Beware the Lag!

There is something that is harming your business, and it's hiding in plain sight.

It's there with you every day, and although you can't see it or feel it, you are deciding how it's showing up in your life.

Let me explain, and there are a few analogy's for this that I think most people can relate to. And I do love a good analogy!

Let's say you have a piece of cake and a plate of broccoli in front of you. Now most people would probably get more immediate pleasure eating the cake.

But here is the thing. No matter which plate you choose to eat, if you were to look in the mirror, or undergo health tests that evening there would probably be no perceivable difference.

However, what if you repeat this behaviour over days, weeks, months... years? Now you'll see a difference.

There are 100 ways we could look at this analogy. We could use cleaning your teeth as an example. How quickly would you notice the effect of not cleaning your teeth properly?

(There are 1000's of children around the world who test this theory out constantly!)

Or perhaps you don't feel like doing any follow-ups for your business today.

Tomorrow will your business or bank account look any different? Probably not.

But if you repeat that behaviour over several weeks ... months...

Actions that do not give us an instant tangible result or consequence are much harder to follow through with.

But if you want results/ change you have to make the decision and commit to it. Have the discipline to see it through. In the same way, you wouldn't go a day without cleaning your teeth...probably twice.

But this is why we all struggle so much with making that commitment, it's easier said than done, and why is that?

Because of the LAG.

The problem isn't with you, the problem is the LAG.

Imagine eating that plate of broccoli and you immediately noticed the difference.

Or if you didn't clean you teeth they ached until you did clean them

or every time you did something for your business your bank account increased. Whether that was making a follow-up call, posting on social media or putting a system into place.

Wouldn't it be so much easier to make the better choices if the effect of doing so was immediate?

Unfortunately for us, - but very fortunately for cake- that's not the way the world works.

As a result most of us behave erratically when we want to achieve a goal. We might get motivated and go all out for a week, or even a month, and...then the sofa calls. Or the tiny voice in our head goes, well one day missed wont hurt, nothings happening anyway.

Because "the cake" gives us more instant pleasure.

The lag hurts you, because it convinces you that what you are doing makes no difference.

In every area of your life. But especially in your business.

(It's is why things like the environment is in such a mess.. because of the lag. We are starting to see it catch up with us now, but if the effects had been immediate it would have been easier to change the damage causing activities. The lag allowed us to get too intrenched in a damaging way of life. )

• The lag hurts you in your business, because just as soon as you build up a enough consistency to start to see some results coming your way you're already taken your foot off the accelerator and you lose your momentum.
  

• The lag hurts you because unlike a job you can't look at the work you've done on your business this month and say I did 60 hours and earnt x amount, because it doesn't work like that

  You will get some almost instant reward, but the real value you won't realise until further down the line, when that customer you picked up has been a customer who has placed an order every month for 3 years and told 10 of their friends about you who are customers now too...
  Or until someone who has been following you for a year on social media sees how consistently amazing you are and becomes your best customer.

• You don't know the friends you're going to make, the opportunities that will come.
  Maybe it's one presentation that seems to put you 'on the map' but it wouldn't have happened without the 50 "practice" presentations before it.

The lag hurts you because it messes with your belief.

So what do we do about this pesky lag?

How do we overcome? Try these 5 ways

1. Be aware of the lag. No the one plate of brocoli the one teeth clean, the one live video or first day of a new system may not make a difference if it has to stand alone, but our lives are shaped by the things we do repeatedly.
   They are shaped by our habits.
   

2. Set yourself action-based goals, not results-based goals. And commit to them for 90 days.

   90days is a good time frame because it's long enough to build up some consistency and not too long that you feel OMG this is never going to end!

   AT the end of the 90 days, start again for another 90 days, with the same goals or tweaked.
   

3. Accountability accountability accountability! Share you goals with someone who understands what you are striving for. And are of a similar growth mindset.

   It's no good picking your husband wife partner of they're going to say, every night oh you did that yesterday come watch this with me. Or your friend if they're going to say, yeah that sounds great, are you coming for a drink?

   I don't mean you don't have to change your husband or wife or best friend, just that they might not be the best accountability partner!
   

4. Find clarity, and I don't just mean with your goals.

   If you find yourself wondering, am I doing this right? Should I be doing this this way? Am I doing enough of this? What if...? Don't be afraid to ask for help.
   

5. Track the trackables. Keeping track of your consistency AND the things you need to be tracking in your business, will help you see the correlation before you feel it. As well as what has the greatest impact long term.

The Lag is the biggest reason that people give up, on anything not just their business. Don't let the lag get you, because it will try.

Be wise to the lag.

Fight the lag.

Overcome and rise above. Find Clarity and Consistency And your business will flourish.

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Hi, I'm Kate and I help vision-led 'local' business owners get off the hamster wheel of running their business and moving in the direction of their dreams. (Sometimes there is chocolate or cake, but if your dreams involve more green smoothies, that's fine too!)

If you'd like to discover how investing in yourself can unlock an uplevel for you, then please book a discovery call.

Speak soon!