your external, physical reality is the answer to why you should avoid missing days, weeks, or months when working toward manifesting your big, life-changing dreams.

When your outer senses are bombarded daily with what you don’t want, you can’t afford to neglect feeding your inner senses with what you do want. Especially, if you tend to be all hot and bothered by your circumstances.

Let’s not forget that you continuously use your imagination; not just in those 10-15 minutes you dedicate to actively affirming or visualizing.

Whenever you internally comment on persons, things, events, and circumstances around you (which is essentially your mental diet, your inner speech) you are creating your reality. Whether you transform this reality into something delightful, conserve it, or heaven forbid make it worse – it all depends on the nature of your commentary. 

As Neville puts it in The Law and the Promise, “Imagination creates, conserves, and transforms. Imagination is radically creative when all imaginative activity based on memory disappears.

Imagination is conservative when its imaginal activity is fed with images supplied mainly by memory.

Imagination is transformative when it varies a theme already being; when it mentally alters a fact of life; when it leaves the fact out of the remembered experience or puts something in its place if it upsets the harmony it desires.”

The difficulty with life-changing desires lies in the fact that during the manifestation period – specifically, between the moment you start manifesting your desire and the moment you materialize it – you will be confronted daily with evidence of your previous undesirable assumptions. How you mentally react to all this evidence will either make or break your conscious manifesting efforts.

Do you accept them as they are? Or do you stop taking them at face value and change them to your liking by mentally altering them?

For example, let’s say you start manifesting being happily married and the next day you have a bad date – do you let your mind run wild with an inner monologue of “I will never find a woman who wants to marry me?” Or are you able to stick to your guns and only entertain thoughts that are conducive to manifesting what you want?

The same goes for manifesting any changes in your physical appearance. Do you let the mirror ruin your day when you don’t see instant results or are you able to mentally compliment yourself on your new facial features?

And let’s not leave out money from this list. Do you let a pile of bills or a negative bank balance dictate the story you tell yourself about your financial status? Or are you able to mentally falsify the facts of your life and report to your subconscious that you have plenty of money?

“What you affirm, you must not mentally deny a few moments later. This will neutralize the good you have affirmed. When a thought comes to you, such as ‘I can’t afford a new car,’ affirm immediately, ‘Wealth is mine now,’ again and again. After a while, the positive idea will be impressed in your subconscious mind.” – Joseph Murphy: Think Yourself to Health, Wealth & Happiness

In the intricate dance between perception and reality, you often find yourself trapped in a feedback loop where the external world not only shapes your experiences but also reinforces perceptions and beliefs that may not serve your highest good. This cycle is particularly pernicious for those unaware of the power of manifesting.

When you lack knowledge about your inherent ability to manifest, you unwittingly allow the external world to dictate your life’s trajectory, often perpetuating a cycle that reinforces what you least desire. Breaking free from this negative spiral requires a conscious interruption of the feedback loop, a task that involves inserting “new evidence” created by your mind, ultimately allowing your inner world to shape external circumstances.

The external feedback loop operates on the principle that your beliefs influence your actions, which in turn shape your experiences, reinforcing your original beliefs. For those unaware of the power of manifestation, this loop often becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy of limitations and missed opportunities. Without realizing it, you react to your environment in ways that confirm your deepest fears and insecurities, further entrenching you in a reality you wish to escape. For instance, if you believe you are unworthy of love, you may subconsciously sabotage potential relationships, thus reinforcing your belief through your experiences.

Interrupting the external feedback loop requires introducing “new evidence” to your mind. This evidence is not drawn from the external world but created internally through visualization, affirmations, etc. By consistently affirming or imagining achieving a goal, you begin to rewire your mind, shifting your belief systems.

This process is akin to planting a seed in the fertile ground of your subconscious. Just as a seed requires consistent care and the right conditions to grow, the new evidence nurtured by your mind needs persistent focus. Over time, as these new beliefs take root, they start to influence your actions and reactions, gradually altering the feedback loop from the external world.

