Friction is the Enemy of Consistency
When people ask me how to build consistent habits, I tell them this: the more steps between you and the action, the more excuses your brain will give you not to do it.
Let’s say you want to work out in the morning. If your workout clothes are buried in a drawer, the chances of actually exercising drop fast. But if you sleep in your gym clothes or leave them out next to your bed? That one small change makes a big difference.
Same goes for food. If your goal is to eat healthier, but the veggies are hidden and the snacks are front and center, guess what you’re going to grab?
This isn’t about discipline. It’s about design. You reduce friction so the habit becomes easier than avoiding it.
Want more on this? I love this article from James Clear on how to design your environment for success.
Reduce Decision Fatigue
Every decision you make burns energy. And when your energy is already tapped from work, kids, and life – it’s game over.
The secret to how to build consistent habits? Automate as much as possible.
When I was a corporate SVP and had just become a mom, I didn’t have time to think about what to do next. I needed systems that told me what to do – not the other way around.
Lay out your clothes the night before. Prep your meals on Sunday. Create routines that you can do half-asleep and still be successful.
When there are fewer decisions, you’re more likely to follow through. That’s consistency by design.
Track Everything (Even When It Feels Annoying)
Most people don’t track their progress because they think they already know what’s going on. But if you’re not tracking your time, energy, or follow-through, you’re only guessing.
Tracking is how I started showing up consistently again after having kids. I used my Recap Ritual system every day to see what was working, what wasn’t, and where I was falling short.
It wasn’t always pretty – but the data gave me power.
When you see the truth in black and white, it removes the emotion. You stop beating yourself up. And you finally know where to focus.
Start by tracking one thing for seven days. That’s it.
If you need help with this, my Time Tracking Clarity Challenge is the best way to diagnose your habits and see exactly where your system is falling apart.
How to Build Consistent Habits That Work In Real Life
Let’s be honest – most systems are built for a fantasy version of your life. One where nothing goes wrong, you have unlimited time, and you’re never tired.
But your habits need to work when life gets chaotic.
If your system breaks the moment your kid is home sick, or your calendar explodes, then it’s not a real system. It’s wishful thinking.
Here’s how to build consistent habits that work in real life:
- Design for your hardest days, not your best
- Leave buffer time for the unexpected
- Build habits that take under five minutes to start
- Create rules you can follow no matter your energy level
- Simplify everything (then simplify it again)
Systems aren’t about perfection. They’re about consistency through imperfection.
So, What’s One Habit You Want to Stick With?
Send me a DM on LinkedIn or leave a comment. I’d love to hear what habit you’re trying to stay consistent with – and I might even give you a custom micro-system in a future video.
Building habits isn’t about willpower. It’s about structure. It’s about design. And most importantly, it’s about being kind to yourself while still holding yourself accountable.
And if you’re tired of feeling like you’re stuck or falling behind, I created a full diagnostic just for this. Check out my Time Tracking Clarity Challenge and start building a system that works even when everything else doesn’t.
Final Thoughts: Build Habits That Stick – Even on Your Hardest Days
The truth is, consistency isn’t about being perfect. It’s about making it easier to follow through – especially when life gets messy.
So if you’re trying to build a habit right now, remember:
- Remove the friction between you and the action
- Cut down decision fatigue wherever you can
- Track what’s really happening (not what you think is happening)
- Design systems that hold up when your calendar implodes
- Keep it so simple, you can do it half-asleep
You don’t need more willpower. You need a system that works in the real world.
And if you’re still not sure where your time, energy, or effort is leaking? My Time Tracking Clarity Challenge will show you exactly what’s working and what’s not in just 7 days.
Let’s build systems that hold up, even on your worst day.
CLICK FOR TRANSCRIPT
[00:00:00] If you’re someone who sets big goals every January, and then wonders, by March, why nothing’s happening, then this is for you.
In today’s episode, I’m breaking down why your problem isn’t your goals, it’s your system, and I’m gonna share exactly how I continue to make progress even on my hardest days.
If you’ve ever thought I know what I want and I just can’t seem to follow through, then this is your fix.
My name’s Corrie LoGiudice and I teach high performers, especially women, how to take confident, consistent action without relying on willpower alone. If you’re ready to trade burnout for clarity and real results, then make sure that you subscribe.
It’s funny, I actually just finished writing an entire chapter on this in my book because it’s the single most common reason high achieving women feel stuck. And I know this ’cause I’ve lived this from my own life experience.
They don’t need more ambition and they don’t need another [00:01:00] planner. How many of us raise your hands in the, comments below have bought every single planner and every single type of calendar system under the face of the sun to try to figure things out? Truth is you don’t need it.
