From Blocks to Breakthroughs – And Finding Your Flow

Hi, I’m Clint, founder of C-Sure Consulting. In this week’s edition of C-Shorts, I’m exploring what really drives lasting progress in business. And how rhythm, repetition, and small, consistent steps can turn short-term improvements into sustainable change....

💡 55 Ways to Unclog Creativity This week I hit a creative wall...

I’m committed to writing my blog every week. I really enjoy taking the time to pause, reflect, and connect ideas from business, creativity, and life. But this week, I felt completely stuck...

I’d carved out the time, as I always do, and just sat at my desk. Normally, I have quite a few ideas that I want to write about that week, but I was really struggling. I even scrolled through the news headlines, hoping something would jump out. But no. Nothing.

Then I remembered something from a podcast I listened to recently with British musician and artist John Foxx... He talked about working with Brian Eno, and how Eno would sometimes pull out a deck of cards whenever they hit a creative block...

In the early 1970s, artist Peter Schmidt and musician Brian Eno realised they had been working on similar projects to help themselves think differently when they ran out of ideas. Schmidt had been printing short reflective phrases onto leftover artworks, while Eno was jotting similar prompts on bamboo cards. They combined them into a single set of 55 cards in 1975, each with a short phrase designed to disrupt patterns and encourage a fresh way of thinking. And that's how the Oblique Strategies cards were created. It’s a wonderfully simple idea, and apparently very effective.

Of course, I don’t have a pack of those cards lying around, but then I wondered whether ChatGPT could help me with that... Could AI recreate the same deck of cards and the same sense of random choice so that I could give it a try for myself?

So, I asked it to recreate the same pack of cards and then draw one at random. Here's what it came back with:

'Repetition is a form of change.' 'Okay,' I thought. 'Let me just sit with that for a minute...'

🔁 Rethinking Repetition

At first glance, it looked like a contradiction in terms. How can repetition possibly be a form of change? But the more I thought about it, the more sense it started to make...

I’m not sure the same process that helped make some of the great music of the 70s and 80s would help me write my best blog ever, but after giving it some thought, I can see how the idea translates into a business context. Real change actually relies on repetition. Repeating best practices, persevering through the learning phase until it becomes second nature, and bringing your team with you along the way.

That’s the real spirit of Continuous Improvement. It’s about the steady cycle of running a process, reviewing what happened, refining it, and then running it again. Every repetition brings new insight and strengthens capability.

What repetition also brings is focus. It strips away the noise. When you repeat something often enough, you start to notice what really matters. You can clearly see the steps that add value, the ones that waste time, and the subtle adjustments that can make the difference between good and great.

In leadership and culture, the same rule applies. Consistency builds trust. People follow what they see every day. A leader who shows up with the same clarity, fairness, and intent creates stability that others can rely on.

In my experience, the companies that make the most sustainable progress are those that value consistency over speed. They repeat what works, learn from what doesn’t, and keep refining as they go. Over time, that steady rhythm becomes part of how they operate, and that’s when real improvement starts to take hold. 🧩 People, Process, and Persistence

Repetition isn’t just about doing something again and again. It’s about embedding understanding. You can’t embed best practices without consistency. The first few runs of any new process might feel clunky or uncomfortable, but that’s how learning works.

In project management, the best teams don’t just plan once and move on. They revisit, review, and adjust. Every meeting, every milestone, every feedback loop creates a rhythm. That rhythm builds confidence, and confidence builds capability.

A useful tool here is the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycle. It's one of the most enduring principles of Continuous Improvement, first introduced by W. Edwards Deming:

1. Plan what needs to change

   
   

2. Do it on a small scale

   
   

3. Check the results

   
   

4. Act to standardise what works and repeat the cycle

It’s repetition that gives PDCA its power. Each iteration refines performance and moves you closer to excellence. It’s a simple loop, but one that encourages learning through doing, which is often the most effective form of improvement.

The same is true for individuals. Habit formation is really just personal process improvement. You repeat the right actions often enough that they start to stick. Some research suggests that habits can form in as little as three weeks, while others say up to three months. In reality, it most likely depends on the complexity of the task and the consistency of the person.

The other day, my young son asked me if it was difficult to drive a car. I told him it was difficult to learn, but now it feels very easy. At first there’s so much to think about: mirrors, gears, road signs, other drivers. But now, after years behind the wheel, most of those decisions happen automatically. I don’t have to consciously think about every step.

That’s the power of repetition. What starts as deliberate effort eventually becomes instinctive.

🧠 Mindset, Momentum, and Mastery

A single workshop or training session might raise awareness, but it doesn’t create real change. What matters most is what happens afterwards, how people take those lessons, apply them, and keep doing them until they become part of their everyday routine.

At C-Sure, we see this as the real difference between short-term results and lasting transformation. We work side by side with the people who will live with the change, helping them to understand not just what to do, but why it matters. Because when people see the purpose behind a process, they are far more likely to stick with it.

The early stages of any new system or way of working can feel awkward. Old habits are comfortable, even when they no longer serve us. That is why repetition is so powerful. It takes consistent practice to move from awareness to action, and from action to instinct. We encourage teams to repeat, review, and reflect until the new behaviours become natural.

As James Clear wrote in his book Atomic Habits, 'Success is the product of daily habits, not once-in-a-lifetime transformations.' That line captures the essence of continuous improvement. The rhythm of repetition builds confidence and capability. Over time, small, repeated actions lead to something much greater than the sum of their parts.

This approach doesn’t just improve processes; it shapes culture. True culture change doesn’t come from posters, slogans, or speeches. It grows out of the daily habits of the people within it. Things like the way a meeting starts, how decisions are made, and how mistakes are handled all send very clear and important signals.

Every repeated behaviour either strengthens or weakens that culture. The most successful organisations know this and create rituals that reinforce their values. At C-Sure, we help clients identify those small but significant touchpoints; the ones that quietly define how teams work together.

Our goal is not to create dependency, but to build capability. We want improvements to last long after we’ve stepped away. When a client continues to apply what they’ve learned and keeps refining it over time, that is when we know the change has truly landed.

🤝 Let’s Keep Connected Writing this week’s blog reminded me that getting stuck isn’t always a bad thing. Sometimes it’s what pushes you to think differently. And progress doesn’t always have to come from a big bang-style impactful change. It's often by repeating the right steps, over and over, that you move things forward; consistency is key.

How about you?

What habits or routines would you like to see more of in your business?

I’d love to hear your thoughts. Until next time...

💡 C-Sure Shortcut of the Week

Rhythm creates results. Repeat what works and refine what doesn’t.