Imperfect Consistency

The secret to transforming your life isn't perfection—it's showing up consistently, especially when you don't feel like it. Day four of the Consistency Project dives deep into "imperfect consistency" as the ultimate tool for creating the life you desire.

Fighting through physical discomfort from endometriosis, I almost skipped today's stream. But that would violate the only rule of this 365-day journey: no starting over. There aren't perfect days, just consistent ones. This mindset shift is already revealing how procrastination and perfectionism sabotage our greatest goals.

Drawing inspiration from "Steal Like an Artist," we explore three powerful concepts for creators: stealing with integrity (researching what works and remixing it authentically), using limitations as creative fuel, and building your own platform instead of waiting to be discovered. My personal "hood to hooded" journey illustrates how limitations forced creativity—braiding hair to fund dental school and adapting to family responsibilities rather than abandoning my dreams.

The emotional lifecycle of any project follows a predictable pattern: initial excitement, the reality check of difficulty, the dark valley of doubt, and finally the satisfaction of completion. The magic happens when you push through that lowest point instead of quitting. By showing up imperfectly but consistently, you build something greater than the sum of its parts.

Join this experiment in real-time as we discover how daily discipline transforms mindsets and unlocks potential. What small step will you take today toward consistency, even when it's hard? Your journey to greatness starts with showing up—imperfections and all.

Chapters

• 0:00 Day 4 of the Consistency Project
• 2:04 Creating the Life You Desire
• 4:28 Steal Like an Artist: Key Takeaways
• 8:08 Using Limitations as Creative Fuel
• 11:30 The Life of a Project
• 15:58 No Days Off From Consistency

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:37

Dr Sean TV and we all the way live. Hey, we all the way live. Dr Sean is all the way live. We're just checking in. Welcome, welcome back to the chat.

Speaker 1: 0:48

Day four of the Consistency Project. Guys. Y'all thought I wasn't going to show up. Don't lose faith in me. Yet this is day four. We have 361 more days to go.

Speaker 1: 1:02

It's really grown me up as a person. It's allowed me to overcome something that has been hindering me, I feel. I feel like the lack of consistency and discipline and too much procrastination is such a hindrance to your goals, guys. It's such a hindrance. It's such a hindrance to your f***ing goals, guys. It's such a hindrance. It's such a hindrance. Okay, it's just such a hindrance. So today, our stream is about creating the life you desire. So today we're going to be just growing our mind. You already know we on this hood hood journey, right, we doing this together and not only am I growing, you're growing. You can see this experiment unfolding on day four.

Speaker 1: 1:49

Normally, I would have probably skipped the day by now because I'm not feeling well. Um, today was rough. You know, it was a really rough day. End Endometriosis, which is a feminine issue that a lot of women have, and cramps. How lucky are men.

Speaker 1: 2:13

It's Friday, it's the end of the work week. I almost didn't show up, but I remember day four of a 365-day challenge and the only rule is no starting over and there aren't going to be perfect days, just consistent ones. So here I am no perfect days, only consistent days. It's 365 days of focusing on this subject but also incorporating a lot of knowledge and learning and growing. To be consistent, it requires creativity and discipline and to have fun. If you're doing something you don't like, it's hard to be creative. I mean consistent in that arena. But for me, I actually like streaming, I actually like getting on here. It's just those first couple days. Especially the first day, is going to be the hardest, especially on a platform like twitch, because there is such a massive learning curve to use the tools to set up your stream to you see other streamers and they know how to use the widgets and the gadgets, and it's a learning curve. So what you don't want to do when you are attempting to knock out a heavy goal is to allow those imperfections to prevent you from being consistent. We are creating the life we desire with the tool of imperfect consistency. Imperfect consistency, baby. That's what we're focusing on today Imperfect consistency.

Speaker 1: 3:52

Today I read this little short book here Still Like an Artist. Still Like an Artist. It's a New York Times bestseller, short read, about 10 chapters. It's about 10 things. Nobody told you about being creative. So you remember, when I first started the Consistency Project, I discussed doing my research, looking at other Twitch creators, like seeing how they do things, adjusting my page, my bio, my schedule, a lot of that around what is working for other people.

Speaker 1: 4:28

So when they say still is not meaning still, and don't give credit or take something that doesn't belong to you and pretend like it's yours. It means like, do your research and make your own formula. It's kind of like when we did the consistency soup how I made my recipe. Your recipe is going to be different, even though I gave you ideas on how to do it. You can use some of the things that I use, but it's going to be different. So that's what this book is all.

