Vacillation vs Consistency

Do Your Clients Know That They Know That They Know?

(okay, so knowing that I’m a total word geek…)

Do you know the word ‘vacillation‘?

It’s a word that I don’t see used a lot anymore but it is definitely a key word you must be aware of if you want to succeed as an entrepreneur and business leader.

Why?

Because ‘vacillation’ means (according to the handy dandy online dictionary): the inability to decide between different opinions or actions; indecision.

And if you don’t get on the right side of this word, you’ll never see the success you want.

Why?

(I know, I’m asking that a lot today)

Because there is a beautiful paradox in the human soul between the need for novelty and the need for consistency.

We like new and shiny things. And we need to spice up our lives on occasion or they become dull and humdrum and we start to numb out.

But, on the other hand, we also need our lives to have a great deal of consistency. If we don’t, our anxiety levels start to skyrocket and we feel very unsafe.

Balancing Spicy vs Safe

Which means that, in your business, your customers have the same needs. They need a bit of novelty or they’ll become numb to your presence (and that’s very bad) and they also need a great deal of consistency or they won’t unconsciously see your brand as safe.

(it’s a balance we have to create for them… a balance between spicy and safe)

And if they don’t perceive your brand as safe, then they won’t trust you and they won’t be willing to invest at high levels with you.

So… are you safe?

I received an amazing compliment from a client a while ago. She said, ‘I know like I know like I breathe air (or something like that) that your newsletter arrives Tuesday mornings at 9:45 a.m. And I know it’s not an accident that it does.’

That melted my heart. I was so touched that somebody had noticed because, she was right, it’s not an accident.

Creating a Powerful Pivot Point

It was a much-needed, long fought for, change everything Pivot Point.

Y’see, this client hasn’t been in my world for the whole time that I’ve been doing this kind of work.

She didn’t go through the years when, as a Personal Trainer, my newsletter was quarterly, usually, or monthly, usually, or twice a month, usually, or…

…well, you get the idea.

I’ve been writing this newsletter since, ooooh, around 2003, and it has been all over the place for many of those years.

Even after I decided to make it more consistent, it was still… not. Which means it was never a real decision.

Making a REAL Decision to Create REAL Change

And then there was that time in 2015 when I was running the BBF and starting the PowerHouse. I was so consumed with being present in those spaces that I didn’t send the newsletter really at all for, like, 6 months.

Yikes! Talk about vacillation! (to use our spiffy word of the day)

Do you see?

Do you see how that would have created lack of clarity, a lack of consistency, and therefore a lack of trust in the minds of my people?

But then…

When the Divine Convicts Us to Become More

(isn’t that a great Pivot Point word?!! it’s actually used in the Bible when God shows up and that’s what a real Pivot Point feels like to me)

But then, one day in 2016 I had a sit-down with God and my Unconscious Mind and we were all chatting about who I want to be and what I wanted my business to feel like for my people and I felt very convicted…

(another great word)

I felt convicted that I wasn’t being the person that I wanted to be by being inconsistent with my newsletter and that to be the person that I want to be, and the business owner that I want to be, I had to commit to a weekly schedule.

(oooh, commit, that’s another yummy word that our culture doesn’t seem to like very much anymore)

I had to make a real decision. I had to become a new type of person. I had to become the kind of person who sends out their newsletter weekly. I had to be less spicy and more consistent. More, um, boring. 😉

I looked back over the more-than-a-decade that I’d been producing my newsletter and I saw the gold that was in there but I also saw the inconsistency and I knew it had to change.

Are You Going to Show Up For Your Destiny?

And it did…

And that’s the power of a real Pivot Point.

Since then, I’ve missed ONE Tuesday. ONE!

(it was last month after Ste. Anne’s)

For me, that’s amazing. That it’s me, but not the old me, a totally new me. A me who gets it done every single week. Wow.

Do you get it? Do you see?

When we are hovering around a fork in the road, unsure of which way to go and unconvinced that we can be who we need to be to choose the higher path, well, that’s when we vacillate.

But, when we create a real Pivot Point and commit to the new way, that’s when magic happens.

And now my weekly love note to y’all has become a habit. I can’t not do it. It’s easy to do it… even on the mornings when I don’t wanna, I still wanna, y’know?

Becoming More of Who We’re Meant to Be

And it has worked. It has made me more consistent and trustworthy in the minds of my people…

(they know that they know that they know… like they breathe air or that the sun will come up…)

…and that. is. everything. when you’re running a transformational business.

Which leads me to this:

HARVEST is starting. The Seasons of Success are happening. If you’re serious about climbing on top of your self-sabotage and building a consistent, strong foundation, check it out.

If you want to check it out, here’s the free training I developed on creating a powerful pivot point – creating a REAL change.

It’ll walk you through the 7 steps of making 3rd order change happen – and show you how it all fits together with the Seasons of Success.

It is possible to change. It is possible to build new habits.

And it isn’t easy.

The Seasons of Success – PLANT, GROW, HARVEST, and REPLENISH – are all about making it easier. And making sure your change lasts.

If you’ve got questions, please let me know.

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It makes life so much easier. 😍

Vanessa Long

Vanessa Long is creator of the Seasons of Success and author of Discovering Your Passionate Purpose. Focused on providing straight-forward, no b.s. solutions, strategies, and support to move you from where you are to where you yearn to be. It’s time to tap into your purpose and build a life that expresses all of who you were designed to be.