Author Diary Entries

123: 3 pillars of consistency

• Sagan Morrow • Episode 124

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Have you ever wished you were more consistent with writing a book, starting a podcast, reading books, or something else altogether? Maybe you’ve struggled with being consistent, and you’ve felt like that’s just who you are, and you can’t do anything about it. Well, that’s exactly what we’re discussing on today’s episode of Indie Author Weekly!  

This is the podcast for indie authors, aspiring authors, and curious bookworms who want the inside scoop, tips and motivation, and behind-the-scenes journey of writing and self-publishing books.   

TUNE IN NOW to find out about the 3 pillars of consistency—and how ANYONE (yes, even you) can become more consistent...   

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Hello and welcome back to Indie Author Weekly! This is the podcast for indie authors, aspiring authors, and curious bookworms who want the inside scoop, tips and motivation, and the behind-the-scenes journey of writing and self-publishing books. I’m your host, Sagan Morrow (or @Saganlives on Twitter & Instagram), and I’m a productivity strategist and an author of polyamorous romcoms.

Now, have you ever wished you were more consistent? Maybe you’ve struggled with being consistent, and you’ve felt like that’s just who you are, and you can’t do anything about it. Well, that’s exactly what we’re discussing on today’s episode of Indie Author Weekly!

For new and returning listeners, you can now get all Indie Author Weekly podcast episodes—plus updates on my writing projects—delivered directly to your inbox each week at SaganMorrow.com/behindthescenes… link is in the show notes.

Now let’s get into this episode of the Indie Author Weekly podcast. Today, I want to share about 3 pillars of consistency!

Is consistency something that you’ve struggled with? Maybe you decide to write 500 words/day consistently, and it peters out… or maybe you’ve tried to write a book in a month with National Novel Writing Month, and you couldn’t keep up… or maybe you started to write a book, and then gave up partway through… or maybe you started hosting a podcast, and then quietly stopped doing it after a few dozens episodes.

We are now at more than 120 episodes here on Indie Author Weekly, and that is CONSISTENT consecutive episodes, every single week. When I called this podcast “Indie Author Weekly,” I wasn’t kidding around! I decided to release a new episode every single week, and I have held to that diligently—for over 120 episodes in a row. That’s more than 2 years. Without fail. And so far, those have all been NEW episodes, by the way—there are no repeats or republishings of old episodes. That’s not really my style. Maybe I’ll do that sometime in the future? But it’s doubtful.

Consistency is something that is really important to my business, both as a Productivity Strategist and as an author. When I started my business about 10 years ago as a blogger and freelance writer, consistency was vital to the lifeblood of my business: I needed to consistently release new blog posts, often multiple times each week, because my blog readers expected it. Back in the day, blog readers were LOYAL. If you didn’t have your blog post up at the usual time of day, they’d ask you what was going on. I posted every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and I think the time I chose was something like 6am. Blog readers knew that every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday at 6am, I’d have a new article for them. Being consistent with it led me to all kinds of amazing and invaluable opportunities, such as blog sponsorships and freelance writing gigs.

Likewise, consistency was fundamental as a freelance writer. One of the things my clients raved about was the fact that I was always punctual and never failed to meet a deadline. This meant a lot to them: they knew I was reliable and dependable. If they had something they needed a quick turnaround on, they could trust me to deliver. 

I learned how to be consistent because honestly, my business likely would have suffered a  lot if I WASN’T consistent. 

...But I know that a lot of you might struggle with consistency. And that’s okay! It doesn’t mean that you can’t ever be consistent. No way. You can totally learn how to be consistent, and it really doesn’t need to be so hard. It doesn’t need to be such a struggle, I promise.

Consistency is something you can develop. It is a skill that you can work on. And it will very likely make a huge difference, not only for ensuring that you meet your goals and build a sustainable business, but also for ensuring that your life is easier and more enjoyable as a result.

Yeah, I said it: Consistency makes your life EASIER. If you’re an author trying to write a book, or a podcaster trying to release new episodes, or a reader trying to read more books, or a solopreneur trying to build your business… consistency can make everything easier and more enjoyable.

Because you know what? When consistency is your norm, you don’t even notice it.

It isn’t a big deal for me to release new podcast episodes here on Indie Author Weekly every week, because it’s my norm.

What we want is to make consistency your new norm. You won’t even notice it. It won’t be hard anymore. It’ll just be a part of who you are, or how you operate your business, or how you manage your day to day life.

Sound good? 

Cool! 

When you decide that you are ready to be consistent—which you just did, congratulations!—then here are the 3 pillars to actually BEING consistent: 

Pillar #1: Figure out, “Is this something I really want to do?”

Seriously. It’s so easy to succumb to shiny object syndrome, I know! And as authors, we often have a million different book ideas swirling around in our heads at any given time, which is what leads to the problem of a lot of half-finished books, for example. 

But really ask yourself, “Is this something I truly want to do? Can I commit to it?”

Just because an idea or a goal sounds awesome, doesn’t mean it’s necessarily the right fit for you. Definitely check in with yourself first! Because if you ACTUALLY want it, then it’ll be that much smoother and more streamlined for you to be consistent with it. 

Pillar #2: Turn projects and tasks into habits.

Building projects and tasks into habits is about exploring how they can fit into your schedule and your usual order of operations. From there, habits turn into routines. For example, deciding that you’re going to write every day can involve planning a particular time of day, a set word count, that kind of thing.

Again, building solid habits and routines naturally flows into becoming consistent. No muss, no fuss. When you tap into your productivity systems, this happens really organically.

By the way—we can do a Productivity Magic Audit together, if you want some guidance, support, and practical analysis of your current systems. Visit SaganMorrow.com/magic to grab your Productivity Magic Audit—I’d love to work with you to identify your productivity problem areas and point to powerful changes you can make. 

We do this in just a single session, too, so you’ll be able to take action right away.

Pillar #3: Make it fun & easy.

For example, I knew that to make this podcast the most fun and easy for me, it would need to be “bare bones,” at least to begin with. That’s why I don’t have a special, fancy intro or outro. It felt like that would be too much of a hassle. Doing it this way, where I record the entire episode in one go, that feels fun and easy to me. 

Down the line, sure, I might up-level it and add music and stuff, like a traditional podcast… but in the meantime, this is what works. This is what enables me to be consistent.

So, there you have it: the 3 pillars of consistency include Pillar #1: Identify whether this project is something you actually want, Pillar #2: Build habits & routines, and Pillar #3: Make it fun & easy.

I’m curious: What goal or project are you going to apply this method to, and become super consistent with? Post about it on Twitter or Instagram and tag me, @Saganlives, so I can cheer you on!

All right. That, my friend, is a wrap for today’s episode of Indie Author Weekly! Access the show notes for this episode, including all links and additional resources, at SaganMorrow.com/podcast.

Thank you so much for tuning in. Please take 2 minutes to rate and review Indie Author Weekly on Apple Podcasts—I really appreciate your support. 

Until next week, this is Sagan Morrow, signing off the Indie Author Weekly podcast.

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Sagan Morrow

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