{"id":25496,"date":"2015-07-05T12:39:53","date_gmt":"2015-07-05T16:39:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nomeatathlete.com\/?p=25496"},"modified":"2019-11-05T10:54:54","modified_gmt":"2019-11-05T15:54:54","slug":"habit-tracking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nomeatathlete.com\/habit-tracking\/","title":{"rendered":"Frustrated with Your Inability to Change? How a Simple Shift in Focus Can Make All the Difference"},"content":{"rendered":"

Imagine that a change you want to make is a thousand-pound boulder you\u2019ve got to move.<\/p>\n

You push with all your weight against it, and it doesn\u2019t budge. Not an inch.<\/p>\n

So you take a break, and try again.<\/p>\n

It still doesn\u2019t move. Try again; same result.<\/p>\n

Eventually, you realize the boulder is not going to move, and you give up, feeling defeated and powerless.<\/p>\n

Until you remember what Archimedes said: \u201cGive me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

It turns out that focusing on the lever, not the boulder, makes all the difference when it comes to making a real change in your life. But how exactly do you make this shift?<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Borrowed Business Concept that Helps with Habit Change<\/h3>\n

Boulders and levers sound more interesting than lag and lead measures, but really, that\u2019s what we\u2019re talking about here.<\/p>\n

Managers in business understand the distinction between two types of performance indicators: a lag measure is something that you really want to change but that\u2019s hard to influence, like the boulder in our story. A lead measure, on the other hand, is something you can change, and that although not the goal itself, has a direct and significant impact on the change you really want to make.<\/p>\n

The names make sense: the lead measure is where the changes begin, upstream. The lag measure changes later, downstream, lagging behind. The lead is the lever, the lag is the boulder.<\/p>\n

And the example they use in business books, oddly enough, is weight loss.<\/p>\n

If you want to lose weight, your lag measure is the weight that the scale reports. But you can\u2019t do anything to change your weight in the moment.<\/p>\n

And so the lead measure most people use for the ultimate goal of losing weight is calories. Take in fewer and expend more — decisions you can make right now and throughout the day — and eventually, your weight will drop.<\/p>\n

Of course, this is an obvious example; nobody I know sets out to lose weight simply by staring at the scale. We all know you\u2019ve got to change something upstream in order to influence the number on the scale (or the way you look and feel, if you don’t care about the number).<\/p>\n

But with other changes, it\u2019s not so obvious: so often, we try to move a boulder without first finding a lever.<\/p>\n

Do You Make the Mistake of Not Using a Lever?<\/h3>\n

Most of us know about setting goals<\/a>, and even if you don\u2019t do it with pen and paper, we all have changes we\u2019d like to make. So even though we could stand to be more specific with our goals, it\u2019s not the lag measure that\u2019s usually the problem.<\/p>\n

But how many people who want to drink less alcohol make \u201cdrink less\u201d their only strategy?<\/p>\n

The problem is that this isn\u2019t as simple to influence as it looks: if you drink too much, it probably means that in the moment when you want to drink, you\u2019re not good at choosing not to.<\/p>\n

Certainly not everyone who drinks more than they\u2019d like to is an alcoholic, but Alcoholics Anonymous works because it provides a better lead measure, one that is easier to influence than number of drinks: meetings attended.<\/p>\n

So though our friend who drinks a little bit too much might not need that level of intervention, he can still learn from AA. He might hypothesize that if he meditates or exercises immediately after work, he can break his pattern of flipping on the TV and getting to work on the wrong kind of six-pack. In his case, \u201cmeditation sessions per week\u201d or \u201cworkouts per week\u201d might become his lead measure that provides the leverage for drinking less, the lag measure.<\/p>\n

As another example, if you want to stop biting your nails — and I\u2019ve been here — it\u2019s easy to trick yourself into thinking that \u201cDid I bite my nails today?\u201d is itself a good lead measure. But again, the problem is that it requires willpower that\u2019s hard for you to muster in the moment … otherwise you probably wouldn\u2019t have the problem to begin with.<\/p>\n

Could you instead focus on something further upstream, like \u201ccarry nail clippers in my pocket\u201d or \u201cuse hand lotion every two hours\u201d or \u201ccarry Band-Aids that I can use to cover a nail if I really want to bite it\u201d?<\/p>\n

You get the point, I hope. Find a lead measure that you can easily influence, without depending on a level of willpower you\u2019ve never had before, that directly impacts the change you\u2019re really trying to make.<\/p>\n

But which lead measure?<\/p>\n

It’s All About Finding the Right Lever<\/h3>\n

You know about Weight Watchers and their points system, right? \u201cPoints\u201d is nothing but a simpler lead measure than calories, and its one that has turned out to be the right lever for millions of people.<\/p>\n

So what other levers could you use to change habits?<\/p>\n