400: How 400 Episodes Changed My View on Consistency & Community

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Courtney Townley 0:01
Welcome to Episode 400 of the Grace and Grit podcast.

Courtney Townley 0:05
Welcome to the Grace and Grit podcast made for women who want their healthiest years to be ahead of them, not behind them. Join your host Courtney Townley right now as she breaks down the fairy tale health story you have been chasing all of your life, indispensable action steps and lasting change.

Courtney Townley 0:33
In case you haven’t been around much lately, this is the sixth and final episode in our Consistency Code Diaries series. This was a six part series all about the stories, the strategies and the science behind my new book, The Consistency Code: A Midlife Woman’s Guide to Deep Health and Happiness. This book is launching on November 5, 2025 which is just a few days away from recording this episode. I could not be more excited.

Courtney Townley 1:00
I keep telling everyone this feels like it’s been a five year pregnancy. I started this project five years ago. I think I was chewing on it long before that, and that the moment is finally here where I am able to get it into your hands.

Courtney Townley 1:14
So on that note, I would so appreciate you buying a copy if you’re a fan of this show, if you believe in the mission and message, buy a copy for yourself. Buy a copy for the women in your life, who you love and adore and who you also know are rumbling with their own self-care, because that’s what the book’s really about. It’s really about helping, helping women to take better care of themselves with Grace consistency, and also with the idea that health is really about wholeness. It’s not just about diet and exercise.

Courtney Townley 1:51
So again, the book is launching in just a couple days. You can head on over to theconsistencycode.com to find out all about it and all the goodness we have in store for you on launch day.

Courtney Townley 2:03
And isn’t it interesting that the 400th episode of this show is coinciding with the launch of my book? Like I think that’s just wild. We didn’t plan that. It just worked out this way. And I really want to recognize this milestone. This is no small thing. Producing 400 episodes of a show has been a major feat, and I want to let you know that to celebrate this milestone,

Courtney Townley 2:33
I am doing a giveaway. I am going to tell you later in this episode how you can win not just one copy of my new book, but actually a package of five copies of my book, so you can ignite your own book club. Because, believe it or not, this book was actually written with book clubs in mind. So the way we structured the book, the way that we provide resources in the book, was really with the goal that women would feel inspired to have these conversations in living rooms and cafes and all the spaces and places where women spend their time. So if you are interested, hang out until the end of this episode, and I’ll let you know how you can be entered to win a package of five of these books.

Courtney Townley 3:21
All right, so today, in this episode, what I really want to talk about, of course, because it’s the 400th episode and it’s the sixth and final episode of our consistency code series, is I really want to talk about what 400 episodes has taught me about consistency and community. Because, man, it’s taught me a lot. But there’s three major things I want to speak to today. The first thing is that, contrary to what we’re told, consistency isn’t all about discipline. Now, I definitely am a big believer that discipline has a role. Discipline has a part in our ability to stay consistent.

Courtney Townley 3:57
And I truly believe, and I have long said this on the show that self discipline is truly an extension of self love. So that is the type of discipline I am advocating for. But consistency requires more than discipline. It requires devotion. You don’t sustain a podcast for 400 episodes by forcing yourself to show up. I mean, if I had to do that 400 times, this show probably wouldn’t have made it past the first 10 episodes. You sustain momentum with anything because you care too deeply not to you care too deeply to not show up. So discipline might ignite and fuel the journey to some degree, but devotion is truly what keeps it alive.

Courtney Townley 4:51
So what do I mean by devotion? Well, devotion isn’t that isn’t about intensity or rigidity. Or sacrifice, necessarily, although sometimes those things might be a part of your consistent journey. Devotion is really about care, about consideration. It’s the kind of commitment that comes from genuine connection to something that matters so much to you you can’t not show up. You’re not showing up because you should or because someone told you to, but because it aligns with who you are and what you deeply value. That’s devotion. Devotion keeps you coming back when discipline runs out and it’s a little gentler and softer than willpower, it’s more sustainable than motivation. It’s that quiet pull on your heart that says this matters to me, even on the days it feels really freaking hard because those days are there for all of us, no matter what we’re pursuing in life, no matter what we’re devoting ourselves to, there are going to be a lot of hard days. And when you’re devoted to something, whether it’s your health or it’s your creative work, or it’s a weekly podcast like this show, you don’t need to force yourself you show up, because not showing up would mean abandoning something that you truly care about.

