Applications are open through Friday, March 15th, to the Coaching for Leaders Academy. This is the third of five lessons on how to create meaningful movement on a leadership skill, using the same, 90-day framework used within our Academy community. Discover more and apply now.

In the first two lessons of this course, I invited you to take on a new identity and then determine the daily action that will help you get there.

I’ve been using an example of working to be more concise. As a quick review, here’s the identity someone might take on in this example:

I communicate concisely in meetings.

As I mentioned in lesson 1, the identity is a clear statement of who you are becoming. Then, the next step, from the second lesson, is determining the daily behavior that will get you there. I picked this one for our example:

Once a day, I time myself speaking out loud a message I’m delivering later.

That daily action is the leading indicator — the thing that, if you do consistently, will get you to the outcome you want.

Here’s where we run into a sad reality:

Getting traction on a new behavior that’s supporting a new leadership skill would be a lot easier, if you didn’t have anything else going on. But that’s reality for virtually nobody.

What is reality is the six meetings that are on your calendar already today, the dozens of emails that probably have your attention at the moment, and your boss or customer suddenly changing direction on something.

And there’s all the personal things, too. Making sure that kids aren’t just fed and where they need to be logistically, but also thriving in their lives. For some of us, it’s handling the financial and health affairs for an aging relative. For all of us, it’s balancing doctors’ appointments, and taxes, and all the other things that go along in the daily whirlwind of our professional and personal lives.

On any given day at work and at home, 90-95% of our time is going is dedicated to these already existing activities. So, creating a bit of breakaway traction for learning something new, not only requires quick, daily actions (as we established in the second lesson) but also a way to keep yourself motivated — so this doesn’t get lost with everything else you’ve got going.

Here’s here you can set yourself up for success:

Most of us do a lot better keeping ourselves on track if we have success milestones along the way. It’s why so many of us get motivated by getting those certificates in professional programs, or seeing the rating we received on this year’s performance review, or getting the little rings and badges on FitBits or Apple Watches for health tracking.

We all know that those indicators aren’t fully representative of our efforts or of the value we bring, but they help us know that we’re on the right path. That invites us to be move brave — and helps us find a sense of confidence.

Do the same thing for yourself as your take on your new identity. Decide in advance what the indicators will be along the way, so that you can recognize the progress you’re making.

Let’s go back to example of communicating concisely in meetings. For this identity, I want to establish for myself, in advance, what the success indicators will be, so I’ll recognize my progress along the way.

Here’s a couple that I’m zeroing in on for this identity, as milestones:

I’m noticing details that can be left out.

For taking on an identify of getting more concise, that’s a key indicator. As you start seeing things that can be eliminated, you’ve started to make the shift of not just being more concise, but perhaps more importantly, thinking like a concise communicator thinks.

Here’s a second one:

My practice sessions are shorter.