How to be consistent – and make it stick

Do you struggle with being consistent?

Here's a follow-up question:

Are you doing more of what you feel you "have" to do or "need" to do, as opposed to what brings you joy?

In this Thursday Thread episode, I pull a an unexpected thread from Poornima's episode on Tuesday. In her conversation, we spent a lot of time talking about healing ourselves, but there was this little note about consistency and how to continuously move toward greater health and happiness.

So here's a mic drop for you:
If you are NOT being consistent, it's because you are not fully connected to your joy.

That's because continuing to do something over and over and over with DELIGHT and ENTHUSIASM and FERVOR comes from being connected to your "why." Your purpose is to do more things that bring you joy. It's full circle, baby. 

When you are connected to what is most meaningful for you, you don't have to FORCE yourself to do it. It's FUN. When it isn't fun? You're not acting in what author Gay Hendricks calls your "Zone of Genius."

You know you're in your Zone of Genius when you are so driven that you don't have to force yourself to do anything. If you're not? You're probably living from some "have-tos" - things you feel obligated to do. TIME TO UNTETHER.

This episode also takes a deeper look at the joys of 'sprinkle stacking' — a method I use and teach to increase our "productivity" while simultaneously layering fun and passion into our daily lives . E

I've found ways to Sprinkle Stack throughout my life, and I do it with my own podcast! It's an invaluable tool. 

So stop poop stacking and start stacking sprinkles, my friends!!

I close the episode, as we do every Thursday, with a moment of conscious breath. 

Chapters

• 0:04 Finding Consistency Through Your Why
• 6:02 Embrace Joy and Consistency With Sprinkles

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:04

Hi and welcome to Untethered with Jen Liss, the podcast that's here to help you break free, be you and unleash your inner brilliance. I'm your host, jen, and in this episode we're going to talk about how to be consistent and make it stick. It's Jen, welcome back to the podcast for this Thursday thread. It's a Thursday thread. Sometimes I wave my hand in the air. I just don't care when I sing that. Today I snapped, sometimes I'm clapping, sometimes I'm snapping. If we put this on YouTube, you'll get to see it all in action. This is a Thursday Thread episode, pulling a little piece out of Purnima's episode from Tuesday. Now, I was really thrilled to have her on the podcast. Whether you listen to it or not, it's okay. I'll do a quick recap.

Speaker 1: 1:04

She has the most incredible story. Her mom was diagnosed with stage four cancer. All of a sudden, on that same day that she finds this out, she had landed in Australia. She'd moved from India with her family to Australia for her husband's job. So she gets on a plane the very next day and basically heals her mom, helps her mom, empowers her mom to heal herself from the stage four cancer and then she comes back to Australia and that process of healing her mom. She had not prioritized herself and then she had to do some healing work on herself. So she used what she had taught her mom to. And then she had to do some healing work on herself. So she used what she had taught her mom to turn around and heal herself. And now she helps heal other people, helps other people heal themselves.

Speaker 1: 1:54

Such an incredible story, so I do recommend going and listening to it if any of that intrigues you. If you've got an autoimmune disease, if you've got I myself have been diagnosed with thyroid disease If there's something that you're really curious about, she might be a really intriguing person for you to go and connect with. There were some things that came up in this conversation that were really fascinating, because what she's talking about is health. She's talking about helping people to lose weight and feel great and get rid of the medications that they're taking, if you can. She's not one that says nobody ever needs to take medication period, but she says some people could perhaps get off of them, even if they've been told that they have to take it for the rest of their lives.

Speaker 1: 2:38

So she's talking about health, but she's talking about so much more than that, because what she discovered with her mom and what she discovered with herself is that it's the root cause of the health problem, and the root cause for many women is that we are living a life that we ourselves are loving. We're not taking, loving care of ourselves and doing the things that you really want to do. We're doing the things that we feel like we have to do or need to do in order to uphold certain expectations or in order to keep everybody happy, and if you feel that way, that's okay and actually normal, because our society very much says that you need to be. But what she's saying is that that's not true. And when you can begin to care for yourself and really understand not just care for yourself, but what you actually want and need and enjoy and love what helps you to thrive, that's where health, true health, naturally happens. You don't have to try. You don't have to try, you don't have to diet, you don't have to strive. The weight begins to come off as we release resentment and anger and all of these emotions that we're holding in our bodies that are actually holding onto weight. I thought that was such a powerful message that she's sharing and a really different way of looking at it than the way that a lot of people are looking at health and the way that, in our Western culture, we've been looking at health.

Speaker 1: 4:09

But here's the intriguing thing. And if you're wondering, wait, I thought this podcast was going to be about being consistent. It is because something that she said in this episode episode Consistency comes from being connected to your why. That's when consistency happens without trying. Just like the weight comes off without effort, without dieting, without trying, without trying to go out there and do workouts that you hate, why not go outside and go for a walk, which you love? Or grab a hula hoop and hula hoop because that's so freaking fun for you? Or go hop on your bike because that's actually what you love to do, or go to dance class because that's so fun for you the weight's going to naturally come off as you begin to engage in things that bring you true, true joy.

