Lead measures and lag measures. What are they, and how can they help improve your productivity?
Your lead measures are the specific ACTIONS you take to drive the lag measures, the RESULTS from your actions.
An easy example of this is, say you want to lose two pounds in one week.
The lead measures you choose to focus on are to move a minimum of 30-minutes and drink 32 ounces of water each day.
At the end of the week (when you step on the scale,) the lag measure tells you whether you achieved your goal or not.
Most people place their focus on the lag measure, the result in front of them.
The problem with this is, we can no longer change that number on the scale.
You’ll find the leverage is in focusing on the lead measure- the actions that determine your results.
When you do this, you’ll be more focused, effective, and productive so you can achieve success (whatever that is for you) in less time with less stress.
That’s the number of results that come up when I Googled Work-Life Balance.
Dayyy-yum.
Clearly, A LOT of people are working on their Work-Life Balance.
How about you? Have you ever searched Google for some guidance, wisdom, and (or most of all) clarity on how to gain control of all the moving pieces of your life?
Let’s admit, the secret to success isn’t working harder and producing more. The law of diminishing return comes into play, and we wind up working more hours with less to show for it. Not exactly the result we’re looking to achieve.
When we come from the perspective of constantly needing to work harder, it leaves us feeling like there’s never enough time, or worse, that we’re not enough.
As a result, we can become consumed by scarcity- not enough time, money, support, tools, sleep, love, etc.- and we can quickly lose our perspective of the woman we want to be, the business we want to build, the life we want to live and the relationships we desire.
Too often our motivation for action is to feel the relief of checking things off our endless to-do list rather than focusing on our long-term vision of what we want; making sure our actions and words are aligned with our vision for work-life balance.
So many women I speak with want to feel like they’re intentionally choosing their life, instead of continually reacting to it.
They want work-life balance but don’t know how to achieve it.
Can you relate?
If we’re playing whack-a-mole all day, totally overloaded and overwhelmed, then go home to more juggling and feeling depleted, it’s nearly impossible to think about the future, or create more joy, fulfillment, ease, and ‘balance’ in our life.
And here’s the big kicker, our thoughts and images of the future, affect the future we experience.
So, I ask you, what is your vision of a fulfilling life? Again, your VISION for your future will affect the future you experience.
Do you want to feel more empowered, like you’re choosing your life, and less at the mercy of circumstances and other people’s expectations, needs, or demands?
If you’ve followed me for any length of time, you’ve heard me talk (a lot) about the importance of having a compelling vision for the business you want.
For us to create the business of our dreams, we need to be crystal clear in our vision of what we want our business to look like. To feel like. To provide. To BE.
Working to achieve balance in our lives is no different.
A long-term vision helps us with short-term decision making for Work-Life Balance.
This vision helps us so that we can say ‘YES” to more of what we want and ‘NO’ to what’s keeping us out of balance.
Far too often we say yes to ‘more’ in our lives without making room for it by saying ‘NO’ to something else.
These choices lead to a life out of balance.
Now, I’ll admit, I think balance is a fallacy. I’ll even go so far as to say it’s bullshit.
But clearly, work-life balance is what people are searching for…1,800,000,000, no arguing with that number.
Though I will say, I’ve yet to work with a woman who wants all of the pieces of her life to weigh the same.
It’s not about making everything even; it’s about aligning our actions, thoughts, and priorities with our Vision of a truly fulfilling, intentional life.
Intentionally choosing aligned actions, words, and beliefs, moment to moment, is what will consistently move you closer to your vision so that you can achieve the work-life balance you seek.
Keep in mind as you start moving towards aligning your actions with your desires, old habits die hard, as do old beliefs, stories, and way of relating, or reacting, to others.
As you move from your old habits into a more aligned and empowered way of being, you’ll feel a strong pull back to the familiar when things get uncomfortable (for example, saying no to a really cool opportunity because you realize it’s actually taking your eye, and precious time, off your goals).
It takes a while to embed new habits into daily practice so have some compassion for yourself along the way. With each new choice, opportunity, or request, ask yourself:
WTF?
That is, ask yourself What’s The Function of my goal, action, belief, choice that’s in front of me? Is it adding to my vision of work-life alignment, or is it pulling me away?
Here’s a work-life balance activity that will help you align your actions so that you can achieve your vision:
Alignment Activity for Work-Life Balance: AKA Work-Life Alignment
If you don’t clearly define what work-life balance looks like for you, odds are you won’t achieve it.
Define your Vision of what ‘balance’ is for you in each, work and ‘life.’
Get clear on what your non-negotiables are in each.
Understand the trade-offs that will come with the changes required as you align your actions, beliefs, and goals to your vision.
Prioritize. Prioritize. Prioritize.
Prioritize your vision for Work-Life Balance or chances are, it won’t happen.
Remember, your images of the future affect your future experience. Be sure to define the vision and images you want or someone else will define them for you.
If you know of anyone who is seeking (or has Googled…) work-life balance, please feel free to forward this email to them. And if you found this helpful, please share.
