Traction takes time.
With my kids back at school for all of seven days, I’ve found myself having a lot of conversations with them about how it takes time to settle in and make friends and get the hang of things. I think they both hoped that they’d return and that by day two, everything would feel exactly as it had on March 11, 2020 – their last day of in-person school.
“I’m afraid it doesn’t tend to work that way,” I tell them. “Good things take time and you’ve got to practice a little bit of patience as you get back into the swing of things. It will get better, one day at a time.”
(It’s worth noting that I also had to say this to myself as I re-oriented to working full days again. I was worried I’d forget how).
It’s a similar sentiment I share with clients who are looking for better, faster traction with their projects, their pitches and their promotions.
Good things take consistency and constancy to materialize – something many of us, in our instant gratification, influencer culture world, tend to forget. We want the results of our efforts before we’ve put in the effort itself.
And we figure – consciously or subconsciously – that once we’ve gotten clear on what we want, crafted a plan and checked the first item off the to-do list, things should start to hum along and grow at a quick clip.
Reality shows us otherwise.
Of course, there are moments of luck and opportunity that add rocket fuel to our efforts, but those are mostly out of our control. And there are certainly levers we can pull to accelerate things.
But nothing beats showing up, day after day, week after week, doing the tasks that by themselves seem inconsequential, yet when compounded over time, result in big gains toward our goals.
It’s the oft-forgotten, unsexy side of doing meaningful work. Most of the time, it’s a slog and a grind, and we may want to quit it all. We find ourselves wondering if it’s even worth the effort because the return is so small and unreliable.
Until one day it isn’t.
Because inevitably, with enough commitment, practice and perseverance, things start to tip in our favour and what once felt impossible, now feels attainable. We hit an inflexion point and we pick up speed and success as we go, and we revel in the joy of things finally working.
Our job is to stay with it long enough, even when it’s hard and frustrating, trusting that with time, our efforts will pay off.
February is such a good month for leaning into this idea. The shine has worn off the new year penny, and the buzz of spring is still a few months away. Hunkering down now to take consistent action on a few small things will create the traction you’re looking for – not today, or tomorrow – but much sooner than if you take a scattershot, when-I-get-around-to-it approach.
The good news?
Chances are, those small actions aren’t overly complicated or elaborate. They are the everyday things that we all know we need to do, but often find slipping to the back burner in lieu of bright, shiny objects or all of the busywork that keeps us in motion, but not moving forward.
They are those things that if I asked you, “what are the 1-3 activities that you instinctively know would make a measurable difference in your business / work / project / creative pursuit if you did them regularly?” you’d shared with me. We all have them, and most of us tend to avoid them.
Here are a few actions that come to mind based on recent conversations with clients and friends:
- publish a piece of content (newsletter / podcast / blog / video) every week – pick one that aligns with your favourite way of creating, and commit to a weekly schedule of creating, publishing and then sharing
- reach out to people in different departments of your company for a virtual coffee – internal networking pays dividends over time and the knowledge you’ll gain from understanding other facets of the company will position you well
- reach out to five contacts every week to introduce yourself / offer support / send something of value – it’s scary no doubt, but it works
- follow up with five contacts every week – yep, this is the most important part and where traction truly comes from
- meet with your team every week – want a stronger, more cohesive team? Invest in them regularly through conversation, curiosity and connection.
- allocate 90 minutes per week to work on that project that’s in the ‘important, not urgent’ category – you know the one, it’s been in the ‘one day, someday’ bucket for months (or years) and you wince whenever you think of it. Now’s the time – dust it off, and commit to it.
There are countless others of course, and you’ll know what’s best for you. And if you don’t, ask yourself what you’re putting off or avoiding – it will probably offer a clue. We usually know where we need to show up, don’t we friends?
As for me, I’m committing to writing you a Leadership Letter every week for the duration of 2021. All evidence has shown me that my business growth is directly correlated with my ability to show up here regularly. So while yes, it seems like no big deal to skip a week (or two), the reality is far different.
What will you commit to?
Steph (she/her)
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Consistency is good; flexible consistency is better. Because life happens, and while we’ll have to continue adapting to things as we go, that doesn’t mean we abandon our plans all together. Anne-Laure offers a helpful, both/and approach to consistency that feels much more doable to me.
I can be so guilty of this. Showing up doesn’t mean we do it when we feel like it, it means we do it because we’ve made a commitment to the work, to our community, and to ourselves. “Feeling like it” is just about the least important part of the equation. We can do hard things.
Prefer to hear me talk about this? I recorded a podcast episode some time back with this reminder: Truth: good things take more time than we’d like.
And James Clear is brilliant at reminding us that we should focus on the process not the outcomes if we want to achieve what we want in life. Consistency and showing up is about the process; the rewards come as a result.
I enjoyed this conversation more than I thought I would. It’s long, but worth it. Brené with Tim Ferriss and Dax Shepard on Podcasting, Daily Practices, and the Long and Winding Path to Healing
In my mind, Whitney Houston is the GOAT. I loved her as a kid, learning to play her songs on the piano and lip-syncing and dancing to her music at our grade six assembly (cringe-worthy, I have no doubt). And while I’m Canadian, I’ve watched her rendition of the Star Spangled Banner too many times to count. So I was thrilled when my favourite NPR host, Sam Sanders, dedicated an entire episode to that one performance. Goosebumps for days. — Want to go even deeper like I did? Read this and this and listen to this.
Oh this hit me right in the gut, especially given I haven’t had a haircut in a year. 🤣 I love this woman so much.
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