TRANSCRIPT 🔗
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[SPEAKER_00]: Welcome to Daily Influence, your daily dose of positive influence.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I'm Brian Smith founder of IA Business Advisors and co-author of the Iain team series.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Each day we share stories and insights to help you find be and build your influence in a positive and responsible way.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And I'm Greg Clino, partner at IE Business Advisors, and co-host of Daily Influence.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Be sure to follow, subscribe, and share Daily Influence with someone who could use a little extra positivity today.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And make us part of your Daily routine, whether it's during your commute, on a walk, or an quiet moment just for you, because you're influenced matters.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Welcome to Daily In Plants.
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[SPEAKER_02]: I'm Greg Lino.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Thank you for joining us for your daily dose of positivity.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Today I'm excited to sit down with Carla Bernberg, a writer, speaker, and a chief storyteller for a global foundation based in Nairobi.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Carla's career has been built on the philosophy that success isn't about grand, dramatic moments, but rather the power of small, consistent actions over time.
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[SPEAKER_02]: with a background spanning from award-winning writing and community building to leadership in social impact.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Carla has seen firsthand how daily commitment leads to transformation or results.
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[SPEAKER_02]: She has been featured in Runners World, Fitness Magazine, Fast Company, and the Wall Street Journal.
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[SPEAKER_02]: And as work with major brands like Sears, Quaker Oats, and Walt Disney World, today we'll explore the power of consistency and how small daily steps create meaningful change and the impact of steady effort and leadership storytelling and influence.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Carla, welcome to daily influence.
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[SPEAKER_01]: So I love the podcast on so far to be here.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Carla, your philosophy centers around the idea that success isn't about one big breakthrough, but rather small daily efforts that add up over time.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Can you share how this approach has shaped your career and the work you do today?
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[SPEAKER_01]: It's funny, you know, I discovered consistency back in the, I would like to say probably 1990, when I fell in love, it was like circa Linda
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[SPEAKER_01]: And I went to the gym and I started lifting and I got a little bit of muscle tone and I thought oh my gosh, if a little bit is good then all the time is probably better and for about five minutes I like really saw big changes and then I started to go backwards and my body wasn't feeling great and I was I stopped growing which was my ultimate goal and I remember saying to my then boyfriend and bless him he was honest.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And I'm there all the time and he's like, yeah, you don't look like you've been to the gym and it took me a while because I was young to kind of put together in my brain.
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[SPEAKER_01]: I was doing everything all at once and burning out and there has got to be a different way or a better way and it took I mean probably 10 years I'm a slow learner from there to realize.
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[SPEAKER_01]: I'm going to succeed if I'm not as an English literature, trying to read three novels the night before the exam.
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[SPEAKER_01]: If I'm doing five pages a day, it didn't feel like enough, but when it was layered over days and months, I had all the books read.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And then I kind of, you know,
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[SPEAKER_01]: With hindsight really when I was entering my master's program realized this is the key to everything for me and then the cross vernacular of my life philosophy if you would ask me was just a little bit.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Every day until I'm dead because I was young enough to think that was funny, but it's true.
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[SPEAKER_01]: I've refined it, but it really has been decades of somebody else might look flashy and like there are a lot and I'm looking over there like I'm not doing enough, but reminding myself, now it's a little bit and doing again tomorrow and again tomorrow and I'll get there.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Do you have any tips or tricks on how to keep that mindset?
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[SPEAKER_01]: I do, and if we have time at the end, I'd love to share something brief with you.
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[SPEAKER_01]: I wrote a years ago and have subsequently shared on my subject back a manifesto, and it's short, and I listen to it every morning.
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[SPEAKER_01]: The crux of it is consistency isn't sexy.
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[SPEAKER_01]: gets us there every time.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And I lean into for myself, the mantra of it builds the body, it raises the child, it finishes the project, it writes the song, it does everything.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And it is the only way when we think about even public figures that we admire that seem to have done so much.
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[SPEAKER_01]: We're not
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[SPEAKER_02]: and it's so true, that's a really good point.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Thank you for sharing that.
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[SPEAKER_02]: So, you know, you talk about how consistency doesn't mean giving the same amount every day.
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[SPEAKER_02]: It's about showing up
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whether we have 100%, or just 10% to give.
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[SPEAKER_02]: How do you apply this principle in your own life and work in what advice do you have for people struggling with consistency?
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[SPEAKER_02]: I think this.
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[SPEAKER_01]: is the key.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And I learned it, you know, when you're reading my bio, I wanted to jump in and say, okay, runners world was talking about how I'm a walker.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Cause that ties in with consistency.
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[SPEAKER_01]: If you ever see me running, like something really bad is coming.
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[SPEAKER_01]: I'm a walker.
