Most people can admit that keeping up with New Year’s resolutions is less likely to happen after, say, January. This proves that progression isn’t as easy as it looks. For those of you who wish to do better with staying focused on goals and improving, I know just the tool to help with that.
The key to improvement is found in measurement. I first learned this concept from the Tim Ferriss show about three years ago and practicing this has served me well. When I became intentional about my weight loss, I decided to weigh myself daily. By doing that, I became conscious of where I was versus where I wanted to be in my health journey (comparison is a form of measurement), so that motivated me to cut back on certain foods that were not helpful in achieving my goals. By cutting them out, my weight loss journey went much smoother than it ever has in the past. Eventually, I lost 35 pounds!
During my weight loss journey, I aimed to walk 10K steps on a daily basis. I began using my phone to measure my steps and as a result, I found out that I was only walking 2K steps a day! You can imagine my shock. If I had not measured my steps, I would not have been aware that I was falling short of my 10K goal. Upon finding out, I stepped up my walking efforts. I even avoided elevators at work and started taking five minute walks twice a day. Next thing I knew, I was accomplishing my daily goal of 10K steps. Given the weight loss success I have experienced by measuring, I decided to apply this concept in other areas of my life (including screen time, personal finances, and my career).
When it comes to screen time, I used my phone to monitor my usage and noticed I was behind a screen more than the average person. I would like to be known for a lot of things but being behind a screen is not one of them! Subsequently, I implemented steps to cut back on screen time, including assigning myself specific times in the day to use social media, watching TV only when it is movie night with my kids, and putting a kindle on my phone so I could spend more time reading than being on social media. Sidebar: with less screen time consumption, I realized that my life has been so much better without watching the news. Who knew?!
Measuring has also been helpful when it comes to my finances. The more I monitor it, the better it got. I use some great free financial apps such as Mint (this monitors financial transactions in real time), EveryDollar (Dave Ramsey’s user-friendly budgeting app), Credit Karma (this keeps track of credit score), and Personal Capital (this looks at networth and investments). My clients vouch for these resources as well.
In regards to my coaching business, the best tidbit I ever learned was from Brooke Castillo: “If you want a full-time business, put in 40 hours. If you want a part-time business, put in 20 hours. Otherwise, it is just a dream.” After hearing this, I measured the hours I was putting in and it was far under 20 hours. I realized that I had a dream, not a business, and I had to do something about it. I started scheduling business hours to work on my business and it has paid off in a major way. All it took was that measurement of hours to propel me into working harder.
As you can see, measuring what I wanted to improve has yielded results. Now I urge you to ask yourself, “are there any areas of my life that need improvement?” If the answer is “yes,” try measuring your current progress and future goals instead of guessing and assuming. Accurately gauging where you are versus where you want to be will lead to great improvement… trust me on this one!
PS: I help physicians get out of debt and live wealthy lives. Does that sound of interest to you? If yes, click this link to book a free 60 minute coaching consultation.
I love this! It is about putting systems into place that will move the needle and consistently honoring our plans. How do we eat an elephant? One bite at a time!
Such great insight. Yup slow, and steady wings the race