Consistency Beats Talent

This is something I am intentionally working on in 2026. BEING CONSISTENT. I think we can talk ourselves out of putting the work in and in today's episode we dive into the WHY behind that.

We lay out a simple, repeatable system for building consistency that outlasts motivation and outperforms talent. From social media distortions to imposter syndrome, we show how small, scheduled reps compound into skill, confidence and momentum.

• why consistency beats early talent
• what consistency is and is not
• how social media skews progress
• dealing with weak feedback loops
• thinking in compounding across skills and confidence
• the four-step minimum consistency framework
• choosing one target for a season
• defining a minimum that survives bad weeks
• scheduling fixed blocks to reduce friction
• tracking completions and protecting the streak
• aligning goals with real life to avoid burnout
• three reflection questions to re-focus

If you ever want to be on the show, just reach out to me!

Chapters

• 0:00 Kicking Off The Consistency Theme
• 1:47 Why Consistency Outperforms Talent
• 3:17 Defining Consistency Without Hustle Myths
• 5:01 Talent Traps And Imposter Syndrome
• 7:10 Social Media’s Highlight Reel Problem
• 8:59 Feedback Loops And Patience In Podcasting
• 10:40 Compounding Efforts Across Life Domains
• 12:18 The Minimum Consistency Framework Overview
• 14:05 Step One: Pick One Target
• 15:19 Step Two: Define Your Minimum
• 17:12 Step Three: Schedule It
• 18:04 Step Four: Track It And Protect The Streak
• 19:22 Align Goals To Real Life And Close

