Consistency is the key to success

Consistency is the key to success

On the swing of motivational quotes on social media – we read, comment and share but hardly do we introspect them in our lives. Like the many, I saw the above one and got inspired to write this first article for ClassicalClaps on Consistency, in continuation to my first personal blog. Our senses & cognitive process always re-counts to something we perceive in our lives evaluating our events in the past.

‘Consistency’ means ‘regularity’. Practising regularly in a routine until it becomes your second nature.

But are we in love with those activities?

We brush our teeth twice a day, a majority of us do it for the sake of a good dental health,  we don’t love to. (At least I don’t ;)) Yet we do. 90% of our activities are done by us in regularity for a specific outcome we desire, we don’t perform them from the space of love & not being worried about the outcome. Similarly, we are consistent with specific relations in our life for the certain satisfaction they provide. Sometimes it’s the satisfaction of a need, greed, habit & also our ego. To feed these we subconsciously are consistent with certain relations in our life without being completely aware.

I’ll speak about my life because I can only evaluate and introspect my life’s happening, and share with you guys.

So, as a Classical Dancer, the fruits of the seeds sown will always reap at a later stage in my life. Consistency & Patience are the two prerequisites for an Artist. And I require consistency in not just being a good dancer & performer on stage, I need consistency in all the activities that make me an exemplary Dancer & Performer. And I believe I can’t be consistent with them until I am in love with them. So consistency doesn’t bother me, what concerns me is how should we love the activities that need to be done for the specific outcome we desire. Consistency happens effortlessly once we start loving them, it doesn’t require special attention, as a result, in the long run, it won’t fuel out & will satisfy us.

Eight years back, invited as the Chief Guest, my mother Dr. Guru Rekhashri Desai, by her senior student at her Academy’s first anniversary at Dadar, the student spoke holding my mother’s hand, “Today, when I run an Academy on my own, I understand what it is, to be a teacher, the choices that need to be done, the admin work, the planning and so many umpteen things.. and yes! The priority must always be the class and students. This made me apprehend the sacrifices you must have done, Gurumaa (my mother is lovingly called) together with raising a family. You’re a one-woman army and I have seen you manage it all. Whenever I am stuck or tired, I remember your ever smiling face that you carry all the time. I wish I can ever be like you.” and hugged her.

The irony being she shut down her dance classes soon after, and is now abroad as a Dance Teacher in a school.

My Learning – It is not easy to raise a baby. Yes! Kalakruti [Dance school established by my mother in 1985] is my mom’s baby, and as a baby requires all the love, care, attention & time, so does anything that which you want to grow, and in this case an Academy. Mother has given her baby all of that and much more to make it reach where it is today. This wouldn’t have been possible if she didn’t love everything that concerns her baby. She just didn’t love Dance, she loved and still does love each aspect of it, especially, Teaching. If she didn’t love, she couldn’t have continued over three decades.

I’d like to share an anecdote,’ Mother is associated with many organizations and is regularly invited with her students for performance. She always promotes her students. She believes that every stage is an experience, and thus, in my younger days, I performed almost 6 to 7 times a month.

That meant I had to be apprised of my studies. She never let me neglect that, she would help me plan and would never let me waste time (thankfully we were not inclined to social media in the 90s). I was appearing for my boards, and the science exam was due on Monday. Like most times we had a show the previous day. She had told me a month prior and asked me to be prepared for it.

This demanded consistency. I had to study in a planned manner and also make time for my Dance practice. Planning & implementing isn’t my basic nature, yet I had to so that I don’t miss the program and not affect my grades as well. I scored 89% in my board exams and 92 in science which honestly was a surprise for me ;P.

While this was a struggle for me, my mother was the administrator, the choreographer, the curator, the performer, and above all a wife and a mother. Needless to say, she performed each of her role skillfully and wholeheartedly.

I remember she would have a Crocin tablet almost all the times before the show those days. I was young so not much of her help. Even though there were people for her support, certain tasks have to be carried out by the Artist herself. The stage prep, the lighting position, the sound, there’s just so much and yet as her student mentioned, she would ALWAYS have a smile. Never would the smile diminish. Needless to say, she has done justice to not only her Art which has been recognized by the International Dance Council, Unesco, Paris but also to her family by raising two wonderful kids (including me ;)). All this was only possible because she ‘Loved’, and hence consistency was natural. The hard work will always belong to the Artist whereas the results are enjoyed by all.

Being consistent will require the courage to sacrifice, to prioritize, to let go and to be hard on yourself for doing the things that need to be done & not the things that ‘wants’ to be done but above all, it will ask you to fall in Love.

Hence, I quote, ‘Consistency isn’t enough, Love is a prerequisite.’