Measuring Progress

A key element of the systems and habits approach to improvement is the idea that we stop chasing outcomes. We stop fantasizing about the end goal. And we stop daydreaming about perfect situations.

It is important to have direction in your life. You need to know what you want and then set out to achieve it. This leads most to spend too much time obsessed with that outcome.

This seems motivating. It seems to represent focus. But it often detracts from what we should be doing. Instead of focusing on the steps we are taking, we fill our heart with desire for the achievement of the goal.

This is a mistake. The desire for the achievement of the goal doesn’t correlate to doing the work necessary to achieve. Instead, it becomes distraction. We don’t do the work. Instead, we try to become confident without the foundation to feel assured you are on the right track.

The better approach is to stop worrying so much about the outcome and spend more time in the here-and-now. What did you do today towards that goal? What is the pace at which you are traveling towards that goal? With the current pace, are you on track to meet your goal on time?

Shifting to a focus on the steps you need to take is called setting process goals instead of outcome goals. We work to hit those small targets along the way.

Progress becomes the measuring stick. You want to measure how you are doing and if you are taking the necessary steps that will lead to success.

Bill Walsh was the head coach of the San Francisco 49ers when they achieved tremendous success and won several championships. In his book, The Score Takes Care of Itself, he emphasizes this concept around measuring progress instead of solely monitoring outcomes.

In The Score Takes Care of Itself, he says, “I also knew from experience that it is often difficult to assess these interior, or buried, signs of progress or dysfunction, strength or weakness, because we become transfixed by the big prize – winning a championship, getting a promotion, achieving a yearly quota, and all the rest. When that goal is attained, a common mistake is to assume things are fine. Conversely, when you or the organization fall short of the goal, the letdown can be so severe you’re blinded to substantive information indicating that success may be closer than you would imagine.”

Even at the highest level of competition, he understood progress versus outcome. Throughout the book he emphasized this point to convince the reader that measuring progress is imperative, hence the name of the book, The Score Takes Care of Itself.

The other advantage progress has is that it stops us from getting deceived from perfection. Many who don’t take step 1 focus more on the fact that they can’t be perfect than on taking that first step. This became the theme for my first book, You Can’t Surf from the Shore.

We must avoid the perfection mindset when we are starting out. We need to keep trying to get better, not obsess over the mistakes. Mistakes are part of the process, and you need to work through them. So, embrace them. Allow them to teach you. Don’t try to avoid them by avoiding the work necessary to grow and improve.

Measuring progress is important. Make sure you are progressing towards the success you crave. Don’t get to focused on the end prize that you forget to do what you need to do.