How to Use Consistency and Perseverance to Accomplish Anything

February 16, 2024·48 min·4 clips

Leigh and his friends spent a freezing night huddled between rocks on a mountain summit during a sudden storm.

This episode of The Vegan Gym Podcast explores the concepts of consistency and perseverance as essential tools for achieving any goal, particularly in health and fitness. Hosts Leigh Farneson and his brother Anders, founders of The Vegan Gym, share personal stories to illustrate these principles. They aim to help listeners apply these lessons to their own journeys toward better health and spreading veganism. Leigh recounts a 65-mile, five-day backpacking trip in the Adirondacks with two friends a decade ago, where meticulous daily planning represented consistency. The group encountered a severe storm on day three, forcing them to spend a freezing, sleepless night huddled between rocks without a tent. He describes persevering through that night to witness a stunning sunrise the next morning and complete the trek. Leigh also shares his personal experience of being diagnosed with cancer right before his senior year of college, which halted his consistent training and nutrition routines. Following his recovery, this health scare propelled him to adopt a whole-food, plant-based diet after reading *The China Study* and eventually co-found The Vegan Gym. Anders contributes insights from his entrepreneurial journey, having started three businesses before The Vegan Gym, including a snack food company and a supply chain startup. He references a Steve Jobs quote about the necessity of passion for enduring the hardships of building a company. The hosts discuss how medical school, residency, and fellowship presented a prolonged storm of financial strain and long hours, which Anders persevered through by focusing on her "why"—the desire to help people. She also describes putting her health and fitness goals on pause for three to five years to care for her parents at the end of their lives, maintaining consistency through activities like shared walks and healthy cooking. A key insight is that consistency is defined as regularity in action and a steady pace toward a goal, akin to building a muscle through daily practice. Perseverance is framed as enduring tough conditions with stamina, resilience, and patience, much like a Weeble toy that pops back up after being knocked down. The hosts argue that while consistency is crucial for daily progress, storms and challenges are inevitable over a long enough timeline, making perseverance non-negotiable. Leigh reflects that his cancer diagnosis, though difficult, became the "best thing" that ever happened to him because it redirected his life's path and built his strength. The episode maintains a conversational and educational tone, blending personal narrative with practical advice. The hosts speak from a place of shared experience, offering their stories as relatable frameworks rather than prescriptive rules. Listeners seeking motivation for long-term health, fitness, or entrepreneurial goals will find value in these real-life applications of resilience. Those preferring strictly data-driven or quick-fix content might find the anecdotal and reflective style less engaging.

As heard by us

A plainspoken note that consistency and perseverance both matter when goals get harder.

Consistency and perseverance are treated as two habits that pull in the same direction. One gets a person through ordinary days, the other matters when life gets harder.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

Use this when your plan is solid but your follow-through keeps slipping.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from The Vegan Gym Podcast