376: What 100K Downloads Taught Me About Consistency, Success, and Hard Seasons

376: What 100K Downloads Taught Me About Consistency, Success, and Hard Seasons

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[00:00:00] I just crossed 100,000 podcast episodes, and I say this and I'm recording this and it's so bittersweet. It's bittersweet because this milestone has happened during one of my hardest months that I've experienced as a parent. That last month in May, I was focusing on just the most essential things to stay afloat.

I was hoping things would improve. We are now in June, and I hate to admit that things have not improved, and I'm continuing to do what I can just to keep my business afloat. And what's interesting to me is that I had one of my highest download months in May during a time that I had very low time, energy, capacity, and I still reached this 100K [00:01:00] milestone.

So because I had over 3,000 listens in one month, which is two to three times what I normally get in a month, that bumped me up to the 100K number. This number, I say, it's a big milestone for podcasters. It means that you've been doing this for a while and that the consistency has paid off. And I know that the number itself can be arbitrary, right?

What's so different about 100,000 versus 90,000 versus 20,000 versus 5,000? But I've been waiting for this moment for years. I've been podcasting since 2019 through this podcast, in 2016 through my other podcast. So I've been doing this for about a decade now, and it means a lot to me to reach this milestone.

And it also reminds me that sometimes the results [00:02:00] and outcomes that you are hoping for and that you're working really, really hard for, they don't always happen in predictable ways. And so I'm gonna use this milestone of reaching 100K downloads to talk to you about consistency and to talk about why a lot of us have taken on a definition of consistency that's not only unsustainable, but it's also harmful to ourselves and others.

And I want us to redefine consistency so that you can have a better relationship with your goals and yourself.

Welcome to the award-winning Grad School Femtoring Podcast, the place where first generation BIPOC students and professionals can listen in on inclusive grad school stories and gain practical tools for [00:03:00] sustainable success. This is Doctora Yvette Martinez-Vu, a certified coach, consultant, author, and speaker.

I will be serving as your femtor, providing you with insider knowledge to help you thrive in grad school and beyond.

Welcome back everyone to another episode of the Grad School Femtoring Podcast. This is your host, Doctora Yvette. Oh my goodness, today I am talking about reaching one 100 K downloads and what it's taught me about consistency and again, like I mentioned earlier, why we need to rethink our views on consistency.

And specifically, like just to give you a heads-up on what I'm covering today, I'm gonna talk about what I think a lot of us get wrong about consistency, what one 100 K downloads taught me about sustainable [00:04:00] progress, how insights about behavior change, executive functioning, and self-compassion help to explain why rigid systems often break down or don't work at all.

And I'll offer a few practical strategies, and I don't even know how to say it in a better way, but for lack of better words, for you to build a healthier relationship with your goals. So let's jump straight into what do we get wrong about consistency. A lot of us are taught that consistency means doing the same thing every day, or doing the same thing on a consistent frequency.

Or you're taught that you should never miss something. Don't miss the streak. Or that you should keep up the same pace day and night, rain or shine. Or that you have to be highly visible or visibly busy at all times [00:05:00] to prove that you're consistent. But again, that definition is harmful for all of us because life happens.

That's just how it is. And for some of us, it happens more than others. I talked about on my social media posts recently about how there is an added tax that happens for individuals who are disabled or chronically ill, and also parents. We've got the parenting tax, we've got the disability tax, and I'm sure if you listen to this episode, you have identities at multiple sites of intersections where you might be oppressed or you might be systemically historically excluded.

So you understand that you might be hit harder in some ways than others by life. And so I don't want you to then take on this definition of consistency that adds to your stress and that adds to the things that harm you. And instead, [00:06:00] I want you to think about consistency less about doing the same things in the exact same way all the time, and more about staying connected to what matters to you, even if your pacing or your method changes.

So let's get into this 100K number and what it's taught me, and I'll share a couple of lessons.

The first lesson it taught me is that consistency is a relationship, not a streak. Shout out to anyone who can maintain long streaks. I have utmost respect for you.

Shout out to the colleague I know who maintained a multi-year run streak even while she was pregnant and birthed a baby. I still have no idea to this day how she did it. Shout out to my husband, who has maintained a multi-month streak of learning Japanese on Duolingo. Again, that's not me, right? So for me [00:07:00] personally, streaks are hard to maintain.

And while I can say that I've released an episode every single week for years on end, with the exception of when I was on mat leave. When I was on mat leave, I remember I batched episodes and released them on a biweekly frequency, so it wasn't every week at that time. But nevertheless, I've been relatively consistent for the most part with releasing an episode every week.

