In the gym people like to focus on “reps” (repetition) and weight for effective training. On the trails people like to talk about how far or how long. These are common metrics. They show up in 80% of the fitness articles and books.

They’re garbage metrics, however; as they will lead you, quickly, to a plateau.

It’s the same in leadership. Most leadership metrics we measure are worthless: the number of meetings I attended today; how often people sought me out for advice; the amount of reports I generated, what I did with the budget. Measuring these activities will not result in leadership growth. This is, no doubt, why Case Western Reserve University found that about 80% of people in leadership positions are, at best, on a plateau. No impact. No growth.

In fitness it isn’t about reps, weights or distances. It’s about having a clear goal and then knowing how to apply the right amount of time under tension and increasing the amount of effort. Here is how this applies to leadership:

Goals: Goals should be few, simple, and (ideally) measurable. My goals for today, for example, are to write this newsletter, touch base with a handful of clients, and spend the afternoon creating new intellectual property. This activity directly contributes to the accomplishment of my 2015 goals of increasing business and regularly creating new and helpful content.

Setting and refining clear, long, mid, and short-term goals keeps leaders and their teams focused and allows for accountability and adjustments.

Time Under Tension: In fitness, it isn’t the number of reps that your muscles respond to (muscles can’t count); instead, it is understanding the time your muscle is stressed or tense and how that impacts progress towards a goal. In leadership, this is about concentrated effort. Whether you’re pursuing professional growth, or moving your organization forward, are you blocking out regular time to focus solely on growth? Research shows multi-tasking leads to less accomplishment and poorer quality of work.

Setting aside regular, uninterrupted blocks of time to focus on growth and goal accomplishment will quickly transform your leadership impact.

Level of Perceived Effort: Serious athletes learn that the main game is to challenge their mental perception of what is “hard.” Our nervous system actually has a governor that tells us we are at our physical limit, well before we’ve actually approached that limit. This is true in terms of personal and professional growth, as well. You can break through these limits by knowing when and how to increase; and, periodically, decrease your levels of perceived effort. This is how to sustain growth without hitting plateaus or getting injured.

In leadership, this means regularly taking on the right amount of “stretch” challenges. For me, this means that yesterday, alone, I hired a coach to help me develop a video series, I’m taking an on-line leadership class, and I’ve been working to reduce the time it takes to write articles. Clear, simple, and all focused toward achieving my larger goals.

It also means backing off and resting periodically. So, I’ll typically push forward for about 4 to 6 months on a personal/professional growth project and then I’ll back off for a month or so. I typically push hard for 4 days out of the week; and then back off and refresh for one of the workdays. This allows me to persevere.

15 minute exercise to create immediate change:

Goals: What are your top priorities for the next 3 months? How do these priorities directly contribute to where you want to be in the next year?

Time Under Tension: Have you blocked out distraction-free time to focus solely on accomplishing those priorities this week? What about next week? Is this something you can start scheduling into your calendar?

Level of Perceived Effort: What is one area where you would like to grow? What is that one consistent challenge you face (maybe something you’ve avoided doing, or an interest you haven’t pursued, something that takes longer then you would like)? What is one thing you can do this week to start increasing your effort at improving how you do leadership?