Speaker 1: 5:03

The same is true for consistency you will be consistent when you are connected to your why, when you're connected to that root cause of why you're doing something, and I will share this, and I taught this in my podcasting course as well. But the key and this is what I have learned, the key to being consistent with your podcast is to remember why the hell you're doing it in the first place. And you've got to remind yourself of that constantly because you will find yourself resenting it, feeling like you don't want to do it, feeling like you're not good enough, feeling like you're not smart enough, like you're not articulate enough. This can come to so many things. I'm specifically speaking about podcasting right now because that's a course that I just taught and just experienced with people. When you know your why, you know why you're doing it, when you can connect internally to that root, it's easy, it comes easy. You don't have to effort at consistency. You do it because it's fun.

Speaker 1: 6:02

And she and I talked on Tuesday. I said, you know, right before I hopped into this podcast interview, I was really swirling on some shit and my husband helped me come back home to that. This is really fun for me. I podcast because it's so much freaking fun. I loved interviewing people when I was a kid. I had a fake interview show. It was so much dang fun for me. I love learning. I was taking so many. Copious is the word that comes to my notes. While talking to her, I'm like, oh, my goodness, I've learned so much from having a podcast. These conversations with people are life to me, and when I remember that it makes it so much fun for me to hop into every single podcasting activity Okay, not every single podcasting activity there are certain things that I really don't necessarily enjoy. I don't necessarily enjoy going over to a template and popping a picture in and doing that. There's certain little tasks that we don't like. But when I remember I'm making this little thing that I can share on LinkedIn because it's going to make this guest feel so good and it's going to help her to get her message out there and it's going to help somebody to learn something about their health, that episode, right there, could change somebody's life. That consistency comes easy because I know why, I remember why I'm doing it and I call that sprinkle stacking Consistency.

Speaker 1: 7:29

I know people love the word habit, the power of habits. There's the book that everybody talks about with habits. I've read it. I couldn't get over the fact that he just kept using the word habit. I don't like it. It's gross, it doesn't sound fun. There's nothing that sounds fun to me about having a habit. There's a negative connotation associated with it. So I call it sprinkle stacking.

Speaker 1: 7:49

Stack your sprinkles. Do fun things. The more fun things you do in the day, the more fun you have. The more money you make, the more fun you have. The more money you make, the more fun you have, the more energy you have to do the next thing, and the next thing, and the next thing. Remember why you're doing it because it brings you joy. Don't do anything that doesn't. There's no reason, if there is not a why at the root of that, why there is something joy and life giving for you, why are you stacking sprinkles there? You're actually probably stacking piles of shit. Remember that one man's trash is another person's treasure, so it might not be something that to you is like a poop stack is perhaps a sprinkle stack to somebody else. That doesn't mean that it's bad. It's just not for you.

Speaker 1: 8:42

You don't have to do everything that everybody else does and in fact, trying to do things the way that somebody else does is a one-way ticket to burnout. You will never be consistent. One way ticket to burnout you will never be consistent. Long-term, it will not work for you. You have to do the things that bring you joy and have it rooted rooted all of your activities, all of your projects, all of your behaviors, your job, your home life, your family home life, your family, your relationships, all of it, your social circle, all of it needs to be rooted in joy and a lot of it is rooted. A lot, we find, when we really start to look at things.

Speaker 1: 9:24

There's a lot of things that we do, we volunteer for, we feel like we have to do. We do it out of obligation and it takes a boatload of courage, so much courage once we are in a space of obligation to turn to the person who we have been obligated to, who we have volunteered obligatory activities to, to turn around and say you know what? I actually don't want to do that because it doesn't bring me joy. But do you know, I have been doing this bit by bit by bit in my life over the past few years and it's been hard. There is no harder conversation for me to have as a Midwestern person who grew up pleasing people, wanted everybody to think that I was okay, needed everybody to think that I was not a terrible person. It was definitely the driving behavior for most of my life making sure that everybody knows I'm not a shitty person.

Speaker 1: 10:20

It is really hard to go and tell people that I don't want to do the thing that I have already volunteered myself to do out of obligation, to say you know, I have actually discovered that that doesn't bring me joy. But do you know what the reaction has been every single time? Well, there's been a few times that it was like ooh, that hurts, jen, that hurts. And I say, yes, it is hurting me to say it to you. I am hurt, I am injured, I am feeling pain, actual physical and emotional pain right now in sharing this with you, and at the same time, I feel so much relief afterward, and so do they. They will come back to me every single time and say you know what? That was painful, but I processed it and I actually relieved myself because I was also feeling something and I couldn't put my finger on it and I didn't know what and I didn't know if this was something that you were enjoying.