And like I said, that's been seven years now. But why doesn't this feel like a streak? Well, one, because there were some times that I switched the frequency. There were some times that I released bi-weekly. There were times I even tried to have two episodes a week. That was way too much. And also, some weeks I batch episodes.

Other weeks I will record one at a time. There are weeks where I release a replay, and there are weeks where I promote the episode frequently, and other weeks where I [00:08:00] hardly promote an episode at all. I'm not doing things in the exact same way each time. The method changes, but my relationship to my podcast, to podcasting, and to being a podcaster remains.

The same idea applies to writing, to job searching, to your dissertation work, to running and building a business, to managing your health needs, to caregiving. It means staying connected to this goal, and that will look differently depending on the season that you're in.

The second lesson that it taught me is that consistency requires adaptation.

If you need any skill in life, oh my goodness, I would say it's adaptation, and next after that it would be discernment. Those two things are so essential because life seasons change. Your body changes, capacity changes, your energy changes, your priorities change all the time, and this is where [00:09:00] systems can be valuable.

The value in creating systems is that they help you to reduce friction, and especially if you create systems that allow for flexibility, then you have something you can rely on even when your energy or your cognitive load changes. Flexible systems are my jam because they are much more sustainable than rigid ones, and they give you room to breathe and to keep going without overexerting yourself all the time.

So for me, when I think about a system and when I think about a podcasting system in particular, mine involves templates, standard operating procedures for everything. I also use AI tools, and I know many of you have mixed feelings about AI, but I do use it to do things like generate transcripts, and then I have an editor who reviews those transcripts to make sure everything is okay.

When I didn't have an editor, I was the one reviewing transcripts [00:10:00] line by line, but I used the AI tool to help with that.

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The third lesson that I've learned is that consistency includes learning. Yes. Yes, yes, yes. Learning is so important. I never let a low download month convince me that I should quit, and I've had times that I've doubted myself, and I've had times where I felt bummed or where I felt like nobody was listening, nobody was reaching out.

Was it even worth it? Was it worth my time, my energy? I'm not getting paid for this. But instead, I observe, I analyze, I adjust ., And I keep going. And this actually reminds me of the growth mindset, and I'll have to record an episode on it because I was going back to my archive to see if there was a growth mindset episode, and there isn't one 'cause I was gonna refer to it and let y'all know to listen to it, and I was so surprised.

I don't have an [00:12:00] episode on the growth mindset. But in any case, if you're new to this concept, it's the belief that you can learn and improve on your skills over time instead of thinking that your skills or characteristics are innate and unchangeable. So for me as a podcaster, I am viewing setbacks not as failures, but as information and as data so that I can keep improving over time.

And then the last lesson that I've learned from reaching this 100K milestone is that consistency is also about belief and purpose.

This is a big one because this is where folks will stop or they will give up. Consistency isn't just about systems. It's not just about learning. It's about belief. When the external outcomes are slow or they're unstable, purpose is what helps you to keep going. [00:13:00] And my belief in the mission of this podcast is very strong.

This podcast existed before even the business existed. That's how strong it is. And because I continue to want more first-gen, more BIPOC, more disabled, more neurodivergent, more historically excluded students and professionals to thrive and to do it sustainably, whether that's inside or outside academia.

And so for me, it means trusting that this podcast is about more than just downloads. Trusting that this podcast is serving my listeners who continue to benefit from this type of support, from reflection, from practical strategies and tools. And each time that you send me a message or an email or a comment or a review, you are strengthening this belief and this mission, and I want to thank you for that.

Now I wanna mention how all of this translates to [00:14:00] you and your work.

And so I'm gonna leave you with three strategies that will help you. The first is to practice capacity-based planning. So again, instead of asking yourself, "What can I do every single day?" You can ask yourself, "What does meaningful progress look like when my capacity is high or medium or low?" Because a lot of us are taught to plan around our best days, things start to fall apart when we're dealing with things on our less than ideal or worst days.

But you need a system that can account for your full range of experiences, including stress, including illness, including caregiving responsibilities, competing priorities, and unexpected challenges. And trust me, I've been tested on this real hard, and I'm still being tested on this. Capacity-based planning is my life right now [00:15:00] because I am on the lower end of things right now.

I'm planning around when my capacity is low because so much of my time and energy is going towards caregiving and medical management and appointments and bureaucracy. Oh my gosh, so I'll leave it at that. The second strategy I wanna share with you is to define a maintenance version of your goal. So if you, like me, are dealing with more low capacity days or weeks, then focus on the smallest action that helps you maintain momentum and stay connected to your goal or goals.