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[SPEAKER_01]: It's the layering one foot step under one foot step.
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[SPEAKER_01]: But I kind of got a glimpse into this back in those days where I had a lot of coaching clients who had the mindset very popular at the time.
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[SPEAKER_01]: well, don't even bother.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And I slowly transition even back then 10 plus 10 plus 10 is 30.
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[SPEAKER_01]: If that's we're not training for the Olympics.
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[SPEAKER_01]: If you can only grab 10 in the morning, 10 midday, 10 at night, there's your 30 and it was mindset shifting for people.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And now even more so, a lot of my coaching clients are mothers of young children or just humans with a lot of happening.
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[SPEAKER_01]: If all we have to give today is 10%, we did it.
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[SPEAKER_01]: We hold ourselves to such a high standard.
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[SPEAKER_01]: I would say 95% of the time I go to the gym, I'm just giving 15%.
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[SPEAKER_01]: But that's all I had to give that day.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And so it's 100% of what I brought in with me.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And almost 100% of the time I leave working out and say, well, I should probably start doing more or staying longer someday, but today's not that day.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And I didn't, I came, I gave everything I had, even if that was eight and a half percent that afternoon.
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[SPEAKER_02]: The hardest part is just showing up.
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[SPEAKER_02]: So at least showing up, you're doing something.
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[SPEAKER_01]: It is that, and I think it's the myth of, I lean and very boring people here this all the time for me, but I lean into the consistency not the motivation for me the going the movement, the journaling, the having a conversation with our kids.
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[SPEAKER_01]: We don't only want to have comes before the motivation to do what I'm already doing.
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[SPEAKER_01]: I think we can look too much for that flash or burst of motivation to get things done.
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[SPEAKER_02]: That's very true.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Thank you for sharing that.
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[SPEAKER_02]: You know, you said that successful people don't rely on bursts of a motivation, but instead commit to study daily effort.
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[SPEAKER_01]: How can people shift their mindsets from chasing motivation to embracing consistency, you know, going back to what you opened with I think to fall the time and I remind myself because even when.
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[SPEAKER_01]: I've lived this lifestyle in this mindset for decades now.
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[SPEAKER_01]: It's easy to get distracted and I see the really successful person.
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[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, let's think about Mel Robbins and her whole left then theory.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And I think, you know, what she is doing consistently with the rest of us are doing sporadically.
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[SPEAKER_01]: I bet she had that first day of I'm going to do a real and then did one the next day and the next day and the next day and there she is successful.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Whereas so many of us do the real or whatever it is once and then we get back to it months later.
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[SPEAKER_01]: So it's remembering they didn't get there any other way, but step by step.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And I mean, I have something that works for me.
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[SPEAKER_01]: I don't know if it's controversial.
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[SPEAKER_01]: It can feel like it when I share it with coaching clients.
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[SPEAKER_01]: I have a two day role.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Whatever it is, it could be having a conversation with my daughter that I'm not ready to have.
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[SPEAKER_01]: It could be working on my book.
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[SPEAKER_01]: I never let whatever habit it is.
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[SPEAKER_01]: I'm focusing on go more than two days.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Now, it returns to what else you said, and I'm giving all excited.
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[SPEAKER_01]: But it does go back to what we were talking about before with.
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[SPEAKER_01]: It can be not skipping two days, but that first day back is a 5% effort.
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[SPEAKER_01]: But I'm back.
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[SPEAKER_01]: So I really, that's a really good foundational mindset shift.
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[SPEAKER_01]: away from birth to just don't let it go for more than two days.
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[SPEAKER_02]: That's good advice.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Thank you for sharing that.
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[SPEAKER_02]: You've observed that the same principles of consistency that drive personal success also build high-performing teams and strong organizations.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Can
you share examples of how steady effort and small daily actions create long-term impact
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[SPEAKER_01]: I think it's too fold.
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[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, I remember somebody saying we once years ago, everything you write sounds the same.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Thinking it was an insult and I thought, yes, it does.
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[SPEAKER_01]: That's my voice.
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[SPEAKER_01]: So you know, predictably when you click on something, I've written on my sub-stack, the voice is going to be the same.
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[SPEAKER_01]: The content is going to be different.
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[SPEAKER_01]: People love that knowing what to expect and that really ties in with the consistency of leadership.
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[SPEAKER_01]: They don't like a predictability, they want to know what to expect, so I'm consistently any of my approaches, certainly, to ship.
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[SPEAKER_01]: So I work there, my team, they may report to me, but they know, consistently, I'm ready to roll up my sleeves and jump in if there's a deadline and things need to be done.
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[SPEAKER_01]: So it's that consistency of me as leader, but also, and this is a big focus, both of my
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[SPEAKER_01]: amazing to be able to do whatever I want at work and have that creativity.
