What does consistency mean to you?
If you work in marketing (or consume content from someone who does!), you’ve probably learned to hate the word consistency. It’s become a stick to beat ourselves with, and if it’s any consolation I’m no exception!
Over the past couple of years, it had become an unachievable standard – if I didn’t stick to a target of posting every day all of the time then I’d failed. Which only makes it more difficult (or even impossible, some days!) to want to create anything to share!
Essentially, aiming for consistency was the reason that I was “failing” to be consistent in my own marketing. (Not on client work, as it’s always easier to do it for other people, isn’t it?!)
The problem extends beyond our marketing efforts into our overall planning, affecting how we function and what we are able to deliver.
Expectations vs Reality
If you’re like me, we start a month, a week (or even a day!) with a schedule. Appointments in the calendar, tasks on the planned list, an outline of how we expect our week to go.
And often it doesn’t take long for that plan to be derailed – a broken toe, a sick child, an urgent request, a cancelled meeting – any or all of these can mean our week suddenly looks different than expected and makes consistency feel difficult or even impossible.
Giving the word consistency a new meaning
In 2026, things are changing. I’m not putting the pressure on myself that I did in 2025 as I know that it doesn’t lead to me doing my best work. This year, the plan is to consistently do what I can. The balancing act is to avoid allowing “what I can” to morph from pressure-easing to excuse-making!
Each day I plan to show up fully, give my best effort. I will aim to focus on what was done, rather than only on what wasn’t done, at the end of the day when I’m assessing my progress.
Reality Check
Consistency does matter. This is not a suggestion that we ignore deadlines, decide that client requests no longer matter, or avoid all essential tasks in the name of easing pressure on our overloaded selves!
The idea is to check our expectations against the reality of what we are able to achieve, remember we are not superhuman, and plan accordingly – so that we prioritise the most important things and use our time and energy on those, first.
Next Steps: The Balancing Act
Like most things in life, especially if you’re running a business (and even more especially if you’re running a business solo!) there is a balancing act here.
Being Kind vs Making Excuses
It’s almost as easy to slide into excuses as it is to slide into being unkind to yourself, and it’s important to recognise the difference.
This is not a pass to avoid the work we don’t like, it’s an invitation to recognise that we are all human and our potential output is also human. If we set an expectation of achieving a superhuman list of tasks, we are unlikely to complete them all and are probably not completing the ones that are really important.
On the other hand, if we are realistic in the work we aim to do we may well exceed our own expectations and have capacity to achieve more than we planned.
Framing for Success
It’s all about framing this in a way that increases the possibility of success, while avoiding overwhelm and burnout!
Perhaps a list of questions to help review the wishlist of tasks and decide what you can, and will, tackle first.
Questions are more likely to provide the flexibility we need for weeks that deviate from the schedule, or when unexpected things come up, than the rigid rules we tend to prefer – which tend to assume that each day or week will follow the same formula, and as a result struggle to accommodate when things change.
Framing Questions
I’m sharing my framing questions, so that you can feel free to use them as a starting point for your own. Adjust them to suit your own situation, or use entirely different ones if you prefer!
- What is my actual time availability this week?
- What are the non negotiables? (Things that must be done this week to avoid consequences or actions to service paying clients)
- What are the items that will significantly benefit my business and/or me personally? (Things that generate revenue, grow business)
- What are the wishlist items? (The nice-to-have things that I’d like to do but which will have minimal impact if they aren’t done this week)
- What is my biggest potential time sink? (The things that suck up time without us noticing, that we find easy to start/hard to stop and gain little from)
- Have I protected some downtime? (Time for friends, family, “nothing” time with no expectations)
Ready to work on these framing questions for yourself?
Grab the free template to help you apply these to your planning – whether it’s planning your year, your rmonth, or your content for the coming week!
Join me?
Will you join me in attempting this switch in perspective in the last week of January and into February?
Would you like to check in for accountability, to keep us on track and remind us of this goal?
Could we review together in February, to check in on the difference it has made to our progress over the coming weeks?
