Last week I saw a social media post that offered a bit of inspiration via a baseball analogy. The post went something like this:
Now you might think that baseball is a rather low-percentage sport that couldn’t actually apply to life in a practical way. But there’s a lot more going on here than what appears upon cursory glance.
Here are two primary observations:
Averages mean consistency over time
None of the numbers above equate to a lost job or a high level of recognition when viewed over the short term. It takes an entire season (and far more than 20 at bats) for those results to occur.
During that time generally poor hitters might get a few hits in as many at bats, and generally excellent hitters will experience occasional slumps. While that might be temporarily exciting or frustrating, respectively, consistency over time is ultimately the most important condition that determines a hitter’s status.
As is the case for exercise and nutrition and the results we experience.
Just like six completed training sessions and a “perfect” week of eating won’t produce washboard abs, neither will minimal activity and restaurant meals over a week of vacation make you “outgrow” your wardrobe. Instead, both outcomes require consistency.
Fortunately for our purposes (and unlike hitting a baseball), fair-to-excellent fitness results can still be experienced across a wide range of consistency levels, as this data from Precision Nutrition shows.
The quick overview is that 10-49% consistency over the course of a year in a body transformation program still produced an average decrease in body weight of 5-6%, while 90-100% consistency produced about twice as much change.
In other words, “upping your game” from little or no consistency in your fitness or nutrition practices to being consistent less than half the time can potentially change everything. As can incremental consistency improvements beyond that!
Process produces outcome
It can be easy to look at the baseball post above, see that the difference between a lost job and MVP status is about 3 extra hits every 20 at bats, and think that “upping your game” simply means getting more hits.
But that’s not how things work in baseball or in health and fitness.
Getting an extra hit, losing 20 pounds, doing a pull-up, running a marathon, or achieving any other type of outcome depends on a variety of factors. And only some of those factors are under our control, namely our attitudes and our protocols (e.g. eating veggies, following a sleep routine, pre-at bat rituals).
While keeping tabs on the progress we’re making toward the achievement of our goals is important, focusing too much on the outcome distracts us from consistently practicing the actions that would produce the outcome.
Unfortunately, that doesn’t mean success is guaranteed when we remain focused on implementing our protocols. But it does increase the probability.
For an interesting case study, check out the “Harvey Dorfman” story starting with the video clip at 48:30 in this interview with Sean Casey. (Sean is the NY Yankees hitting coach and is one of only about 210 MLB players to have a lifetime .300+ batting average.)
Putting it into practice
Improving consistency in practices under our control implies that we have protocols in the first place—and that we’re somehow tracking our adherence to them.
If you don’t have any specific protocols, check out or review some of these previous tips for some high-impact strategies you might add to your day:
- Pre-, intra-, and post-workout nutrition
- Simple nutrition practice for weight management
- Simple and repeatable training template
- Sleep strategies (see two other sleep-related tips linked in this one)
(Also consider checking out Philosopher’s Notes for their wealth of simple and straightforward ideas to improve energy, habits, productivity, and more—all in less time!)
If you have protocols but you’re struggling with sticking to them, consider practicing a different (i.e. easier & faster) way of tracking any habit.
In any case, focusing on the process of consistency will almost surely improve your “batting average” when it comes to the results you’re after.