The One Mistake We Make With Trying to Change

Today, I am writing about something I’ve been struggling with over the last week:

Staying consistent at something whilst continuing to find alignment in the action.

What do I mean by that?

We all know the importance of being consistent at anything we want to grow and excel in. Mainstream personal development and “success gurus” can talk about this all day long.

But it’s easy to fall into a trap of doing something for the sake of it and lose the purpose or creative energy behind it. This is what happens when we lose “the spark”.

It’s not that you’re not motivated. You’ve just simply stepped out of alignment and need to recalibrate.

In today’s email I share:

What is aligned action and why is it important?

As someone who is a content creator there are times when I feel disconnected from my work. This is common across many creative fields. I’ve been consistent but have disconnected at times.

I have been consistent in writing my weekly emails and showing up on social media (mainly LinkedIn). But there are times it feels where writing on LinkedIn feels like a chore. Like it’s a bit forced. Like I’m doing it for the sake of it and disconnected from the whole purpose of why I do what I do.

For you, it can apply to anything you’re working on

Whatever it is, there can be an initial high when we start and then as time goes on, and we lose that initial motivation, this is when it becomes the real test.

So, what do we do about it?

Over the last week, I’ve been suffering from severe food poisoning (another story!!) but it’s been a blessing in disguise. It’s allowed me to not be so strict with my routines and take a step back whilst I recover.

As I take a step back, there have been many signs coming my way to remind me the importance of reconnecting with the greater intelligence within me, and the energy behind my work.

More specifically, I am reminded of consistency of alignment over consistency of action.

It’s not so much about the action I take as it is about the energy behind the action.

Sometimes we need to take a step back to reconnect and realign. To then allow the energy within us to move us into action. This is the difference between inspired action (i.e. you can’t help yourself but act on a desire, you are excited to act on it) vs action that is forced.

That feeling where we feel like we are pushing it for the sake of it. But deep down our guidance is to slow down and take a step back for a second.

Action that is inspired has great leverage. It requires little activation energy yet to ROI of the action is huge.

As I was reflecting on this, this week. Coincidentally, I came across a couple of posts that demonstrated this.

Here’s one from Simmy Dhillon on LinkedIn:

Whenever you find yourself pushing yourself to do something – its force.

What’s more important is frequency.

I’d rather write high quality content once a week with the right energy that will travel way further (in terms of impact and reach) than posting mediocre stuff daily.

At the same time, I do see the importance of consistency of action as the reps make me better and better.

It’s a constant equilibrium and a balancing act between finding alignment and taking action to create consistent aligned action. I don’t always get it right. But the more we are intentional about it and the more we continue to fall off alignment and get back on the path, the more masterful we become at this.

A final thought for today. A question I am asked regularly by clients is:

How do I know I am aligned?

You know because you feel alive within you.

It’s that feeling you feel after you go to the gym and have had a good workout and say to yourself, “I’m so glad I did that today.” Connect with that aliveness more, and you’ll be more disciplined in going to the gym.

And when you’re needing to rest and recover, you will get a sense of aliveness in the recovery and rest.

Reflection: