Lag vs Lead

Lag indicator and lead indicator… Two phrases that might show up in a stock business book with other terms like “growth systems” “key performance indicators” “purchase funnels” and the like.  However, understanding the lead and lag measures in your life, could actually change your life.  No joke.

What is a lag (lagging) indicator?  Basically, reaping what you sow. Your life as it stands right at this moment, is a sort of lag indicator.  Who you are at precisely this moment is generally the result of all of your life choices.

What is a lead (leading) indicator?  Basically, sowing what you want to reap.  For example, eating healthy foods is a lead measure that will almost always result in the lag measure of being healthy.

I was recently struck again by the beautiful simplicity of this concept.   

Overweight? (lag measure)

Eat healthy and exercise. (lead measure)

Constantly Distracted? (lag measure)

Delete social media. (lead measure)

Too rushed to have a quality meditation with God in the morning?

Go to bed earlier, so that you can get up earlier.

Frustrated with your spouse?

Build your life around spending time with them and serving them, it reciprocates.

Anxious?

Unfollow the news.

Broke?

Go to work.

The list could go on endlessly.  Of course these answers are oversimplified, fixing a marriage isn’t always as easy as “Spend time with your spouse.”  However, a lot of annoyances that we have in our lives are things that we can actually begin to change.  Right at this very moment.

Just the other day, I realized that I spend too much time listening to podcasts.  They weren’t bad podcasts, but they were distracting me.  Even from “mindless” work.  I realized that a lagging indicator in my life was constantly feeling that I don’t get as much done in a day as I could if I focused more intently.  My leading measure to change that was deleting all my podcast apps.  Don’t get me wrong,  I’ll still occasionally listen to podcasts.  I’ve been listening to podcasts well before most people realized they were a thing.  However, I now have a new lag measure goal (to press myself to do more with my life) that is more important to me than my lead measure habit of being entertained by a good podcast.

In the end, lag and lead is just a reminder… do what it takes now, to become the person you know you ought to be.  And start to change your lead inputs now, we never know when our lead time will run out.