Joe uses two metrics in team meetings: pace and spin.
Pace is about sustainability. If you’re running a marathon (which any meaningful endeavor is), are you at a speed you can maintain? A pace that’s enjoyable enough to keep you coming back? A pace that won’t burn you out? If you’re going too fast just to cash out and escape to Hawaii, you’ll end up feeling irrelevant and beating yourself up.
Spin is effort that doesn’t move things forward. Look back on a week and ask: how much of what I did actually got us where we wanted to go? Spin can be measured at the week, month, or year level—and the longer the timeframe, the more honest the assessment.
Together, these two metrics cut through the illusion of productive busyness. You might have perfect pace but massive spin (comfortably doing useless work). You might have zero spin but unsustainable pace (doing the right things but burning out).