Sameness vs. Consistency

There is a difference between sameness and consistency. That's the topic of this week's Grasshopper Notes essay from John Morgan for the week of April 1st.

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Transcript

Sameness vs. Consistency

I’ve often said that I worship at the altar of consistency. For some, that statement puts me into a corner called “same” which rhymes with mundane.

I believe there’s a major difference between sameness and consistency. Allow me to parse the variance and validate my stance.

Basketball legend Michael Jordan averaged 30.1 points per game over his NBA career. Now that’s consistent. 

He didn’t put up that exact number each game. That fact takes away from the argument for“same.” In some games he scored less and some games he scored more. In fact, in one game he scored only 2 points and in another 69. That’s a far cry from same.

Reminds me of something from my radio career. Radio stations were rated four times a year in many cities by a rating service – summer, fall, winter and spring. Think of it in terms of polling. Random people were polled as to which radio station they listened to. 

Sometimes the ratings fluctuated between high and low. So, not any one rating period told the whole story. But over time, you could predict the direction the station was headed by averaging the four surveys. The top rated stations rarely got the same ratings in each survey, but over time, their ratings were consistent. 

If you consistently do something, like eat Cheerios for breakfast everyday of your life, that’s where the terms consistent and same merge. Your preference for breakfast fare is consistently the same.

So it all comes down to the meaning you attach to each word. For me, consistent, in most cases, is admirable, but sameness doesn’t have the same allure. 

I’ve categorized sameness as being in a rut, something that many of us have fallen into. We’ve consistently done the same counter productive thing to the point that it seems to be our fate. We argue for our limitations as if they were put on us by someone else. If we consistently do that, there’s little hope for getting unstuck.

Recognize that the same dance steps only allow you to do one dance. If you can only do the waltz, your chances of being the cha-cha champ are slim. To improve your odds, you have to be inconsistent. You have to interrupt your sameness to step off in a new direction.

Here’s something you can take to the bank: If you consistently immerse yourself in the moment you’re in, the variety of reality that comes at you will shake you out of same, and consistently point you in a direction that’s less mundane.

All the best,
John