How often have you been discouraged when you haven’t accomplished your desired goals? Perhaps you’ve chided yourself for insufficient motivation. It’s so easy to blame lack of enthusiasm for a lack of progress. But in the long haul, the two have very little to do with one another.

There may be a spark of excitement and big plans for the year ahead at Rosh Hashana. Maybe a moment of inspiration on Sukkot. And then what? How does that spark in Tishrei create measurable, lasting change in Cheshvan?

The month of Mar Cheshvan teaches us that small drops (see Yishayahu 40:15), tiny, repeated behaviors, have greater value than we often realize. For example, reading for five minutes may seem inconsequential, but slowly added together, day after day, month after month, it can accumulate to an entire shelf in a library. Lifting weights, refining your middot, learning a language, or organizing your office all have the same system for success. Down-size the objective to small chunks, even smaller than you’d initially deem worthwhile. Then take action, over and over again.

Wind and Rain

In this winter season, starting on the 7th of Cheshvan, we ask Hashem for rain in the Amidah, and starting on Shemini Atzeret we begin to praise Hashem for rain:

מַשִּׁיב הָרוּחַ וּמוֹרִיד הַגֶּשֶׁם — Who makes the wind blow and the rain descend

On a literal level we are praising God for precipitation in order to provide sustenance. From a spiritual perspective, it is reminding us that there is initially a wind, ruach, an abstract, invisible expression of the spirit. Soulful aspirations and a sweep of inspiration. While it feels wonderful, it doesn’t bring productivity on its own. The spiritual needs to be followed by something tangible. Rain, geshem, reflects a physical presence (gashmiyut) and drop by drop, it gets absorbed in the soil and is drawn up by plants’ roots, creating growth and visible change. The root geshem is seen in the phrase l’hagshim chalomot, a joyful expression of bringing elusive dreams to a concrete reality.

A moment of motivation of the spirit will remain invisible without consistent behavior, the drip-drop, rain-like patterns of habits that build over time. Lofty ideas need to be cultivated into manageable smaller tasks while ensuring minimal environmental obstacles. You want to go for an evening jog? Keep your sneakers by the door, plan your route, and set a reminder on your phone for the exact time. Keep it short so you will be more inclined to repeat it and gradually build up stamina and habit over time.

Consistency is Key

Rabbi Akiva innocently inquired about who carved the smooth stone at the mouth of a well. He was told “the water constantly falls on it, day in and day out.” He drew a lesson for himself: If the soft water could penetrate the hard stone, then surely the words of Torah, as hard as iron, could penetrate his own heart of flesh and blood. Immediately he went, at the age of forty, to learn the aleph bet, day after day, until he had learnt the entire Torah (Avot D’Rabbi Natan chapter 6).

Beyond the message that Rabbi Akiva stated, lies this same profound lesson:

The aggregate of water dripping one drop at a time was so much more powerful on the rock than a single deluge of water might have been. The stone wasn’t transformed by one extraordinary moment. It was transformed by consistent small actions.

Consistency is the number one ingredient in the formula for success. Dedication, perseverance, and in the words of psychologist Angela Duckworth, grit, are the skills one needs to cultivate in order to transform ideas into reality, much more important than innate talent or IQ.

The midrash discusses which biblical verse is all encompassing. Why is it not, as Ben Zoma says, our relationship with God, reflected in the verse Shema Yisrael? Or our love and commitment to others, as Ben Nanas posits? Why is the third, winning argument of Ben Pazi (see introduction to Ein Yaakov) considered the most all-encompassing? He brings the verse: The one lamb you shall offer up in the morning and the other lamb you shall offer up in the afternoon (Shemot 29:39), the sacrifice offered twice daily, the korban tamid. Consistency, daily action, at set times and in a certain fashion trumps the previous notions. The first two ideas are wonderfully elevated ideas of ruach, of the spirit. However, there is no definitive action which accompanies it. Ben Pazi teaches us that it is our consistent patterns of behavior that ultimately define who we are.

Action in Favor of Emotion

It is human nature to avoid discomfort, to minimize effort. Isn’t this the malaise voiced by the r’aya, the dear companion, when her beloved, the dod, is knocking at her door? “I have taken off my robe; how can I fathom dressing again? I have rinsed my feet; how can I be bothered to soil them? (Shir Hashirim 5:3)”. She’s tired, she’s already in bed, she’s just not in the mood. It seems insurmountable. And yet, we learn from the continuing verses, that she is later filled with remorse, and by the time she gets up to invite her beloved, it is too late. She seeks him but cannot find him.

Research suggests that anticipated regret can motivate actions in the present and perhaps this is a lesson we glean from the negative example of the r’aya’s delayed, emotion-based response. It is a dangerous thing to rely on our emotions. If it’s waiting for inspiration to strike or checking if we’re feeling inclined to act, relying on our feelings will likely produce minimal results.

In this winter season, let’s commit to a single repeated act, a small, easily attainable drop of rain, that can drip and drip and drip, and thereby become a consistent part of our lives. May He who makes the wind blow and the rain descend, help us develop the grit and commitment to transform spiritual inspiration into an actualized tangible reality of growth.