Courtney Townley 6:39
I would say that is the energy that really pulled me through 400 episodes. It wasn’t perfection, it wasn’t rigid discipline. It was simply devotion to the work, devotion to the mission and the message and to the women that I serve. And so I would challenge you listening to this episode today. Where are those spaces for you? What are you devoting yourself to? Because it’s something you care so deeply about, it’s more painful to not show up and do it. The second thing I want to speak to is that what I’ve learned over 400 episodes is that your voice evolves faster than your confidence. And I think this is true of really any skill. I think skill starts to develop before our confidence is really where we want it to be, so knowing what I want it to say and actually saying it on the show were two different things. I rumbled a lot with self doubt and insecurity and comparison all the things that we all rumble with when we’re trying to up level our life in some way.

Courtney Townley 7:57
And in the early days of this show, I scripted everything I shared this actually a couple episodes ago. If you live go back and listen to the early episodes of the show. It was very scripted. I would overthink every word. I would worry about sounding professional enough. I would constantly freak out if anything in my background was creating a little bit of noise that would disrupt the episode and what I discovered over time and starting to let go of perfection, is that the skill starts to develop itself through repetition, not necessarily preparation or might like macro control. So you can you can’t think your way to confidence. You have to practice your way to confidence. And absolutely, that is what this show taught me.

Courtney Townley 8:52
Because, let’s be honest, right? The first 50 episodes, I was nervous every time I would spend hours preparing for each episode, I would re record segments over and over again, agonizing over the way that I said things or didn’t say things I would like I said I would compare myself to other more successful podcasts, but by episode 100 I really kind of started to Find a rhythm. We had more systems for the podcast. I stopped trying to sound like everyone else. I stopped worrying about the messaging that other people were selling, that mine was different. That wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. In fact, I think it’s a great thing. And by episode 200 I really started trusting myself more. I could riff on topics without a script, right?

Courtney Townley 9:44
I still bullet point what I want to talk about in a show, but I’m not reading through a script to do this show. Now, at episode 400 I feel authentic. I feel so rooted in. In what I am talking about, I don’t feel like I’m performing. And I felt like I was performing for, honestly, probably the first half of the podcast, the first 200 episodes at this stage, I’m really just having honest conversations about things that matter in with the Women’s Health conversation. So the big takeaway here is that confidence did not come first. Consistency came first, and confidence followed consistency.

Courtney Townley 10:36
Okay, now I want to talk about this third point, and this is really like the meat and potatoes of what I wanted to talk about because this, I have such a heart for this. What 400 episodes of the show really taught me is that consistency is not built in isolation. It is built in community. I did not generate 400 episodes of this podcast alone, and that’s really the point.

Courtney Townley 11:06
So for 10 years, literally a decade, I have had the amazing privilege of working with the same assistant and audio engineer. So I’ve had those two people, the same people, helping me for the past decade. And at the very beginning, things were a little rough. We didn’t really have systems. There were things we could do better. There’s still things we can do better. There’s always going to be things that we can do better, but we had to kind of figure out how to work together as a team, put systems in place and their expertise, their dedication and their creative partnership, really made it possible for me to show up consistently, especially when life got complicated. And, man, there’s been so many moments like even at the recording of this episode. You know, we’re right before launch, I’ve had a lot on my plate, and I had to email my audio engineer and say, Hey, this is coming really late this week. And he was like, Courtney, no problem. I got you.

Courtney Townley 12:14
But the other way community has really shown up for me in creating 400 episodes is that I’ve interviewed so many brilliant women on this show, and every single one of those women brought a level of wisdom and insight and perspective that I never could have offered on my own, Because I don’t necessarily have their level of wisdom, insight and perspective, and their voices really didn’t just fill up the episodes of the show, right? They shaped how I think about health and self-leadership and what’s truly possible at midlife.

Courtney Townley 13:02
So what I love so much about this show, what it has done for me, aside from professionally, right? Like, of course, it’s helped me to grow an ecosystem within my business. It’s helped to bring in business, I think, in some small way, I hope it’s helped to change the conversation around women’s health, but ultimately, this podcast has really been a container for my own evolution. It has given me a space to learn and question and grow and refine my thinking over a decade and 400 episodes and all of that, that for those 400 episodes, alongside a 30 year career in health and wellness has really Been what allowed me to create the consistency code book.

