By Mary Jaksch
Let’s say that you’ve made a change in your life, or you’ve created something new. You’re all fired up – and you want instant results. But it’s as if your effort has fallen into a dark well – there seems to be no result. That can be very frustrating.
Imagine that you’re driving a car and want to make a right-hand turn. You turn the steering wheel – but nothing happens. The car keeps on traveling straight ahead for another 100 yards or so before the it slowly begins to veer off to the right. That doesn’t sound like a safe car, does it? And it would be a stressful experience, because we are used getting to an instant response to a change of direction. It’s the same whenever we start something new.
We want immediate results when we start something new.
But life isn’t like that. When we start something new, we bump up against the principle of lag. This means that there is a period of time between action and results. Time-lag can be very frustrating. Because when you start something new, you have a vision of success. And lag means that you may not see that success for a long time.
My worst experience of time-lag was when I started out as a blogger three years ago. I created Goodlife Zen and sat back, waiting for people to subscribe. For many months nothing happened. My posts seemed to disappear into a black hole in cyberspace. At times I was ready to give up. But I kept going, doggedly writing post after post. Patience paid off and now Goodlife Zen is thriving.
Looking back, I realize that the period of lag was crucial. It taught me that time-lag is an advantage.
10 Reasons why lag is important
1. It gives you time to acquire new skills.
Whenever we start something new, we need a new set of skills. That might not be apparent first off. But as we become more familiar with the new direction, we tend to encounter challenges that need new skills. Lag time give you time to build a new set of skills.
2. It allows you to refocus your life.
Whenever we start something new, we need to build it into our life. Maybe something else that took center stage previously has got to move in the background. The lag time allows you to make considered decisions about how to re-organize our life
3. It gives you time to practice.
There is no instant mastery. When we develop a new skill, we need to practice it in order to get more experience. Lag time means that you can acquire the mastery you need – before it really matters.
4. It gives you time to assimilate a new subculture.
Every new venture leads us into a new subculture. It’s important to get to know it, and to adapt your style to it.
5. It allows you to make personal connections.
In order to thrive in our new venture, we need to make good connections with others in the field. Whether it’s a new hobby you’re taking up, or whether it’s a new business venture – good connections are often the difference between success and failure.
6. It gives you time to step up to leadership.
For every new venture we need a fair amount of leadership. It takes time to step up to leadership. Lag allows you to slowly develop the leadership skills you need.
7. It teaches you to be patient.
Patience is a great character strength. It’s something that we need to practice. Lag forces you to learn how to be patient.
8. It weeds out the determined from the enthusiastic.
Everyone is enthusiastic when they start something new. But if it’s an uphill battle without instant results, most people give up. Lag time weeds out all but those determined to succeed.
9. It allows you to fail and recover.
Everyone makes mistakes, especially in a new environment. The great thing about lag time is that it gives you the chance to get things wrong – and then to learn from your mistakes and recover.
10. It creates organic growth.
If you think of nature, there is no instant growth. You may be able to accelerate growth through using artificial means, such as a hothouse, but the plants that have been forced to grow fast will be a lot more delicate than the ones that have grown at their own organic pace. It’s the same for any venture: organic growth leads to better long-term results.
You can see from these ten points how important the principle of lag is. If we accept time-lag as something positive, we can use the time to lay good foundations for future growth. However, if we struggle against lag and try to accelerate change – we can feel frustrated, and miss out on important steps of our organic development.
Next time you want change to happen faster in your life, check out the points above. They will remind you to be grateful and enable you to use the principle of lag to your advantage.
What’s your experience with lag?
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{ 13 comments… read them below or add one }
Bhagavad-Gita instructed that we have a right to our labor but not the fruits of our labor.
If we do our work for it’s own sake, not for fortune, attention, or applause, then “lag”, as you put it, fails to exist. Physiological time (which is what we experience) creates discomfort, anxiety, and frustration only when we are consumed with outcome and results.
When I am involved in creation (painting or writing my blog), I find myself in a state of flow where I get lost in my work and time (or lag) does not exist.
Thought provoking topic, Mary – thanks for sharing!
.-= Contrarian´s last blog ..How to Get Out of a Box =-.
Thank you for this reminder! So often I get discouraged by how slowly things happen, but I need to remember that life is like gardening; if a plant doesn’t have time to put down deep roots, it’s not going to survive when adverse conditions spring up.
Lag time is when you should be putting down the roots that will see you through the hard times.
.-= Shadlyn´s last blog ..Goal Trading =-.
Thank you for this article. It was perfect timing for me. I can especially relate to the blogging lag. I have been blogging for 8 months now and have very little subscriber growth but I have had incredible growth in my writing and technical ability. It is not because I am not working hard, I have also had to learn how to work hard in the right way. Your points are a great reminder to hang in there because you never know when success is around the corner. Thanks for sharing this.
.-= Lisa H.´s last blog ..Are You Boldly Jumping into Your Life without Hesitation =-.
Thanks for this, Mary.
“Lag” is so true in making art, drawing or painting: “The hand always lags the eye,” meaning we can see and understand what we want to draw or paint before our hand has acquired the skill to do it.
