Kaizen Wednesday: Persistent vs. Consistent

This is the highest wisdom that I own; 

freedom and life are earned by those alone

who conquer them each day anew. 

~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

I'm not sure if you're like me, but when I set out to do something.. I really want to do it, and do it well.  Consistency has always been highly valued.  If I work at something, and can't keep it going, thoughts of failure creep in.  Then I focus more on my lack of success and fear picking up and trying again. Consistency becomes a trap!  Pretty soon when I look around, all I can see are the things I tried to do, and couldn't follow through on.  Yikes!

The problem is.. life really doesn't work that way, does it?  If you use consistency as the value by which you gauge your success in activities, you'll be successful in a a few activities.. but you'll also be successfully consistent in giving up on a great many things as well.  Don't get me wrong, some times we try endeavours that should be abandoned.  But sometimes we need to pick up something we once tried, and try it again.  One step at a time.  Focusing on the future, not on the unchangeable past.

And isn't that what makes life more interesting?  Which landscape is more interesting?  One with mountains and valleys or plains?  To create the dynamic, we have to accept the lows, and persist in picking ourselves back up.  Again and again and again...