Speaker 1: 4:51

That's what this book is talking about, and the core theme is creativity is for everyone and nothing is original, but everything can be uniquely yours. If you use several sources, then you can make it into your own, like. In dental school we did projects like systemic reviews. So these reviews are when you gather research from different sources and you create your own research project using those sources on a certain topic, and that will be your own research project using those sources on a certain topic, and that will be your own research project, but using other people's projects. So it's kind of like what he's talking about. And at the end of the book he talked about how people took it too literal. So we don't want to take this too literal. Okay, it's just a figure of speech.

Speaker 1: 5:38

So the three takeaways that I got from this book, from reading this book today, is very helpful for a budding creator. The first thing is to still still with integrity. Still with integrity. That's kind of like what we just said doing your research, seeing what works for them and trying it for yourself. Study them. That's what research is studying something and learning about it and like, for me, twitch, I went and I I researched, I learned, I'm seeing how I'm reacting to certain uh streamers or certain content and you do what you like. You are who you are, so be authentic, but also get inspiration.

Speaker 1: 6:24

Remix it. Don't copy it. Remix it. They do that with songs, like a lot of songs are from the 60s, 70s, 80s, but they remix them, make it their own and it works out. Many times people aren't going to unless you're from that decade or that era. You're not going back to listen to those songs because you don't even know they exist. But when somebody remixes it or remakes a new, modern, updated version, you're like, oh, I like this song. And then later you discover this song has been remade 10 times. This is a 10th time and you're just figuring out that the original artist is not who you think they are. There are so many songs like that where you still like an artist, meaning this is helping you with your creative process. So remember, remix, don't copy, don't plagiarize.

Speaker 1: 7:12

The second takeaway is to use limitations as creative, creative fuel. So whatever you lack which is very important for this consistency project is whatever you lack on your journey. Use that as fuel, especially on the hood to hooded journey. For me, whenever I lack something on my hood to hooded journey, from the hood to being a doctor, on my hood to hood journey, from the hood to being a doctor, I just use what I have, use what you have until you get what you need. You got to fake it till you make it all of that good stuff. So use those limitations, those things that are hindering you, as creativity fuel.

Speaker 1: 7:54

Many times, in poverty, we are some of the most creative people ever. For example, even though this is crazy, and this is one of the things why I had such a desire to become something great, to really understand money, to understand how to be an adult and to thrive and be successful is watching my grandma, eartha, the time that she did win those custody battles that I'm always talking about. She struggled to raise my sister and I. She was older. Many times she would do title loans, payday loans, write bounce checks just to feed us and I saw that. So she was creative with how she took care of us. Even though it was. It wasn't perfect. We never missed a meal. She might have been stressed out, but we never missed a meal and she was creative and how she did that.

Speaker 1: 8:43

That's a hood perspective. From a hooded perspective, you still want to use your limitations as creativity. So when I knew that I didn't have the resources as a young adult from my parents to go through this hood to hood route, because you really need an immense amount of support, you really need that family. That's just going to step up when you lack the money. Sometimes this journey gets very difficult and very expensive. Because I lack that and I knew I did. I couldn't just call somebody and say, hey, I need $500 for this book or I need $1,000 to take this test. I have to work. So I had to be creative. Even in dental school, I was braiding hair, doing hair, even in dental school, raising children that aren't mine. But I had to be creative because it was a family urgency for me to step in and help the family out. So that's what creativity feel is when you use those limits, those things that you think are holding you back as creative juice.

Speaker 1: 9:47

Not having all the resources forces you to try your best, do your best. See, I want to elevate this stream to a higher level, but if I just continue to wait let me turn, my shirt looks crooked If I continue to elevate this thing to a higher level by showing up every day, that means that every day it gets better. Every day we grow in every way possible on a daily basis. So no limitation should stop you from being your authentic self or trying something new or chasing a new experience. No limitations, so just like no excuses. We have no limitations when it comes to consistency. You just show up with what you got and do the best that you can, and pat yourself on the back and show gratitude once you're done.

Speaker 1: 10:43

The third thing that I got from this book is don't wait to be discovered. Don't wait to be discovered to start being creative and sharing your greatness to the world. You must promote yourself, market yourself, be creative about it. Don't wait for other people to give you validation for your greatness, like who has time for that? Who has time for that? Never let anyone do that. So I decided to help us unlock our creativity, which is ultimately going to help us unlock consistency, because we know that consistency is halted when you procrastinate. Consistency is halted when you are not disciplined or when you go to excuseville and you just quit because you think about all the things that you're lacking. You think about all the things that are imperfect. You think about everything that you don't have. I don't have this. What do you have? Like when you hungry, you go in and you don't have money, you go and cook what you can make up in the kitchen. That's how a lot of these great recipes got started. That's how a lot of them got started by being creative. So tap into your creativity. Tap into your creativity right. Unlock your greatest potential seriously.