I’m still in a long and very productive lag period. This post really crystallizes the gifts of this time. And while I’m anxious for it to be over, I can see better the changes I’ve made and how I’ve grown during this period.
Thanks for the gracious reminder!
.-= Marsha Stopa´s last blog ..Vitamin D Can Help Seasonal Depression =-.
Brilliant! If you could get a copy of this to all beginning bloggers they’d never give up!
This reminds me of how bamboo grows. To the untrained eye, it appears as if nothing happens for the first four years. In the fifth year within six weeks the bamboo grows ninety feet. Again, brilliant.
.-= Tess The Bold Life´s last blog ..6 Tiny Pick-Me-Ups to Polish Your Sunbeam =-.
Hi Mary,
I always enjoy and appreciate you, your kind words and thoughtful insights.
It seems I’ve been ‘lagging’ ALL my life! Though I’m VERY OFTEN OUT FRONT with many thoughts and ideas, I’m also very often lagging in writing about, promoting, or implementing them.
It’s very common for my wife to say about many things, “you said or wrote about that long ago, why didn’t you publish it?” Well, perhaps like many of us, I never REALLY THOUGHT MY OPINION or inspiration MATTERED, or that anyone would really be interested.
Your posts are sensitive, spiritual, understanding, politely respectful, caring and loving. People like you bring out the very best in all mankind and they especially inspire me.
I really appreciate you Mary and all that you do.
Charles
Hi Mary;
You’ve done it again! The timeliness of this blog post is incomprehensible to me…it’s true providence! I appreciate all ten points, but especially the reminder of points 7 & 8 and the insight of 2, 4 and 10 (10 being the epiphany I needed today)!! Thank you a million times over.
Wishing you happy holidays!
Thanks for a great post. I am really learning a lot while lagging…
.-= Annika Thomas´s last blog ..Walking the Path of Beauty =-.
Hi Mary,
The beginning of any endeavor is not easy. Your post highlights this point perfectly. It also reminds me of a passage from the I-Ching:
“Times of growth are beset with difficulties. They resemble a first birth. But these difficulties arise from the very profusion of all that is struggling to attain form . Everything is in motion: therefore if one perseveres there is a
prospect of great success, in spite of the existing danger.
When it is a man’s fate to undertake such new beginnings, everything is still unformed, dark. Hence he must hold back, because any premature move might bring disaster. Likewise, it is very important not to remain alone; in order to overcome the chaos he needs helpers. This is not to say, however, that he himself should look on passively at what is happening. He must lend his hand and participate with inspiration and guidance.”
I love the 10 reasons that you have shared about why lag is important. Here are my thoughts on some of your excellent points.
1. It gives you time to acquire new skills
Learning something new always takes time. This is something that simply cannot be rushed. The more we try to rush it, the more likely we are to create problems for ourselves which could have been avoided. It is therefore prudent as you have said to take the time to acquire the new skills we need to succeed.
3. It gives you time to practice
No one becomes good at something overnight. It often involves lots of time and effort to gain proficiency at anything. Since this is a necessary step, it makes sense to focus on practicing to make sure that we get it right from the start. If we learn the wrong thing, we will have to start all over again which will only be a waste of time and effort.
7. It teaches you to be patient
Some of the greatest personalities of history have had incredible patience. Due to their great perseverance, they were able to wait until the right moment presented itself before they rose up to act. Patience is a vital skill that all of us could use more of.
Thank you for sharing this important and thought provoking post!
Irving the Vizier
.-= The Vizier´s last blog ..Resolutions of the Vizier for 2011 =-.
Thanks for this post, Mary. I can very much identify with “It allows you to refocus your life”. Making changes doesn’t happen over night. And often we find that we eventually refocus our lives in ways we had never thought of before! Because the things we concentrate on move slowly, we cannot help but look at other avenues, other ideas or things, too, and that is sometimes even more valuable than anything else.
.-= Christina´s last blog ..Day trips from Christchurch – part II =-.
Thank you Mary for this post. It’s both inspiring and brings comfort.
I have changed direction in my working life several times over the past ten years.
The iniitial period of change can be rocky, financially and emotionally.
But if I am earning my living in way that is ethical and brings me happiness, generally things settle down.
I have often thought that the lag time corresponds to the image of ripples in a pond. It takes a while for the waves of the old way of thinking and acting to die out and the new pattern to be clear.
Thank you for your energy and wisdom.
Thank you for this article. It was perfect timing for me. I can especially relate to the blogging lag. I have been blogging for 8 months now and have very little subscriber growth but I have had incredible growth in my writing and technical ability. It is not because I am not working hard, I have also had to learn how to work hard in the right way. Your points are a great reminder to hang in there because you never know when success is around the corner. Thanks for sharing this. .-= Lisa H.´s last blog ..Are You Boldly Jumping into Your Life without Hesitation =-.
Great article with perfect timing for me. I am a full time research scientist and a blogger. I found myself lagging quite a lot with my research work for the past 6 months; my blogging stream was steady. But now since the past week I can see that I have some new thoughts and insights to work on my research.
So the 6 month lagging period was kind of a productive hibernation for me. Even though I was not producing results, I was gathering knowledge that helps me with my productivity now.
Jane.
.-= Jane Sheeba´s last blog ..How important is discipline in your day-to-day life =-.