Lagging Metrics vs Leading Metrics

When judging your own work, or comparing your accomplishments against someone else's, think about Lagging Metrics vs Leading Metrics.

Lagging Metrics are the things you see online/make you envious. People's achievements, where someone works or how much they earn, etc.

However, Lagging Metrics don't appear out of thin air, they're driven by other things people have to do day in and day out, like
➔ Writing every day
➔ Engaging their audiences everyday
➔ Learning something new every day

Which will result in
➔ A new article every weekend
➔ More followers every month
➔ Being a rockstar in a field

So the next time you look at someone's achievements (Lagging Metrics), try to think of what that person has to do daily to achieve it (Leading Metrics).

Another mental exercise I like to do, think of what Leading Metrics give you happiness, for me it's writing, creating video content and programming.

Now, if you manage to drive it in the right direction, what are the Lagging Metrics you might achieve 1 year, maybe 5 yrs later?

People also give it different names, compounding, getting 1% better everyday, etc. But leading/lagging is the mental model which helps me understand how something is built.

It's kind of funny because it's also similar to how money works, but that's a story for another day :D

For another look at how to be more productive, read this essay on how Consistency helps achieve great things.