The single biggest bang for your buck in terms of results is consistency. It is boring and unsexy compared to magic bullets and one shots of awesomeness, but consistency works, plain and simple. I don’t think you’d find a successful person in the world who encourages people to be wildly inconsistent, except perhaps to spark creativity, to break negative habits, and to discover new things. And only for short periods of time.

Consistently doing bad things will lead to further bad things, and consistently doing good things will lead to further good things. Consistency forms habits (and habits are good and bad). Want to start becoming more awesome at something? Figure out what works, then be very consistent in doing that thing. Want to stop? Then become inconsistent at doing that thing.

Want to get good at arm bars? Find out how to do them properly, then do them. Lots of them. Every day. Consistently.

Want to get better at bouldering? Boulder. A lot. Consistently.

Want to get good at x? Find out the best way to do x, then do it. A lot. Consistently. Every day might be too much (if recovery is an issue, or if money is an issue, or time is an issue, or x is an issue). Doesn’t matter, do it at a pace you can do it at, at a schedule you can reasonably do it at. Push too hard, and it’s unsustainable. Push too light, and you won’t see the results as quickly if at all.

Consistency is not a guarantee for success (especially if you are consistently doing something incorrectly), but it is a good bet. In other words, consistency is necessary but not sufficient for success. The opposite is not also true. That is, it is virtually guaranteed that not doing something consistently will bring you results on par with not doing that thing at all.

So how do you know if you’re doing the right thing consistently? Well, that’s a bit tougher. Sometimes, it’s obvious and getting into the minutiae is unnecessary. Want to lose weight? Eat less. Forget about what you should eat, when you should eat it, and how many meals you should eat. You will know when its time to think about those things. For many, getting started is the hard part, so keeping it simple is the easiest way to start and stay at it consistently. Other times, figuring out the right thing is tough. You could ask people. If 100 people tell you to do it a certain way, it’s either conventional wisdom because it’s the correct thing to do or because nobody bothered to challenge it (one is good, one is terrible). You’ll have to decide based on gut feel what to do here. If you get 100 completely different answers, you are in “nobody knows what the eff they are talking about” territory. In that case, ignore everybody, and explore for yourself.

Usually the hardest part is just starting. That’s why I’m a fan of just doing it, observe (and measure!) obsessively, and make corrections as you go. Is P90X better than Insanity is better than blah blah blah… Stop, just stop…. If starting is the hardest part for you, then the just do it approach is a great one. If starting is not the hardest part, then I’d go with front loading the work and doing the hard and boring stuff first, like finding the right material, figuring out the annoying little details, and other deep research like you are some mad scientist with crazy hair, weird mannerisms and bad hygiene (but I’m willing to bet starting is the tough part).

Once that’s out of the way, be consistently consistent. Ready? Ok, go!