What they actually need is a system that still works on their worst days, not just their best. So many times we’re optimizing things for when everything is going right, where we fail to optimize our systems for when everything is going wrong.
And that’s really what you wanna optimize for.
So The truth is, so many of us, we get stuck on goals because goals give us direction. Goals give us vision. Goals are exciting, but the thing that makes goals work are the systems behind it, because systems are what ultimately create results.
The truth is you don’t rise to the level of your goals, you fall to the level of your systems. Let that sink in.
And what ends up happening when you’re failing because of your systems, ultimately you are inconsistent. I talk often about [00:02:00] the five Overwhelm culprits, and the fifth C is lack of consistency. And the reason why you become inconsistent is because your systems depend entirely upon your mood.
So if your routine only works when you’re feeling motivated, it’s not a system. It’s a wish. It’s super important that you are building habits. And that your habits are frictionless every single day, day in and day out, no matter how boring the thing is that you’re looking to accomplish, because that’s how you get the consistency.
Consistency happens when your habits are frictionless and you’re not resisting doing them.
Let’s talk about friction for a second because it’s important. The more steps there are between you and the action that you need to take, the less likely you are to do it right? And this is just what always happens. Consistency isn’t about discipline. It’s about reducing your decision fatigue. So what’s a good example of this?
Let’s say that, one of your goals is you wanna lose [00:03:00] five pounds, right? Or you wanna become healthier, let’s say that. And part of that goal is you need to start working out and having some kind of movement every single day in your routine. And in order to do that, the only time you can do it is first thing in the morning, but you absolutely have to wake up every single day to go and do it.
Some of the ways that you can make this more frictionless is by eliminating decisions that you need to make very first thing in the morning when your alarm goes off and you have to get out of bed to be able to go and do your workout routine. So for some folks I’ve worked with there are folks who like to actually wear their workout clothes to bed. So they just get up, roll out and go. For other people that I know, myself included, it’s just making sure that your workout clothes are off to the side. For me, I keep ’em on my dresser on the other side of the room. I just get up. I don’t even have to think, I just put them on.
For some, they might not want to get in a car if it’s cold out and drive somewhere. So maybe they invest in something [00:04:00] like a Peloton or they do some kind of home workout, where you don’t have to leave the house, you’re removing the friction, right? Whatever it is for you specifically, that’s preventing you from doing it, you need to remove those sticking points in order for you to be able to find any sort of consistency.
And again, that consistency, it’s not about the discipline, it’s about reducing your decision fatigue so that you actually do it. The other thing that’s super important with this is you have to track everything because patterns ultimately will tell you the truth of what’s actually going on. If you’re not tracking your time, you’re not tracking your energy, you’re not tracking your follow through, how do you even know what’s working?
This is how I started showing up consistently, even when life became chaotic. I was making note of what my progress was each and every day through my recap ritual system. And from there, when you are looking at it every day and having to note it down, you can see how inconsistent you are. And that is just as demotivating as not doing the thing it [00:05:00] is that you wanna do.
What you need is a system that’s built for your real life, not the highlight real version of it, right? Not the wishful thinking version of it for what your life actually is.
If your system isn’t gonna work for you when your kid is homesick from school, when your job is in a absolute not so busy season, or if your monthly cycle is tanking your energy, it is never gonna be sustainable.
You have to be able to build in space and time to be able to have time and space for when things get crazy and not constantly be so over-scheduled with things that you don’t have any room for when things go off the rails, right? Your system needs to work for you at your slowest season as well as your busiest.
So I’d love to know what is one habit that you wish that you could stay consistent with? You can go ahead and drop in the comments or if you’d like, feel free to send me a dm. I am most active on LinkedIn and I might give you a micro system for it in a future video.
And if you’re not [00:06:00] sure why your habits aren’t sticking, the very first step is finding where those friction points are. My time tracking Clarity Challenge is a seven day system diagnostic that helps you see exactly where your time, your energy, and your routines are falling apart. So then that way you can build a system that actually works for you even on your hardest and most difficult days.
This is the exact method that I used myself to rebuild my own consistency from the ground up after becoming a mom when I was working as a corporate SVP. I was absolutely terrified of how I was gonna continue to achieve all of my goals. Having the new added challenge of caretaking for an infant.
How exactly was I gonna do it? This was the exact method that I used to create that time and space to be able to do so, and it’s how I now help my clients find their flow as well.
I will see you on the next episode.
Thanks for checking out the next step with Cory Lowe. If this episode resonated with you, share it with a friend, subscribe and leave a review. Together [00:07:00] we’ll transform overwhelm into action and we’ll keep taking the next step towards competent leadership. See you next time.