There is a threshold point in this process, a moment when the accumulated impact of your internal changes becomes powerful enough (aka the new thoughts/assumptions become dominant) to manifest in the external world. Usually, this does not occur overnight but is the result of consistent mental discipline. Reaching this threshold signifies that your inner world has begun to dictate external circumstances rather than being shaped by them.

The truth is that nothing holds creative power over you – not people, not things, not events, not even some random thoughts – unless you bestow upon them the authority to govern your inner realm.

Besides being careful what you tell your subconscious when you encounter evidence contrary to your desire, you should also pay great attention to how you recount your manifesting journey.

Many fail at conscious manifesting because they can’t keep it together when 1) their reality doesn’t transform as fast as they want to or 2) something undesirable happens in their 3D. Instead of going on merrily and trusting the process, they engage in a destructive mental commentary (“Nothing is happening! Things are getting worse! How much longer do I need to do this so I can get what I want?”). Thus, they effectively accept and conserve the reality they despise.

The best course of action here is to refrain from making any mental comments about the “status” of your manifestation, except for telling yourself that it’s already done or fully completed.

Why, then, should this be a daily ritual? The answer lies in the nature of reality creation:

“Make no mistake about this. If, as you prepare for sleep, you do not consciously feel yourself into the state of the answered wish, then you will take with you into the chamber of her who conceived you the sum total of the reactions and feelings of the waking day; and while asleep, you will be instructed in the manner in which they will be expressed tomorrow. You will rise believing that you are a free agent, not realizing that every action and event of the day is predetermined by your concept of self as you fell asleep. Your only freedom, then, is your freedom of reaction. You are free to choose how you feel and react to the day’s drama, but the drama – the actions, events, and circumstances of the day – have already been determined.” Neville Goddard: Feeling is the Secret

The premise mentioned above by Neville suggests that to alter your reality, you must:

  1. either learn to take control of most of your daily reactions (i.e. 51%, dominant thoughts, total value);
  2. or consciously choose your thoughts before sleep.

The first point I’ve already illustrated above; you will be confronted daily with evidence of your previous undesirable assumptions. If you manage to react positively, you then begin to shape your reality in alignment with your desires.

The second point is about what you do right before falling asleep. Failing to consciously choose your thoughts before sleep means surrendering to the accumulation of the day’s experiences, attitudes, and reactions. This nightly reset is crucial; it’s an opportunity to cleanse the mental palate, so to speak, and to set a new direction. By neglecting this practice, you allow the residue of the day – its stresses, fears, and disappointments – to dictate the script of your life. Conversely, by deliberately imagining your desires fulfilled, you take control of the narrative.

Merging the insights provided, it becomes evident that while the challenges of the day may often confront you with the tangible outcomes of your past undesirable assumptions, leading you to react in ways that may not always align with your aspirations, there exists a powerful pivot point for transformation at the day’s end.

Even if during the daylight hours, you find yourself unable to seize control over your mental reactions – thereby mentally stating that your reality continues to stray from your desires – you are granted a redeeming opportunity each night.

The moments right before falling asleep emerge as a crucial juncture for mental recalibration.

Just as Marty McFly in “Back to the Future” stands before the flux capacitor, deciding at which precise moment in time he wishes to appear, each night presents you with a similar momentous choice.

The moments right before falling asleep become your personal flux capacitor, a point where you can recalibrate your mental state. You can choose to transport yourself back into the entanglements and disappointments of the past day, or you can set your coordinates toward a brighter future.

This choice, made in the quiet solitude before sleep, allows you to consciously decide the direction of your thoughts, steering you toward the realization of your desires or entrenching you further in your past day’s negative experiences. Just as Marty’s journey was defined by the choices he made at the flux capacitor, your journey through life can be significantly influenced by the choices you make in these critical nightly moments.