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:17

Welcome back to the Clever Angle Podcast. I'm your host, Tevin McGee, and we are on week three, three weeks into 2026, and we're on our third podcast. Let's just give a round of applause for that. I'm proud of myself for making it to week three and bringing you guys another episode. We will be back next week with a guest episode, but I'm really enjoying making these solo episodes as well. Last week we talked about why work-life balance was the wrong goal and how alignment is probably the better target. That episode was really about just getting honest about what season you are in in life, where your energy needs to go, and how to stop carrying guilt about not getting everything perfectly. Today is a follow-up episode. So if you've ever said, I know what I should do, but I just can't stick with it. The truth is, talent isn't what separates most people. It's the consistency that people put in that gives them the competitive edge. So if you've ever tried to change careers or build a side hustle, get in shape, or even just level up at work, this episode is going to give you a simple framework of how you can stay in the game long enough to win. Now let's talk about why consistency beats talent and how to build it even when motivation is gone. Everybody knows someone who is talented, but never finishes anything. They just have this unique ability to be good at whatever they pick their hands on, and they just kind of sway from one thing to to the next. Then you have somebody that seems just like you, who can build something amazing. Both people have something that's special. One is talent and one is consistency. Talent is a head start. Talent can take you far. It can get you out of the blocks fast, but it's not a guarantee. Talent opens a door, but consistency is what's gonna keep you in the room. We've all been around the gifted kid who doesn't stick with it. But it's the consistent person that's going to post a podcast every week, post on social media every week, studies daily, practices daily, and applies steadily. That person is going to be the person that is going to win. So first we need to define what consistency is not. Consistency is not grinding every day. It's not a perfect streak of something. It's not motivation. Because all of these things can leave you and will leave you. There's gonna be a day where you're gonna miss the gym. There's gonna be a day where you just don't feel like doing it. But what consistency is, is showing up on a schedule, you can survive. Keeping promises that you made to yourself, doing the reps long enough for compounding to kick in. I think one of the reasons why I really like this solo series, it's as a it's a reminder of things that I need to do myself. This entire episode is something that I need to hear in regards to this podcast and a lot of areas of my life. Consistency is doing a thing at a repeatable pace, even when you don't feel like it. So let's talk about some of the reasons why talent fails sometimes. I think when you're talented at something, you begin to get praise a little bit too early, and it takes away from the discipline aspect. When things come easy to you, you feel like you don't have to practice as much. You feel like the head start that you have is going to be enough for you to win the race. And in reality, that's just not true. But on the flip side of that, I think that a lot of us experience imposter syndrome. And we think that if we're not good at something right off of the bat, then we need to transition to something else. Hey, I'm not a good speaker, so I can never be a public speaker. I need to do something that naturally fits the skills that I have versus being consistent and putting in the time to get better at things. Some people think that if they miss a day, then they might as well quit. Like, man, I was doing really good on my diet for three or four months, but I kind of relapsed and ate some Oreos one day, so might as well just just keep sliding, keep just keep backsliding. I I failed, I missed a day. Life got in the way, life got busy. I was in a season where I didn't have the energy. Might as well start over another time. And this is the thing that has become more apparent as I gotten older is that social media makes normal progress feel slow. How many times have you jumped on social media and seen a video of somebody going through a transformation or doing something, and it seems like the results came to them overnight? Like this one-hit wonder type of success that makes everything that you know takes a little bit longer seem unobtainable. Like, oh man, I'm never gonna be like this person because it would take me 10 years to do this when it took this person one. But the thing that you have to realize about social media is that everybody is just posting their highlight reels, they're not posting all of the grinding and all of the consistent actions, all of the little habits, all of the days that they didn't feel like going, they're just posting the icing on the cake, not the process that actually went into baking and preparing the finished product. And as a podcaster, um a feedback loop, not having a feedback loop is another thing. So I tracked the success of my show for the longest time of how many people were listening to my episodes. I would obsess over an episode going live and seeing how many people listen to it, and we get discouraged at the numbers. Like, man, I put all this effort into making this podcast episode, my time, my energy, all of these things, and only a few people listened. So, you know, there was there was times where I thought about not even bringing the podcast back. But one thing that I figured out in all of this time off is I've got to give my chance myself a chance to succeed. And you do too. You have to be consistent enough with something and be patient enough to see the fruits of your labor. Most people don't fail. Most people just simply stop doing the thing. Whatever the thing is, they just stop doing it. And it's almost impossible to fail if you continue putting one foot in front of the other, making progress. It doesn't matter where you start in the gym. If you keep going to the gym and you keep putting the work in, no matter where you start, you are going to be better in the long run than when you started. As long as you continue going forward, your efforts will compound. So you have to look at this as a long-term thing. This journey is going to be a long-term thing. Me doing this podcast, I have to look at this as a long-term investment, not something that I can get the satisfaction out of in just a couple of months. Who here tried to save money and then got discouraged, and it's just impossible to save money, and you stop. But compounding and consistency is something that is going to be a journey. It's going to test you in a lot of ways. And not just money compounds, your confidence compounds, your your skills compound, your reputation, and your network can compound. When you're looking at your schedule, if you do something 30 minutes a day for a year, do you think that you're going to be better at whatever that thing is? When you look back in three months, you're going to learn what works and what didn't work. I hope to look back on this episode of the podcast later this year and look to myself and say, hey, you came a lot. You can't you came far since the beginning of January. It's it's August