How to Be Consistently Inconsistent and Succeed Anyways

Because I believe when we all do better , we all do better . Let's dive in . My 10 year old son came up to me yesterday and he said mom , i don't know what HD is , but my doctor said I have 80 of them . I laughed so hard . I was like son , do you even know what that means ? He's like yeah , it means ADHD .

And I was like do you know that your daddy and I both have ADHD ? And he said yeah , do you think I have it ? And I said I don't know , but the chances are high for you that we have passed on our awesomeness and attractiveness . Now , before we begin , i will say I am not a licensed professional . I am not a doctor .

I am just going to be sharing with my personal experience living with ADHD . When you're listening to this , you think that you might have ADHD or know somebody who has ADHD . Always consult with your doctor , physician or licensed professional . Okay , okay , here we go . So full transparency and all honesty .

This episode was supposed to be about how to stay consistent , what to do when you have not been consistent . That's what I have been researching in preparation for this episode , but in doing that , i discovered something that blew my mind .

Earlier this week , I've been listening to podcasts all about how to be consistent , and I came across an episode titled How to Be Consistent From a podcast I had never heard of before . It's the I Have ADHD podcast , and that really grabbed my attention because I have ADHD .

As I tuned in , i was shocked by what was shared inside this episode , because I never put two and two together . I never put together that .

The fact that I struggle with consistency might just have something to do with my ADHD brain And the reason why I've been researching this topic and listening to things about being consistent What I do when you've fallen off the bandwagon is because I've personally been struggling with consistency , not in all areas of my life , but I have really dropped the ball on

my Instagram account , which I have never struggled with consistency over there before , and the scary thing is I didn't even notice . I literally just checked right now The last time I posted a reel was April 19th . I mean , it's been almost two months since I have made an Instagram post .

I'm super consistent in my stories , but my actual feed posts and I'm like are you kidding me ? How did this happen ? How did this happen ? I didn't even realize it was happening And I've been wanting to get consistent on my Instagram again .

So I'm listening to this episode all about how to be consistent from Kristin Carter , who is the host of the I Have ADHD podcast , and she was sharing a book that she had read that was written by Dr Ned Howell , delivered from distractions , and she said Dr Ned Howell endearingly labeled adults with ADHD as being consistently inconsistent .

And I was like what Wait , hold up , hold up . Adults with ADHD are consistently inconsistent . I had no idea . Now I have had ADHD my entire life , but I did not get diagnosed until I was in my 30s .

So I didn't get diagnosed until I was an adult and later on in life , and I'm just now still continuing to learn about my brain , and I will tell you what . When I did get that diagnosis , though , it just made so much sense . It just I was able to look back and be like , oh my gosh , that's why I do the things I do .

That's the way why I think the way I do . I'm not crazy . Like it was almost this relief And I have really enjoyed learning about my brain . So this revolutionary idea that , oh my gosh , i had no idea that maybe , just maybe , the reason why I'm consistently inconsistent is because of my ADHD , i went down the rabbit hole .

I have been researching ADHD the rest of the week and couldn't even sleep . Last night I was up till 2.30 am , still researching , hyper-focusing on ADHD and how it affects the brain . Inconsistency is a hallmark trait of ADHD , and I found this quote and I forgot to write down who said it , but it says inconsistent performance . Despite great effort .

People with ADHD do great one hour and lousy the next , or great one day and lousy the next , regardless of effort and time and preparation . They go from the penthouse to the outhouse and no time at all . And this is so me . This is so me .

Some days I wake up , i wanna conquer the world , i can get hyper-focused , i can be super productive , i can lose track of time And I am like kicking butt and taking names . And then some days it is a struggle to get out of bed . It is a struggle to put on real pants . It is a struggle to put on makeup .

It's a struggle to do simple daily tasks And I want to do nothing . And I hate this about myself . I beat myself up about this all the time . I'm like what is wrong with me ? What is wrong with me ? Why do I do this all of the time ? Why am I consistently inconsistent ? Why can't I just be the same every day ?

It's like which , jenny , am I gonna get today ? I recently listened to a podcast episode from Jenna Kutcher Gold Digger podcast . I will link the episode in the show notes below . The episode was titled Should I Scale Bigger or Shut It Down An inside look at my daily debate .

This was the most refreshing podcast episode I've listened to in a while because I related to it on such a deep level , because this is my daily debate too . Some days I wanna scale it bigger . I wanna see how big we can get it , and some days I wanna shut it down and live on a remote island with no internet .

