Consistency Is a Skill

2 Minute Read

Consistency is a skill. Which means it's built through practice, repetition, and time

It is not based on motivation, discipline, or personality.

And once we appreciate that, it becomes something we can learn.

Consistency Is Learned, Not Inherited

We tend to talk about consistency as if some people are wired for it and others aren’t. That's a terrible way to go about it. And we've been there.

Skills don’t show up fully formed. They develop through repeated exposure under real-life conditions. And the skill of consistency is no different.

We will be bad at it before we are good. It will feel awkward before it feels natural. It requires adjustments over time. And it only improves when we stay with it long enough for the behavior to settle.

Consistency will feel hardest early on. And that's not a bad thing. It's just something to be aware of. Because we’re not failing; we’re practicing a skill that hasn’t stabilized yet.

Consistency Is Always Relative

Consistency is not "run a lot every day."

For someone who has never run before, consistency might mean three short runs a week and learning how to show up at all. For someone who’s been running for years, consistency might mean maintaining structure through fatigue, monotony, or higher training loads.

In both cases, consistency isn’t about doing more for it's own sake. It’s about designing a plan that fits the current version of yourself, and committing to it long enough for it to work.

Doing too much too soon is a cardinal sin for any skill. When the plan is built for who we wish we were instead of who we actually are, the skill never has a chance to develop.

Therefore, our inconsistency is often just miscalibration.

Repeat the Commitment, Not the Action

For the love of the long run, do not define consistency purely by actions, and definitely don't base it on outcomes. These goals can be emotionally flat, and lead to burnout faster than you can say "interval work."

Consistency is repeating the commitment. Not the action.  

Because our execution will vary over time. If our goal is to be consistent, it's not that we want to hit the same pace, mileage, or result every time. The goal is to keep the structure intact long enough for progress to compound.

When consistency is defined this way, imperfect days stop feeling like failure. And that's how it should be. Bad days are just part of practice. The skill isn’t flawless execution; it’s returning to the commitment again and again, even as the details change.

How Consistency Is Actually Built

All skills improve through a simple loop: repetition, feedback, adjustment, and time. 

Consistency is no different. Which means we need to:

• Show up, even if in a small way, every day
• Not overreacting to disruptions
• Refining the plan instead of quitting it
• Letting repetition normalize the behavior

Over time, what once required effort becomes default. The skill settles. Consistency stops feeling like something we’re chasing and starts feeling like something we expect from ourselves.

This Skill Extends Way Beyond Training

Consistency isn’t a training-specific skill. Our sport is just a great way to develop it.

Once we learn how to design realistic plans, commit to them imperfectly, and adjust instead of quit, that skill shows up everywhere. Work. Health. Long-term goals. Life.

We will die on this hill. Consistency doesn't just make us better athletes and improve our enjoyment in running. It teaches us how to follow through.

Wrap It Up

Consistency isn’t something we have or don’t have. It’s something we build.

We build it by matching plans to reality, committing to them over time, and treating disruption as information, not failure. The more we practice that process, the stronger the skill becomes.

And once consistency is trained, results tend to follow naturally.

With this mindset, we build a routine we love and train consistently.