Christian Business Concepts
Christian Business Concepts
The Power of Consistency: The Compounding Difference Maker
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The hidden secret to extraordinary business success isn't found in revolutionary strategies or disruptive innovations—it's in the simple power of consistency. Drawing from Matthew 25's parable of talents and powerful real-world examples, Harold Milby reveals how small, faithful actions compound like spiritual interest to produce remarkable results in your business and life.
What makes top performers in complex professions outproduce others by 700%? Research shows it's not talent alone, but unwavering consistency in executing fundamental habits. As Bobby Knight wisely noted, "Everybody has the will to win. Few people have the will to prepare to win." This episode unpacks why consistency builds trust, creates security for your team, reinforces your values, and ultimately compounds your success.
Through biblical wisdom and practical business insights, you'll discover why consistency is "the jewel worth wearing, the anchor worth weighing, the thread worth weaving, and the battle worth winning." Harold shares the mathematical reality behind his proven formula: frequency × competency = revenue. When you do the right things consistently, financial results naturally follow.
The episode provides actionable strategies for identifying high-impact habits, creating systems for reinforcement, and overcoming common obstacles like distraction, discouragement, and burnout. Learn from consistency masters like Truett Cathy (Chick-fil-A), Blake Mycoskie (TOMS), and Dave Ramsey, who built empire-sized impacts through persistent, principled leadership.
Ready to harness the compounding power of consistency in your business? Download this episode now and discover how partnering with God through steadfast habits can produce exponential growth for His glory. Remember to share this podcast with other Christian business leaders who could benefit from these principles!
Welcome to the Christian Business Concepts with your host, Harold Milby. Christian Business Concepts is dedicated to guiding companies and business owners in becoming effective, efficient and successful through God's Word and godly principles. Now, here's your host, Harold Milby.
Speaker 2:Thanks again, kelly, and welcome everyone to this week's Christian Business Concepts Weekly Podcast. You know I'm your host, harold Bilby, and I'm really excited that you've decided to download and to listen to this week's podcast. You know, each week I try to bring you some biblical principles that you can apply in your business and in your career and even in your personal life. That will help you achieve what we talk about here as true godly success. Now do me a favor and help me grow this CBC community by sharing this podcast with four or five other people. I know that sometimes we get busy, we forget to do it, but if you could help us to do that you know we don't charge for this. This is a completely free service and we just want to help grow the CBC family and we want to try to have a valuable impact on as many people and many business owners Christian business leaders as we possibly can. So you know, part of what you can do as well is make sure you post the link to the podcast on your Facebook or a LinkedIn post, so you can post something about it and put the link to it and share that with other people. You can also go to whatever the service is that you're getting our podcast. We're on about 20 different types of Facebook platforms and there's always a way from that platform to actually email or even text the link to that person. So if you would do that, I would greatly appreciate that and also, when you get a chance on that platform that you may be on, if you could just write a nice favorable review about Christian business concepts, if it has been a blessing to you and has ministered to you. Now I want to give a big shout out this week. I want to give a big shout out to Cedar City, utah. Cedar City, utah, here in the United States, and they've had a lot of downloads here recently. So we appreciate you folks there in Utah. We're glad that you're a part of the CBC family and we hope that this will be a blessing to you. So thanks a lot, those of you that are in Cedar City, iowa, for downloading so many episodes.
Speaker 2:All right, let's jump into today's topic. I'm not going to be doing a company spotlight this week because I'm going to be talking about some companies throughout the podcast, so they'll be in that segment as we go through this topic that we're going to talk about today. You know, as Christian business leaders. You know we talk about this all the time. You know we are stewards of God's resources. You know we're called to multiply what he has entrusted to us. We get that from Matthew, chapter 25, where he talks about the good stewards and the ones that he gave the talents to. And he told him. He said go out and multiply, go out and multiply. And so one of the most powerful principles for achieving this multiplication, this multiplication process, and one of the most important things that we need to understand with regard to that and what we're talking about today, is consistency.
Speaker 2:Now I know that sounds like, oh, consistency, oh yeah, whatever. But in reality consistency, you know, it's just kind of a steadfast, kind of faithful action over time. But consistency is a lot more than mere reputation. You know it kind of operates like compound interest does in finance. You know you can make small, regular investments, but then they grow exponentially through reinvestment. And so today we're going to talk about the compounding interest of consistency, and we're going to draw from some biblical wisdom, some financial analogies and some practical business insights. Practical business insights, but just as compound interest turns maybe some modest savings into some real substantial growth.
