430: Why You’re Not Seeing Results from Your Good Habits: A Personal Growth Principle Most People Miss

Kevin Lowe: Saving money and yet you check your bank account at the end of the month and you're only plus a few bucks.

Kevin Lowe: It can be discouraging. But the secret.

Kevin Lowe: Here is that sometimes in life, There's a delayed feedback loop.

Kevin Lowe: Yes, the positive actions we take oftentimes don't show up in our life until a while later on.

Kevin Lowe: And that's what.

Kevin Lowe: Makes it so hard to keep going, to keep moving forward, to keep making the good decisions because the benefits are delayed.

Kevin Lowe: So today, my friend, we're going to explore this in a deeper sense.

Kevin Lowe: We're going to get you understanding exactly what I'm talking about and how once you understand this simple truth, you can use it for your benefit to help you as you continue on this journey called life.

Kevin Lowe: So my friend, if you're up for an exploration into what I'm calling the delayed feedback loop, well, it's all inside of today's 430th episode of Grit, Grace, and Inspiration.

Kevin Lowe: What's up, my friend, and welcome back to Grit, Grace, and Inspiration.

Kevin Lowe: I am your host, Kevin Lowe. And my friend, If you're listening.

Kevin Lowe: To this episode at the time of its release, well, congratulations, we have just made it through the first month of 2026.

Kevin Lowe: Hopefully, you've been enjoying the podcast. Hopefully, you've been getting something out of the episodes that I have released this month.

Kevin Lowe: And just in case if you've been wondering, Where the heck are the interviews at?

Kevin Lowe: Well, my friend, coming up next week, we are diving back into an amazing interview with a guest who is sure to leave you in awe at his story.

Kevin Lowe: So please be sure that if you've been waiting for me to get back into the interviews, it is coming up next week.

Kevin Lowe: So just stay tuned. Now, one last quick little announcement before we dive into the heart of today's episode is that I want to remind you that you can Grab the free.

Kevin Lowe: Grit, Grace, and Inspiration life guide.

Kevin Lowe: There is a.

Kevin Lowe: Link at the top of today's show notes where you can download this free PDF document.

Kevin Lowe: And basically, it's just a guide to help you with whatever you're dealing with in life.

Kevin Lowe: Whatever you're going through.

Kevin Lowe: Whatever season you find yourself in, There is a podcast episode for you.

Kevin Lowe: And that guide is going to direct you to exactly where you need to go.

Kevin Lowe: So please be sure to scroll down and check out the episode description where You can find a.

Kevin Lowe: Link to download the Grit, Grace and Inspiration Life Guide.

Kevin Lowe: To set the stage for today's conversation, I want you to grasp the simple understanding. Okay.

Kevin Lowe: Every action you take.

Kevin Lowe: It sends a ripple forward in time. I'm talking about every action you take, good or bad, Is emitting a ripple, an echo, into your future.

Kevin Lowe: Basically, an easy way to think of this is think of yourself standing at the edge of The Grand Canyon. You shout into that canyon because.

Kevin Lowe: Of course, we all want to hear our echo. And at first, you hear nothing.

Kevin Lowe: That doesn't mean that your voice isn't powerful. It doesn't mean that you didn't just shout.

Kevin Lowe: It means it's traveling. And it takes.

Kevin Lowe: Time before that echo hits the other side of the canyon. It bounces back or you hear yourself again.

Kevin Lowe: Now, the thing that's crazy about life in terms of what we're talking about, about positive actions versus negative actions, is that unfortunately, our negative echoes, so the response to our negative actions we take, they come back way faster than the positive.

Kevin Lowe: So what does this look like in a practical sense?

Kevin Lowe: You eat poorly.

Kevin Lowe: You choose the wrong decisions at lunch.

Kevin Lowe: For the past week, the scale increases almost overnight.

Kevin Lowe: You ignore the finances. You go ahead and you buy what you want.

Kevin Lowe: You go ahead and continue going to Starbucks every morning.

Kevin Lowe: And sure enough, that bank account decreases really quick.

Kevin Lowe: Or maybe it's avoiding the call and you put off the uncomfortable.

Kevin Lowe: Well, what happens?