Maintenance is a form of progress, too, and sometimes this looks like preventing yourself from starting over or giving up entirely. What is your maintenance goal right now? Mine is, again, bare minimum, showing up for my client calls and showing up for [00:16:00] my speaking gigs. If I have time and energy, I'm showing up on social two to three times a week, and I am grateful that I've batched a lot of episodes and that I have support through an editor so that I can still release an episode every week without feeling like it's too much and while still feeling restorative for me.

I really, really enjoy podcasting, and it's one of the things I look forward to doing, even on a very hard day. The third strategy, and this is the last one I'm gonna share, is to measure consistency by reconnection instead of ideal expectations. Like I said earlier, a lot of us were taught to treat consistency like a streak.

You miss a day, you miss a week, you miss a month, and then all of a sudden you think to yourself, "I've failed," or, "I might as well give up." I know that feeling all too well. I used to feel that way too. But a more sustainable definition is that consistency is your willingness to keep returning [00:17:00] to what matters, which in this case may be a specific personal or professional goals.

To the people who finish dissertations, who build impactful careers, who grow sustainable businesses, who strengthen relationships or create lasting change, y'all know that you are not the ones doing things perfectly. Most of the people that are successful and that I look up to are actually doing things messily.

It's the opposite of doing things perfectly because why? Life is messy too. But yet you keep finding your way back to your work and to your goal, no matter how many interruptions, setbacks, hard seasons, and life transitions you go through. That continues to be true for me, for this podcast, and even for my business too.

In your case, that might look like maybe you have a big writing project and you're thinking to [00:18:00] yourself, "You know what? What can I do to reconnect with this chapter?" On a high-capacity week, reconnecting might look like you actually getting a chapter drafted and finished after all. On a medium-capacity week, it might mean like, "Okay, I'm gonna revise a paragraph.

I'm gonna work on an outline. I'm gonna review feedback." And on a very low-capacity week, it might look like, "I'm just gonna pull an article and read what I can. I'm gonna highlight a few sources. I'm gonna jot down an idea for later." Similarly, career development. If you are applying for jobs right now, you might think to yourself, "Okay, how can I reconnect with this goal?"

On a high-capacity week, you might actually be applying, conducting informational interviews, building your portfolio. On a medium-capacity week, you might think, "Okay, I've gotta update my resume. Maybe I'll update my LinkedIn and look for some opportunities." And then on a low-capacity week, you might think to yourself, [00:19:00] "I'm just gonna save opportunities to review later," or, "I'm just gonna listen to a quick ten-minute podcast," or, "I'm just gonna make a list of organizations that sound interesting to me for now."

Or maybe you're someone who's navigating a lot of health-related stuff as I am. So on a high capacity week, you're thinking, "You know what? I just gotta do some meal prep and schedule appointments and deal with the medical bureaucracy right now." On a medium capacity week, you might be thinking, "I'm just gonna focus on one relatively easy nourishing meal.

I'm gonna take a walk. I'm gonna make sure I get those prescriptions refilled." And then on a low capacity week, you might think to yourself, "I just gotta eat whatever I have just to have some sort of nutrition, and I'm gonna spend a couple minutes just tending to myself. And then after that, if I have the energy, I'll return that phone call."

The goal is never to expect yourself to be operating under high [00:20:00] capacity all the time, especially if you're physically not there right now. Instead, I want you to create systems that help you to keep showing up, to keep building and maintaining a relationship with your work and to keep reconnecting with it no matter what happens or what season of life you're in.

So to wrap things up today, I'm gonna leave you with a few closing questions. The first is, what matters enough to you that you want to stay connected to it over the next year? What does maintaining a relationship with your goal or goals look like during easy seasons or more difficult seasons? Where have you been measuring consistency in ways that are actually setting yourself up to feel behind or to shame yourself or to make you feel bad about it?

And what would change if you treated rest, adjustment, restoration, maintenance as part of [00:21:00] progress?

All right. Crossing 100K downloads taught me that meaningful work grows when we stay connected to it over time. It also taught me that consistency can look like constantly adapting and learning and keeping on when things get really messy.

I hope this episode gives you permission to be more honest about your capacity and to be more compassionate with yourself too. If you enjoyed this episode, please reach out. I'd love to hear from you all. Let me know what you thought and share this episode with a friend or a loved one who needs it.

That's it for today, and as always, I'll talk to you all next time.

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