Speaker 2:Consistent habits and leadership, consistent habits and leadership compound to produce extraordinary fruit. You know strong teams, loyal customers, innovative breakthroughs and eternal impact are just some of the things that come from consistency, and my hope is that today's podcast, through this, is going to really encourage you to really put consistency out there in front. You know research and experience shows that consistent leaders outperform inconsistent leaders. You know in most, all key areas. You know Time Magazine had an article not too long ago and it showed that research showed that in very high complexity jobs maybe professional, maybe sales roles what they found was in 700 percent more than the bottom 10 percent of employees within that company and the difference that they found was that the really high producing employees were very consistent at what they did.
Speaker 2:Now, I know that you're aware that becoming the best isn't easy. It's just not If you want to become the best company out there of a particular industry or product, or you just want to be the best at what you do. It's not easy. It's not an easy process. But as Bobby Knight, who was a longtime coach for Indiana University, he said this one time and this is so apropos to what we're talking about. He said everybody has the will to win. Few people have the will to prepare to win.
Speaker 2:John Maxwell, who has been my mentor and actually I am a certified trainer with the Maxwell leadership team. So you know I was taught by John Maxwell and I got to tell you he said one time he said that a lot of people come up to him and ask him and say, man, I really like what you do, I want to do what you do. I want to teach leadership, I want to help people grow. I want to do what you do. I want to teach leadership, I want to help people grow. I want to do the same thing. You know, I see what you do and I really I'm really passionate about it. I really want to do what you do. And John says that he always looks at him and he always says I know that you want to do what I do, but are you willing to do what I did? Are you willing to do what I did? You know I heard John recently was talking about you know people have said you know, hey, you're the foremost leadership authority in the world and you know, even when you Google leadership, john normally comes up to the top of that Google search.
Speaker 2:And he said man, what's it feel like to have that and to get that kind of accolade. And he said well, first of all he said the reason that that happens is just because I'm old and I've outlived everybody else. And of course he was joking when he said that. Course he was joking when he said that. But he said to become the communicator that I am the great communicator that he is. He said that you have to understand. He said I've done this 12,000 times and people say, yeah, we understand that, but how did you get so good at it? He said 12,000 times. Yeah, but I'm just trying to find your secret sauce. He goes what part of the 12,000 times do you not get?
Speaker 2:When people talk about consistency, they don't really get excited about that. It's not one of those words that you get excited about, but it's important because there's a value to consistency. First of all, consistency establishes your reputation. You know anybody can be good one time. They can be good one time, but they have to be good over and over and over again. You know he talks about that. He's spoken 12,000 times, but he also tells you that the first 1,000 times he did it he probably wasn't that good, you know. So it's that consistency. It establishes your reputation. You know, people are in the Hall of Fame because they were good every day, not just one time a day.
Speaker 2:Consistency is a prerequisite to excellence. No one is good the first time. Like I said, it's kind of like I go back to my first sermon that I ever preached. My wife told me later she said it was awful, it was horrible. I didn't think you were going to make it as a preacher. Nobody's good coming out of the gate, but it takes consistent effort. Consistency provides security even to other people, the people that work with you, the people that are, that are associated with you. It provides security when you're consistent. It reinforces your vision and your values, you know, because first of all you have to understand people do what people see and people continue to do what people continue to see. So it is so important that we're consistent, even when it comes to our vision and our values. And then consistency compounds. It compounds. You know.
Speaker 2:I often ask people in a group would you rather me give you $25,000 in a month or would you be willing to take a penny? The first day and the second day I give you two pennies. The third day I give you four. The fourth day, I give you eight and we just keep doubling those pennies and most people say, well, I give you eight and we just keep doubling those pennies and most people say, well, I'll take the twenty five thousand. What they don't realize is that over that 30 day period, in 30 days, if you start with a penny and then you just double it every day, it's over a million dollars at the end of the 30 days. And so you just that. That's the thing about the consistency compounds, and so it's important to understand that.
Speaker 2:I've always had a it's kind of a saying that I've had and I've shared with a lot of our salespeople through the years and everything. And that is, it's a formula, and that is frequency, times. Competency equals revenue. You know, I tell the sales reps, you know, if I can teach you to do the right things that's competency and you do it enough times every day, that's consistency Then revenue will take care of itself. I don't have to worry about that. You just have to do the right thing the right number of times a day. To worry about that, you just have to do the right thing, the right number of times a day.