And inside this episode , jenna Kutcher expressed the same things that I feel on the daily And it made me feel so at peace that , oh my gosh

, i'm not alone . And then what else I realized is she was recently diagnosed with ADHD . I don't know if she did this episode before or after she found out that she had ADHD , but I seriously wanna reach out to her and be like that's an ADHD trait , So you're totally normal . I'm like does she know ? How could she know ?

Could she know She just got diagnosed ? I didn't know that was an ADHD trait . I'm just now finding this out And it is a relief . Honestly , i'm not gonna use it as an excuse of oh , that's why I can never be consistent . Because I have ADHD and we struggle with consistency . We are consistently inconsistent . That's not what I'm saying .

I'm not saying I'm gonna use this as an excuse , but knowing that about my brain makes it so that now I can take action and find hacks and find ways to get myself to be more consistent and realize , okay , i am fighting this battle , this internal battle within myself , but this is normal for an ADHD brain .

Okay , so back to the podcast episode from the I Have ADHD podcast with Kristen Carter How to Be Consistent . So here she is explaining that if you are an adult with ADHD , you're gonna struggle with being consistent , and she said . It's important to know this about yourself . Inconsistency is a hallmark trait of ADHD .

So stop striving to be consistent and stick with me I know this sounds like what She said instead of striving to be consistent . Another hallmark trait of ADHD is persistence . Don't strive for consistency , strive for persistency . The definition of persistent is continuing firmly or obstinately in a course of action in spite of difficulty or opposition .

What does it mean to be a persistent person ? According to thebritannicacom , it's continuing to do something or to try to do something , even though it's difficult or other people want you to stop . So I don't know if you can relate to this or not . But yes , i struggle with consistency . I struggle with being consistent .

But one thing I am very proud about myself is I am persistent as hell . And not only this . I see it in my children , who I am like okay , both your parents have ADHD . I see it in my kids . I am like 99% sure they all have it as well . My middle child . I told her I'm like oh my gosh , you're so persistent .

I hope one day you use that persistency , that resiliency , for good . I just take comfort in that , and I hope you do too , because if you're like me and you're like okay , consistency , yes , i'm on the struggle bus with that , but persistent back up I can be persistent all day , every day , let's go .

And I think one of the reasons why this was such an aha for me is because for most of my life I have bought into the narrative that the key to success is being consistent . We are told all of these motivational things And I'm going to read some of them to you . This one is from Dwayne the Rock Johnson . Oh my gosh , i just ran upstairs .

Now I'm out of breath . This is what it really is like recording from home And the neighbor comes over and the dogs start barking And at summertime and the kids are home and now I sound like a fool . I'm just going to leave this in here . So Dwayne the Rock Johnson said success isn't always about greatness , it's about consistency .

Consistent hard work leads to success . Greatness will come .

Robert Collier said success is the sum of small efforts , repeated day in and day out . Have you heard some of these before ? I know I have . Byron Pulsifer said consistency is one of the big things , the biggest factors to accomplishment and success .

Zach Frazier said the key to success is consistency And right now , the only way for you to actually take action is to believe in yourself . No wonder we put such an emphasis on being consistent . And , yes , i do believe that taking consistent action is so important .

But when you find out that your brain is wired differently and that consistency is actually a hallmark trait of ADHD , it made me question well , can I be successful at all ?

But I love what Kristin said in her podcast of instead of focusing on being consistent , because you're basically setting up yourself for failure , you're not going to be perfect at it Focus on showing up and being persistent , and I was like I know I can be persistent .

So here are a couple quotes that I found about being persistent that I'm going to be using to helping me in those times when I am struggling with consistency and those times where I'm seeking for motivation . This first quote is from Octavia Butler And she said first forget inspiration . Habit is more dependable . Habit will sustain you whether you're inspired or not .

Habit will help you finish and polish your stories . Inspiration won't . Habit is persistence in practice . Oh , i love that , isn't that good ? Henry Wadesworth , long fellow , said perseverance is a great element of success . If you only knock long enough and loud enough at the gate , you are sure to wake up somebody .

Albert Einstein said it's not that I'm so smart , it's just that I stay with problems longer . Isn't that exactly what being persistent is ? If we go back to the definition of persistence , persistence is the firm or obstinate continuance In a course of action in spite of difficulty or opposition . That's exactly what Albert Einstein said .