Kevin Lowe: Well, opportunities close up. Doors close.

Kevin Lowe: And that is because negative choices are loud and quick.

Kevin Lowe: If you compare that to positive actions, well, they're slow.

Kevin Lowe: They're delayed.

Kevin Lowe: I'm talking about you've been going to the gym, maybe since the start of the year, when everybody else has been going to the gym.

Kevin Lowe: And yet, what do you have to show for it?

Kevin Lowe: You have some sore muscles.

Kevin Lowe: You've been spending money on a gym membership that you're locked into for the next year.

Kevin Lowe: and you don't see the abs, You don't feel any stronger.

Kevin Lowe: Or maybe it goes back to saving money.

Kevin Lowe: You've been saving money.

Kevin Lowe: But you don't have anything to show for it. It's not like you feel any richer at the end of the month.

Kevin Lowe: What I want you to realize here.

Kevin Lowe: Tying it back to this analogy of the echo, is just because the echo is silent doesn't mean that the sound wasn't powerful.

Kevin Lowe: All those reps that you've been taking, going to the gym, choosing to not go through Starbucks every morning, those are powerful actions.

Kevin Lowe: And the more powerful the action, a lot of times.

Kevin Lowe: The echo, the benefit is delayed.

Kevin Lowe: So basically, here's the truth of the matter.

Kevin Lowe: We are all addicted to the instant feedback. We want to get results immediately.

Kevin Lowe: Because I don't know about you, but if I'm going to the gym for a month, I want to see something from it.

Kevin Lowe: If I've been eating healthy for a month, I want to feel better.

Kevin Lowe: Or maybe it's in terms of business.

Kevin Lowe: If I've been making it a goal to be on social media more, posting for my business, I want to see a return on that investment.

Kevin Lowe: And so when we don't hear anything back, We assume that silence means failure.

Kevin Lowe: But in fact, silence isn't failure. It's basically you just planting a seed.

Kevin Lowe: What I'm saying is that if you don't like where you are in life right now, it's not because of the choices that you made today.

Kevin Lowe: It's honestly the echo of the choices you made three or six months ago.

Kevin Lowe: So what does this mean? Well, what it means is you're not behind.

Kevin Lowe: You're just hearing an old echo. You're hearing the.

Kevin Lowe: Echo from your past. Now, what I hope you gain from this is the understanding, though, that right now is your opportunity to shape the future.

Kevin Lowe: We are also focused on right now. But right now is the opportunity to work on how you're going to feel at The end of.

Kevin Lowe: This year. Not focusing on how you feel right now, but putting in the work, putting in the effort with the understanding that the positive feedback, it's going to be delayed.

Kevin Lowe: You're not going to get the results tomorrow.

Kevin Lowe: So if you've got big goals for What you want to achieve.

Kevin Lowe: In your life this year, You have to start living.

Kevin Lowe: In alignment with Those goals.

Kevin Lowe: Because living in alignment is what you do every day to achieve those goals.

Kevin Lowe: And basically, the truth is that the most successful people, They're not more motivated than you.

Kevin Lowe: They just simply stay in alignment long enough to collect on those positive echoes, to collect on those positive results because they understand the simple truth that the positive actions we take each and every day, They build upon each other.

Kevin Lowe: They're just knowing that they have to stay in alignment, to stay consistent, to keep showing up, knowing that they're not doing all of this for the results to happen tomorrow.

Kevin Lowe: No, they're doing all this for the results to show up in three months, in six months, In a year from now.

Kevin Lowe: So the thing, though, is that's easier said than done, because how do you keep going?

Kevin Lowe: How do these people keep going when they're not getting.

Kevin Lowe: That positive feedback? Because I don't know about you, but I like some positive feedback.

Kevin Lowe: I like to know that what I'm doing is actually working.

Kevin Lowe: Well, I've broken it down into what I'm considering the three strategies that you need to help you keep going, Even when you're not getting.

Kevin Lowe: That positive feedback. Number one, I want you to start tracking the behavior, not the feedback.

Kevin Lowe: What does this mean? It means that I want you to focus on celebrating the actions you're taking.