Speaker 2:Consistency, you know, according to Charles Swindoll. It's the jewel worth wearing, it's the anchor worth weighing, it's the thread worth weaving. It's a battle worth winning. And I think he's right, it's that important. You know, there's some great benefits. There's some great benefits to consistency. So one of them is it builds trust and credibility with other people. You know, when you have consistent actions, whether it's ethical decision making or communication or service delivery, it establishes a reputation for reliability. You know, proverbs 10 and 9 says whoever walks in integrity walks securely. So it's really important to build that trust and credibility. You're not going to have any if you're not consistent. You know Roy Bennett said consistency is the true foundation of trust. Either keep your promises or do not make them. It's important it.
Speaker 2:You know one of the other benefits that drives really long-term success. You know, small, consistent actions. It doesn't mean you got to do a lot, but you do a little bit every day and you do it every day, day in, day out, day in, day out. It begins to pay. It begins to pay and you'll get more long-term success and it'll just compound over time. You know another benefit is it really creates and fosters this strong, really strong team culture. You know, because when you have consistent behaviors as a leader, such as regular encouragement or fair decision-making or other things in that nature. It really creates a predictable, a very supportive environment and that reduces turnover. It boosts morale as employees feel valued and they feel secure. Another benefit is it enhances adaptability and innovation, because consistent routines okay, let's just say daily prayer for wisdom or weekly strategy reviews it frees up a lot of mental space for creative problem solving. You know, leaders who maintain disciplined habits are much better equipped to adapt to the challenges without losing focus.
Speaker 2:James 1 and 4 says let steadiness have its full effect, that you may be perfect, complete, lacking in nothing. The word steadfast there we're talking about consistency, because it really fuels the resilience and the ingenuity. So be steadfast, be consistent, as James was saying. So be steadfast, be consistent, as James was saying. So let's talk about some of the key biblical verses that I want to share today. Matthew 25, 21, again, we know is the parable of the good stewards. And in verse 21, he says Master said to him well done thou, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little, I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master. And so, again, he understood. Even the servant understood that in small things, if you're consistent, it compounds and it brings about even greater responsibility in business, consistent ethical decisions and even in minor things it builds trust. That leads to a lot of opportunities, much like your interest does when you're accruing interest.
Speaker 2:On the principle, galatians 6, 7, and 9 says do not be deceived, god is not mocked, for whatsoever one sows, that will he also reap. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap if we do not give up. And again, be consistent. You don't quit, you don't stop. You know it's kind of like the farmer. He plants, you know, seeds out in the, in the field and then every the next day he goes up and digs them up and says, hey, how come these seeds aren't doing anything? I don't understand. He puts them back in the ground, comes back the next day. Well, you know these seeds must not be right, they must be defective, because you know I've come in here and checked on them again and they're not doing anything.
Speaker 2:You have to be consistent. You have to be consistent. You know you have to sow consistently so that you can reap a compounded harvest. You know leaders who persistently invest in employee development or even customer service. You're going to see exponential returns in productivity and loyalty. But it takes time and you've just got to be consistent. You can't quit.
Speaker 2:Proverbs 13 and 11 says wealth gained hastily will dwindle, but whosoever gathers little by little will increase. Again, it's consistency. We're not talking about get rich quick, we're talking about consistency. So we have to be consistent. You know Hebrews 6 and 12 says so that you may not be sluggish but imitators of those who, through faith and patience, inherit the promises. You've got to be patient, you know patience. Inconsistency allows faith to really compound, allows faith to really compound. So business visions that are realized through years of study or years of steady effort, that's what we're talking about here and we see that in a lot of the biblical characters, like Abraham, you know he's very patient and obedient to see what God had told him was going to come to pass. Came to pass. So those are our foundational, you know scriptures.
Speaker 2:You know exponential growth is so powerful. You know. You take small daily habits. Like I said, they don't have to be anything big. Start with small daily habits and, for example, maybe more consistent communication and that builds momentum and over months this compounds into a high trust culture and it reduces a lot of errors, it boosts and you can increase your profits by 20 to 30 percent every year just by being being consistent in good habits. You know time time is is really time is the multiplier Right. The longer that consistency is maintained, the greater the yield is going to be. A business that for 10 years has had this consistent branding for new customers, let me tell you, you have a lot more customer retention because you've had this consistent brand that you've been communicating over and over and over again and you just basically get brand equity is you know what I would call that.