Courtney Townley 14:04
This book is not just mine, this podcast isn’t just mine. It’s a culmination of countless conversations and lessons and shared experiences with the people in my community and this book, I say this actually in the dedication at the start of the book, that this book is dedicated to the women who have allowed me to walk alongside of them, because without you, this book would not have been possible. I wouldn’t have been able to learn and grow and evolve and refine, and I consider you a listener of this podcast to be one of those people. So thank you. Thank you for allowing me into your ears. Thank you for allowing me some of your time and resources. I’m here. Still because of you.

Courtney Townley 15:05
Now I do want to share with you that this is partly why I’m asking you to buy and read this book. I’m asking you to buy and read the book to help me expand this conversation, right? This This show is bigger than me. This conversation is way bigger than me and my editor. I shared this a few episodes ago, but my editor asked me very early on in the book writing process, what was my goal with this book? And I told her I wanted to see more women talking about health and well being in the way that I introduce it in the consistency code book and so all of that to say that I want to help you bring your own conversations with other women around health and well being to Life. I want to help you to go deeper, because let’s be honest, like, I feel like a lot of my impetus in my business was kind of for selfish reasons.

Courtney Townley 16:08
If I’m being totally honest, I was struggling to find communities of women that wanted to talk about health and well, being beyond the latest diet and exercise program that they were doing, and I see that hunger in other women. So we have to be the people who are igniting those conversations. We have to be the ones who are building those communities. And so the consistency code, like I said at the start of this podcast, was written with book clubs in mind.

Courtney Townley 16:35
And in celebration of this being our 400th episode, I’m doing a giveaway where I’m going to give one lucky winner the opportunity to to get five books. And this whole Done for You Book Club package that we put together that includes ways to advertise your book club, how to run a book club. I mean, there is so much packed into this do it your done for you package? So you’re gonna get five books and the done for you book club package. And you can be entered to win this drawing by doing one of two things.

Courtney Townley 17:16
The first thing is, you could rate and review this podcast on whatever podcast platform you listen to this show from, and send me a screenshot of your review to Courtney at Grace and grit.com now, a lot of you listening to the show have already left reviews, and a lot of platforms don’t allow you to leave more than one. So the other option, if you’ve already left a review, is you could share your favorite grace and grit podcast episode on social media with a few words about why you think it would be beneficial for someone to listen to this show, and you have to tag me in that post so I know that you’ve made it so again, the two options to be entered for this drawing, and I am going to do this drawing at the end of launch week. So launch week is the ending of that week will be what the seventh, November 7. So I will do the drawing on November 7. Actually, you know what scrap that I’m going to do the drawing on November 8, because that is the day I’m having my launch party. I’m doing a virtual launch party and an in person party, and so I will announce the winner at the virtual launch party, which you are welcome to come to. If you want to come, make sure you’re on my email list, because you will get notified of the virtual launch party.

Courtney Townley 18:42
So I hope that you will maybe want to participate in that on some level. But to wrap this up today, I really want to say this, thank you so much for being here. Some of you have been with me literally since the beginning. I mean, 10 freaking years. Some of you have been with me for, you know, five years, even a year, even a few months, with all of the podcasts and all the places that you could be absorbing information, content, inspiration. I do not take it lightly that you have shown up here. So I am so proud of this show.

Courtney Townley 19:20
Again, I would not have made it to 400 episodes without a whole lot of support and a whole lot of cheerleading and your presence, whether you’ve been listening for years or you just discovered this show truly means more than you know. So I’ll be dropping a very short episode on launch day. So check it. Check that out. That’s going to be on Wednesday, November 5, but until then again, from the bottom of my heart, from the depths of my soul, thank you for being on this journey with me, and let’s keep the momentum going. Let’s build something beautiful together. All right, my friends, have a wonderful day, and I hope to see you soon. Take care.

Courtney Townley 20:10
Thank you for listening to the Grace and Grit podcast. It is time to mend the fabric of the female health story, and it starts with you taking radical responsibility for your own self-care. You are worth the effort, and with a little grace and grit, anything is possible.