We all know consistency is key in business but... how?

I was speaking with a friend this week and she reflected to me something I hear often these days.

She said, “You’re so good at routine and being consistent in your business, Cat. You have a lot of healthy masculine energy.”

I smiled in half-hearted agreement with her but the piece that I’ve been reflecting on since that conversation (which is the honest-to-god truth) is that I have not always been like that. Oh how far I’ve come…

As a recovering workaholic and perfectionista, I used to be driven by my work. I was good at routine as it pertained to being task-oriented, but it was challenging for me to be consistent with many things as I was frequently operating on empty…

I’ve heard said that consistency is what transforms average into excellence.

I couldn’t agree more with this principle. Through reflecting back on my own journey, it struck me that consistency is a quality I nurtured over time and not without some battle wounds. It was certainly not a trait I was fortunate enough to be born with.

Procrastination has historically been a more constant companion in my life than consistency. I see this often with the clients I work with.

High achievers are often driven by results and perfectionism. As we set the bar so exceptionally high for ourselves, procrastination is a frequent companion in the zero sum and perfectionistic games we set ourselves up to play and often suffer through.

How can you begin to shift this dynamic and nurture the invaluable quality of consistency in your business?

This question has caused me to pause over the past week and really reflect on what caused this tectonic shift for me.

Here’s what I realized. While I so appreciated my friend’s reflection, it hit me that I only agreed with half of it.

My lightbulb moment was in realizing that having a healthy balance of masculine AND feminine energy was the game changer for me in nurturing the quality of consistently.

Now don’t get me wrong, I know very little (for now) about the differences between masculine and feminine energy. But what I do know is that masculine energy revolves around “doing” and that feminine energy focuses on “being.” I know that the masculine leans on being solution-oriented and assertive while the feminine is more receptive and creative.

One way I see this show up in my own life and with clients is through the integration or resistance to implement business systems.

If you’ve been here for a while, you know I am a former senior economist with the Federal government turned coach and that I am a systems queen, love data, and leverage both in how I live my life and work with my clients.

Consistency and systems go hand in hand, each facilitating the other. Similarly, most of us who are consistent in business also empower systems consistently.

Where am I going with this, you may ask?

One of the single most important areas of my life where I show up consistently, is for my self-care.

Never used to be the case, self-care ALWAYS used to be optional based on how much time I had available – journaling, working out, green smoothie, meditation, reading… optional, optional, OPTIONAL!

Based on the clock.

Or how I was feeling that morning.

Or whether I wanted to sleep in.

Or whether someone wanted to speak with me.

Or needed something from me…

And because I related to my self-care as optional, I related to many other aspects of my success in the same way.

Not the tasks that could constantly keep me busy, or the ones that allowed me to help others, but the aspects that would cause me to generate more success in my business and life.

And that’s when I really got it, it’s because I practice exquisite self-care everyday that I’m consistent and employ sustainable business systems.

Self-care is what makes systems sustainable.

Self-care is also a nurturing and receptive quality. It helps me to generate my “being” so that I can focus on the “doing.”

Ah ha! The balance of assertiveness and receptivity. The masculine and the feminine. The yin and the yang.

So, how’s your balance?

Experiencing burnout?

Procrastination station?

Feeling off kilter?

Have all these pretty and/or expensive business systems you haven’t touched?

I invite you to take a hard look in the mirror and truly examine your self-care. (You can read my community’s favorite chapter from my book Belonging on this topic here!)

I recently overheard and was struck by this principle, Self-care is a form of activism (of service).

When our self-care works, we work. It’s really that simple.

So what’s it going to be, average or excellence?

If this topic resonates for me, stay tuned!

Self-care and systems are core elements of my year-long mastermind for women entrepreneurs who are committed to becoming the CEO of their businesses and their lives.  Registration for the 2021 cohort will open in the next couple of months. If you’ve gotten this far, there’s likely a reason. 😉