Main Topic: How to Follow Through

As mentioned on the podcast:

How Runners Should Navigate the Space Between Goals, EP58

Goal Setting in Running with Alicja Konieczek, EP90

Recent Article by The Mother Runners about process goals.

The Challenge

Follow-through is hard… why?

• Too many “priorities”
• Andi- distraction, impatience 
• Forgetting process and actionable steps (focusing too much on the outputs instead of the inputs)

The 4 Disciplines of Execution

Book by Jim Huling, Chris McChesney, and Stephen Covey

Purpose: help individuals execute most important goals or strategic priorities. 

• Built with businesses and organizations in mind, but 
• applicable to any context in which people are setting and achieving goals.

For runners:

• There is almost no inference gap between the stated words and what it looks like to apply these concepts to running
• Why? Because achieving goals as a runner is exactly the same in process to achieving goals anywhere else.

In brief, the disciplines are:

• Focus on the wildly important
• Act on lead measures
• Keep a compelling scoreboard
• Create a cadence of accountability

1. Focus on the Wildly Important (WIG)

Wildly important goal: WIG

• • Identify no more than 1 or 2 key goals at a time
  • Helps focus energy on most important things–things that are most closely related to the ideal vision
  • Connection to fallacy of multitasking, but on a grander scale

• Look at current situation and identify area with most potential for significant impact if changed

• Use the strict formula: X and Y by Z (Looks like this and this by this date)

Why is this important for runners?

• Helps us identify areas that can make a difference
• Consider what you are truly chasing. What actually is wildly important?
• Visualize the ideal, leave nothing out

2. Act on Lead Measures

Focusing on those things that most directly relate to the goal

• Lag vs. Lead:
  • Lag measures are the things that indicate a goal has been achieved
  • Business example: Lags are the sales numbers
  • Running example: the finish time in a race; or the pace you are running
  • Lead measures are the things you do that result in achieving the goal
  • Business example: number of calls you make/customers to whom you speak
  • Running example: volume of training or balance of effort types; or the amount of effort you are giving
• Lead measures are about leverage
• Leverage is gained by identifying the most effective lead measures

Why is this important for runners?

• Most of us spend all our time thinking about lag measures and trying to coerce them
• We don’t spend nearly enough time acting precisely on lead measures in a manner that is oriented around how it helps achieve our goals
• Examples: time spend doing strength and mobility work; understanding the balance of efforts and how to achieve adaptations

3. Keep a Compelling Scoreboard

Sometimes referred to as a record

• • You need to know how you are doing
  • About engagement–specifically engagement in my role in achieving the goal
  • Key focus is on progress–not enough to be aware of the lag/lead measures but oriented around the state of progress
  • Needs to be simple, needs to be engaging (interesting)

• Needs to be granular enough that progress is obvious (both directions) sooner rather than later

• Linked with motivation
• Make it visible–easily
• Include Lag and Lead Measures
• Results improve engagement–not engagement improves results
  • Why? Because it is the perception of progress that makes us want to do more to achieve the progress
  • “People generally feel more engaged when they are winning at something.” (StoryShots)
  • Andi- positive perspectives matter.

Why is this important for runners?

• We do the scoreboard thing already… but we ONLY include the Lag measures
• It is more often discouraging than it is engaging by the very nature of what we are leaving out
• What kinds of lag measures can we see?
• What kinds of Lead measures should be address?
• How many times have runners said to us: “I am running slower than I ever have but I am feeling great!”

4. Create a Cadence of Accountability

Accountability is the key to keeping focus and preventing distractions

• With teams, include regular “WIG sessions” (weekly)
• Goal is individual accountability to dedicated tasks (precise and specific, not general and vague)
• Consistent, focused, and interactive

Why is this important for runners?

• We already tend to feel like our goals exist in a vacuum (don’t relate to the rest of life, don’t pertain to family/friends)
• We rarely feel like the things we do day-to-day are visible to others–as such, only the lag measures matter and we aren’t engaged with the lead measures
• Andi- Very rarely do we get feedback without asking for it.