Are you measuring the right KPIs in your life and career?
What Key Performance Indicators do you use to measure your goals, professional or personal? The most typical are outcome-driven metrics, like the highest degree attained, job title, salary, marital status, weight, number of countries visited, etc. Many typically consider these indicators of success and hard work.
As we grow wiser (Gen Z seems to achieve this faster than previous generations), we come to realize that traditional KPIs, which are often outcome-driven, fail to capture the essence of 99% of our daily experiences. While achieving a goal may lead to a moment of celebration, the small wins and the routine days make up the bulk of our lives. Hence, life KPIs should also align with our aspirations and sense of fulfillment, inspiring us to reevaluate our measurement criteria.?
So, how can we measure success and personal development in a way that inspires us and allows us to appreciate our progress along the way?
Three perspectives to help you renew your thinking on KPIs:
Lagging vs. Leading indicators?
Let's talk about the typical metrics, like salaries and titles. These are endpoints, the culmination of all the steps that led up to them, also known as lagging indicators. But here's the thing: when we hyper-fixate on the outcome, we can quickly become unmotivated and frustrated when we inevitably face challenges. We might ignore the small yet meaningful progress that indicates we're on the right track. And we might miss the chance to reflect on whether we still desire those outcomes.?
On the other hand, leading indicators focus on the changes you make and the foundation you build to realize your aspirations. They recognize the persistence and resilience you invest in your goals daily.
What are some examples of leading vs indicators?
For aspiring chefs, creating unique dishes or landing that coveted chef position are long-lagging indicators, while mastering knife skills, learning about spices, and understanding acid/fat/heat chemistry are leading indicators. Similarly, in relationships, rather than believing finding "the one" is the only successful outcome (lagging), consider improving your ability to show up as a better partner or better asserting your boundaries to be of comparable importance (leading) regardless of the outcome of the relationship.
Career-wise, instead of focusing only on job titles or salary (lagging), emphasize expanding skills, building meaningful connections, and tackling challenging projects for a more fulfilling professional journey (leading). Health-wise, if you are on a long weight loss journey, know that the daily gym and nutrition habits you build (leading) will get you to your numerical goal (lagging).
You redefine success on your terms by upholding these leading indicators as important as your lagging indicators. Doing so can help you fight the temptation to find shortcuts when frustrated by the lack of visible progress to the lagging indicator.
Accept self-evolution
When you devote a large part of your identity to reaching a KPI, it can be challenging to know when to let go of the aspiration when it no longer suits you. We often tie our sense of achievement and self-worth to specific metrics we value early in our careers—a coveted job title, income level, or social status. These goals can define us for years, shaping our decisions and actions. However, as our perspectives and priorities shift, what once drove us may no longer align with our evolving priorities and aspirations. Like any breakup, uncoupling your identity from your former goals can be incredibly unsettling. You wonder if you are giving up. You feel like you are a disappointment to your former self. ?
Recognizing the evolution of yourself, and hence your goals, is crucial for continuous and satisfying personal development. This doesn't mean the KPIs we once used to measure our lives were wrong; it simply highlights the fluidity of our situations and aspirations. The KPIs that once fueled our ambition may no longer serve our current path toward fulfillment. Embracing this change requires letting go of outdated metrics and welcoming new ones that reflect our present goals and values.
Agility isn’t just essential to produce an attractive product; it’s crucial to make your life attractive to YOU.?
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Some things are not measurable.
From the grades we received in school to our early careers, where we learned to set goals using frameworks like SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound), we're indoctrinated with quantifying success. However, I find that one's fulfillment in life and career often comes from adopting an alternate view of “measurement.”?
Contrary to the indoctrination, your KPIs (lagging or leading) don't have to be quantitative. They can be binary or (gasp!) qualitative. The ability to recognize satisfaction or feel an inexplicable sense of joy without measurable evidence can be even more exhilarating than what any quantitative achievement can validate for you. It could be as simple as realizing moments like "today, I feel excited," which is a good enough indicator of where you stand on your journey.
The most important thing to remember is that when it comes to the KPIs of your life, they don't have to be Key, they don't have to be about Performance, and they don't have to Indicate anything specific. They should reflect what truly matters to you—finding balance, making a difference, or pursuing your passions.
NEW SERIES ALERT!
I am launching a new exciting series called “Where you at” in my newsletter, “Frying Bigger Fish.”? This series will explore a diverse set of professional journeys and ask questions we all want to know, like: How did you figure out your career goals? Are you happy at your job? How much do you make? We are collecting submissions (anonymous!) and will be dropping fresh profiles every week. Come be nosy, comment, and ask questions!
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Juliette Han, PhD I love this different perspective of KPIs in life and career. Oftentimes, we're so fixated on the final outcome, that we live our life within the box. By walking through the journey and enjoying the experience, being open minded and not fixated on one specific outcome, it helps broaden our mindset, in picking up new skills, building relationships and connections with a broader group of people along the way. This will help shift our mindset and may lead to another unexpected outcome. By the end of the day, we're all human and individual. We're not defined by the title, but rather, how we make others' feel, or how people remember us in life and in career. ??