Speaker 1: 12:04

So in this book there is this little chart. It's called life, the life of a project. He stole this from his friend, maureen mchugh, and it says in the beginning when you have a project like, for me, the 365 day consistency project the first is the best idea ever. It's like, oh, this is the best idea ever. And then it's like, okay, this is harder than I thought. Starts here at a high. This is the best idea ever. And then it says, okay, this is harder than I thought it was.

Speaker 1: 12:35

Then your energy goes like oh, this is gonna take some work. And it goes like, oh, this sucks and it's boring. And then you have a little dark area where you're like am I doing this right? Because the results aren't hitting how I thought they was going to be hitting. And then it goes to oh well, let me come over here. Oh, it will be good to finish because I'll learn something for next time. That's where the magic is unlocked when you get past the lowest of the lowest point. When you're in the middle of a project, he like, oh, my goodness, this is just draining me, but when you overcome your goal and you succeed and you push through on those days when you don't feel like it, it gets better. You're going to learn something for the next time and then it goes to another level. Oh, it's done and it sucks, but not as bad as I thought it was going to be. That little diagram just shows us that sometimes things, when you have these big, bright ideas, it's like I'm going to do da, da, da, da, da, da, da. And then when you start the project and as the project progresses, your emotions are going to fluctuate. As you go through this project You're going to have some highs, some really lows, but once you finish, it may not be this ultimate masterpiece that you thought it would be, but it's going to be better than if you had not done anything or if you do not show up.

Speaker 1: 13:57

When you don't show up, you automatically count yourself out of greatness, and I use dentistry a lot because dentistry is so competitive. That's like if you know that only 1% of people are going to get in, or less than 1% of people are going to get into this field, most people wouldn't even apply. And then if you have limitations, stereotypes. You are an excuse-ville. You have all this thing you put in your head. You're talking yourself out of your own greatness. Then you will never know if you could be something if you don't try and if you don't put your name in in the basket. When I was putting my name in the basket for dental school, there was always something in the back of my head that was like dang, there's so many other applicants who have 4.0s. You get intimidated. You're looking at the average GPA. You're like I don't even have that GPA, but what do you have? This is just like when you use your limitations to be creative.

Speaker 1: 14:54

So if you don't have the perfect GPA, you use the other parts of your application. You're going to be using your shadowing experiences, your volunteer experiences. You're going to use the leadership experiences that you have, any work experiences. You will use everything that you can. You're going to make sure your personal statement stands out above everyone else's. You want to make sure that you stand out and be creative so that whatever you lack no longer hinders you.

Speaker 1: 15:22

But if you don't show up because you have those things that you think that you lack, then you automatically just count yourself out, self out. Don't be one of those people who live with regrets because they did not even try, because they were afraid to remix things, afraid to go to the next level. They're afraid of what will happen if you fail. You won't fail if you try. There is no failure in trying. The only thing that happens when you try is that you learn.

Speaker 1: 15:52

For me, that's the biggest thing that's happening already with this experiment is that every day that I show up here, guys, I feel like it's so imperfect. I feel like dang. I wanted this, but this is a daily thing. So, more than anything, I'm teaching myself consistency. Imperfect consistency is showing up on those hardest moments, those hardest days, those hardest seconds, when you just like this project doesn't matter anyways. I mean I might as well just quit. Nobody saw me yet, but I don't want to do that because I have something to prove to myself and this is what it takes. I know that if I can go through dental school for four years and do that, like I said, I could do anything. I could do 365 showing one hour a day. I could do it.

Speaker 1: 16:36

It's a lot harder than I think it's gonna be and it's proven to be a lot more challenging because nothing more that you want to do on a friday night than kick back with a cup of wine and watch some tv. I was watching um in living color tonight took me back to the 90s and just watching that raw creativity baby to get a good laugh. Like I said, I read this book earlier so even though I wasn't feeling well, I still fill my brain with good nutrients and good energy. You know what I mean. You got to do that. You have to do that every single day, and the more you do that, it's going to exponentially grow your mindset and your life Period.

Speaker 1: 17:20

No days off, no days off, no days off from consistency. Otherwise it's not consistency, it's something else. It's procrastination Period, all of these different things stealing with integrity, using your limitations as creativity fuel and not waiting to be discovered by sharing your greatness now and your creations now and building your own stage. That's exactly what I'm doing with this consistency project is creating my own stage, starting from the bottom. We started from the bottom and soon we're gonna be here. This applies to anyone, especially creators like myself, who are showing up daily to be more than just professionals. We are builders of culture, baby.