Speaker 2:You know, for Christians, the Holy Spirit is the compounding agent. He's the one that amplifies our efforts. You know, 1 Corinthians 3, 6 says I planted and Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So prayerful consistency invites more than just multiplication. It really invites divine multiplication.
Speaker 2:So what are some really practical strategies to harnessing this compounding consistency that we're talking about? You know to activate it, you know. So what you want to do is you got to focus on the high level habits, but not only focus. You got to track your progress and then you rely on God's strength for perseverance. You know, we've read some passages, but what I would do is I would start by identifying some really high impact habits, you know. Pinpoint those actions that have the best compounding potential. Daily Bible reading, you know, for wisdom. Get weekly feedback, have some weekly feedback sessions or monthly financial reviews. A lot of companies the last you know, of course. I spent 23 years with one company until recently, and we had financial meetings on a monthly basis. Every month we had a financial meeting. We went over all the financials for all the departments and we talked a financial meeting. We went over all the financials for all the departments and we talked about those things.
Speaker 2:So just look for those high-impact habits that you can be and begin to be consistent with. Will Durant said one time. He said we are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit. If you want to become excellent, then you've got to be consistent, and then you need to create some systems within your life for reinforcement, and you can use tools like habit trackers. That's an app that you can get. There's another one called Streaks and you can have accountability groups. But there's some things that you've got to do. You want to create some systems to help you reinforce your consistency in some of these high impact habits, you know.
Speaker 2:Just to give you some examples again, we talked about the parable of the talents in Matthew, chapter 25. You know the unfaithful servant he just buried the talent that he received. He didn't yield anything. And so that's kind of what happens when you're inconsistent. You know Nehemiah. You know, despite his opposition, he consistently worked at rebuilding Jerusalem's walls. He consistently worked at rebuilding Jerusalem's walls and you can look at that through Nehemiah, chapters four through six. You know his daily leadership really compounded into the completion of that work in just 52 days and he restored a nation because of it. You know, if you want to look at some modern examples, you can look at Blake Mykowski. He's the one that started Tom's Shoes and he was very consistent with his model, which is one for one. His model was one for one. For every pair of shoes he sold, he donated a pair for a child or human around the world and it really compounded. It had a great social impact and he sold millions of shoes while building this purpose-driven business and gave away millions of pairs of shoes. So his faith really inspired generosity and it caused other businesses to look at that and say what can we do that we can have the impact like he has had.
Speaker 2:You know, truett, cathy, with Chick-fil-A. You know Cathy's consistent commitment to biblical principles, for example, like closing on Sundays and prioritizing people over profits. He built a multi-billion dollar empire while he was honoring God. He built a multibillion-dollar empire while he was honoring God and the tagline under their company's vision is we are closed on Sunday to honor God and let our employees worship. And that really exemplified their faith-driven consistency.
Speaker 2:And what about Dave Ramsey? A lot of people know Dave Ramsey and through his Financial Peace University, ramsey consistently teaches debt free living based on Proverbs, and he's got a huge business empire and he started and then filed bankruptcy. You know he wasn't doing good in the beginning but he was just consistent, consistent, consistent. And now he's. He's influenced millions of people and it's because he's showing a consistent message and a consistent method.
Speaker 2:Now these stories show that consistency and if you're a good steward, you're faithful, it compounds, it compounds your success and it helps advance the kingdom of God. Now there's going to be some challenges. You're going to have challenges to this compounding consistency that we're talking about and you know you're going to have to create some inertia. You know to deal with that. You know, the Bible says 1 Peter, 5 and 8, it says Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy, the devil, prowlsls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour, but see, god gives us the victory, the Bible says.
Speaker 2:And so you've got to be aware of some of these challenges that may try to stop you from being consistent, and one of those is distractions. Distractions and I would put these together, actually distractions and overcommitment. You know, if you're overcommitted to things, you can't continue to do the things that are going to have the greatest impact. If you're distracted, you kind of walk away and you don't. So you've got to begin to prioritize, and that starts even with prayer, because, you know, let God give you some prioritization. And to help you with that, because you need to learn how to say no to those things are really what I consider to be non-essential things. So you need to say no to those things because it just it hinders you from being consistent.
