Goals Are Set…Now What?
Learning how to track your lead indicators tells you quickly if your plan is the right plan to help you hit your goals.
I just completed 3 live “Plan-A-Palooza” workshops. These 2-hour workshops guide you through a process from creating a vision all the through a detailed action plan to tackle the RIGHT goals. It is a fabulous process that you can use over and over again once you learn it.
The most powerful part of it all is at the end…learning how to track and score your lead indicators to help you stay accountable.
Stay with me here..just because you may not know what this means does not mean you should tune out. If you are serious about hitting some big goals, you NEED to understand and implement this.
Chances are, you are already tracking your lag indicators really well and you have no idea you are doing it. Let’s use a weight loss example. Maybe you have a goal to lose 15 pounds. Every week you stand on the scale and track your weight. When you step on the scale, you are nervous…you aren’t sure what to expect because all you are tracking is that number on the scale. That is your lag indicator. That is the end result.
What if, instead, you tracked the activities you know you need to do to achieve that weight loss goal? What if every day you tracked your activity level, your macros, water intake, and rest? These could be your lead indicators. If you set out activities you need to do every day to hit your goal and tracked whether or not you completed them, I bet when you go to step on that scale at the end of the week, you won’t feel so scared. You will know what to expect because you will know if you have done the work.
There are several reasons why tracking both your lead and lag indicators are so important!
- When you track your lead indicators, you can’t make excuses. If you did not do the work, then you can’t complain when the results are not what you wanted.
- Tracking lead indicators lets you quickly realize if your plan is a good one.
We just talked about #1…now let’s look at #2. Back to our example of weight loss. Let’s say you tracked your lead indictors and scored 80% or higher every week for 4 weeks (meaning you completed 80% of your activities each week). But, at the end of 4 weeks, you haven’t lost any weight or inches. What now?
This is a VERY clear indicator that the activities you have chosen are either the WRONG activities for you or perhaps you need some guidance or coaching on how to do them better. Maybe the macros you set for yourself were not good. Perhaps your exercise routine is not a good fit for you, etc.
Tracking your lead indicators really spotlights if your plan is the right plan to help you hit your goals early on. I can’t tell you how many times I have had to adjust and change my plan in order to hit my goal. I know early if my plan is working based on tracking my lead indicators.
I encourage each of you to look at one of your goals and identify a handful of activities that you can start tracking every day or week….and I guarantee you that you will see some serious progress….or a clear sign to change the plan!