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[SPEAKER_01]: But then you get it and you don't know where to begin.
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[SPEAKER_01]: I've been there.
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[SPEAKER_01]: I've watched my team be there when I was a new leader, new see suite, that the structure of consistency gives them the freedom to really dig in and get created.
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[SPEAKER_02]: I agree with that, so true.
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[SPEAKER_02]: It's awesome point.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Thank you for sharing that.
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[SPEAKER_02]: As Chief Storyteller for a global foundation, you emphasize the power of repetition, messaging, and leadership.
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[SPEAKER_02]: How does consistency and storytelling build trust, credibility, and influence, whether in personal branding, or organizational leadership?
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[SPEAKER_01]: It all kind of ties it and ties back to that reference years ago and somebody said everything you write sounds the same.
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[SPEAKER_01]: I know that when people read, I have a project I oversee called the PLI project or I sometimes slimmed the hand with next step foundation storytelling.
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[SPEAKER_01]: The voice is going to be the same.
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[SPEAKER_01]: It's not going to be jarring.
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[SPEAKER_01]: They know I employ ethical storytelling.
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[SPEAKER_01]: So I'm always getting vigorous consent from the people whose stories I'm amplifying and that conveys in the words
that I write.
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[SPEAKER_01]: So there's consistency of voice.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And there's a statistic and I like to think it's higher now, but people are 20 to
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[SPEAKER_01]: So when we can get them to see something we've written and know have read like every story that the foundation has put out and I always like them.
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[SPEAKER_01]: It challenges me and sometimes it's a little surprising and or sad, but the voice in the end is uplifting and positive and shows me how I can make a difference.
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[SPEAKER_01]: They're more likely to read it because,
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[SPEAKER_01]: we establish consistency of voice and they know what to expect, even though every story is different.
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[SPEAKER_02]: That makes sense.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Thank you for sharing that example.
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[SPEAKER_02]: So Carla Far listeners who feel overwhelmed by big goals or struggle with staying consistent, what simple actionable steps can they take to start making progress today?
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[SPEAKER_02]: Let's grab to my thoughts back.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Um, it really is more than that community.
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[SPEAKER_01]: From me, it's the, I mean, I began talking about how I discovered lack of consistency in the way, but it's the foundation of health and then getting some healthy habits and bringing in community accountability, but where do we literally begin?
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[SPEAKER_01]: I made big one in believing, tying it to things we're already doing.
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[SPEAKER_01]: If you want to work on balance, okay?
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[SPEAKER_01]: make it easy to do less than your capable of and just stand on one foot when you're brushing your teeth, and on the other foot when you're flossing, tie it to something you're already doing so many people in this chaotic time want to start meditating, but that feels very overwhelming, sit down in a chair.
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[SPEAKER_01]: or before you have that morning coffee or already build that routine, it's already set to 60 seconds before to tie it to something you already have in your life, and it's so much easier to get consistent.
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[SPEAKER_02]: That's really good advice.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Thank you for sharing that.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Is there any other advice you'd like to share with our listeners?
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[SPEAKER_01]: I think we as humans overcomplicate, and more than that we want to do more, more, more, and
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[SPEAKER_01]: I know from life experience and from coaching experience, it's about doing a little bit less than work capable of full throttle every day because then the project, the book, whatever it is, we wake up the next day thinking of kind of craving doing that again, a little bit.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And then stopping and going to bed and getting up and doing it again the next day.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And then you look behind yourself and it's done.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And it didn't require any
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[SPEAKER_01]: Last is of anything or full out anything.
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[SPEAKER_02]: That's really good advice.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Thank you for joining us and sharing all your advice.
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[SPEAKER_02]: If our listeners want to learn more about you or get in touch with you, what's the best way to do so?
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[SPEAKER_01]: My subject is Carla Bernberg, B-I-R-N-B-R-G.substack.com, or the Instagram slide into my DMs.
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[SPEAKER_01]: advantage and it's doable.
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[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, it's such a crazy time in the world.
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[SPEAKER_01]: The biggest gift we can give to ourselves is blowing it down and doing a little bit and not stopping.
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[SPEAKER_02]: So true.
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[SPEAKER_02]: We like to say you could slow down to speed up.
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[SPEAKER_01]: That's it.
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[SPEAKER_01]: It is and root down to rise up.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, that's a good one too.
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[SPEAKER_02]: We'll put your information in the show notes for our listeners.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Thank you for being with us.
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[SPEAKER_02]: If today's episode inspired you, make us a part of your routine by subscribing on your favorite platform and share it with those around you to help spread the positivity.
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[SPEAKER_02]: We appreciate your support.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Have an amazing day.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Bye-bye.