KEEP SCORE TO IMPROVE!
What you measure, improves! Isn’t that exciting? The very simple act of keeping track, of measuring and writing things down enhances your awareness, fortifies your resolve, and can cause you to improve in any area of life.
Peter Drucker coined the phrase, “What gets measured, gets improved.”
It may seem obvious that if you can’t gauge something, and know the results, it is extremely difficult to get better at it. When you aren’t measuring something, how can you know if you are really succeeding or not? If you would like to improve your golf game and you never keep score, you won’t know if you’re actually getting better or not. How would you really know if you are losing weight if you never step on the scale, or measure your waistline? Statistics make a huge difference in the business world. The businesses that are successful know their stats. They know their gross revenue, expenses, and net operating income; and they are constantly working to improve these numbers. By measuring your performance, you can track the necessary information to better understand what you need to improve in order to meet your goals.
“If you aren’t consistently measuring the major areas of your life, then you can’t possibly know if the balance you are seeking is or is not happening.” – Brendon Burchard
KEEPING SCORE & MEASURING GIVES YOU:
ACCOUNTABLITY – One of the reasons why Weight Watchers is so effective because every week members know that they have to weigh in. When you see your progress on a chart and you are going down in weight, it can motivate you to keep going towards your goal. When you see your weight going up, it can also be motivation to get serious and get back in the game. For better or for worse tracking will keep you accountable for the actions you are taking or not taking.
MOTIVATION – When your numbers are going in the right direction, seeing that visual, measurable progress will motivate you. By keeping score you are acknowledging the progress that you have made, and you are positively reinforcing the actions that will advance you toward your goal.
EARLY COURSE CORRECTION – If you find your numbers are going in the wrong direction, your tracking process will give you the opportunity for early course correction. By regularly checking in and staying accountable, you can see when you start to slightly go off track. In contrast, when you live in ignorance of your numbers, many people “wake up” after a financial crisis or a health scare. It can sometimes take an embarrassing, humiliating, or drastic situation that causes a person to truly realize where they are at. “Wow! How did I get here?” is a common phrase among those who don’t regularly keep score. There was no attention paid for such a long period of time and then all of the sudden they realize they are radically off track. This can happen in our health, finances, relationships, career, or our emotional lives.
KEEPING YOUR GOALS TOP OF MIND – When you keep score, you have a stronger focus on your goals. You will know, for example, exactly how much exercise you are doing. You know how many miles you are running in a week, how fast you are doing your intervals, or how much weight you are lifting. These numbers keep your goals at the forefront of your mind.
Here are some examples what some of my clients have said about keeping score:
“When I measured my biking kilometers; I biked more, got fitter, and slimmed down.”
“When I saw the increases in the amount of weights that I was lifting, I wanted to lift even more!”
“When I measured how much sleep I got; I slept more.”
“When I started measuring my vegetable intake; I ate more veggies, found a greater variety of them, and completely transformed my eating habits.”
When you keep track, it strengthens your focus and you will naturally seek out ways to make your goals happen!
RESULTS! – The more you focus on a particular number, the more that number improves. Your goals have a much better chance of getting accomplished when you are tracking them, checking in regularly, and are aware of where you are at. In one study, people who wore a pedometer, walked at least one extra mile per day on average and improved their overall activity levels by 27%. When you begin to see your improvement, the closer your brain thinks you are to achieving a goal, the faster it works towards completing it.
Figure out what your goals are, how you will track them, and how often you need to check in.
Keep score from a place of curiosity. Measure to discover, to find out, and to understand what is really happening when your numbers go up or down. “What causes me to be motivated and make progress at that time?” “When, where, and why do I get off track?” By staying curious you can learn what motivates you, trouble-shoot your own self-sabotaging ways, and be aware of the obstacles that you must overcome.
Consistent tracking: Consistency works because it heightens awareness, keeps you focused on a regular basis, and lets you know when the next time you will need to check-in and be accountable. You must decide how often are you going to check-in with your particular goal. Is it daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, or annually?
Track numbers you want to go higher:
Savings and Investments
Quality time spent with your family or friends
Leads turned into clients
Exercise journal – distance, cardio minutes, weights.
Lean muscle mass to body fat percentage
Quantity of pure water each day
Sleep Hours each week
Veggies eaten in a day or week
Track numbers you want to go lower:
Credit card debt
Weight
Cheat items – chocolate, chips, ice-cream, etc.
Health Factors – blood pressure, blood sugar, or cholesterol
Time spent watching TV
The things we measure are the things we improve upon. It is only through keeping score and consistent, clear tracking that we have any idea if we are getting better or worse. In the area you want to grow in, keeping score will create awareness, help you to stay motivated, and incentivize you to take action!
