What James Clear Taught Me About Consistency And How It Applies to Blogging In Your Business
One of my absolute favorite personal development books is Atomic Habits by James Clear.
If you’re in the world of constantly trying to better yourself and increase your productivity, you’ve likely read the book or at least heard of it.
It’s truly one of the most foundational books that teaches you how to build effective habits that LAST.
Because let’s be real: how many times have you tried to start something new, but then you take one misstep and the habit falls to the wayside?
GUILTY.
What I love so much about the habit building framework that James Clear teaches is that it’s simple and straightforward.
He doesn’t try to overcomplicate things.
Sometimes as humans, we love to make things more complex than they really have to be. It’s like if it’s not hard enough, we’re not interested. We try to go from 0-100 in everything we do.
But James (yes, I’m pretending like we’re on a first name basis) says, “HEY! Chill out. That’s really not necessary.”
(No, he doesn’t say it in those words, but that’s essentially what he means.)
If you’ve not read the book, I highly recommend doing so before the new year, but for now let me fill you in real quick so you know what I mean.
In his book, he mentions how when most people have a goal, they will focus on the results first.
But James Clear says this is NOT the most effective way!
For example, if you want to build the habit of exercising consistently, you might focus on your goal of, “I want to lose 20 pounds in 90 days.”
Losing 20 pounds in the next 90 days is the result you want.
Instead of focusing on that result, James Clear says that it’s much easier to focus on the SYSTEM first and then the goal.
As his famous quote states, “You don’t rise to the level of your goals, you fall to the level of your systems.”
When you want to do something new in life – whether it be personally or professionally – establishing a new routine that you will stick to is the FIRST and most important step.
It’s not about the end goal or result just yet. It’s about the consistent plan of action that you can commit to.
Moreso, he encourages people to focus on the type of person they want to be.
For example, in Atomic Habits he shares a story of a person who wanted to build a habit of consistent exercise, so instead of focusing on the lofty goal, they focused on WHO they wanted to be – which was the type of person who doesn’t miss workouts.
Adopting the concepts in Atomic Habits has helped me tremendously in life, but it’s also played a massive part in how I do business – specifically with how I built the consistency of blogging weekly AND how I teach others to do the same!
How This Relates To Blogging In Your Business
If you’ve consumed any of my content ever, you’ve probably caught on to the fact that I’m a big fan of planning.
Planning my life, planning vacations, AND most definitely planning my blog content one quarter in advance.
When people first hear that, they sometimes think, “3 whole months in advance?! I could neverrrr.”
But when they learn my simple and straightforward strategy to make it happen (in addition to the reason WHY), they realize that it really does make sense and it’s not as crazy as it may seem.
Here’s the thing: blogging in your business produces MANY benefits… when you’re consistent with it.
I often hear from people that they have a blog in their business, but they only post here and there.
Or they once had a blog in their business, but then it kind of fell off their radar.
Orrrr they haven’t started their blog yet because they can’t find a consistent rhythm to commit to.
It’s for this reason that when people come to me wanting to get back into blogging for their business or start a blog from scratch, the very first question I ask EVERYONE is, “what is your desired (and realistic) consistency?”
Meaning, in an ideal and realistic world, how many blogs would you publish per month?
Because while I want you to have a blog in your business, more than anything I want you to have a blog that has CONSISTENT content – and that consistency looks different for everyone.
The only way that can happen is when you create a plan of action (aka a system) that you can commit to and fall back on.
The plan or system really is the first step. THEN comes the doing!
Here’s the plan that I teach and follow for myself AND for all of my blog clients.
What Consistency Is NOT
In Atomic Habits, James says that consistency is essential for success in any area (and I wholeheartedly agree), but with that he also states that “if you want to maintain your sanity, reduce stress, and increase your odds of long-term success, then you need to plan for failure as well as focus on consistency.”
And planning for failure doesn’t mean that you EXPECT to fail. It simply means that you know exactly how to get back on track when things don’t go like you originally imagined.
Hence your SYSTEM!
Because guess what? Being consistent is not the same thing as being perfect.
Consistency isn’t about all or nothing.
But as humans, it’s easy to believe that it is. We easily make ourselves believe that if we break our streak of something, then we’ve failed.
For example, in 2022 I committed to Mile a Day March where I would walk a mile a day outside.
There were a few days that I had to skip thanks to rainy Georgia weather.
My old way of thinking would have convinced myself that I failed the challenge and didn’t need to continue.
But instead, I simply picked up where I left off, added an extra mile to a day or two, and continued on.
At the end of the 31 days, I counted it as a WIN.
Your blog planning system is no different. It gives you a track to follow, so that you can commit to a consistency that is realistic for your business.
And when life happens and you miss a blog post or two… guess what? You know exactly how to pick back up!
How To Consistently Start Blogging In Your Business BEFORE 2024
This is something that I’m super passionate about and I truly believe that no matter how busy your life or business feels, there is a way you can consistently implement blogging in your business.
And the best part? YOU get to decide what that consistency looks like!
Because I’m a big fan of not waiting until the new year to create new habits, I’ve created a challenge of sorts to help you do this BEFORE 2024 even begins.
✨ INTRODUCING BLOGMAS ✨
What: A [Free] December Content Challenge For Business Owners ✍🏼
When: December 1 - 22 🗓
Why: Move out of planning and into DOING before the new year even begins WITH real accountability every step of the way so you actually follow through 👏🏼
The ultimate goal of this challenge?
➡️ To write 1 blog post per week (3 total!), so you can successfully get into the rhythm and consistency of creating content weekly and can easily carry that habit into 2024!
Your registration for Blogmas includes:
Kickoff Call on December 4th (to set our intention and get pumped for what’s to come)
Weekly Co-writing Wednesday Calls on December 6th, 13th, & 20th (this is your accountability piece)
25 Days of Blog Writing Prompts (in case you’re running dry of blog topic ideas)
Blog Post Outline Template (so you can start writing with ease)
Feedback Fridays (you’ll have the ability to submit 1 written piece to me per week for feedback)
Slack Channel for Communication & Collaboration (because remember: you aren’t in this alone!)
This is for you if:
✔️ You know that having a blog in your business is important, but you can’t seem to stay consistent with it
✔️ You WANT to start a blog for your business, but you’ve yet to carve out the time to make it happen
✔️ You have a plan for what your blog content *could* be, but putting it into action is another story
✔️ You currently have a blog in your business, but you haphazardly post and haven’t made it a top content priority yet
✔️ You want to get serious about your blogging efforts in 2024, but need help doing it