Speaker 2:And then, of course, there's adversity and discouragement. You know, sometimes you get discouraged. Maybe you're not seeing a profit or a harvest come as fast as you think you should. Hey, I've been doing this for three weeks and nothing's changed. Well, guess what Keep doing another three weeks and then do it another three weeks and then do it another three weeks. You don't quit. You know I've never known a true bodybuilder. I'm talking about a person who competes in bodybuilding that went into the gym and worked for about five minutes and said I don't understand why this isn't working. You know it's got to be consistent. It's got to be consistent. And again, there's sometimes you get discouraged and you want to give up. There's adversity, you want to give up, but let me tell you, you keep doing it every day.
Speaker 2:And then sometimes the biggest problem we have is bad habits. You know we can have these ingrained habits in us, these bad habits that are going to hinder us from doing the good habits consistently. You've got to replace the bad ones with the good one and you may have to have the power of the Holy Spirit to help you with that, but you can do it. Another is what I would call measurement fatigue. Okay, measurement fatigue. You know we are constantly, like I said, like the farmer that was constantly digging it up. When you constantly are trying to measure how you're doing on that particular habit that you've been consistent with for the last week, you kind of get tired of it after a while because nothing's changing, and so you can measure it and measure it to death.
Speaker 2:What I would say? So you want to celebrate small wins and you want to remember God's faithfulness, and then what goes hand in hand with that is just slow progress, just slow progress. You know it's kind of like early on when you do your investments. You know it doesn't look like you're doing that good with your investment, but it takes time. It takes time.
Speaker 2:Don't get discouraged. Don't get discouraged and even if you stop for a short period of time, get back on it, be consistent, Stay with it. Don't give up, don't let go. You know I work a lot with purchasing people and you have to get a hold of these people. They're very hard to get a hold of, but I've got a system and it's a system that I use consistently, day in, day out, day in, day out, and I don't give up after the first phone call and they don't call me back. I don't give up after the first email and they don't email me back. I don't give up the first phone call and they don't call me back. I don't give up after the first email and they don't email me back. I don't give up, I'm consistent with it. And I want to tell you something Consistency pays off. So you've got to look at that. Don't look at small progress or slow progress and then quit.
Speaker 2:The Bible says in Proverbs 21.5,. It says the plans of the diligent lead surely to abundance. The plan of the diligent, the one who is consistent. And then, of course, there's external pressures. Pressures, maybe a shift in the market, or maybe you get some criticism. You know, that's why it's so important that you be anchored in prayer. Be anchored in prayer and find people you can be accountable with.
Speaker 2:And then, lastly, one that hinders is going to be burnout. You know it's just burnout. You're just trying too much at once. Don't try everything at once. You just pick a few things and be consistent, consistent, get it under your belt, get it where it just happens automatically. You know, prioritize two or three key habits, uh, and then you allow God to to multiply, amen. You know the, the compounding interest of consistency, that's God's design for multiplication in our lives and in our businesses. You know, by faithfully investing small daily actions, we're going to partner. We don't just partner with people, we're partnering with God, and it'll produce an abundant fruit and an abundant life. You know, 1 Corinthians 15, 58 reminds us. It says be steadfast, consistent, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord, your labor or your habits are not in vain. So make sure that you're steadfast. You know, embrace this principle of consistency and do it today and I believe that you'll witness I know you will. If you're consistent, you'll witness exponential growth and you'll do that for his glory.
Speaker 2:Lord, we thank you right now for ministering to those who've listened to today's podcast. Lord, I ask you to multiply. Multiply, lord, our consistent efforts as you multiply the loaves and the fishes, lord, that we read about in your word. Lord, help us to be consistent in the important things in our careers and our life. And, lord, we thank you that your word declares that you bless the work of our hands. So, lord, I'm asking that you bless the consistent things that we do. In the name of Jesus, bring the harvest. Amen and amen. Well, thanks again for listening to this week's Christian Business Concepts and I hope you were encouraged, I hope you were enlightened and I hope you feel empowered to go out there and apply these principles and find true godly success. Well, that's all the time that we have for today. So until next time, remember that Jesus is Lord and he wants you blessed.
Speaker 1:Thank you for tuning into this week's Christian Business Concepts podcast. Go to christianbusinessconceptscom for more information and resources. Be sure to check out other podcasts that will help you take your business and your personal life to a whole new level of success.