He stayed with his problems longer . He was crazy persistent . This really challenged my beliefs , honestly , because here I thought , the secret to success , the key to success , is being consistent . Well , crap , i struggle with being consistent . So am I ever going to be able to be successful ?

So many successful people have ADHD And one of the things that we can rely on is we are persistent . So I am going to continue to show up , be persistent as I'll get out . Continue to show up even if it's inconsistently , and grow my business . Show up from my dang self when most people would quit .

Another quote I stumbled upon in researching this particular topic . I mean , i went down the rabbit hole . Moira Maven said with ADHD , one thing we can consistently count on is inconsistency . That doesn't have to be a bad thing . Two steps forward and one step back is still forward . It does take us in the direction we want to go .

Do you ever feel like you're taking two steps forward and one step back ? Two steps forward , one step back . Is it just me ? Is it just me that has their hand in the air right now ? And a lot of times it's self-savotage . A lot of times it's because I'm getting in my own way .

A lot of times it's because I'm showing up inconsistently that I'm doing this two steps forward , one step back . Two steps forward , one step back , but forward is forward , forward is forward .

And if you keep showing up , you're persistent and you don't quit And you keep showing up , forward is forward And you're eventually going to get to your goals And you can achieve success . Even if you were an adult with ADHD Friend , i would love to do some more episodes all about ADHD .

If that's something that you're interested in , please come over on Instagram , slide into my DMs and let me know . You can find me at Jenny underscore Peterson . And if you're like me and you have been consistently inconsistent , give yourself some grace , especially if you have ADHD . I didn't realize there was a connection there .

I didn't realize that there was a link there , and when I found out that it's a hallmark trait of ADHD being consistently inconsistent . My first thought was oh my gosh , well crap , how can I be successful ? because consistency is the key to success . But I am choosing to focus on one of my ADHD superpowers , which is being persistent .

And if you struggle with consistency , too , i challenge you to focus on showing up persistently , being crazy persistent , showing up on the days when you don't feel like it , showing up when most people would have already quit .

And what are we gonna do when we realize that we've messed up , like I did with my Instagram account , and realize , oh my gosh , i don't know what happened , i didn't even realize this was happening , but it's been almost two months since I've posted . What are we gonna do ?

We're gonna take one small action today to move forward in the right direction , because forward is forward .

We're gonna give ourselves some grace , we're gonna be kind to ourselves And we're gonna do one small thing today , because I don't know if you're like me , but I have realized that I've been inconsistent for a while and I keep telling myself well , i'll do it tomorrow . What's one more day ? No , i'm gonna post today .

I'm going to post something today on my Instagram because I realize I've been inconsistent and instead of saying , oh , it's too late , i've screwed it up , i've probably lost all these followers . What does it matter ? if I post today , i might as well start next Monday .

I'm gonna post today , i'm going to forgive myself for being inconsistent , and then I'm going to be persistent and continue to show up persistently on my Instagram account and in all aspects of my life , because I know that is a superpower that I have is being persistent , because you know What's not gonna help me get to my goals and my dreams is being stuck in

my own head , procrastinating , overthinking , feeling guilt and shame . No , so if you're like me and you realize , oh my gosh , i have been consistently inconsistent , do one small thing today , one small thing today that when you go to bed tonight , you will be so happy that you did do one small thing today that your future self will thank you for .

Here's something I wrote down as I was researching this whole thing When we think we're supposed to be consistent , we shame ourselves for being inconsistent . And the truth is we are going to be inconsistent because we are human . If we're not perfect Especially if you have ADHD you're going to be inconsistent .

So what happens is , if we're inconsistent , we shame ourselves for that . That leads to procrastination and avoidance . And if we are stuck in , procrastination and avoidance will continue to be inconsistent until we just Quit .

And I'll echo something that Kristin Carter mentioned in her episode that inconsistency , showing up , consistently inconsistent , that's not the enemy of success . The enemy of success is quitting . And when you are persistent , you refuse to quit .

It's that refusing to quit attitude , it's that persistency , that showing up , even when it's hard , especially when it's hard , especially when most people would have said you know what I'm quitting , it's being persistent which is going to lead to success and that just gives me so much comfort . I'm not screwed . We're not screwed , friend , we're not screwed .

That is my message for you today . Friend , i hope you know how special you are . I hope you know how beautiful you are inside and out . I hope you know that you have greatness inside of you and you can do anything you put your mind to do , even if you are showing up consistently inconsistent . Be persistent , my friend . You can do this .

I love you and I will see you inside the next episode . You .