Woodpecker 10(0)1 - X: Consistency

Woodpeckering my way through 1001 chess puzzles in 2021

For me, one of the key advantages of the Woodpecker Method is that it encourages regular work. Looking back at Set One, can I say I was as consistent as I aimed to be?

Here’s my notebook page where I tracked my progress whilst I was Woodpeckering the first set of puzzles - 1st January to 4th March.

If you look at Cycle One on the left hand side you’ll see that I attempted to solve anywhere between 1 and 24 positions spending between 27 minutes and 75 minutes on any given day.

There are also four days when I didn’t do any Woodpeckering at all. And one day when I completed just the one solitary puzzle.

Would you say that’s consistent?

The Growth Equation has a short (20 minute) podcast on the theme of consistency. My two main take aways from it are:-

Consistency is achieved by showing up and putting yourself in a position to win.

An 80%+ achievement rate can be considered consistent.

Showing up just means being there to do the work. During Cycle One there were 22 days out of 28 during which I spent half an hour or longer Woodpeckering. That’s 79% which is close enough for me.

'Putting yourself in a position to win’ is more subjective. It’s that combination of factors that allows you to do quality work rather than just counting the minutes. Decent work environment, not starting out tired, not being distracted. Those kind of things.

I don’t have any data for that. Which is a lesson learned. Something I’ll have to work out a way to track in future Sets.

For set one, overall, I’d say I’d was reasonably consistent. Not bad at all but perhaps some room for improvement too.