28. Lagging Indicators

One of the things I remember most about my undergrad degree was the concept of lagging economic indicators.

Basically, there’s this huge chunk of stats that only make sense when looking at the things they followed. They’re not indicators of what’s to come, but only a set of results chasing some series of events.

In economics, the most well known is the unemployment rate. This measure, in and of itself, is actually a bit confusing, but that’s another story (Should, however, you really want to nerd out on it, here’s the table of current stats on differing measures).

Anywho…

In real life, I think the most realistic yet absolutely most frustrating lagging indicator is that of achievement, however it’s the one that people most often like to discuss or compare themselves against. It’s the one thing that people push themselves for, but don’t truly understand what it took to get there.

Oh look at that new (car|boat|house|watch) that Mark bought.

Check out where they went on vacation.

Did you hear about Katie’s new job?

Laggards! Each and every one of these things happened after an awful amount of work that’s all hidden from sight.

That’s the piece that people seem to struggle with.

In our current state of always-on social media, it’s far too easy to compare your behind-the-scenes to someone else’s highlight reel.

Don’t.

Some things take some people longer. Some people are naturally gifted. Some people are given a head start based on the circumstances of their birth.

None of that matters. If you want it enough, just keep pushing. Put your head down, and keep going.

There’s a saying in the Ironman community (the long distance triathletes, not the superheros), “How do you finish an Ironman? One step at a time.”

Keep grinding my friends.