Good morning Reader,

Yesterday, I got up at 5 a.m. to bake enough apple cinnamon oatmeal (so good!) for 3 days and get some work in before the school week starts. My husband is in Finland for the week doing the professor thing while I wing it at home. And if I've learned one thing about solo parenting, it's that preparation is KEY.

Rolling out of bed at the usual time and throwing together breakfast, rallying a sleepy 6-year old to put her shoes on the right foot while I scramble to get my stuff together just doesn't work. You can either leave the house in a decent state or you can leave on time - you can't have both.

Unless you're prepared.

And preparation falls back on routines and consistency.

But consistency has been inexplicably hard these last few months.

Thanks to my dogged, sometimes unreasonable, determination, I used to be the queen of consistency: Get up at the same time, work out on the same days, meal prep regularly, work consistently, call home - no questions asked.

But over the last few months of winter, I've scratched my head many times wondering when any of this became so hard:

Drink enough water.

Take breaks during the work day and step away from the screen.

Move my body.

Meal prep for the week.

Write daily.

None of these take more than a few minutes a day, or a few hours per week - time I DEFINITELY have, so no excuses there.

I talked this through on a run with my soon-to-be daughter in law and realized that what I lack is the immediate feedback for being consistent. While being consistent makes life easier (you're putting life on auto-pilot!) and - in my case - a little healthier in the long run, being consistent today is not rewarding in any way.

Do YOU ever go to bed feeling like a winner because you were consistent that day?

Because I don't.

Equally, skipping a day feels like no big deal - and that's exactly where consistency falls apart. If you skip a day (or a week), there's no immediate downside, either.

It would appear that I'm in a consistency rut. Too many commitments, too many things on my plate and sticking to any one task consistently just seems like too much to ask right now.

What's working for you right now? What things/habits are you consistent with? How do you reward yourself? Even better: How do you stay consistent without needing to reward yourself? A penny (or response email) for your thoughts!

Between my ears

Life, most recently: Things I'm excited about, pondering and trying out:

• Two Saturdays ago, I grabbed two girlfriends and headed to Wine Mom Central at Veritas Winery! We sipped some vino and chatted about books while authors Elle Cosimano and Jo Piazza chatted about writing books and living - and upending - lives.
  • Jo's book The Sicilian Inheritance is coming out on April 2 and pre-orders are SUPER important for authors. If you're looking for a good historical fiction read, please pre-order a copy! Jo showed us a picture of her nonna - this is going to be good!
  • I got a copy of the latest book in the Finlay Donovan series - Finlay Donovan Rolls the Dice - which is on my to-read list (among 32 other titles ha!).
• As I'm gearing up for the Startup Champions Network Summit, I'm going back to the Art of Gathering and some group facilitation basics. If you have any favorite resources on how to host meaningful, relationship-based events (books, newsletters, podcasts, blogs etc.), I'm all ears!
• I just finished (as in: tore through) Principles of (E)Motion by Sara Read (who will be our CreativeMornings speaker this month aaaahhhh!) and let me tell ya: If you're looking for a heart-warming read for your summer vacation or a chill weekend, put this on top of your list! It would mean the world to me if you bought it at an independent bookstore in your community or ordered it via Bookshop.org! Thanks!
• I'm hosting a good ol' movie night this week and I'm so excited to bring out the popcorn and snacks and have my friends spilled all over my living room!
• Hotel Matze is about the only long-form podcast I listen to (German only, sorry friends!). He recently spoke to Jakob Hein, child psychologist, and I highly recommend it to any of my German-speaking readers.
• We're headed to Charleston, South Carolina, for a week in late March. If you have recommendations for must-sees, must-do, or must-eats, please respond to this email!

On my desk

What I'm working on right now:

• We just launched a series of Women Entrepreneurs Meetups in the Central Valley! My hope is that by sharing space with entrepreneurs who identify as female and non-binary, we also normalize sharing what's working and what we're struggling with - against the backdrop of a woman-owned business in our community.
• We are less than two months from hosting the Startup Champions Network Summit here in the Valley! Here's a little preview of the different locations we'll be at! I'm so excited to show off our ecosystem to other ecosystem builders! Come join us for 2.5 days of live case studies, camaraderie and collaborative problem-solving!
• Between women entrepreneur meetups, marketing workshops and the Summit, I'm deep in event planning. And events matter a great deal when you develop an ecosystem. I share some thoughts about our efforts and reasoning here:

Featured Episode

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On ecosystem building Season 1 of my show Ecosystems for Change introduced ecosystem builders from all sectors. This season closer is a recap of what you need to know: Listen & subscribe

On my radar

I come across a lot of resources that I want to share with fellow ecosystem builders and changemakers. If we're connected on LinkedIn or Instagram, they might already show up in your feed! In case you missed any, here's my curated list from the last two weeks:

​Esme Verity from Considered Capital is a true champion of social change and putting capital into the hands of purpose-driven founders. She's also an exceptionally kind, thoughtful and warm person. If you don't follow her on LinkedIn yet, you might want to change that. She just published a curated list of impact-focused grant opportunities for agents of social change that is too good no to share.

Mark your calendars for 2024:

• April 14-17: INBIA's 38th annual conference, San Antonio, Texas
• April 30-May 2: Startup Champions Network Summit, Shenandoah Valley, Virginia (Come meet me in person!)
• May 6-8: Main Street Now Conference, Birmingham, Alabama
• May 15 - 17: CityScapes Summit, Durham, North Carolina
• May 29-31: Inventures, Calgary, Canada
• June 13-14: Global Entrepreneurship and Innovation Research Conference, Boulder, Colorado
• June 16-18: IEDC's Economic Future Forum​

I will be back in your inbox in two weeks!

In camaraderie,

Anika