Consistency Is a Muscle (Anyone Can Develop)

Greatness is consistency.

— James Clear | Tweet

In today’s issue, we’re going to show you how to build your consistency muscle when it comes to publishing content online.

Why does consistency matter?

It matters because when you publish your content consistently on a set schedule, you create an expectation for your audience. And when you fulfill that expectation, you begin to accrue trust, which is critical to building any business or brand. And at an even deeper level, consistency sends a signal that you care.

Most people lack consistency, not because they’re lazy, but conversely, because they’re too ambitious. They set goals that are simply unreasonable to achieve. And nothing kills consistency more than wanting too much too fast.

When it comes to content creation and publishing, the key to consistency is having an executable plan that sets you up for success — a plan that’s made up of bite-sized, doable steps.

In this issue, we’ll share steps you can take right away to build your content consistency muscle, so that you can grow your business or brand.

Consistency is a muscle:

• You can build.
• You can strengthen.
• You can exercise, so it becomes a habit.

What’s the Tip?

Today’s tip is simply this: consistency is a muscle that anyone can build over time with results, if you have a regimen or plan.

How Do You Use It?

Follow these 4 steps to build your consistency muscle:

1. Pick a topic that energizes you. Make sure it’s a topic you can write about easily and quickly.
2. Pick one social media platform you’re already comfortable with and suits your niche.
3. Create a doable deadline that you can’t possibly miss. Pick a specific day and time each week to publish. Commit to not missing this deadline with the same commitment you would give your employer. After week 4 of keeping your publishing commitment, add an additional day and time to your schedule.
4. Look for ways to automate this process after you’ve shown consistency. (Some non-affiliated recommendations include: Hypefury, TweetHunter, and Typeshare.)

What Are Some Examples?

Here are 4 of the Top10 publishers on the Twitter Leaderboard from Readwise. Each has their own voice, style, and topics they write about. But the one common denominator they share is consistency. It’s something they both demonstrate and value.

David Perell

@david_perell

Be consistent. The Internet rewards people who are prolific.

James Clear

@JamesClear

Greatness is consistency.

Navalism

@NavalismHQ

When building habits, choose consistency over content.

Dickie Bush@dickiebush

Consistency comes from starting smaller. Start with writing one tweet per day. Repeat this for a week. Then, up it to a few tweets per day.

What’s the Benefit to You?

Consistency can be a tremendous differentiator because so many people don’t do it. It’s an untapped opportunity for you to leverage in your business.

There are benefits to your life as well. Consistency is essential to building any relationship, whether it’s a marriage, parenting, friendships, work colleagues, and yes…your audience online. As you develop your consistency muscle in your social media, you’ll likely see some residual benefits offline as well.

Final word: What inspired today’s topic was a question we were asked in an interview for an online magazine called Go Solo, which is dedicated to all things solopreneur. The question was this: what’s one of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner?

We answered with the following: Consistency. Consistency in your marketing, content creation, lead generation, revenue generation, etc. The solution comes down to having systems in place for each of these that are reliable, sustainable, and scalable.

TL;DR

1. Consistency is a learned skill and muscle that you can develop.
2. Consistency helps create trust and ultimately shows you care.
3. Pick a topic that energizes you when you create content.
4. Pick one social media platform you’re already comfortable with.
5. Create a doable schedule with deadlines you can’t possibly miss.
6. Automate this social media process after you’ve shown consistency.

Whenever you’re ready, there are 3 ways we can help you:

1. Take our On-DemandCourse: Stress-Free Storytelling for Solopreneurs
2. Take our Private VIP Workshop: Stress-Free Storytelling for Solopreneurs
3. Elevate your storytelling game with 1:1 Coaching

We hope this issue has been helpful. We look forward to seeing many of you tomorrow on our next episode of communicate4IMPACT LIVE with guest, Sophie Lechner. Sophie will be sharing some super useful LinkedIn tips and tricks. Register here.

Douglass and Lisa-Marie