Speaker 1: 11:14

Energy doesn't lie. People know, even if we don't cognitively know, that there's something that we're doing that is not actually aligned to our joy. Other people can feel it, but then we just carry on. These fricking habits, these shit stacks, can we call bad habits shit stacks and we'll call them sprinkle stacks. So shit stacks and sprinkle stacks. Joey definitely has to put explicit on this episode we're stacking shit. You don't have to stack shit. You can stack your sprinkles, and the sprinkles are always rooted to your glittery magic. What brings you joy Remembering that what brings you joy are the gifts that you bring to the world. That's where your abundance will always be Abundance of love, prosperity, happiness, peace, money. It's all going to come from you living in alignment to your greatest joy, because that's why you're here. That's your purpose. Have to remember that. We forget that and we start festering around with the poop stacks. You won't have to fester around with those poop stacks when you stop stacking them. You don't have to clean up the mess if you're not stacking over there. Look to the sprinkles. That is where you will find your consistency. That is where you will stick. The stick-to-itiveness is in the sprinkle stacking. So stack your sprinkles.

Speaker 1: 12:31

My friends and I look forward to hearing how it's going for you. Please connect with me. If you know, I started a Facebook group that is called Fuck Around and Get Paid, a line that I coined in 2023 in one of my episodes. Come join me in that Facebook group. That's what we're doing. We're finding ways. Those of us who are joy creators. We know that we were brought to this world to create joy. We are talking about it. How can I get paid? We live in a capitalistic society. It's a capitalistic word. We live in a capitalist society. We have to make money. That's how you're going to continue living your greatest joy. So let's do it by having fun.

Speaker 1: 13:07

So come join me over there and I've got the link in the show notes so that you can come over there and join us and talk about these things. Share your stories, share your sprinkle stackings, share your shit stackings. You're human. We all end up in situations that are not most loving and wonderful and ideal, and we can talk about it. It's great. So I invite you over there and I fully believe that when you start to sprinkle stack, you will be consistent. You will, you are capable of it. I believe in you and I will hold that belief for you until you can believe it for yourself.

Speaker 1: 13:44

If you would like to, you can join me, as we do every Thursday, for a conscious moment of breath. If you'd like to join me and you are driving, you can do this meditation with your eyes open, maintaining conscious awareness on the road. You can also come back. If you struggle to listen to anything relaxing while driving. Please come back to this later. Go ahead and relax back in your chair, preferably if there is some kind of backup behind you, whether you're on a couch, on a chair together.

Speaker 1: 14:19

We will take an inhale into the nose, filling the belly, exhaling completely, letting your body fully be held by the surface beneath you, in fact, maybe even noticing, as you close your eyes, that surface beneath you is actually reaching up and supporting you. Taking another inhale, filling the belly, holding that breath at the top On your exhale, letting your body be held by that support 10% more. Bringing your awareness to the breath as it flows in and out of your nose. Not trying to change, not trying to manipulate that breath, just noticing the temperature as the air flows in, the temperature as the air flows out. We're going to connect inward to the creative magic that is inside of you. Pausing here to really connect inward.

Speaker 1: 16:09

Where do you feel your creative magic? Where do you feel your inner light? Maybe you feel it light up in the heart space, in the belly, maybe you feel it in your fingertips or your toes, just inviting your awareness to rest wherever it is that lights up in your body when you think about your own internal sense of creativity, wonder and magic. Continuing to let the body breathe itself If the mind is wandering or grasping to any thoughts or stories, trying to do it right, striving letting it go and inviting that curiosity, maybe placing a hand on the belly and the heart, welcoming curiosity around this question when is my creative magic? Where do I feel my creative center? Letting any sensations arise that want to arise.

Speaker 1: 17:36

Continuing to breathe with a gentle breath and, if you feel a place activating in your body on an inhale, seeing if you can invite that sensation to grow. Letting that inhale go If you haven't yet, drawing another inhale in. Inviting that sensation to grow beyond the space you initially felt it. Continuing to draw in big inhales, letting those exhales go. Seeing if, eventually, that sensation can reach to the heart, if that sensation started in the heart. Seeing if it can reach all the way to your fingertips, to your toes, to the top of the head. Feeling your creative magic spread all the way through your body, feeling it connect to the heart space. Drawing in another inhale, holding that inhale at the top, exhaling, exhaling. Letting go of any tightness or tension stealing the aliveness in your body, connecting to your creativity, to your magic, and remembering that this is the space where you will stack your sprinkles, where you will naturally be consistent. Without trying, without striving, memorizing this feeling in your body, beautiful when you're ready, bringing your awareness back to the seat beneath you, back to your feet on the ground, blinking your eyes open, making eye contact with something in the room you're in, only coming back into the here and the now.

Speaker 1: 20:20

Thank you so much for listening to this episode. I hope you gained something sparkly and magical for yourself to help you in being more consistent. It means the world to me that you would listen to this episode. If you gained something from it, whether in the beginning or in the breath, then you'd like to share it with a friend. I encourage you to do so. You can share it with all of your friends by taking a screenshot of the episode, link to it and share it on social media. If you tag me Untethered Jen, I will reshare your post every single time. Thank you again for listening. You just keep shining your magical unicorn light out there for all to see. I'll see you next time. Bye.