When you think you’re not being engaging because you feel inconsistent

You may notice that I send these emails on different days of the week, and sometimes not at all. I’ve always struggled to keep up a newsletter consistently — I miss a week, break the streak, and get demotivated.

But I’ve redefined what a “win” looks like. To me, a win is that I keep coming back to it and doing it, even if I miss a week or several.

Here are some conflicting but complementary rules about engagement:

1. Do things in a routine, if you can

It’s very engaging when it’s the same thing, the same time, every time. This is certainly an ideal. People can BUILD on that — which is what the most engaging things in our life are: building blocks for the rest of our life.

2. Be regular-ish, even if you can’t keep a routine

For something as humble as a newsletter, while it’s nice to get it the same time every week, let’s not overestimate its importance. Relax a little.

I like to have a weekly meeting with project teams — designed so that if we miss a week, we pick it up the next week.

3. Even if you aren’t regular, just be sporadic without apology

My friend James Whatley has been writing his newsletter, Five Things on Friday, for years. The joke is that it rarely gets delivered on a Friday. But when he writes after months away, does he apologise? Does he make a grand “restart”? No. He just picks back up.

And it’s just as engaging — more so in fact — than those who write every week, same time, same day, come rain or shine.

While routine and consistency is powerful, so also is slowly plodding over years, without needing to chastise oneself for it.