The things you measure have a funny way of improving. It almost looks like magic. Measuring those things in your life that matter is a powerful way of emphasizing and improving them.
For example, it’s hard to know if your diet is working if you don’t check the scale regularly. Are you getting stronger in the gym? You can’t know for certain if you don’t measure yourself.
Tracking your results is essential in order to know if you’re making progress.
How you spend your time determines the quality of your life. Measuring is one way to prioritize the things that you should be spending time on.
When you measure something, the thing you measure changes. In the world of quality control, it’s well known that once you start to measure something, it changes. The people involved begin paying more attention and begin doing a better job.
You can make adjustments. When you measure things, you’ll notice your mistakes. If you’re measuring your calories, a cupcake doesn’t look quite the same.
You can see progress. Nothing is more motivating than progress. When you diet and measure your weight, you can see progress and will find it easier to stick with it. When your savings account grows, you feel better about saving money.
It gives you focus. When you measure something, it becomes more important. You have a million things you could pay attention to each day, but when you choose just a few to measure, you create focus. Measuring something makes it important.
Think of something in your life that you’d like to improve. How can you measure it?
If it’s something easy to measure, you’re all set. However, not everything can be measured objectively like money or calories, but there’s always a way. You can rate your impression of something on a scale of 1 to 10, such as your happiness.
Make a chart of your progress each day. This can easily be done with a spreadsheet, but some graph paper and a pencil can work just fine. Use whatever method works for you.
What matters most in your life? Are you currently measuring it? If you’re not measuring it, how can you know if you’re progressing toward your goal? There’s tremendous power in focusing on something and measuring it regularly.
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