Kevin Lowe: I want you to celebrate every rep, every trip to the gym.

Kevin Lowe: Every time that you order the salad.

Kevin Lowe: Good for you. Mark that down as a win.

Kevin Lowe: The second thing I want you to do is I want you to constantly keep measuring backwards.

Kevin Lowe: What does this mean?

Kevin Lowe: I want you to continue comparing yourself to yesterday.

Kevin Lowe: To last week, to last month.

Kevin Lowe: And not the result, but the actions you're taking every day.

Kevin Lowe: How have you grown? How is The person you.

Kevin Lowe: Are today different than the person you were last month?

Kevin Lowe: Maybe you've started getting up earlier every single day.

Kevin Lowe: Maybe you've made exercising part of your regular daily routine.

Kevin Lowe: Compare that way, backwards.

Kevin Lowe: Stop focusing so much on comparing to what we want, To what we're trying to achieve.

Kevin Lowe: And start looking backwards a bit to understand how you've been growing as a person.

Kevin Lowe: And my last little tip for you to keep you moving forward is I want you to.

Kevin Lowe: Name your breakthrough, Even though it's delayed.

Kevin Lowe: I want you to claim it, to name it.

Kevin Lowe: I'm building my six-month-from-now self.

Kevin Lowe: I'm not looking for my bank account to be radically different in a month.

Kevin Lowe: No. But by the end of the year.

Kevin Lowe: I want to have saved this much extra money.

Kevin Lowe: By the end of the year, I want to be down to this weight. By the end of the year.

Kevin Lowe: I want to be able to run a triathlon.

Kevin Lowe: Whatever it is, is name it to get and declare it.

Kevin Lowe: To speak it out loud, to speak it into truth, and to make it clear to you.

Kevin Lowe: of what it is that you want.

Kevin Lowe: Not the small little goal, but the big goal, the delayed goal that you know exactly what you're fighting for.

Kevin Lowe: Basically, I Want you to.

Kevin Lowe: Realize that your future self is cheering you on for What you're doing.

Kevin Lowe: Today.

Kevin Lowe: So what I want you to get out of today's episode is basically the idea that every action you take, it's going to come back.

Kevin Lowe: It's going to have feedback, good or bad.

Kevin Lowe: The negative things we do, the wrong choices, the bad choices, unfortunately, they tend to bounce back much faster than the positive.

Kevin Lowe: But if you understand that and you realize it, Then you won't be discouraged when you're not seeing the results.

Kevin Lowe: That you want, you'll understand the realization that what you've been doing isn't for nothing.

Kevin Lowe: It's just building upon itself. It's going to take time before you see it. But once you do.

Kevin Lowe: Well, then my friend, I have to believe it compounds and everything in.

Kevin Lowe: Your life can begin To improve and can get better.

Kevin Lowe: You just have to remember to stay the course, To stay disciplined enough with the understanding that.

Kevin Lowe: There's just a delayed feedback loop. You are just waiting on that positive feedback to come back to you.

Kevin Lowe: So, my friend, that is today's episode. That is the simple little mindset shift that I wanted to provide you with.

Kevin Lowe: Hopefully, it landed.

Kevin Lowe: Hopefully, something I said made sense and just has you looking at what you're doing, The goals you have.

Kevin Lowe: The dreams you're trying to achieve. It just has you looking at things in a little bit longer-term picture.

Kevin Lowe: You know, I think all of us, We want things yesterday.

Kevin Lowe: But the fact is true is that sometimes we have to just settle down and realize that right now, I just have to celebrate the little actions I take, Understanding that those are building and compounding to get me to where I ultimately want to go.

Kevin Lowe: My friend, this is Grit, Grace, and Inspiration.

Kevin Lowe: I am your host.

Kevin Lowe: Kevin Lowe, thanking you as always for being here. If you have not already hit the button to subscribe or follow the podcast on your preferred app, please be sure to do so so that you never miss another episode.

Kevin Lowe: Because remember, a new episode is coming out each and every Tuesday morning.

Kevin Lowe: Until next week, I'm your host, Kevin Lowe. Get out there and start making some positive actions in pursuit of the goals you have for tomorrow.