To summarize, each day and night offers a new opportunity to reinforce your desired state of being, gradually shifting your internal compass toward your goals. Without daily practice, you miss the chance to solidify these changes, allowing your old patterns of thought and behavior to persist.

The art of being consistent

When it comes to manifesting, there are two secrets to consistency:

  1. creating a manifestation practice that you maintain on a day-to-day basis;
  2. and adopting the right attitude.

The first secret is to choose an “attack plan,” a manifesting routine you can stick to even on your busiest days.

So, what exactly constitutes a manifesting routine? Essentially, it’s a structured approach designed to regularly make you think from your desire.

Trust me, it’s a lot easier to stick to a concrete plan of action than following through with a vague notion like “I’m going to think from my desire.”

A manifesting routine forces you to consistently think from your desire. Although they can take various shapes and forms, every manifesting routine has two key components: 1) a focusing method (visualizing, scripting, affirming, etc.) compelling you to think from your desire with all your mental energy; and 2) a predetermined duration and frequency of the chosen focusing technique.

For example, person A could have a routine of visualizing twice a day for at least 15 minutes. Person B could commit to repeating his affirmations three times a day for ten minutes. And Person C could affirm in the morning for 10 minutes and script every night for 20 minutes.

A caveat: setting up and following a manifestation routine is not a license to have a bad mental diet.

Now, please give yourself the maximum chance of following your manifesting routine by making it as simple as possible. You need a routine that you can execute even on your worst or busiest days. Not one that is catered to your easy ones.

If you find yourself extremely pressed for time, focus on the most impactful element – your evening visualization practice or affirmation session – as it directly influences your subconscious mind during a critical window of suggestibility before sleep.

But even if your daytime allows you to engage in various manifestation practices, always use the precious moments before sleep to affirm or visualize your desires. Remember, that’s a pivotal point where you have the chance to undo the bad mental diet you indulged in during the day.

The second secret to consistency is bringing the right attitude to the manifestation process.

Thinking, “I’ll give this law of assumption a 14-day trial, and if it doesn’t deliver my desires, I’ll take it as proof that it doesn’t work,” is not the attitude conducive to profound results.

To continually test your imagination amounts to a lack of faith in its power. You test your imagination when you doubt it and ask it to do something for you to prove itself to you.

When will you realize that it’s never your imagination on trial but your faith in your imagination?

Your imagination works every single time – irrespective of your little experiments.

If you want to always benefit from the power of your imagination, you need to trust it.

Testing your imagination is questioning its full power and an approach that always invites doubtful thoughts. It will make you throw in the towel before the breakthrough moments.

This approach is akin to placing one foot out of the door – a gesture of readiness to explore what lies beyond the familiar confines of one’s current existence. However, this posture also implies a readiness to retreat, to pull back into the safety of the known at the first sign of discomfort or failure.

This ‘testing mindset’ is often governed by hesitation and a lack of commitment. It’s a sampling of what your imagination is capable of without the deep dive required to significantly benefit from its power. While this approach allows for trivial and half-baked manifestations, it rarely leads to significant life transformation.

The reason is simple: trying conscious manifesting without the full intent to commit to the process only scratches the surface of its potential, leaving the deeper, more rewarding aspects of the experience undiscovered.

In contrast, trusting in your imagination allows you to commit to it with all your heart, mind, and resources. This approach is characterized by steadfast dedication and a relentless pursuit of objectives, regardless of the immediate obstacles or discomforts that may arise. Trust and commitment transform the journey into more than just an attempt; it becomes a mission, a purposeful endeavor.

Relying 100% on your imagination means closing the door behind you, leaving no option for a quick retreat. It fosters an environment where perseverance and resilience become the primary drivers of progress, compelling you to push beyond your perceived limits and confront challenges with tenacity. This deep engagement facilitates a profound connection to your imagination, enabling the realization of your full potential.

Therefore, I invite you to make a pact with yourself: you won’t stop until you get everything you want.