now, and you've come far since then. But you just have to be that person that keeps showing up. The person who follows through, the person who doesn't break promises to yourself. That is what consistency is. Thirty minutes a day working on being better, even when you don't feel like it. So today I'm going to give you my minimum consistency framework. And this is going to help you be more consistent in whatever area that you want to achieve something. This is going to be a four-step guide that's going to help you be consistent at whatever you apply to. So, step one, you need to pick one target for this next season, let's say three to four months, and make that the main thing that you're building. Whether that is a skill, a career pivot, a side project, you're working on your health. For me, my main thing for 2026 is working on my podcast. So pick that one thing and we are going to focus on that one thing. Step two, after you decided what that one thing is going to be, you have to define your minimum version of success in that week. So if it's going to the gym, what is the minimum you could do to be satisfied with how much you went to the gym? So let's say you're trying to work out three times a week. Okay? You're trying to work out three times a week. Well, the minimum workout that you will accept as you went to the gym is 15 minutes of walking. You have to make it so minimum that you feel silly about skipping it. So you have to define whatever the smallest version of what you will accept on your worst week. So your busiest week, everything's going wrong. What is something that you can still accomplish during that week? It could be 10 minutes, it could be 15 minutes. You have to make it achievable no matter what. If it's a career switch, maybe it's applying to one job once per week. Maybe it's sending out one networking message once per week. For my podcast, maybe it's coming up with a podcast idea, even if I don't get an episode done. I'm doing something towards my goal. For me, though, my minimum is I'm one podcast episode a week. No matter how long it is, one podcast episode a week on your feed for 52 weeks. Step three is scheduling it. You have to get in a routine of scheduling it. Okay, my time to record podcasts when I don't have that much going on is Thursday. Thursday after work. I'm finding some time to record a podcast. If I haven't scheduled an interview with somebody, it's Thursday after work. No matter what. I sit here and I record a podcast. And then step four is find a measurable way to track it. Write everything down. Wanna work out three times? When you complete the first time, put a check mark by it. Check it off your list. Your minimum has to be so easy that you feel silly skipping it. So just to review, pick one target for one season. So get a goal in mind, get an area, get a skill that you want to accomplish, and you circle it. Now, step two, define your minimum version. What is something that even if it's your worst week, you have the lowest amount of energy that you will accept to where it's going to get done no matter what. As far as working out goes, for me, my minimum is a hundred push-ups a day. Even if I don't work out, that is the bare minimum that I'll accept for myself physically, is a hundred push-ups a day. Step three, schedule it. Get into a habit of putting it down of this is what I'm doing, this is when I'm carving out this time. You might have ballet for the kids and extracurriculars with your job and girls, and all these things. Pick a time that you can do this every single week. And then step four is just track it. Pick your target, the minimum version you'll accept, schedule it, and track it. What this does is it creates a system. And systems are more reliable than your motivation. If I only worked out and if I only podcasted when I felt like it, there'd be a lot of times when I wouldn't do it. And if you miss, it's okay. But never miss twice. If you set out to do three times a week and then one week you do two times a week, make sure next week you do three times a week again. Lower the bar, but don't miss. Don't drop the habit. You miss the gym? Okay, that's fine. Get outside and walk for 15 minutes. But don't don't get out of the habit of doing whatever it is that you are setting out to do. Do the minimum and protect your streak. If you want to accomplish it, you can. You can. In a lot of ways, this episode ties into the last episode. So, like I said at the beginning, go back and listen to it. It was a great episode. It's a great episode. Alignment tells you what matters this season. Consistency is how you honor it. If you're consistently inconsistent, you might be misaligned. You're not lazy. Maybe it's something you really don't want to do. Maybe there's an external pressure of somebody pushing you in that direction. You may just be misaligned. So as we end today's episode, I'm just going to ask you these three questions. What is one thing? What is my one thing for the next 30 to 60 days that I'm going to close in on, that I'm going to schedule, that I'm going to track, that I'm going to make sure that I do, even if I have to lower the bar a little bit. If you're trying to learn guitar, I'm at least playing the guitar for 10 minutes. 10 minutes a day. Setting you a timer. Some days will be you'll be more motivated, some days you'll be less motivated. But what is my one thing that I'm going to focus on in this next season? The next question: what minimum can I do even on a chaotic week? During a snowstorm, during a cheer competition, during tennis starting, during deadlines to meet at work, what is a minimum that I can do? No matter what. Because I tell you, there's time out there. If we have time to do extracurriculars like watch TV and watch the national championship game or play video games, hey, these are all things that I like to do as well. But on a chaotic week, we can't make excuses. What's the minimum that even on weeks like that, when tasks feel daunting, that I can still get accomplished? And lastly, what am I currently doing that is too big to keep doing? What is something that I need to let go of? What is something that I might be misaligned on? That I'm using valuable energy on something that I might not even really want to be doing. Where do I need to make a change at? So I can be better aligned. Consistency is easier when your goals match your real life. Take it from me. You don't need more talent. You just need a smaller plan that you can repeat. What is something that you can do? You can't compare yourself to anyone else. They're not living your life. Not your wife, not your friends, not your mom, not your dad. What is something that you can do and that you can repeat? The gap between where you are and where you want to be is mostly just repetition. Just getting reps in. You want to be a better guitar player? Get the reps in. You want to be a better runner? Get the reps in. You want to be a better speaker, better podcaster? Get the reps in. So in closing, show up small, show up often, and let time do the rest. This has been another episode of the Clever Angle Podcast. I just want to say thank you to everyone that listens to this show. And if you ever want to be on the show, just reach out to me. Um my email should be in the uh the show notes, Devin McGee25 at gmail.com. I'll get back to you as soon as possible. And like I said, thank you to everyone that listens to the show. And until next time, peace.