Measuring What Matters: How to Know You’re on Track
A plan without a feedback mechanism is just a dream. To ensure you’re making real progress, you need to measure your efforts and outcomes. However, many people measure the wrong things, leading to frustration and a loss of motivation. The secret is to focus on what you can control. This involves understanding two key distinctions: leading versus lagging indicators, and input versus output goals.
Leading vs. Lagging Indicators
A lagging indicator is a measure of an outcome. It tells you what has already happened. Examples include “lost 10 pounds,” “earned a promotion,” or “achieved 1,000 subscribers.” While these are often our ultimate goals, they are difficult to influence directly and can be slow to change. Focusing exclusively on lagging indicators is a recipe for discouragement, because you can work hard for weeks without seeing the number move.
A leading indicator, on the other hand, measures the actions and behaviors that lead to the outcome. These are the things you have direct control over. For the goal of losing 10 pounds, leading indicators would be “calories consumed per day,” “number of workouts completed per week,” or “hours of sleep per night.” For the promotion goal, they might be “number of stretch projects volunteered for” or “hours spent learning a new skill.” Leading indicators provide immediate feedback on your effort. You either did the workout or you didn’t. You either studied for an hour or you didn’t. By focusing on these, you build motivation through a chain of small, daily wins, trusting that if you control the inputs, the outputs will eventually follow.
Input vs. Output Goals
This concept is closely related. An output goal is a result. For example, “Write a 500-word blog post.” A input goal is the effort you put in to achieve that result. For example, “Write for 45 minutes.” The problem with output goals is that they can be unpredictable. Some days, the words flow and you can write 500 words in 30 minutes. Other days, you might struggle for an hour and only produce 200. If your goal is the output, the second day feels like a failure, even though you put in more effort.
An input goal, however, is always within your control. You can always sit down and write for 45 minutes. By making your daily goal an input goal, you redefine success as “showing up and doing the work.” This is a profoundly powerful psychological shift. It builds the habit of consistency, which is far more important than any single day’s output. For complex or creative projects, focusing on input goals is the most reliable way to make steady progress and avoid burnout.
The Cadence of a Meaningful Goal Review
Measurement is useless if you don’t use the data. A regular goal review process is essential for course correction and maintaining momentum. This shouldn’t be a complicated or dreaded process. It’s a simple, honest check-in.
The Weekly Review (15-20 minutes): At the end of each week, sit down and look at your weekly focus goals. Did you achieve them? Why or why not? Look at your leading indicators. Did you complete your scheduled runs? Did you stick to your study schedule? This isn’t about judgment; it’s about learning. What worked? What obstacles got in the way? Based on this review, you set your focus goals for the upcoming week. This brief meeting with yourself ensures you start every week with intention and a clear plan.
The Quarterly Review (60 minutes): At the end of each 90-day cycle, you conduct a more comprehensive review. This is your quarterly review. Look back at your quarterly theme. Did you achieve it? How much progress did you make toward your North Star vision? Celebrate your wins, no matter how small. Acknowledge the challenges you faced and what you learned from them. Is your North Star vision still the right one? Or has it evolved? This is your opportunity to zoom back out to the 10,000-foot view, recalibrate, and set a powerful, motivating theme for the next 90 days. This cycle of focused execution followed by thoughtful reflection is the engine of sustainable achievement.
